Large Margin of Victory in Sports Do Not Mean the Coach was Trying to Run Up the Score

Why should "piling on" be limited to buffet tables? Heck, we do it at Thanksgiving. And we do it anywhere in Las Vegas when we are not busy losing money at the casinos.

There's another idea in sports that is known as "piling on," otherwise called running up the score. Is it just me or do people have the wrong idea of what "running up the score really means?

What I'm saying should not be construed as condoning that a football, basketball or baseball team should leave its starters in the game when it's clearly a blowout. However, if say a football team wins a game 63-7, I find it marginally amusing that some people who did not watch the game simply look at the final score and assume that the winning team deliberately tried to embarrass its opponent.

Again, I'm all for class and sportsmanship. All I'm saying is that the accusation of a team "running up the score" gets thrown around too loosely.

If the winning team is playing their third and fourth string players and the losing team's starters cannot stop them, too bad. On the other hand if the winning team keeps its starters in the game and is still throwing the ball or pressing on defense in basketball with a 40-point lead - then, yes, you have every right to complain. While we're at it, throw in a baseball team that double-steals with a 13-run lead in the seventh inning.

The fact of the matter is that teams do not deliberately run up the score as much as the final margin of victory suggests. There are, however, more salient reasons why players, coaches and fans should not complain about a team running up the score:

1) Players owe it to themselves.

Regardless of level of competition, if your starting defense cannot stop the other team's third string offense on a simple dive play up the middle, well, too bad.

The leading team should not be asked to simply quit playing because the losing is certainly not doing such. If a player is third string on the depth, chances are he or she is getting their tails kicked every day in practice. That means the only time that player is in the game is garbage time.

If that player wants more playing time, he or she had better darn jolly well give it their best effort. Otherwise, they will be sitting on the bench even longer.

2) Teams should want their opponent to give its best effort.

There's nothing in the rule that says a team has to stop scoring. There's also nothing in the rulebook that says a team cannot prevent its opponent from scoring.

Plus, you should want the other team to give its best effort because that means nobody can make excuses when both teams give their best effort.

3) Record breaking

If a player needs say 200 yards to break a record if a game is out of reach and the coach leaves him in the game, that's not the right thing to do because breaking records should come within the framework of trying to win the game.

On the other hand, if that record is reasonably within reach, that player has earned the right to earn the record. Again, nothing is written in the rulebook that says the other team cannot stop that player.

4) There's little wrong with passing

If a football team is ahead say 55-10 early in the fourth quarter and the starting quarterback throws a deep pass, that's a legitimate gripe.

Certainly, teams with a big second half lead should be running the ball. However, what's wrong with the No. 2 or No. 3 quarterback throwing a few simple 10-yard passes?

I don't claim to know every single detail about football but I know enough to know that the primary role of a quarterback is to throw the ball. If that player has to get meaningful playing time, I would think the coach would want that player to get some kind of passing experience.