I feel your pain. I know your struggle. It doesn't matter what you do to try to make your team better you'll be criticized when your team scores more than 49 points against an outmatched district opponent you have to schedule. Especially if you score those 49 points in the first half. You guys are better men than myself because I have never seen a sportsmanship rule book that defines how to properly respect your lowly opponent and respect the game of football. I can't say I would do some of the things you guys have done this past weekend in an effort to not humiliate your opponent. I'd have played Devin Hayes until he set a new state record with 15 passing touchdowns in a game. I wouldn't have onside kicked it to get him more possessions but I would let him chase the record. I'd have tried to have gotten Fant 500 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns as well. I would have let Drew Houliston then try to break Hayes record the following night. I wouldn't let my JV in until the end of the 4th quarter. Why would I do that? Because it doesn't matter what these coaches do. These unwritten rules of sportsmanship and class and respect is as bad as the unwritten rules of baseball. Maybe it's because my son and I have both played on basketball teams that got their heads beaten in like a drum so we can handle losing in that manner. News flash people.......some teams just suck really really bad and some teams are just really really good. BG could have beaten Logan County 147-10 the other night and Highlands could have beaten Harrison County 126-0 last night but they didn't. And people are still complaining. The real issue is that these are district opponents neither team can avoid playing. As long as teams are playing and the clock is running and as long as the written rules are being followed then all is fair in my eyes. I will no longer follow the unwritten rules of sportsmanship because it's obvious it doesn't matter if you follow them anyways.

 

And that includes the dumbest unwritten rule of them all, the orchestrated post game handshake. That is stupid also.

I feel your pain. I know your struggle. It doesn't matter what you do to try to make your team better you'll be criticized when your team scores more than 49 points against an outmatched district opponent you have to schedule. Especially if you score those 49 points in the first half. You guys are better men than myself because I have never seen a sportsmanship rule book that defines how to properly respect your lowly opponent and respect the game of football. I can't say I would do some of the things you guys have done this past weekend in an effort to not humiliate your opponent. I'd have played Devin Hayes until he set a new state record with 15 passing touchdowns in a game. I wouldn't have onside kicked it to get him more possessions but I would let him chase the record. I'd have tried to have gotten Fant 500 receiving yards and 10 receiving touchdowns as well. I would have let Drew Houliston then try to break Hayes record the following night. I wouldn't let my JV in until the end of the 4th quarter. Why would I do that? Because it doesn't matter what these coaches do. These unwritten rules of sportsmanship and class and respect is as bad as the unwritten rules of baseball. Maybe it's because my son and I have both played on basketball teams that got their heads beaten in like a drum so we can handle losing in that manner. News flash people.......some teams just suck really really bad and some teams are just really really good. BG could have beaten Logan County 147-10 the other night and Highlands could have beaten Harrison County 126-0 last night but they didn't. And people are still complaining. The real issue is that these are district opponents neither team can avoid playing. As long as teams are playing and the clock is running and as long as the written rules are being followed then all is fair in my eyes. I will no longer follow the unwritten rules of sportsmanship because it's obvious it doesn't matter if you follow them anyways.

 

And that includes the dumbest unwritten rule of them all, the orchestrated post game handshake. That is stupid also.

 

Yes and wouldn't it have been something if Fant blowed his knee out getting 500 yards receiving. What if Hayes got hit and broke his collarbone up 56 to 3? I really hope you are joking with this post. You would definitely see things differently if you were a Logan County fan.

Yes and wouldn't it have been something if Fant blowed his knee out getting 500 yards receiving. What if Hayes got hit and broke his collarbone up 56 to 3? I really hope you are joking with this post. You would definitely see things differently if you were a Logan County fan.

 

Dead serious. And as I have stated, I have experienced the feeling of the Logan County players as a player and as a parent.

 

Fant can blow out his knee walking to class or falling down the stairs at home. Should he crawl everywhere when he isn't on the football field to avoid injury?

The you won by too much stuff is old to me as well so I will climb to the top of my soapbox and philosophize for a moment about the ColdHard world. I don't mean to offend, just share some of my experiences.

 

My son played football, soccer, baseball, and basketball. Some in youth sports and some in high school. He played on undefeated teams, teams that fought for every inch and won championships against all odds, average teams, bad teams, and one that went winless. On some teams he was the best player on his team on others he was at the end of the bench and at certain points he was every imaginable place in between. At times he didn't play as much as he thought he deserved and others he played more, or in a position more than he had actually earned. My expectations of him as a parent never changed. Have fun, always try to do your best, be a good teammate, and show sportsmanship.

 

Sportsmanship to me, and what I taught to my son, meant to be respectful of everyone on the field. Never try to harm or humiliate anyone with your actions outside of the play itself. Play within the rules always.

 

I also taught him what it meant to give your best effort when a win or a loss was a given. Give no slack and don't expect any from opponents. I taught him that you should put your opponent away as soon as you could. That you should never give up no matter how far behind. I taught him what it meant to send a message to an opponent and future opponents through his play.

 

I like to think that those messages and those lessons learned, all of them good and bad, are things that he will draw from as an adult. That they will make him a better man, a better father to my future grand kids, a better husband when he someday has a wife, that he is a better employee and that he someday leads others, that he gives back to his community, and finally that when I am old and feeble, that he is a great son to me. As difficult as life sometimes gets in one or more areas I am glad that he has all of those varied experiences to draw from and that someday when I am gone that those lessons helped build for him a foundation that he can continue to draw upon.

 

My hope for the players from Logan and Harrison Counties, from Bowling Green and Highlands, from all of the teams that won, lost, played poorly, or played well is that they have parents and coaches using the lessons of the game build better young men.

