Sportsmanship or Running Up the Score?

By now, many people have seen the recent lop-sided score by Aledo High School over Fort Worth Western Hills High School in Texas.  The final score was 91-0. While at first glance it is extremely easy to say that Aledo showed poor sportsmanship,  in reality it’s hard to say Aledo could do much else.

Butt-whippings in sports are nothing new to most people, but it never fails that every once in awhile there is one game that really grabs the attention of the entire country.  This game certainly was one of those games, and to make matters worse a parent of a player for Western Hills filed a bullying report on the Aledo coaching staff.  I personally find this accusation a bit ridiculous. 

Aledo is the #1 ranked team in class 4A in the state of Texas, which is the second largest classification in the state.  While some people may see this and ask why would such a dominant team schedule a weak opponent, Western Hills is unfortunately in the same district as Aledo; therefore the two teams are required to play in a district match-up. 

Aledo’s offense ran a total of 32 plays, the starting running back touched the ball 6 times (4 of those for a touchdown), and most of the starters only played 16 snaps, according to ESPN.com.  ESPN quoted the head coach, Tim Buchanan in saying, “I can’t tell the backups not to play hard, they’ve worked their tails off all week.  They’ve lifted weights in the offseason.  I’m not going to tell them not to play.” 

So my question for people that believe the coach was out of line is, “What should Buchanan have done?  Tell his backups that rarely get to play to take a knee or fall down when they touch the ball?”  Keep in mind these are also kids that have put in just as many practice hours as the starters without the chance to play regularly.  Should Aledo’s coach send the message to his players that sometimes in life you will be better at a job than someone else, so in order for them to not get embarrassed or look bad, don’t work too hard to do your best so that it is fair for everyone involved?  I sure hope this isn’t where we are headed as a society, but should I be surprised? 

Here is a participation ribbon, thanks for reading.