High School team forfeits due to size discrepancy
As both an undersized Hs football player, and now a parent I found this interesting. What is the collective MGOBlog take on this story?
I know, when I played, we always felt it was unfair going against the likes of the private schools who had 300 pound men that were recruited from around the area. I got my butt handed to me plenty of times since I was a scrawny DE. But, we played them. Forfeiture was not an option. Then again, concussions, etc were not much of a discussion when I played either.
Is this a valid concern by the parents, or is this something this kids should "suck up" and confront?
http://www.king5.com/sports/high-school/granite-falls-becomes-third-tea…
October 6th, 2016 at 1:24 PM ^
parity in scheduling programs. But I am left with suck it up and play until that happens. Forfeiting just seems so chicken shit to me, and I bet some of the players on the forfeiting team are embarrassed by that.
October 6th, 2016 at 1:31 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 1:40 PM ^
the Alamo?
October 6th, 2016 at 2:15 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 3:10 PM ^
Malcolm Gladwell would like a word...LINK
October 6th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
ya 'member James Bowie? I 'memmber
October 6th, 2016 at 2:50 PM ^
ya 'member James Bowie? I 'member
October 6th, 2016 at 3:02 PM ^
He was a Young American.
October 6th, 2016 at 3:08 PM ^
They all died.
October 6th, 2016 at 1:44 PM ^
You have size mismatches at every level of football just in the different position groups. At some point your 170 lb DB has to take on a 300lb pulling lineman, or a little scat back type guy is going to get tackled by a DLmen. Even shitty teams have that one big fat dude and good teams will still have tiny speedsters. It's part of the game and as long as everyone follows the rules and plays clean, it's still relatively safe. I could see the case maybe for little kids leagues where there are kids who are at wildly different stages in their development, but this is varsity HS ball. These kids are all pretty much at their mature size already.
October 6th, 2016 at 2:54 PM ^
Looks fair to me.
October 6th, 2016 at 1:50 PM ^
scheduled, it is high school football where kids have reached certain physical maturation levels, and backing out and forfeiting after its scheduled is a bad move.. I understand some teams are bigger and stronger and quicker than others...that's how it goes. Its not high school versus pee wee league. I would want to play them if they were on the schedule, even if I were on the weaker team. Forfeiting is giving up without the chance, and I can see where that would be embarassing. I understand the risks inherent in playing football, but that's why they have significant protective padding. The scheduling issues should be fixed in any event. Should Rutgers forfeit to UM this weekend?
October 6th, 2016 at 3:37 PM ^
The public school is not able to do so. This is not an apples to apples comparison. There can be a huge discrepancy between high school players as people hit growth spurts at much different times.
I have to believe that most of the tough guys on here would not last a week, and probably not a day on Michigan's scout team getting crushed by Kalis and such. Yet feel no problem calling out some high schoolers.
October 6th, 2016 at 11:23 PM ^
It basically IS high school vs. pee wee league. That's the point. Check out the photo above your post.
October 7th, 2016 at 8:19 AM ^
I don't think you should use random and unattributed photos from the internet as examples of a specific situation.
It is pretty clear that granite high School should not be fielding a football team; the school is so small that it has to start sophomores on the varsity. This is a situation where the principal should be stepping in; the coach can't concede that he can't field a team, because he would lose money for being honest.
October 6th, 2016 at 5:56 PM ^
Having been a lacrosse club organizer for multiple years, my guess is that most parents are using the player safety as a cover for the fact that they don't want to see their sons get humiliated.
This is a slippery slope of having to have parity in order to play a game. At what point is there some limit on the number or frequency of scoring plays because the game isn't fair?
It isn't fun being on a team that is almost certain to lose a game (our HS football team was terrible -- we were among the smallest Class A schools in Michigan and only had 26 kids on the varsity team). But life is full of such situations and kids need to learn how to deal with it.
October 6th, 2016 at 1:35 PM ^
Not necessarily a chicken shit decision. 2 types of private schools; the types that recruit and the other that barely field a full team. Attitude about the program matters more than not wanting to get your ass kicked. Its more on the schools to evaluate what the program is like and keep it competitive.