 

On a side note, every one of those ColdHard life lessons began (begin with) ' life is not fair,' and end with ' I love you son.'

Yes and wouldn't it have been something if Fant blowed his knee out getting 500 yards receiving. What if Hayes got hit and broke his collarbone up 56 to 3? I really hope you are joking with this post. You would definitely see things differently if you were a Logan County fan.

 

I love when people say stuff like this. If a kid gets his knee "BLOWED" out is a 7 point game is that a less severe injury then if it's BLOWN out in a 40 point game? Football is dangerous and injuries can happen anytime.

True but there is a thing about taking unneeded risks. What happens if some 16 year old kid reaches a breaking point he normally wouldn't and takes a cheap shot? Yeah those things could always happen but you can do things to put the percentages more in your favor.

True but there is a thing about taking unneeded risks. What happens if some 16 year old kid reaches a breaking point he normally wouldn't and takes a cheap shot? Yeah those things could always happen but you can do things to put the percentages more in your favor.

 

So it's better for the kid taking the cheap shot to be a JV or Freshman player who would be in the game at the time?

So it's better for the kid taking the cheap shot to be a JV or Freshman player who would be in the game at the time?

 

While I agree with your overall sentiment on this topic, I will say that if I'm on the losing team looking across at a guy still in the game up 70 catching TD passes, I'm probably thinking payback. There's different degrees of humiliation.

 

Then again, I was also the guy who would occasionally get into tussles on the hoops court back in the day when I would institute my "you don't try to dunk on me" rule. Most opponents learned quick.

So it's better for the kid taking the cheap shot to be a JV or Freshman player who would be in the game at the time?

No injury is good for whatever the reason. If your starting qb takes a cheap shot trying to throw his 9th TD of the game up by 40 and you lose him for the season was it worth it? A kid having 400+ rec yards in a game and then gets hurt while having a D1 scholarship and ends his season is it worth it? There is a difference between taking unnecessary risks and the price of doing business.

 

What would one be attempting to prove by putting a player in such a risk?

While I agree with your overall sentiment on this topic, I will say that if I'm on the losing team looking across at a guy still in the game up 70 catching TD passes, I'm probably thinking payback. There's different degrees of humiliation.

 

Then again, I was also the guy who would occasionally get into tussles on the hoops court back in the day when I would institute my "you don't try to dunk on me" rule. Most opponents learned quick.

 

No injury is good for whatever the reason. If your starting qb takes a cheap shot trying to throw his 9th TD of the game up by 40 and you lose him for the season was it worth it? A kid having 400+ rec yards in a game and then gets hurt while having a D1 scholarship and ends his season is it worth it? There is a difference between taking unnecessary risks and the price of doing business.

 

What would one be attempting to prove by putting a player in such a risk?

 

 

To me it's just playing the game. I've never been a fan of calling off the dogs just because one team is German Sheperds and the other is French Poodles. I wouldn't play any differently if the score was 0-0 or 70-0. If a kid takes a cheap shot on one of my players who is really showing poor sportsmanship? In my mind the kid that will take a cheap shot on a kid who is dominating him will do so if the score is 70-0 or 24-24.

Run it up till they take their starters out.

To me it's just playing the game. I've never been a fan of calling off the dogs just because one team is German Sheperds and the other is French Poodles. I wouldn't play any differently if the score was 0-0 or 70-0. If a kid takes a cheap shot on one of my players who is really showing poor sportsmanship? In my mind the kid that will take a cheap shot on a kid who is dominating him will do so if the score is 70-0 or 24-24.

 

Poodles are mean dogs.

Here are my meager thoughts on this...

• I got no problem with teams scoring as much as they can.
  
• Got no problem with backup or JV QB getting a series or two with regular starters to give him a real feel for the game.
  
• I don't buy into were not substituting until the losing team quit trying either...substitute your D and give them a shot against the other teams #1's.
  
• I do think it is tasteless to call a time out in a blow out to get in one last trick play before the end of the game.
  
• I'm not a fan of a team taking a "pitty" knee to keep from scoring, put your freshmen in and let them run the play.
  
• I do think that with a running clock in the second half it borders on classless to run a hurry up offense even with the back-ups.
  
• I do have issues with coaches that don't empty their bench in a game like that, not for the losing teams benefit but for the benefit of the kids on the bench on the winning team that rarely get into the game.
  
• Part of these blow outs are on the losing team also, with a running clock they should be able to shorten the game by running down the play clock and eat 2 or 3 minutes at least on each possession.
  

 

 

I've seen more outrageous scores this year it seems than in the past which surprises me with the running clock rule dropping to 36 points.

To me it's just playing the game. I've never been a fan of calling off the dogs just because one team is German Sheperds and the other is French Poodles. I wouldn't play any differently if the score was 0-0 or 70-0. If a kid takes a cheap shot on one of my players who is really showing poor sportsmanship? In my mind the kid that will take a cheap shot on a kid who is dominating him will do so if the score is 70-0 or 24-24.

I never said anything about sportsmanship. I'm talking about managing a team and not taking unnessecary risks. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

I love when people say stuff like this. If a kid gets his knee "BLOWED" out is a 7 point game is that a less severe injury then if it's BLOWN out in a 40 point game? Football is dangerous and injuries can happen anytime.

 

From the standpoint of maybe taking you from a contender to an average team.....yes. He shouldn't be on the field if your up 40. Most teams can't lose their best player and continue on the same path that they were. Your telling me that you wouldn't feel responsible for the kid getting injured with him being in a game that was over?