Arroyo Valley High coach suspended for winning

[Euphoria14]

Mr Khan said:

Euphoria14 said:

Mr Khan said:

 

What's the motivation to play if you aren't having, on some level, fun? Winning can be "fun" whether or not you're having a good time of it, you feel a sense of achievement or what have you. Losing really badly bestows the team with nothing, unless the bad loss was due to some obvious flaw that could be corrected, a teaching moment. That doesn't seem to be the case here and in other cases where the mercy rule should apply.

I've never played sports in an official capacity, but it can hardly be any different from any other engagement. A hard-fought game, even lost, is still thrilling enough to have been worth the price of entry. A humiliating defeat is just that, a humiliation, and of no good to anyone except to poor winners on the winning side.

As I expected, you don't have that competitive sports nature to understand what I meant, and I don't mean that to try and sound condescending. It's just one of those things where either you have it or you don't. If the way this comes across sounds that way then I apologize.

Just making a team in itself is a competition. Remaining on that team is a competition. The purpose of being on a team is to learn to function as a unit in order to win and to strive to become a better player in order to allow your team work better together.

If you aren't good enough to be a starter, you ride the bench. If you're not good enough off the bench, you get kicked from the team.

Like I said, it's a priviledge and not a right and it needs to be looked at that way and not about just letting kids join based soley on them wanting to have fun, because some of the best players look at it as much more than that.

Right: competition can be fun (fun is not mere frivolity, just like happiness is not mere hedonism. Same way grind-fests like Monster Hunter can be just as fun as a quick-paced game of Smash), but again, losing very badly is not fun and doesn't have a place in the system. Forcing people to endure a bad loss beyond any point of recall is just a humiliation, like if everybody was forced to try out for the team, even if they didn't want to, just so the people who were good at the sport could stoke their own ego about how much better they are than average. You are not proving anything beyond a certain point that isn't already apparent to everyone, there is no pride or glory, just angst.

Though ultimately we're talking about very isolated incidents. I'd peg the mercy rule as something like two standard deviations away from the average point spread for the sport in question, something that's statistically very unlikely to happen, but certainly can happen. Would only apply to high school sports, maybe the NCAA. Pro is different because the folks may get humiliated, but at least they're getting paid.

Agreed, this is no doubt an isolated incident. It is never usually this bad in any level of sports, unless you're playing playground ball and getting your butt whooped to the point where you pick up your bags and walk off the court.

As for losing badly not having a place in the system though, I do not believe mercy rule in all sports does either, but clearly this isn't a discussion where we will likely come to any full agreement on and I am positive we have said just about all that we both could say.

Still enjoyed it none the less.