This post might irk some readers.  That’s OK, I can take it.  You don’t have to agree with everything you read at communityforcoaches.org.  That said, realize that years of thought and experience are going into this post.  I’m not shooting from the hip here, and I’ve seen the issue we’re about to discuss from every angle.  Coach, athlete, winner, loser; I’ve been there.

Alright, here goes.

I was asked to serve on the chain crew at a youth football game earlier this fall.  “Best seat in the house”, I was told by the man responsible for securing the crew, and I happily volunteered.  Little did I know that my best seat in the house was going to provide me an up-close look at one of my least favorite aspects of sports.

The game was competitive and close for about a quarter, but near the end of the first half, one of the teams had pulled ahead.  I think the score was something like 24-8.  Not exactly a huge blowout, but no longer the tight contest it had been early.  The team ahead on the scoreboard ended up with a first and goal with about a minute to go in the half.  From there, they went backwards.  Due to penalties and other miscues, they wound up with 3rd and goal from about the 30, and called timeout with a second left on the clock.

From my spot on the trailing team’s sideline I got to hear their head coach complain to everyone within earshot.  He was ticked about the timeout.  Apparently he wanted his opponent to let the half run out, comfortable with their 16 point lead.  Weird.  Then he put on his tough guy face and announced, “If they throw it deep, I’m going across the field.”  Huh?  Of course they’re going to throw it deep.  They called timeout on 3rd and goal with one second left.

So the pass goes up and falls incomplete and this guy was incensed.  Now it was halftime and he marched across that field straight toward the other sideline.  The officials stopped him and sent him back to his team, but he was close enough to holler at the other coach, “Hey Coach, are you proud of that call?”  His point was that it was unsportsmanlike to try and throw a touchdown pass on the last play of the half when you have a 16 point lead.  How dumb is that?  I was just the chain crew volunteer, and I kept my mouth shut, but I was thinking if I ever got asked a question like that my reply would be something like, “I’m not too proud of that call.  I was trying to call a play that would score.”

The whole scene was just stupid.  And it got me thinking about the “rules” pertaining to sportsmanlike behavior with respect to the score of games.  The whole topic is lame, boring and worn out.  After the game, I spoke with one of the coaches on the team guilty of supposedly trying to “run it up” when he asked me what all that was about, and after hearing the story from my vantage point his reply was “you have to play for at least a half”.

I know what he meant, but something about that still doesn’t sound right to me.  “You have to play for at least a half” is only half right.  In my opinion, we should coach like the entire game matters.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we don’t empty the bench or maybe call the game a little more conservatively when we’re up big.  I think we absolutely should do those things most of the time.  But if my attitude is that when I empty the bench we’ve entered into so-called “garbage time”, then I run the risk of making the players who are on the field at the end of the game feel like garbage.  I’m not going to do that.  I’m going to coach the heck out of those kids and that game until it’s over. At least that’s my goal.

I’ve sometimes won games by wide margins as an athlete and a coach.  I’ve also been on the wrong side of 60-0 more than once.  I know how both of those feel.  Growing up, I played for high school coaches who concerned themselves far too much with how poorly we were being treated by the opponents who were way ahead on the scoreboard.  That attitude was passed on to me, and I brought it into my coaching career.  I would whine and cry if someone dared to throw a pass when they were up by 30.  Looking back, I’m so glad I was eventually cured of that whiny, loser way of looking at the game.

When I coach a team and we fall behind, I’m not looking for pity.  I’m simply looking to coach our team the very best I can.  I’ve got enough to handle on our sideline without worrying about what some other coach’s thought process might be.  If they want to leave their starters in, good for them.  If they want to run their best stuff, or keep the press on in a basketball game, that’s their business.  I don’t have to like it, but it’s not my problem.  I’ve found that 99% of the complaining that losing coaches do during blowout games is an emotional reaction to feeling embarrassed.  I’ve yet to find the person who makes his/her best decisions while having an emotional reaction to feeling embarrassed. If there really is an issue, it’s going to be far more productive to have a conversation 24 hours later with the opposing coach, league officials or whomever, than to go stomping around like a baby.

In a situation like that, we have an opportunity.  We can communicate to our team that when things aren’t going our way we can handle it with grace.  We can be confident that we’ve prepared and played hard, and that obviously we have more work to do to get the level we’re looking to achieve.  Or we can show our team that we are victims and give the other team the power to tell us what we’re worth as people.  I will never give another team that power over us.  That goes against every reason that I coach.