After his kid’s HS football team loses 91-0, dad files BULLYING complaint

[TechMan]

http://news.yahoo.com/kid-high-school-football-team-loses-91-0-063403473.html

To quote my friend who posted this on facebook:

SUCK IT UP!! tell your kids to practice harder, someone has to win and someone has to loose! "Bullying" is getting used way too much! Its a game they lost!

[Sergeant Bob]

Hey dad, maybe your kid (and his team) just sucks?
And now you suck.

[vaskidmark]

Strange.  MSM reported that it was some mommy who whined.

Could it be that there is more than one parent who just cannot stand their little buttercup being less than first?

Also - supposedly the two teams were horribly mismatched.  The losers were coming off some time without a team and were fielding kids with maybe 2 weeks of practice, while the other team had an enviable record stretching back several years.  Both coaches knew that, and supposedly they asked their teams if they wanted to play or not.  More kids from the losing side said yes than the other side's kids, who supposedly expressed some concern about the unevenness of the match.

The mismatch came about because both schools are assigned to the same league by the school athletic association.  Blame, if any, ought to be heaped on their heads.

The coach of the losing team stated after the game that he had no complaints, and that he and the team would continue to build.  Supposedly he also said something like "Maybe one day we will beat them.  It's not our goal to get even, just to become that good."

Parents who want "mercy rules" are just telling their kids that they do not have the internal fortitude to deal with life.  But then, they have been telling their precious little snowflakes that since the day after they were conceived (if they got a late start).

stay safe.

[SteveS]

I wish I could say that I was surprised, but I am not.  I took an educational law class in law school.  Close to a third of the cases in the textbook involved some extended litigation on school sports, such as a kid being kicked off the team or some other restriction.  While I enjoyed high school sports, I have a hard time understanding parents that would spends 10's of thousands of dollars to litigate.

[BryanP]

*sigh*.  Running up the score like that is poor sportsmanship, and if I were the coach of the winning team I'd have put a halt to it.  But bullying?  No.

[makattak]

*sigh*.  Running up the score like that is poor sportsmanship, and if I were the coach of the winning team I'd have put a halt to it.  But bullying?  No.

I haven't seen the game so I don't know if they were running up the score.

However, I would find it more insulting if they just started kneeling down starting in the 3rd quarter. From what I've read, the winning coach pulled the starters and was playing back-ups. It was just that much of a lopsided match-up.

[Sergeant Bob]

*sigh*.  Running up the score like that is poor sportsmanship, and if I were the coach of the winning team I'd have put a halt to it.  But bullying?  No.

How do you suggest they remedy the situation? Fumble on purpose? Throw intentional interceptions? Run the ball into the opponent's end zone and down it? Run around like a bunch of clowns?

[cordex]

How do you suggest they remedy the situation? Fumble on purpose? Throw intentional interceptions? Run the ball into the opponent's end zone and down it? Run around like a bunch of clowns?

Seems like anything they did (including calling the game early) would be just as or more humiliating.

[lupinus]

*sigh*.  Running up the score like that is poor sportsmanship, and if I were the coach of the winning team I'd have put a halt to it.  But bullying?  No.

And they do this...how? "Sorry, you guys suck so bad we just can't keep doing this to yall. Call it a day?"

[MechAg94]

*sigh*.  Running up the score like that is poor sportsmanship, and if I were the coach of the winning team I'd have put a halt to it.  But bullying?  No.

This has been on the radio a bit down here.  Supposedly, the winning team's starters only played a very short time.  It was the backups and scrups that never play that ran up the score.  The losing team was just THAT bad.  It is hard to tell kids that rarely play to take it easy. 

For the most part, blow out wins are not uncommon in high school and lower level sports.  You just end up with more mis-matches.  One high school will have future NFL players come through and be king of the world and then suck when those players graduate.  That happened to my home town a few years back.

[Sergeant Bob]

This has been on the radio a bit down here.  Supposedly, the winning team's starters only played a very short time.  It was the backups and scrubs that never play that ran up the score.  The losing team was just THAT bad.  It is hard to tell kids that rarely play to take it easy. 

Yep. I'd say the coach did all he could do without degrading his own students.

[Hawkmoon]

*sigh*.  Running up the score like that is poor sportsmanship, and if I were the coach of the winning team I'd have put a halt to it.  But bullying?  No.

We were discussing this over lunch at work today. Other than tell your kids to just drop the ball or stand still until the other side can tackle you (either of which would be an obvious and insulting gesture in itself), what the winning coach supposed to do in such a lopsided game? Maybe you started the first string, maybe you gave them a day off and started the second string, and by the end of the first period you've already got a lopsided margin and you're playing the third string -- or the jayvees -- and they're STILL racking up the points.

