Mercy rule approved
Posted on April 1st, 2008 – 10:50 AMBy John Millea
Here’s how it will work…
In basketball, if a team is ahead by 35 or more in the last nine minutes of a game, running time will be used.
In football, if one team is up by 35 in the fourth quarter, running time will be used.
In both cases, regular time will be used if that 35-point lead is cut to less than 30.
27 Responses to "Mercy rule approved"
Is that for Varsity competition only?
I am not sure why the mercy rule is even being discussed let alone passed. Nearly every coach I have personally interviewed or talked to off the record has stated that the mercy rule in the long run is a bad way to go. Each coach agreed that some sort of scheduling restrictions would better serve the problem.
For example, if your program has been winning by 30 or more points in more than 50% of your non-conference games for the past 2 years - that team should not be allowed to schedule a sub .500 team in the next season. Yes, I agree that this may create holes in a schedule but what is wrong with scheduling a non-conference team for 2 games in a season instead of 1?
Basically I am suggesting that instead of reducing playing time for the players lets come up with a way to make the time of more quality – which by the way could translate into better crowds, more revenue, etc… Way to many of you coaches worry about your team’s record and not the quality of your record.
I believe that if you asked the athletes on the losing team whether they want the game quickened, a majority would say no.
i hope this is an april fools joke…
One problem is that it reduce the odds of people setting scoring records for their careers. I would guess that some of the points that the top scorers have accumulated have been in blowouts.
Is this just so that the playe’s self-esteem won’t be harmed? Deal with it, it’s part of becoming an adult.
To me it would be an even bigger slap in the face about how badly you got beat if the mercy rule was enforced in a game I was participating in. Sometimes you just get your butt whipped, end of story!
I have no problem with this. I have seen some totally out of whack games and some instances where coaches were actually running scores up for no reason other than they could, leaving starters in long after other coaches would be using subs. There are also some teams that play in conferences where they don’t belong, primarily teams whose schools have single A level enrollments but whose programs in a given sport play at high AA levels. They run up artificially high win totals while generally preventing their players from having the chance to match their talents against players of their own caliber. They are doing as much of an injustice to themselves as they are to their opponents.
If some of these coaches would show a little respect, there would not be that drastic of a score difference. Put the scrubs in or something and don’t pass. Some will just continue to run up the score to compensate for their inflated egos.
How did the vote go on this issue? Was it close?
This will help develop self-esteem in losing teams.
Think of how many more games glen mason would have won if they had this for college football…
I suppose nobody who has posted here has ever played in a softball league? Mercy rules have been around for a LONG time. Get over it guys. They go to running time! They don’t stop the game! Come on!
Everyone loves a close games more, and running up the score is unfortunate when it happens. That being said, blowouts aren’t all bad. Those types of games give teams an opportunity to put youngsters on the field/court minutes for some valuable in-game experience.
The bigger head-stratcher, though, is why a game can revert back to regular time if the team makes it closer. If you’ve already determined the team can’t win and impose running time as a result, then why would you go back? This only has the potential to make it worse if the team behind make a miraculous comeback but comes up just short due to the momentarily running time enforcement.
I heard of a section playoff game a year ago where the final score was 111-8, and it probably could have been 200-8. This year, MN Transitions won a game 156-36 or something like that. What good does that serve for anyone involved, other than merely padding the stats for the winning team?
In basketball, more often than not, if a team is down by 35-plus points, they aren’t coming back — put the scrubs in and let the clock run.
I’m glad football didn’t revert to the old nine-man mercy rule, where the game ended with a 45-point second half lead.
As someone who referees over 100 contests per year, this change is overdue. We seem to have more trouble during a contest when one team is pouring it on to another. Kids get frustrated and bad things happen. For the coaches who claim they can’t get the kids in the game with running time, just put them in earlier. I doubt that you will lose when its 40-0 in the 3rd quarter.
This rule is the worst thing possible for athletics. Of course there are teams that do run up scores on purpose, but for the most part when games get out of hand most coaches do put in reserves. With this rule in effect playing time is limited even further for second and third string players. For many teams this could potentially hurt participation numbers.
Pretty soon the MSHSL will make certain that no one wins or loses a game. The teams will simply compete for a set amount of time and no score will be kept. Another politically correct move by the completely inept and clueless MSHSL. Everyone gets a trophy!!!!!
