NDinPHX wrote:rep,
Isn't that Spurrier's philosophy? That is fine and dandy in the college game, but kids can get hurt (on the losing end) and neighbors from seperated towns can get quite angry and outraged. Perhaps, Coach Benson should have left Gion in and broke the national 9-man record, or perhaps he did the right thing and kept everything in check.
little bit of a rant here and i'm making some pretty broad generalizations. it should be pointed out, these aren't singling out a specific school or program.
every coach has to answer to him/herself and the school that pays him/her. as far as neighbors from seperated towns...give me a break. people have to take responsibility for themselves. if a coach is worried about billy joe and jim bob not seeing eye to eye because of a game score, i think that coach needs to re-adjust why he/she got into coaching to begin with.
with injuries...that is the nature of the game. if a kid goes into playing football thinking he won't be the one to break an arm/leg/neck, he's kidding himself. it happens. happens to first stringers in games, happens to second-string in practice. most of the time you do everything right and you get caught up in a pile and something bends the way it shouldn't. i would certainly never give a thumbs up to someone going out to injure someone else. but in every play in football there is quite a bit of violence going on and injuries are going to happen. i'm the one on the sidelines who cringes at big hits because i don't see the big hit, i see the kid that crumples.
sports are not about fans. they are about the athletes and they are about the teams. sports are about success and failure, and how you deal with both. if you learn how to deal with losing, correctly, you will win (and i'm not talking about the score of some stupid game). if you learn how to deal with winning, correctly, you will win (again, not a score). if you don't, you didn't get anything out of it...congrats, you just wasted x amount of years and haven't bettered your surroundings. hopefully somewhere along the line something lights a fire under and makes you productive.
somewhere this important fact got lost and a game score became more about mommy and daddy making sure their son/daughter had fun and felt good about themselves regardless if they worked for it or not. at some point a scoreboard dictated if a kid learned something about life and about himself. at some point, being good at sports was suddenly a substitution for being a good person, or a successful person.
am i more impressed that a kid broke some high school record or that after the game he talked up his fullback or said he couldn't talk long because he had to catch the end of his sister's volleyball match? that isn't a hard question. team sports teach you the value of a support system. they pick you up when you fall and they should keep you humble when you succeed.
if i'm coaching a team, i am more insulted by the opposition putting in their second team because the victory is wrapped up (last minute or two or final offensive drive...sure, i have no problem there, do what you've got to do) than i am letting starters go out and play the game. but i've both played in and watched games where the starters were done at halftime. and as far as i could tell, the game was a waste for both sides.
if there are kids that don't want to be on the field because the score is 42-0, then i think they probably didn't want to be on the field when the score was 0-0. if you don't have a passion for the game, if you aren't willing to push yourself, guess what, you are going to get rolled by the person who does. if you want to play a game and don't keep score, by all means do it, but don't whine when the other team that is keeping score hangs a big number on your little number.
as far as being spurrier's philosophy...dunno...i don't watch him much because i don't like the spread offense.
end of rant.
tough to say with the high school versus college debate.
when i was in high school i played in close games, blown out, blow outs. loved em all. couldn't get enough. close games meant i was probably going to be hurting too much to do anything saturday. blow outs and blown out - hit the weights on saturday for a good flush workout and get ready for film on monday.
ask any senior that just got done with his last high school football game and all he'd want is five more minutes added to the fourth quarter. just one more drive. one more stand. that is what i've found. when its over, most just want a little more. so why deny that? that is what i'm driving at.