I think it may be time to dig into the music archives and find the album again - the one titled "What's Going On?" and the song by Marvin Gaye called "Mercy Mercy Me".
Then, the song should be played to some coaches, teachers, students, administrators and others who don't seem to understand when enough is enough. I have touched on this before, and received lots of support, but it appears as if a re-enforcement of the message may be necessary.
What happened to sportsmanship at the school level? Don't coaches know how to control a game, especially when one team is far more superior, and things can get ugly when another team is whipped?
Yes, I know some leagues and schools have a variation of the Mercy Rule, a rule that allows a lopsided game to come to an end - and fast.
I still can't figure out why the Region of Peel Secondary School Athletic Association introduced a weird rule in rugby limiting a point differential reporting score to be misrepresented by a maximum of 50, when in fact scores are much worse. Stop the game, if that's the only way, after it becomes apparent that another school team is about to get its pants kicked.
In the past 24 hours, listen to these scores from games in the Greater Toronto Area and, I am told, there are more like this. But, coaches haven't even submitted them to their leagues. Wonder if they forgot or just might have flushed faces.
What do you think of these recent games?
- Fourteen tries by Upper Canada players in a 92-0 shellacking of Hillfield/Strathallan in a junior boys' private school rugby game.
- Loretto College defeated Marrocco/Merton 21-0 in a varsity girls softball game in the Toronto District Colleges Athletic Association league.
- Stephen Lewis, the school and not the politician, whipped John Fraser 25-0 in a Peel Region varsity boys' baseball game.
- St. Marguerite d'Youville apparently saw nothing wrong in a 16-1 win over Cardinal Leger - and this was a junior boys' soccer game in Peel Region.
Time to get serious. As bad as the optics are for the team winning, and things do come around, the problem is with athletic associations that are allowing this to happen when action should be taken - be it fines or even suspending a school team for a period of time to get the message understood.
The reality: nothing will get done. It's too close to the end of the season and the year-end banquets and parties. For students, memories do linger over those outrageous scores coming in a learning environment.


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