In another example of people investing far too much attention in spectator sports, Representative Fred Deutsch (R-4/Florence) reports that lots of people are asking him to pass a law that would force big-town kids to quit playing a game if one team’s score got too high:
State Rep. Fred Deutsch, of Florence, on Twitter said people have asked him for legislation to fix the problem.
“People walking in my office want legislation to fix the @SDHSAA so another blowout Pierre/Spearfish 103-0 football game doesn’t occur. Asked what they want done, no one had an answer. So now it’s up to you @danswartos. Please fix!” [links added; “After 103–0 Rout, Mercy Rule Considered,” AP via Rapid City Journal, updated 2019.11.02]
I hope Representative Deutsch’s response signals that maybe he’s growing in his recognition that he’s got no business legislating over kids’ playtime. As South Dakota High School Activities Association exec Dan Swartos rightly points out, high schools govern their own sporting affairs through the SDHSAA. Our big-government Legislature already spends far too much time meddling in the extracurricular affairs of our schools; the Legislature has absolutely no role in dictating the outcome of high school football games.
Fellow citizens, please: go to your games, cheer or cry over the results all you want, but then the next morning when you go to talk to your legislators, turn off your sports brains and try concentrating on matters of real importance to the public good. If you have a beef with the football score, take it up with the coaches… or better yet, don’t even waste your time taking it up with anyone, since you all have more important matters to which to attend.
Perhaps the game of Chess could provide an option. Typically, in Chess when one player loses too much material, or sees that a coming checkmate is unavoidable, he or she can simply resign the contest rather than wait for the inevitable checkmate.
It would seem appropriate to give that option to the coach or team captain in HS football.
In college football there are numerous incentives to run up the scores, humiliate the other team and schedule the little Sisters of the Poor. The main incentive is to increase the odds of playing for the mythical national championship and the money, prestige and recruitment of best available athletes for next year’s run.
High school FB is big business in a number of larger states and is probably gotten out of hand as far as recruiting from above is concerned. iowa recently recruited and received oral commitment from a high school freshman or sophomore.
https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/college/iowa/football-recruiting/2019/08/29/iowa-football-aaron-graves-youngest-hawkeyes-recruit-kirk-ferentz-era-hawkeyes-southeast-valley/2147141001/
Fred Deutsch is using the “lots of people” phrase? Been listening to Trump too much, Fred? How many people? What people?
I’m pretty sure what he’s saying is “I imagine a lot of people feel this way because I do and these highly wise people elected me so they don’t have to think about this stuff. I don’t have much to do, so here’s what I’m thinking about this weekend.”
One thing for sure … When Spearfish beats Pierre one day, there’ll be a bunch of happy mountain kids, parents, and barflies.
Not a bad idea bcb. However, the reason given as to why a mercy rule has been rejected is because teams don’t want to travel a long distance only to play a short game. Even so, this issue shouldn’t be that hard to sort out if everyone can leave their egos aside.
I think it is up to the coaches as to a mercy rule. They just have to agree before the game starts. I watch the high school in my town and usually if one team is up by 35 or 40 points in the second half, the clock will only stop on a timeout. And if the score is 50+, the game is over.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2016/08/17/why-high-school-football-needs-mercy-rules/#73c05c697c3b
Beat this.
Mike J, my understanding is that some of the classes have a mercy rule, but not all. 11AA (Pierre and Spearfish) and 11AAA do not have the rule. The others do.
Ben,
Okay. I thought maybe all classes went by the same rules. The school here is 11B, which would explain why I see mercy rule games.
St. Thomas is a premiere DIII college in St. Paul, MN. They’ve won national championships and blasted their conference for years. One year they were leading a football game 90-0 with 7 seconds left in the game and on the opponents 5 yard line. They ran for a TD and got the PAT too. 2 years later they’ve been thrown out of the conference and there isn’t another DII conference handy. St. Thomas will go up in class.
Now there’s a remedy for a team that runs up the score.