October 6th, 2016 at 5:49 PM ^
My question is did they just get good and big just this last year? If not, why the hell did the AD of the school schedule them in the first place.
And of course they will make the lame comparison of my freshmen who weighs 117 soaking wet going against the 330 lb lineman, well is your 117 lb kid starting and why are you having him play football if you fear for their physical saftey, what about running cross country or tennis???
Sports are a great tool for teaching life lessons, what type of lesson does this forfeit teach.
October 6th, 2016 at 6:53 PM ^
A quick google search shows that Granite Falls and Archbishop Murphy are both in the Cascade Conference.
October 6th, 2016 at 2:00 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 3:19 PM ^
this is the third team that has forfeited. There is obviously something wrong. Competition is fine when both sides are playing by the same set of rules. Here, we have a private school recruiting kids from 50 miles away playing public schools limited to the kids within their districts.
The lesson this teaches the kids is that discretion is the better part of valor. A lot of this is being driven by the parents who don't want their kids getting injured. The lesson to the kids is that their health is more important than a silly friday night football game that no one is going to remember. That's a lesson I'm fine with.
October 7th, 2016 at 8:23 AM ^
The lesson this teaches is that the conference setup is poor, if the games are not competitive.
If the parents are so concerned about their kids getting injured that they'd rather the team forfeit than lose, they really shouldn't have let their kids sign up for a contact sport.
October 7th, 2016 at 8:43 AM ^
The KIDS chose to forfeit.
Not the parents.
Not the school administration.
The players.
October 6th, 2016 at 3:22 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^
Wow the number of set-ups that could be a punch line for is amazing.
October 6th, 2016 at 1:27 PM ^
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October 6th, 2016 at 3:05 PM ^
I've seen a couple comments now about not scheduling teams like this, but how do you not schedule a team that is in your league? This isn't an out of conference game they scheduled.
October 6th, 2016 at 3:52 PM ^
Simple. Remove them from the conference.
This could also be a reply to the comment above about not playing Rutgers.
October 6th, 2016 at 9:56 PM ^
That is not at all simple.
October 6th, 2016 at 3:11 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^
I had to forfeit an event over size discrepancy once. She said the standard for what is an inch should be ruler. The nerve of some people...
October 6th, 2016 at 1:28 PM ^
Sounds like the Catholic school belongs in a different league. This is the 3rd team to forfeit against them this year.
October 6th, 2016 at 1:32 PM ^
sounds like it's a collective league effort to tell them to move up...or tell the High School association that they should/have to...I don't know how that goes.
1 forfeit is one team admitting defeat for safety, 3 teams is a campaign to get this team to play against like competition.
October 6th, 2016 at 2:12 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 1:44 PM ^
Eh, this isn't a normal year for them. It's a decent program but they don't do that well when they play outside their league. They're usually one of the top two or three in their league, but it's not a good league, and Granite Falls usually isn't very good.
October 6th, 2016 at 3:32 PM ^
(a) join the better league against other private schools
(b) get their asses kicked, and
(c) then come preaching about "what values it sends to kids if they forfeit."
I'm guessing the idea of avoiding beatdowns will suddenly have some moral relevance to them at that point.
October 6th, 2016 at 1:29 PM ^
Unless the other school's coach has a reputation of being a jerk about it, this seems like a pretty weak move. Why even play football if you're that averse to contact?
October 6th, 2016 at 1:29 PM ^
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October 6th, 2016 at 1:35 PM ^
Why does this line only have one upvote?
October 6th, 2016 at 2:04 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 10:36 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 1:29 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 1:34 PM ^
That 6th grade coach is an idiot if he was having you play aginst a 9th grade team full contact. Someone could have gotten killed
October 6th, 2016 at 1:49 PM ^
October 6th, 2016 at 1:54 PM ^
Haha that is awesome
October 6th, 2016 at 1:39 PM ^
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October 6th, 2016 at 1:41 PM ^
No one may die but is a concussion at a young age worth saying you "manned up"?