100 - 0 win. Winners apologize?

[Marelo]

Originally Posted by Preturbed

Those girls are definitely playing in the wrong league, no two ways about it.

There we go, that's what I'm trying to say.

[phil_]

Originally Posted by Archbio

Was the game and its result cancelled or altered in any way?

Forfeiting after the game would alter the result, and the winners are trying to forfeit, so yeah, results are being altered along with this apology. Not that this makes Harrison Bergeron relevant; it's just a remark about poorly chosen extra clauses.

And I'm done with this. The whole scenario is far too stupid for me to bear thinking about it more.

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by batgirl

I know that when I played in high school, we were told that if we were either winning or losing by more than 24 or so points, we or the other team would loosen up a bit. It's not that they were apologizing that the other team was bad, but at 60-0, for the sake of the players and the parents, slowing down would be nice. According to my newspaper, the winning team was still playing full court press AND shooting 3 pointers. There's like an unwritten (and in some leagues actual written) law that says to kind of slow up if you're winning by a lot. I know that when I played softball, we were also told that if we scored 14 runs, the game would end automatically as to not embarrass the other team.

It's silly, but think of how the other team must have felt, not being able to score a point and still getting just beaten and beaten. It certainly didn't help their morale.

Would it have helped morale more knowing that the other team backed up and GAVE them points? Being allowed to 'win' or even allowed to 'score a point' is a harder blow to a person's ego than just getting shut out. Not only are they better than you, but they're so much better that they PITY you. That just ain't right. A pity point is just a reminder of how damn terrible you are.

Or, worse, you DON'T realize that they started just giving you the points, and think you actually scored against them. It gives you an unrealistic idea of how good you are and how much you have to improve. An unrealistic idea that is going to be destroyed when someone not so nice comes around.

Sugar coating people's abilities (or lack there of) doesn't help anyone in the long run.

Plus

Originally Posted by Shelby Hyatt, one of the losers

Even if you are losing, you might as well keep playing. Keep trying, and it's going to be OK.

Originally Posted by Article

At a shootaround Thursday, several Dallas Academy players said they were frustrated during the game but felt it was a learning opportunity.

The 'learning disadvantaged' kids are smarter than the entirety of society. If you don't go up against people who are better than you and try your hardest you never get better.

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

such as the Special Olympics, in which all parties are rewarded regardless of performance.

Not a good comparison.

If you've got the balls to try to run the hurdles in an actual competition which people are watching with no actual honest to god legs, you should probably be rewarded regardless of how terribly you do at it.

Plus, a lot of them are mentally disadvantaged too, and are incapable of understanding winning and losing like normal people.

[Archbio]

They just should probably include an overkill rule. It's natural not to be happy about winning by too big a margin at a sport or a game.

[MasterOfMagic]

Yeah, I'm surprised there's no mercy rule in there anywhere. Then again, it is varsity basketball. Around here the winning coach just puts in his "B-team", which is really great for the B-team's self esteem.

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Krylo

Would it have helped morale more knowing that the other team backed up and GAVE them points? Being allowed to 'win' or even allowed to 'score a point' is a harder blow to a person's ego than just getting shut out. Not only are they better than you, but they're so much better that they PITY you. That just ain't right. A pity point is just a reminder of how damn terrible you are.

Or, worse, you DON'T realize that they started just giving you the points, and think you actually scored against them. It gives you an unrealistic idea of how good you are and how much you have to improve. An unrealistic idea that is going to be destroyed when someone not so nice comes around.

Sugar coating people's abilities (or lack there of) doesn't help anyone in the long run.

This. This right here.

Plus

The 'learning disadvantaged' kids are smarter than the entirety of society. If you don't go up against people who are better than you and try your hardest you never get better.

They're smart, but the people handling them don't seem to share the sentiment. That was more my point in the first place.

Not a good comparison.

If you've got the balls to try to run the hurdles in an actual competition which people are watching with no actual honest to god legs, you should probably be rewarded regardless of how terribly you do at it.

Plus, a lot of them are mentally disadvantaged too, and are incapable of understanding winning and losing like normal people.

I'll admit I'm biased on this point. I have nothing against the physically handicapped competing. Far from it, actually. I think that people with physical handicaps have every right to compete and would encourage it, because they need some way of proving to themselves and everyone else that there's really nothing wrong with them and that they can contribute to society.

However, they actually can conceptualize winning and losing, and I feel that giving them a medal regardless of their performance is an insult.

Likewise, I am TOTALLY against competitions that comprise of parents running their kids around in wheelchairs as they sit and drool. If a kid has no idea what's going on, the competition is meaningless and the time and resources could be better spent elsewhere on more productive matters, like making sure that more kids don't end up like that.

I suppose I am, at heart, a practical person, but to me, a competition is about what you can get out of it. That's what bothers me about the Special Olympics and situations like the one we're discussing.

[Wyndon]

Originally Posted by Krylo

Sugar coating people's abilities (or lack there of) doesn't help anyone in the long run.

I mean. This is high school girl's basketball. I don't really know if that applies here. In professional sports? Sure thing. But high school level sports is meant to be more fun than really competitive. I fully agree that this was pretty distasteful. I don't knock the covenant girls for winning, but I knock them for taking the score to the friggin' TRIPLE DIGITS when clearly they KNEW they were going to win.

That's pretty poor sportsmanship. High School Basketball is only a game, it's not a job, nor some super important olympic event in which you need to prove yourself to the fullest. I mean, what about the girls on the other team? Could you imagine how shitty they felt? How helpless all the (previously) excited parents felt, consoling their kids?

I mean, that's a pretty big ego-killer. And unnecessary. I think 60-0 Would have been a decent place to stop. That's a clear message without taking it over the top. People need to respect each other more these days :shifty:

(edited for typo)

[Marelo]

Wyndon, the article quotes several members of the losing team as being unfazed and even excited about it.

[Kim]

Not to mention, I hardly think the parents or any of the players thought they were going to win. They haven't won a game in years. I highly doubt they went into this one thinking, "This is totally going to be the one we win! Definitely!" Besides, you can still have a fun time while losing, and I hardly think anyone went and harassed them for doing poorly.

[bluestarultor]

To be more specific, since people don't seem to be reading the article, the last time they won a game was over four years ago. That means that even the oldest members on the team have never seen a single win.

Somehow, I think that Noncon is on to something with the expecting to win thing.