Running up the Score

[Locke]

Interesting article that I found in regards to fixing the issue of running up the score:

“We had a mercy rule, they’d stop counting,” Kevin said. “But what they’re doing this year is ridiculous.”



What they’re doing is taking the mercy-scoring up a notch. Any team that wins by more than a five-point differential, loses.



According to Kevin, he found this out during a game last week.



“I was out on the field and had just scored the last allowable goal,” Kevin said. “The ref told me not to score any more or we’d lose and when the ref tells you something, you go with it.”



He said, after the caution, he and his teammates kicked the ball around for 20 minutes, being careful not to score and not to let the opposing team get it.



“I just felt worse about that, not playing my hardest, just wasting time,” Kevin said. “It’s awful.”



His dad understands the reasoning, but thinks there are better ways of balancing teams.

“I think it’s a lousy solution to the problem,” said Cholmsky, who makes her living as a child psychologist. “Kids need to learn to deal with not winning, it builds self-esteem and teaches them resilience and how to cope with failure.”

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNew.../14200101.html

I think this was an idiotic solution, I agree that 'something' should be done, but it shouldnt punish the superior team, it should assist the weaker team such as putting them in a different division or something.

[CMPunk]

If they score 5, then put it down as a win and mix the teams up for the rest of the time

[CaptainCrunch]

In my day we didn't have a mercy rule, you were expected to play hard til the end of the game. A good coach would tell you to forget about the score if you were getting blown away and play like its a close game. In terms of being a coach of the team doing the blowing . . . err . . . out, you start putting in your backups and give them time to play, or your 4th line on powerplay duty.

A mercy rule is stupid, you've paid for the ice/field/floor time . . . you might as well use it.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by CMPunk

If they score 5, then put it down as a win and mix the teams up for the rest of the time

As a coach, I totally disagree with this. I tend to use these kinds of opportunities to determine lineups, combinations and strategies that work well or show promise of chemistry for future purposes. I find that mixing up the teams is just a different way to waste time.

I suppose that if you're in a strictly 'fun' league or whatever then this would be fine though, but if there is going to be tough future competition I prefer to use my time to prepare my team.

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

In my day we didn't have a mercy rule, you were expected to play hard til the end of the game. A good coach would tell you to forget about the score if you were getting blown away and play like its a close game. In terms of being a coach of the team doing the blowing . . . err . . . out, you start putting in your backups and give them time to play, or your 4th line on powerplay duty.

A mercy rule is stupid, you've paid for the ice/field/floor time . . . you might as well use it.

I've seen different methods of not running up the score, like playing different guys, different positions, all that, like I mentioned above, I prefer to use the time productively. The part of the article that struck me the most true was where the boy felt bad about 'wasting time.' Because thats really all it amounts to. Waste the time until this debacle is over.

They should never be wasting time, use it productively any way you can.

[CaptainCrunch]

Plus, if another team is beating your teams A##, you can teach your boys the value of fighting, dirty plays and cheap shots.

I mean we are preparing them for a future professional career right?

[SebC]

IMO going easy on an opponent is no more respectful than crushing them.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Locke

I think this was an idiotic solution, I agree that 'something' should be done, but it shouldnt punish the superior team, it should assist the weaker team such as putting them in a different division or something.

CPSW Softball Team?

[Joborule]

Originally Posted by SebC

IMO going easy on an opponent is no more respectful than crushing them.

True enough.

this rule is the dumbest thing I've heard. So because a team is performing that much better, they lost the game for out competing the team by a large margin? Come on, how much softer are people going to get?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by troutman

CPSW Softball Team?

Hey, we do just fine!!

We got our asses beat pretty badly for a while, and now we're getting better. Works like magic.

[Bill Bumface]

This drives me nuts in adult hockey leagues.

First of all, no longer putting the goals up on the board (stopping at 8 or 9) doesn't make me forget about the 15 my team has let in and make me feel any better about it.

Running the clock doesn't make me feel better. If the game isn't rough and out of hand at all, we payed good money to get the ice time and get some exercise and work on our hockey skills. Let us play the whole game. Sometimes you don't feel so horrible if you break the shutout with a minute left when you are getting killed. Ask the team getting crushed before running the clock.

[chid]

So the crappy team who is getting beat could potentially win - all they would need to do is let the other team score their 5 goals on them, and then OOPS, accidentally score on their own net - therefore VICTORY

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by chid

So the crappy team who is getting beat could potentially win - all they would need to do is let the other team score their 5 goals on them, and then OOPS, accidentally score on their own net - therefore VICTORY

I gotta say this was kind of the first thought that popped into my head.

However, then I just remembered the other team is much stronger than them to be up by 5 goals, so they'd probably be able to get the ball back and score on themselves too.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Regorium

I gotta say this was kind of the first thought that popped into my head.

However, then I just remembered the other team is much stronger than them to be up by 5 goals, so they'd probably be able to get the ball back and score on themselves too.

That's why it you wait until the last second to score on yourself.

Like in the Barbados-Grenada match at the 1994 Shell Carribean Cup. In that case the stupid rule was that a golden goal counts as two. Not only did Barbados have to defend Grenada's goal, they also had to defend their own. And they succeeded!