Article: The margin of error is 50 in Connecticut
 

From Gannett News Service columnist Mike Lopresti, on a Connecticut high school rule calling for a one-game suspension for any football coach whose team wins a game by more than 50:

Now, you wonder if during the discussions about this sportsmanship Magna Carta, anyone stopped to ask, "What if I'm the last receiver on the team, and I finally have the chance to score a touchdown, and it's 45-0?

More:
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/...02/1002/SPORTS

Why weren't you in the game when it was 35-0? Why do you need to throw the ball when you are up 45-0?

What if the score is 45-0 and a third string DB of the leading team intercepts a pass and has a clear shot to the endzone. Do you ask him to take a knee when he catches it? Does his teammates or head coach tackle him to keep him from scoring? I hate the Connecticut rule as much as I hate teams in the lead intentionally trying to run the score up.

Well, it would appear that the good folks from the Constitution State have not completely lost their minds.

Linked below is a story appearing in this morning's Chicago Tribune about a Connecticut HS Coach who violated the letter of the rule (56-0), but apparently did everything he reasonably could to comply with the spirit of the rule.

His one game suspension under the new rule was "overturned" by an "appeals committee".

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...ck=1&cset=true

JM

REPLY: I agree. Thank goodness that common sense prevailed.

It is a dumb rule and Connecticut should get rid of it as soon as possible. You don’t need a rule to suspend a coach for running up the score on a team. I’m sure that pretty much all HS Activities Associations have sportsmanship clauses and codes. You could easily use those to punish a coach that is intentionally running up scores.

A few years ago in Colorado I was working at a school where the girls JV B-ball team got beat by a score of 102-9. The opposing coach played his starters until midway through the fourth quarter and full-court pressed the entire game. A report was sent to the Activities Association, they investigated and suspended the coach for acting in an unsportsmanlike manner. The school later removed the coach from his position when a couple of the girls came forward and said the coach told them before the game that he wanted to humiliate this team and beat them by 100 points.

Now here is the real kicker. You know what this guys other job was? He was a youth pastor.