Mercy Rule
filed in Sports on Nov.08, 2005
I heard a story on the radio last evening while driving home. The two radio personalities (can they really be called ‘Disc Jockeys’ anymore?) were poking fun at a high school basketball team who had recently lost a game. The score? 112-2
The two high school teams in question were the Earlsboro Wildcats (112) vs. the Hanna High School (2) basketball team. [MSNBC article]
The details of the game are a little scary too…
The Wildcats led 42-0 after one quarter and 73-2 at halftime. Walling pulled his starters in the second half, and game officials kept a running clock, stopping it only for free throws.
Walling, the winning coach, is quoted as saying, “It was embarrassing to watch…you can’t just tell your kids not to score. I’ve been coaching 27 years and have never been involved in something like this.”
Questions for YOU:
- At what level/grade of school athletics should a Mercy Rule exist?
- Will a blowout like 112-2 scar these young ballers from Hanna High forever?
- Will they have a warped sense of sportsmanship?
- Who should have been responsible to ask for the game to be called early? The coaches? Refs? Parents? Players?
- Should the coach have pulled his starters earlier than halftime?
- Do you think mercy rules even have a place up to and including professional level sports?
In my opinion, this matchup should never have happened. I don’t fault the winning team for playing their best and winning. Either these two teams belong in different conferences, or the losing team’s coach is not preparing his team properly to compete in actual games. If it is the latter, the coach should be replaced immediately. I think someone should have envoked a mercy rule and called the game early.
November 8th, 2005 on 1:17 pm
I think all sports should have mercy rules – especially schools. The 73-2 halftime score is already too excessive. I believe I remember you telling me that the coach had the first string in until the half – they should’ve been out by the first quarter. I’m sure a lot of people will disagree with me, but who wants to watch even a pro grame when it gets that ridiculous – it should be ended mercifully. The term of “sportsman-like behavior” is demonstrated in the mercy-rule.
November 8th, 2005 on 2:00 pm
I speak as one who has played organized sports all my life. It’s only been in the last two years that I’ve not played some kind of organized, team sport. I also speak as one who has been on the losing side of many lopsided games.
Mercy rules should be (and probably are) part of the game at elementary school levels. (Should a score even be kept?) Beyond that, the game should be played in its entirety. No one, especially the losing squad, likes to end a game early. Let me reiterate that the losing squad is the most adamant about playing on. I’ve been in many situations where the teams didn’t stack up and when offered to change things around have said, “no, we’ll play with what we’ve got.”
We don’t ask marathoners to quit after four hours of running. “Look, Mr. Overweight Overton, the winners finished four hours ago and you have two more hours to go. Let me have mercy on you!” We don’t ask tennis players to sit after being bested in the first two sets 6-0, 6-0. “Look Mr. No Serve Smith, you haven’t won a game and are down two sets.” We don’t ask our Yankees to call it a night just because they are down 10 runs to the Rays. “Look Hitless Yankees, you’re done. Have mercy!” (We came back to win that game 20-11 by scoring 13 runs in the 8th.)
This Earlsboro/Hanna game was the exception – hence it making the national news. That kind of thing rarely happens. And when it does, are we so fragile a species that a good whippin’ ruins the rest of our lives?
Does the coach need firing? Sounds like it. Does the team need to be talked to after the romp? Yes. But I cheer them for finishing. I cheer them on for getting up off the bench after time-outs and going back out there. Play on, Hanna HS, play on!
November 8th, 2005 on 2:09 pm
Great comment Joe, thanks!
That’s a great perspective that I failed to look at – how Hanna H.S. would feel about stopping early. I too have been in that situation (college soccer games, etc..) and the mindset seems to be that the only chance of leaving that pitch with a shred of dignity is to finish the game, go home, do better next week.
November 8th, 2005 on 2:35 pm
That’s so true Joe. Maybe the mercy rule isn’t necessarily ending the game – it’s taking out the stronger players (way earlier in this case) to make a more even playing field. Maybe it’s not keeping official score anymore. Maybe it’s using the regular clock rather than the ref clock. There’s other ways to be more sportsman-like in these situations other than ending the game.
November 8th, 2005 on 7:18 pm
I agree completely with Joe. Teenagers a very resilient and calling in a mercy rule seeks to protect them unecessarily. Some of the greatest lessons of life can happen admist the greatest defeats. The mercy rule robs teenagers of that opportunity to learn.