What more (or what less?) can the winning coach do? Sure, it's unsportsmanlike to run up the score, but how sportsmanlike is it TO EITHER TEAM to tell your kids not to play well? In essence, not to throw the game, but to throw a whole bunch of plays, or series. That's not fair to the kids on the good team, and I propose that it's also not fair to the kids on the poor team.

There is no good answer in a situation where league membership requires scheduling games between severely mismatched opponents.

[BlueStarLizzard]

I haven't seen the game so I don't know if they were running up the score.

However, I would find it more insulting if they just started kneeling down starting in the 3rd quarter. From what I've read, the winning coach pulled the starters and was playing back-ups. It was just that much of a lopsided match-up.

Based on my own experiances in playing sports, pulling the best players and putting the lesser players up front is pretty standard when facing a team that's that bad.

I know I always enjoyed getting to play for the goal on rare occasion. Defense is importent, but forwards always get all the love.

Having been on the losing side of that scenerio as well, I can say it's no less humuliating then having the other team go to knee or calling the game.

However, losing is a part of the game. My JV team was horrid. We lost every game that season. It sucked so bad. We had a few experianced forwards, a goalie and me, the only damn defender and a bunch of girls who where not even athletic, much less soccer players.
I was much more abusive to my fellow teammates then getting mad or upset with the teams kicking our butts.

You play to win. You can't blame the other team for doing the same thing. You can only blame your own team for sucking that bad.
And if your that bad, it's less about not losing, as it is getting to the point you don't lose so bad.

[Lee]

So they played the 3rd string. What about the cheerleaders?
Could there be a sexual discrimination lawsuit lurking here as well?

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

I am guessing lots of folks never troubled to read both coaches statements? Definitely not bullying nor was it poor sportsmanship. Kids did just fine showed class on both teams. The parents that complained need to foad


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[BlueStarLizzard]

I am guessing lots of folks never troubled to read both coaches statements? Definitely not bullying nor was it poor sportsmanship. Kids did just fine showed class on both teams. The parents that complained need to foad


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Parents are the worst part about kids/teen sports.

When your a kid, having the loud, obnoxious parent cheering is embarressing enough. Having the parent who fights with refs, coaches and other parents is social homicide.

My rec soccer league actually had rules. Refs could red card parents and a notice went out telling parents to cheer for all the kids on their kids team, not just their kid.

The kid with the parents who broke those rules usually had that "i want to sink into the turf and never go out in public again" look on their face.

[RoadKingLarry]

Yep. I'd say the coach did all he could do without degrading his own students.

Maybe he should have suited up the cheerleaders at half time.

High school football is a the religion around here. There are always some teams that are almost always strong and some that are perennial losers. Sometimes it comes down to money. Sometimes the school district's gene pool just doesn't have any diversity.

[BryanP]

On the basis  of new information, I withdraw my statement.   

[dogmush]

On the basis  of new information, I withdraw my statement.   

They bullied you into a retraction?

[HankB]

Maybe the complaining parent thought that everyone ought to have gotten a medal, the same way he did as a youth while competing in the Special Olympics.

[Scout26]

When I played in High School our team won 1 game in 3 years.  Yes, we sucked.   Never got beat that bad, but there were some 31-0 blowouts.   I'm here in Indy now, and in today's paper they had a listing of tonight's games.  My High School is 9-0 this year and playing our perennial rivals.  I'm tempted to go watch.

Robert's Fall Baseball team sucked.  Bad.  They won 1 game all season (by 1 run and quite a few lucky bounces).  Every other game was 17-4, 18-2 and the like.  Worst was 37-5.  In that game, his team couldn't buy an out.   The other coach was telling his players to slow down when running the bases.  They stopped stealing when they had scored 15 runs.  His team was just bad.  Bad pitching, bad fielding, bad batting.  (only 3 players hit above the Mendoza Line, Robert being one.)

He want's to play football next fall. 

[Mannlicher]

players job is to play.  Coaches job is to coach.  If there is some horrid mismatch, if things are lopsided, players still gotta play, coaches still have to coach.
Not all of life's inequities can be addressed.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

learning how to lose. not quit and come back again are valuable life lessons.
as is winning without being a *expletive deleted*che while at the same time not apologizing for being skilled. from what i gather the kids and coaches get it.kids can teach.old folks sometimes

damn phone

[zxcvbob]

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." --Theodore Roosevelt

[Sergeant Bob]

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." --Theodore Roosevelt

Bully!