this
Interestingly, last week there were a bunch of out of state teams that came in to play some of the Utah teams. IMG Academy regularly called the #1 team in the nation, played one of the best teams in the state. The Utah team lost 59-3. They did not end the game at the end of the 3rd quarter when IMG was ahead 52-3. Then Saturday they had 3 games of top Utah teams vs out of state teams. My HS was involved in one of them. They are in the top 10 in their division but lost to St. James Performance Academy, VA 66-0. Again the game was not stopped at the end of the 3rd like the mercy rule would have done.
I believe the reasoning they gave was that this was technically not a UHSAA game since it involved an out of state team.
Wisconsin has had a mercy rule starting at 36+ points that only kicks during the 2nd half, and still results in scores of 60-0, 70-0, 84-0. It was worse when their playoff system had an asinine tiebreaker around “average points scored in the 1st half” that encouraged teams to run up the score as much as possible before halftime, but you’ll still see occasional games where someone puts up 60+ points.
While I’d prefer that head coaches have some integrity and discipline to avoid utter blowouts and give all the kids an opportunity to play, I kind of like the Utah rule because team in the lead has to take out starting players is unenforceable and for some teams the 2nd string unit will still dominate. That said, I’d also be OK with expanding that to “once a team is up 44 points, that’s it.” Definitely at the half, if someone’s up 44+ points, playing the 2nd half is relatively meaningless because one team is just trying to get out with some dignity and you’re asking the other team to stand on the brakes instead of running it up. Just call it a night and move on.
But I just spent $10 + the mandatory convenience fee using the ticket app x the number of family members for tickets to the game. And my daughter is in the marching band, so we’ve got to have halftime!
And what about my high school’s concessions money?
sometimes the powerhouse’s 2nd and 3rd stringers and beyond are able to still run it up. so they empty the bench and it’s still a beat down.
i work as an official in youth baseball. common to have a 10 run rule after 4 innings. some have 15 after 3. I’ve advocated for down 20 runs at any time and that’s the game. top of the 1st, you give up 20 runs before you batted? so what, game over - don’t give up 20 is the lesson. but baseball doesn;t have anywhere near the safety issue football does. games are ended out of interest
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Or lack thereof…
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Do those teams even have school? Are these more like “continuation schools” for kids who couldn’t graduate or make ANY grades for college but want to play sports in college (note that I did not say “go to college”?
- You wanted to watch, sorry you didn’t get your money’s worth. Maybe next game.
- Do marching band, then go home.
- Have another fundraiser, maybe selling mattresses or a card with discounts to local businesses or whatever the vogue thing is now. Or find someone willing to lob $100K for naming rights to the home bleachers or whatever.
IFYP. That way the spectators will be scarred for life and question why they even have a football team.
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