I am not in favor of the mercy rule, I’m dead set against the 10 run rule in baseball, and I think that if you are the unfortunate team… there are still positives. Those 9 minutes that are being cut were the 9 minutes that the lesser talented kids were getting to play. In a blowout in baseball, that is when that left fielder gets to come in and live his dream and get to pitch an inning. Maybe that 9th grader that dressed for Varsity, but hasn’t gotten to play… he gets the opportunity, and that is invaluable for the future.
We spend too much time worrying about hurting someone’s feelings when it comes to an opportunity to help, to teach, and to coach the children that need to be coached the most.
So now you are either going to end up forcing coaches with talented player to teach those players how to not play full out which I think is a sin against sports competition… you play 100% all the time!
We cannot teach kids how to play the game when we are only playing the top kids… blowouts are good for coaching, and you can now judge your community high school’s coaches about how they handle blowouts on both sides.
Sorry that I’m old fashioned, but I don’t like hockey because there are TIES. I like winning, and I accept losing… I will never teach my children that a tie is a good deal. When my kids are playing sports if they knock someone down, they offer their hand to pick them back up, but they will knock them down again if they get the chance. It’s teaching them how to win, and how to make their teams better. Neither child is the star athlete, but they are still being taught how to hold themselves as athlestes, and not just kids collecting dust on the back the bench.
Schools want to charge 50-300 dollars or more to play sports, and then you charge money to view those kids. Shame on you for trying to teach children how to lose, and how to coast, and then charge us for the experience of watching you do this to our children.
There is a part of the rule that makes no sense. say you are using Running time in the 4th (Down 35)and you have 2nd string players in than all of a sudden you score a TD so than they say okay we are under 30 with 2:00 to go now we stop the clock, same in Basketball. Why not go a step further than if they go up 50 than just end the game. Might as well go the whole nine yards.
Hockey has had running time for years which I believe a 6 goal differential. I have never heard a complaint. This is merely a safety issue and it’s not like it’s 20 points, it’s 35!!!.
The running time rule will affect a small number of games. I’ve been part of blow-outs where coaches and fans get mad about any foul call, but now they are made when the MSHSL is doing something about these safety issues.
Of all the football and basketball games I worked this year, 3 would have had running time. That is about 3% of the games.
This is a bad idea. If a team is up by 35 in either sport, more times than not a coach will have his subs in anyway.
If they want to start having higher quality contests they should start by educating and holding higher standards for referee’s in all sports. Watching many football and basketball games this past year I have watched a lot of bad calls. Too many anticipation fouls.
Boss - I agree with you about the mercy rules being a bad idea. However the point about not being able to set individual records is a moot one since we already have expanded the games from 32 minutes to 36 minutes by going from quarters to halves. Also, a lot of schools are now playing 25 or 26 regular season games versus the 22 played in the past. All records are all going to get broken based on the the fact that players today are playing longer games and they are playing more of them each year.
What a horrible rule! The do-gooders who want to protect kids’ self esteem have done the opposite. “Failure” has now been defined by the MSHSL. The kids will feel worse because once running time starts, they have officially failed. Before this rule, failure was relative - did you fail more getting beat by 37 rather than 34? These are the same guys who won’t seed an 8-team 3A or 4A State tournament from top to bottom because they don’t want to label anyone #8. So, they blind draw the last 4 teams. That way, they’re all “losers”. OMG! This can happen only in MN - and we wonder why people in other states make fun of us.
Mr. Webster defines “mercy” as compassion shown to victims of misfortune. This is nothing new in sports. The Roman emperors did it all the time with thumbs up or down.
Again this has nothing to do with someone’s feelings. It has to do with Safety. Also seeding has nothing to do with someone’s feelings. It has more to do with not enough information or confidence in who the 5-8 seeds are.
I think every and fan should have to officiate their child or team’s sport once. There is a reason officials can work seven days a week. Parent’s, fans and, Coaches.
Ken:
W’re all trying to understand your connection between Roman emperors determining life and death, and MSHSL determining that 35 points is wrong.
BigGuy:
Tere were a lot of kids hurt this year when they were behind by 35? Were fewer hurt when they were behind by 33? I’ve watched too many zebras put away their whistles in the last 3 minutes of very close games, and that’s when there is a real safety issue because some kids will do anything to win. You’re saying that kids get more out of control trying to lose by less than 35, than when trying to win when the game is on the line? That’s just wrong.