November 8th, 2005 on 8:44 pm
I’m with Joe. If the only point in organized sports was to win then we would be missing the larger point behind competitive sports or athletics in general. The lesson that was learned in the butt kicking that took place was how to play on, to not give up when it seems impossible, to fight when all hope is gone. Sports are not fair. The team with the better athletes wins most of the time, but that does not mean it is pointless to compete? I have played on, and coached in many games when I have been on the up side and on the down. Both teams, coaches and parents have a lot to learn from both sides of the game. I also defend the coach here. He did not loose the game – his team did. Does the coach have significant role in preparing the team, and teaching schemes and bringing his/her kids to the game ready to play? Yes!! But, there is a common saying in athletics and in the coaches office. “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken s**t”. Sorry for the language, but it is real. The best players in the game can make a bad coach look good, and the poorest athletes in the state can make a great coach look foolish. There is really only so much a coach can do with what he is given and it is important for fans and parents to understand that . Back to my Sports are not fair statement. Life is not fair either. If we are looking for a mercy rule, then create one for the workplace, or for when good dads get laid off at work, or when moms have to return to work to help support the family, or when kids have to quit athletics at school to help support the family. Life is unfair, and if sports are unfair also then they are doing a great job of preparing our youth for the reality of life. Mercy Rule – bad idea. Life is tough, get over it.
November 9th, 2005 on 5:23 am
Byron, I can appreciate your comment – a coach’s point of view – and I really thank you for taking the time to comment.
I realize that games like this are few and far between and I believe that we have systems in place to make games like this more rare – like conferences & groups & sections. I think everyone would agree that games like this aren’t something we want to see on a more regular basis, yes? Don’t you think maybe Hanna HS doesn’t belong in the same conference as Earlsboro? Because if the two schools DO belong in the same conference, I can’t help but fault the coach. Even the worst coach could have prepared their team to prevent a beating like this.
I laughed out loud at your “Chicken Salad” anecdote (as it is one that I’m sure gets said a lot by coaches and ADs after big losses). But there was an obvious complete lack of defense and an unspeakably low amount of offense played by Hanna High. Sure, maybe it helped prepare them for the disappointments of life, but do you think those kids parents look at it from that point of view? Or, are they maybe wondering what they’ve been sending them to practices every week for – what has their coaching staff been teaching them all this time? You say that parents and fans need to understand that a coach can only do so much. Do you really think this coach did ANYTHING with these kids?
To continue your “s**t” anecdotes – it is said in the business world that “s**t always floats to the top.” If the coach was completely incapable of teaching and/or motivating his team to prevent a blowout like this one, he/she needs to go. However, if the coach really is a decent coach and just couldn’t break through to these kids, than they belong in a different conference with teams closer to their level.
Yeah, Sports aren’t fair. Life isn’t fair. Games prepare the kids for the ups and downs of life, but you know what? Sports isn’t life. Sports at this level are RECREATION and I just can’t see how games like this can be good for either team.
November 9th, 2005 on 12:29 pm
Was the team who scored 2 points coached by Chris Studley?
November 15th, 2005 on 1:51 pm
That was flat out low Jason.
…but unfortunately, I think Mr. Studley should be called in for his perspective on this issue. I have complemented him numerous times for his incredible restraint. Had I worked with the s**t he has, and dealt with the actions of other coaches, my fist would be sore and there would have been some post-game brawls in the place of handshakes and smiles.
February 7th, 2006 on 4:07 pm
if you knew any think at all about the two teams you would know it would not have made any differents it Earlsboro have pulled the starters at the end of the first quarter they still would have beaten Hanna and badly at that
February 7th, 2006 on 4:10 pm
just to let you know the teams records as of today Feb the 7 is
Hanna 1-15 and Earlsboro 20-4
February 7th, 2006 on 5:50 pm
Elmer, you proved my point. If the two teams are so far apart from each other in skill level, why would any athletics director think this matchup was a good idea? They should never have played against each other.
February 8th, 2006 on 1:57 am
Kenny both school’s are class b that’s the small class in Oklahoma so there is really not a lot of choice you have to play people in your class it would have been a lot worse it they had to play larger school’s Coach Parsons for Hanna and Coach Walling from Earlsboro do double duty Coach Parsons coaches both boys and girls at hanna as well as being the athletic director coach Welling is both the boys coach and athletic director i know them both they are good coaches Hanna just doesn’t have much to work with their are only 35 students in the high school
February 8th, 2006 on 4:32 am
Thanks Elmer. I appreciate your personal insight into this game.
July 30th, 2007 on 5:16 pm
Just thought I’d let ya’ll know, as the coach of Hanna the following year(last year) we won 6 games, although two came by forfeits. Still, in actual wins, we won 4 times as many games last year as they did the previous four years.
That game was a factor in me being hired. We look to be even better this year.
July 30th, 2007 on 5:23 pm
I beg to differ with Elmer on this. From all that I have been told by school administration, teachers, students, and community here at Hanna, Coach Parsons did nothing with these boys before the season.
They didn’t do anything to get in shape. He sat in the coaches office playing solitaire or being on the Internet while his kids screwed around. He told the boys that the girls were better than them, so he wasn’t going to work with them anymore.
They never practiced after school. They were never encouraged.
One of my players told me tha at halftime Parsons told the players, “I thought ya’ll were in shape?”
That game never should have happened. Grant it, if we were to play Walling’s team last year, we would have been beaten badly again, but it wouldn’t have been like that.
That score is a direct result of a coach who didn’t care.
August 1st, 2007 on 5:23 pm
Thanks Price – that’s kinda what I was hinting at originally. Thanks for your comment and continued good luck in your upcoming games/seasons!