original mercy rules?

[Adam]

"OT?" Doesn't he play for the Cowboys?

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

"OT?" Doesn't he play for the Cowboys?

You mean the Cowpies?

[rotationslim]

The teams are from individual congregations (wards), so there is really no way to more equally distribute the teams. It is mostly demographics, the league covers 14 to 18 year olds, so when teams are on the older side they do well, and when teams are full of younger boys they stink.. so it is cyclical.

We could dump all boys into one pool, then assign for more even teams.. but they like representing their congregation, we have discussed it many times with the boys, and that is how they prefer it.

They would rather lose with their team-mates then be tossed into a more equitable distribution system. Maybe the quality of basketball competition suffers just a bit.. but I kind of like that they would rather represent their "tribe" and lose, then be assigned randomly with a better chance of winning. Even when a team is getting blown out at halftime and we offer to call the game, and re-set teams to a more equitable arrangement, they prefer to take the licking with their buddies. I kind of think their loyalty is refreshing. I am just looking for ways to keep the pain down during the thrashings. In the end we have a little "outcome based" scorekeeping.. and typically we don't post any points past a 20 point lead on the scoreboard. It may offend some of the "Inspector Javert"s on this board, but it is right for our program

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by rotationslim

It may offend some of the "Inspector Javert"s on this board, but it is right for our program

Why post and ask the question then if you already had your mind made up and you weren't going to even consider the responses?

Inspector Javert is kinda wondering......

[Adam]

I've seen leagues where they turn the scoreboard off after a certain lead as well.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

I've seen leagues where they turn the scoreboard off after a certain lead as well.

I don't recommend this. We used to do it at the lowest grade levels until we found out kids were teasing other kids at school by saying things like "HA HA - we turned the score off on you on Saturday!" Plus - during games we heard kids tell their teammates how many more points they needed to score before they turned the score off on the other guys and to try to run up the score just to do that. It completely ruined the idea of why we were doing it in the first place.

[rotationslim]

Someone wrote:
"Why post and ask the question then if you already had your mind made up and you weren't going to even consider the responses? "

What are you talking about? My original question is to hear from others about any unique or original mercy rules that are being used that I might consider. I am not sure what you are talking about with the "mind is already made up" stuff.. my question was not "are Mercy rules good", it was "are there any good ideas out there that I should consider?" Yes my mind is already made up, our league will use a mercy rule, but that is not the question on the table.

Someone suggested the teams should be rendered so they are more equal to eliminate the problem, I responded by saying we are a provincial little bunch, and a kid would rather lose with his buddies than be put on another team to get a more equitable team lineup.

Pay closer attention if you are going to criticise other posters!

Originally Posted by rotationslim

We could dump all boys into one pool, then assign for more even teams.. but they like representing their congregation, we have discussed it many times with the boys, and that is how they prefer it.

Sounds reasonable to me.
I do think your mercy rules are little too "activist", as you say. I wouldn't want to be adding more restrictions into the mix.

[Back In The Saddle]

Probably a little too activist. Once you get it all evened up by constraining defenses and realigning the teams, how do you decide who should win? Coin toss? "You won last week so they get to win this week?" What if the wrong team wins anyway? Basketball is a competitive team sport; don't get too involved in removing the competition.