Would you consider a 108-3 victory in a high school girls' basketball game running up the score? I say it is, no matter what the winning coach says.
No need to do a double take. That really was the score last week as Christian Heritage (Riverdale, Utah) defeated West Ridge Academy (West Jordan, Utah), a school with a motto of "We help teens with substance abuse or other difficulties."
Christian Heritage coach Rob McGill apologized but suggested slowing down or playing a bit softer would have been more insulting. "I have been on the other side of this equation," McGill told ABC 4 in Salt Lake City. "It was very insulting when teams slowed the ball down and just passed it around. That's why I'd rather have a team play me straight up, and that's why I played them straight up. Because I didn't want to taunt them, I didn't want to embarrass them, I didn't want them to think we could do whatever we want." McGill clearly believes this ideology given that some of Christian Heritage's other recent victories have been by margins of 61, 56, and 54.
Oh yeah, a score of 108-3 is not at all embarrassing. I don't know if McGill skipped the whole high school experience, but I know if my high school basketball team lost by 105 points we would have been laughingstocks (and the inspiration for many new parodies) for years to come. Honestly, this is the stuff that quitting and joining the badminton team is made of.
West Ridge, for its part, did accept McGill's apology and say the team has moved on. Perhaps, based on the school's mission, there are more legitimate concerns than a lopsided basketball score. But for many in the sports community it's hard to fathom that score being acceptable. High school athletics are supposed to be about camaraderie, character building and sportsmanship, and running up a score accomplishes none of the above.
