Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let me shed a little light on the two schools - it might help some of the knee-jerk reactions. (Source: I attended another school in St. John's conference.)
Both schools are DIII - but - there's a world of difference between them. This is like Alabama taking on some Sun Belt school. (Probably more like a Conference USA school.)
St. John's has a program that goes back a century, and includes multiple D3 national championships. The school has no problem stocking its roster, as can be seen by its triple-digit length. Its top players might have DII or even DI skills, just not the size. The conference St. John's plays in - the MIAC - is one of the strongest in all of DIII. Kids come from many other states to play in the MIAC. St. John's, as a highly respected Catholic school, is a particularly strong magnet for that demographic.
St. Scholastica used to be a girls' school until a generation ago. Its football team is maybe 10 years old. It plays in a weak conference of mostly what we used to call "Bible schools".
Why even play this game, when the outcome isn't in doubt? Good question. My best guess is that it was a church thing. St. John's was likely pressured to schedule this game as a favor to St. Scholastica.
The area around St. John's is heavily Catholic, and a good chunk of St. Scholastica's roster (15-20 of them, just flipping through) is from the St. John's area. In other words, this was a chance for grandma and grandpa from both sides to see little Johnny ( ) play without having to travel to Duluth.
And that's exactly what happened. Everyone played - it was like an all-star game. St. John's emptied the bench - they had THIRTEEN different scorers. Should the 3rd or 4th string backups not have scored? That's a bit much to ask of some kid who knows he isn't going to get a single down in conference play. St. Scholastica refused the offer of a runnng clock - they also wanted to put on a full game for those who came out.
Once they were stuck with this stinker of a match on the schedule, I don't know what else the Johnnies could have done without flat-out insulting their opponents.
This just further reinforces the fact that the game should not have been played. How were the athletes of St. Scholastica properly represented and protected when the bottom of the St John's lineup continued to have the ability to score? The idea that St. Scholastica refused to go to a running clock shows the head coach of St. Scholastica has no business being a head coach. Whoever approved this game for St. Scholastica should be fired. The idea that St Scholastica might have done this for money is even more disgusting.
St John's also needs to look at their own decision making wasting a game with a far inferior team.
It's not about the other team's feelings. It's about the obnoxiousness of the coach that feels he can only prove himself by running up the score past a certain point.
bull crap. when threads like this pop up it is all about the other teams, or their fans, feelings. the vast majority of coaches pull their first stringers when the score is being rolled up, mostly because they dont ant their best players hurt, but to also give the second and third stringers playing time, as they may prove valuable in the future.
so what is a coach supposed to do? tell his team to stop playing the game because the score is too high? as i noted before, where else do you want to get people to stop being the best they can be? your work place? the race track? the military?
once again i will note to you that life isnt fair, never has been, never will be. did anyone think that richard petty, or other drivers, should have slowed down when they had the field down by 8 laps? do you think bob glidden should have let someone else win in 1978 when he went 32-0 in pro stock racing in two different sanctioning bodies? should wilt chaimberlin have stopped scoring in the game where he scored 100 points, when his point total reached 50? should that kid last year in college have stopped scoring hen his point total was 50 instead of scoring 138 points in one game?
lets be real here, just because you think the winning team should take things easy on the losers and not run up the score, doesnt mean it should happen. if your feelings are hurt, tough, grow a thicker skin, and hope your team does better next time. i went to the alamo bowl when my arizona wildcats lost to oaklahoma state 38-0. was i upset? yes i was hoping the cats would have a better showing at least. did i **** and moan that okst should have stopped scoring when their point total reached 20? heck no. the cats lost to the better team that day, in fact they got their butts whipped. it happens, get over it.
I think we should first define "running up the score"
In my opinion, something like playing your best players for the entire contest even after the game is out of hand, even if the opposing team removes their best players, is fundamentally different than bringing in the backups and continuing to dominate simply because your players are better.
lets be real here, just because you think the winning team should take things easy on the losers and not run up the score, doesnt mean it should happen.
I'm an Alabama fan. Coach Saban is one of the most respected coaches in the NCAA, and there's a reason for it. He doesn't do lame **** like run up the score, because he believes in sportsmanship. He absolutely could, but he doesn't.
People like you could learn from him, but you won't, because you could never be that good. Which is why, when given the chance, you'd run up the score. Because it's the only time you can.
The idea that St Scholastica might have done this for money is even more disgusting.
LOL.
Much like the rest of D-III, tickets for MIAC games are in the single-digit price range, and, realistically, you don't even need to pay half the time, as no one notices or cares if you just walk in. There's no "patsy money" to be found here.
Surprisingly, St. Scholastica is one of the better teams in their training-wheels conference. I don't know what they were thinking was going to happen with this, though. If they would have played one of the weak links in the MIAC (instead of a team ranked top 10 nationally in D-III), they still would have been beat, but it wouldn't have been ridiculous.
I'm an Alabama fan. Coach Saban is one of the most respected coaches in the NCAA, and there's a reason for it. He doesn't do lame **** like run up the score, because he believes in sportsmanship. He absolutely could, but he doesn't.
People like you could learn from him, but you won't, because you could never be that good. Which is why, when given the chance, you'd run up the score. Because it's the only time you can.
really? i have been on teams that were capable of running up the score, i have been on teams where there is no reason we should have scored at all, and the other team was capable of running up the score. it happens regardless of what you do. years ago the arizona basketball coach lute olsen, also one of the most respected coaches in the NCAA was accused of running up the score, and he said that by the time the second half rolled around, he wasnt playing his first stringers, in fact often times he EMPTIED his bench and even the bottom players were in the game beating the snot out of the other team.
and consider this, if a team is caught shaving points, for what ever reason, the coach can get in big trouble along with the university athletics programs.
as for me, i am a competitor, regardless of the sport. i want to win everything i enter. but i also realize that i wont, because as the line in a song goes, "you always know when the engine blows that a man cant win them all". so when i lose, i go back and try harder the next time. and sometimes when i win i go back and try harder the next time.
but also know that i dont ridicule my competitors when i win, and i congratulate them when i lose. to go a step further, at a couple of races i went and HELPED my direct competitors with their cars, evne though i knew they could end up winning the race. sometimes they did, sometimes i did. you want sportsmanship, there it is my friend.
Having been on the losing end of some nasty blowouts it would be 100X's more embarrassing if my coach forfeited the game and pulled us off the field rather than letting us play it out. I mean once the score is 30/40 to 0 it doesnt matter if it gets to 50 or 100. As long as the other team isnt running their first team then it isnt running up the score.
Since the St John's coach played every player and stopped passing exactly what was he supposed to do to avoid scoring. Was he supposed to instruct his players to intentionally take a knee on every down? Wouldn't that have been a complete insult to the St Scolastica players, effectively saying they suck so bad we are going to have to fake that you stopped us?
There is a point in sports when enough is enough, and sportsmanship should be the rule at all times.
why?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
) play without having to travel to Duluth.