I noticed no one has mentioned how the winners got to 103. I don’t know if they did run up the score, but the winning coach ought to get some attention about this from the SDHSAA.
Butt out Deutsch.
If we are truly discussing the idea of showing mercy to HS students, and keeping in the arena of football, maybe the most merciful thing would be to look at the science on concussions and stop football PERIOD.
O provides the mercy rule I’ve been looking for. I wonder what would happen if a legislator drafted a bill based on the available evidence and advocated banning football from high school sports. Heck, Fred Deutsch is willing to float the idea of banning sex-change operations for youth when he has no hard evidence that the practice is prevalent in South Dakota or harmful; why wouldn’t he act on the much clearer evidence of harm done by football?
I was at a Wisconsin Badgers football game ten years or so ago where the score was run up on the opponent, a lower division school. I walked out at halftime. I was so disgusted I never went to another game. I don’t know about cutting competitions short, but coaches should be encouraged to put in the srubs when their team is up 30 points.
Young men and increasingly young women like competitions and physical challenges, so I’m all for sports and extracurriculars. My daughter related to me how debate was very competitive, but it didn’t allow her to physically release the pent up tension that such mental competition generates. She always thought it would be nice to have punching bags set up at debate tournaments so that the tension could be released.
Debbo,
The score was 35-0 within the first 3 minutes and 75-0 at halftime. Subs were put in, but I agree with the coach that those players should be able to perform their best once put in. I think they primarily ran the ball in the 2nd half. Also, Spearfish has mainly freshmen and sophomores this year so hopefully this lack of competitiveness is temporary. Spearfish got shutout almost every game this year. I live in Spearfish and I’m personally not that upset at Pierre. I can’t speak for the rest of the community :-).
Donald,
30 points isn’t insurmountable, but if it gets to the point where we expect the leading team to no longer try their best then the game should be called in their favor. Continue playing with subs or whatever, but the win should go to that team.
O and Cory,
I’m also in favor of phasing out football. I enjoy watching the game, but would have no problem with saying football will end at a given date. Let those who have invested in the game and wish to continue playing to do so, but give everyone else a heads up on when it will no longer be available. I would love it if Spearfish did this.
“Butt out Duetsch” LOL. Good one, should be a bumper sticker for that one.
Middlebury, Vermont, has made fundamental changes in youth football to enhance participation at high levels and above. Wapo has the story:
They wrote a three-word mission statement on a notepad: “Safety, Sportsmanship, Fun.” Then they rewrote their rule book: Youth games would last no more than an hour, playoffs and championships would not exist, and there would be absolutely no tackling to the ground.
Players from Middlebury College coach first-, second- and third-graders to chase and pull flags at a local park once a week, and once those kids get to fourth grade, they begin to learn the game’s terminology. By the time they reach fifth grade, they can don pads and play by the league’s rules. Games on Saturday mornings cannot last more than an hour. Score is kept, but standings aren’t.
The league does not hold playoffs and has an 18-point mercy rule. And even though each player is outfitted with roughly $200 worth of gear, offensive players can only block opponents above the waist without taking the defensive player to the ground. For the seventh and eighth grade division, only players 140 pounds or less can carry the ball, so that no smaller defenders get overpowered. Coaches use practices to teach kids how to properly tackle, even though they can’t fully try it until they get to high school.
http://flip.it/MgbMBL
That school is middle sized in Vermont, but has the best turnout in the state. Other schools are adopting their model. Could that work in SD?
Yes, Debbo. That model could work. I’ve spent a lot of time in Vermont and it’s very similar in almost every way to SD. (The biggest difference is the open attitude of rural VT residents to change. The model will work. The problem would be getting rural SD residents to accept something new without wasting most of their time inventing reasons why it wouldn’t work.) *Just watch it happen if this thread gets legs.
Perhaps it could work. But I hope it’s a dying sport.
How about a mercy rule in men’s college basketball? Last night Utah beat Mississippi Valley State 143 to 49, only a 94 point margin of victory.