Read the debate intro and Bleacher Fan’s argument that the NCAA should institute a mercy ruling.
The idea of a mercy rule – or a slaughter rule for the more violently inclined – is not new to sports. Some sports use a mercy rule, but no sports SHOULD use a mercy rule.
Early on, before I became a writer and was doing sports talk radio, I attended a division two baseball game between Armstrong Atlantic and Valdosta State in Valdosta, Georgia. Valdosta State had an excellent team that season, though the season was still quite young as they were playing a team not in their conference. The starting pitching was especially good for the team with the top starters. Predictably, the starter had a great day and the Blazers were head of Armstrong Atlantic 15-1. I left the game in the sixth inning to complete my preparation for my radio show that evening. Lo and behold, Armstrong Atlantic got to Valdosta State’s relief pitching and won the game 17-15. Fortunately I found out before I went on air and embarrassed myself. However, this story proves one primary reason never to incorporate a mercy ruling in NCAA athletics. It is simply impossible to predict what will happen in a game. A mercy rule assumes an outcome that is not guaranteed, therefore it is not in the spirit of competition. It simply is not what sports are about.
Anyone reading this watch The Today Show? If so, you may remember the story of a young high school basketball player who suffered from severe social anxiety disorders. Toward the end of the player’s senior season the coach (helped by a heavy dose of crowd chanting) decided to play the team member who was essentially a water boy allowed to dress up for home games just like the team. He came in to a game and ended his career on a high note by hitting scoring his first ever points as an athlete. As a writer/reporter – that is where the story is. With a possible mercy ruling that story would never be written or told, which is a shame for the thousands of people who also suffer from social anxiety disorders and believe there is not hope.
Mercy rulings are bad for winning teams, too. If a player or two is vying for acclaim and awards at a season’s end, losing game time required to help build the case for the awards could make them harder to win.
Sure, it is easy to argue that a mercy rule helps the coaches avoid getting players hurt. That type of fear-based approach that has no place in sports. I call it, “Playing Not To Lose” Syndrome. Playing not to lose in many cases actually makes a player more susceptible to getting injured because they are not going full out. Therefore, they are not in the position they would normally be in and they are not playing with the same focus they usually bring to a game or competition. It is also easy to argue that a team that is up by a lot of points would not have the stars of the team in the game, therefore they would not be susceptible to injury. But, are the stars the only members of a team that matter? No.
Even teams that are ahead by a bunch of points have more to gain by playing out the entirety of a game. In the business world a project will not be cut short because it is going very well or the outcome will be too awesome. Why would an athletic competition – especially in a collegiate context – have rules in place that reinforce a lack of reality?
Mercy rulings breed weakness. They are a violation of the very principles that make sports matter – winning and losing. Mercy rulings are generally subjective (which is a problem) and entirely avoidable. It sounds overly simple, but, if a team is in danger of succumbing to a mercy ruling – GET BETTER. Practice harder. Revisit methodology and locker room habits. Transform culture. Losing should not be acceptable. In the modern sports paradigm it is simply hard to believe that such a cast divide exists between two collegiate programs that it is necessary to truncate a game because a team is so inferior that the game does not deserve completion.
Cutting a game short infers that nothing more of value can come out of a game. So, no more fun can be had by fans, no more learning can be uncovered for coaches or players (on both sides), nothing of consequence or value can happen because the outcome is decided. Mercy rulings eliminate some of the most valuable principles of sports.
