By now, you have probably read, watched or listened to media accounts about the recent high school girls basketball game in Texas in which The Covenant School defeated Dallas Academy, 100-0. Of course, that was not the first time a team had ever been shut out. And though rare, girls teams break the 100-point barrier every year. But there is something perversely perfect about the imbalance of 100-0 that a score of 105-5 or 98-2 just does not convey.

In the aftermath of that debacle, The Covenant School sought to forfeit the game. That in turn led to the dismissal of Micah Grimes, coach of the winning team - not for winning the game, but for refusing to apologize for it. Across the nation, including Oregon, internet posters launched into the predictable cycle of criticizing the winning team for running up the score, followed by apologists who argue that taking deliberate steps to keep the score down inevitably mocks the opponent and the game itself.

Meanwhile, the losing Dallas Academy Bulldogs became instant national celebrities. The Bulldogs' appeared or are scheduled to appear on ABC's World News, ABC's Good Morning America Weekend, CBS' Saturday Early Show and NBC's Today show. Mark Cuban, owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, has invited the team to be his guests at a Mavericks game, while Oregon's own Nike Corporation has proposed sponsoring a team trip to the Feb. 15 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix.

But who is the real villain and victim in this story, which is repeated across the country every year, though not with the mathematical precision of 100-0? The real victims were the schools, coaches and players from both schools. And the party responsible was the Texas association, which like Oregon, has chosen not to adopt an available tool designed to prevent 100-0 blowouts - the basketball mercy rule.

Small School Girls Programs Hit Hardest

The Texas story actually fits the profile of most basketball blowout scores, which tend to involve girls teams with small enrollments. The Covenant School has an enrollment of 221, while Dallas Academy only has 87 total students. In Oregon, that would be the equivalent of 2A Portland Christian or Santiam playing a struggling 1A program. The result would be a predictable disaster that would leave no one satisfied. Some may suggest these games are the result of private-public competitiveness, but in the Texas game, both were private schools.

In Oregon this year, 2A #1 Portland Christian handed 2A defending champs Salem Academy a 50-point, 75-25 loss early in the season. Last week, the Royals - the highest scoring 2A team - defeated Gaston, 85-11. There have been several 50-point margins this year so far in the 2A classification, including: Warrenton def. Knappa, 79-25, Yoncalla def. Taft, 70-20, Bonanza def. Triad, 77-24 and East Linn Christian Academy def. (1A) Portland Lutheran, 54-4. Even at the small 1A level, Nixyaawii has defeated Irrigon twice this year, 67-12 and 61-16. Imbler def. Condon-Wheeler, 61-16 in yet another 50-point margin.

But 2009 is not an aberration when it comes to blowout scores. Last year, 2A Santiam def. Scio, 81-28. Two years ago, a very good Pendleton-bound Nestucca squad crushed Faith Bible, 72-18. Yet no one seriously called for the firing of Joy Lease or Dale Anderson for running up the score against overmatched opponents.

So, could Oregon ever see a 100-point blowout? Already happened - on consecutive nights by the same school. On December 17, 2004, Crane girls (1A) def. Long Creek, 112-9, at home. Amazingly, the Mustangs went on the road the very next night and won at Ukiah, 108-8. Two games in two nights resulted in a combined 220-17 score.

While the basketball blowout issue strikes small schools more frequently, large classifications see the same result when an elite team meets a struggling program, even at the same school size. Consider the remarkable run this season of the Jefferson (5A PIL) girls team. In a span of ten days, the Lady Demos rolled over Roosevelt 88-10, Cleveland 93-38, Marshall 75-16, and Madison 105-41. In 2007, Jefferson beat Madison, 111-22.

Before Shoni Shimmel's injury, 6A Franklin opened the season with a 97-34 win at Milwaukie, followed by back-to-back wins over Sandy (100-55) and McMinnville (93-25). In the 6A Three Rivers League, the gap between top and bottom was best illustrated when perennial powerhouse Oregon City clobbered last place Putnam, 90-15.

So, does Oregon have a basketball blowout problem? According to OSAA, apparently not. But if such a problem does exist, so does an available remedy.

NFHS Responds

According to the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), basketball is the #1 sport for girls, with 449,450 participants in 2008. But NFHS also recognized several years ago that blowout games were becoming increasingly more common, especially in girls basketball. NFHS began a serious look at the issue following reports of blowouts in girls basketball in 2003. That year, Clairton (Pittsburgh PA) whipped Winchester Thurston, 123-24 - just shy of a 100-point margin. In Michigan, Walkerville defeated Lakeshore, 115-2. These scores, and others, prompted NFHS to address the issue of basketball blowouts in 2003, when it voted to allow individual state associations to adopt a basketball mercy rule, beginning with the 2003-2004 season.

Specifically, NFHS permits a state association to institute a running clock when a specified point differential is reached at a specified time in the game. However, because the NFHS Rules Committee did not approve the change as a national playing rule, each state association can make its own determination regarding whether to implement a mercy rule, as well as the point differential and the time in the game such rule would be implemented.

Of course, mercy rules exist and are generally accepted in other sports, including baseball, football, field hockey, ice hockey, soccer and softball. In lacrosse, a mercy rule automatically goes into effect if the differential is 10 or more goals at the beginning of the second half. In wrestling, by playing rule, a match is stopped when a 15-point advantage is gained over an opponent.

In Oregon, OSAA has adopted a 45-point football mercy rule. In girls softball, some leagues have adopted SOP's that limit the number of runs per inning for JV contests. Each of these mercy rules are designed to permit teams to compete, but draw a line when the competition literally gets out of hand and in the interest of sportsmanship and to prevent unnecessary injuries, the contest is declared over.

States Rights

Some have criticized NFHS for not making the basketball mercy rule a playing rule that would be mandatory nationwide. Instead, NFHS left the decision to each individual state association to determine whether or not to implement the running clock mercy rule for basketball, as well as to determine the point spread required to trigger the mercy rule.

Florida was one of the first to jump on the mercy rule bandwagon, implementing a running clock when a point spread of 35 is reached after the first half. The clock runs continuously during jump ball possessions, out-of-bounds plays, and free-throw shooting, but stops for time-outs, injuries, technical fouls, or when the officials need to address a situation that requires excessive time to resolve.

Michigan followed with a 40-point running clock. In 2004, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) adopted a mercy rule that provides a running clock for the remainder of the game when at the conclusion of the third quarter, or any point thereafter, there is a point differential of 40 or more points. The CIF mercy rule applies to all levels of play.

This season, the Illinois association adopted an experimental rule that applies only to regular season tournaments, but not to regular season or playoff games. Under the Illinois plan, a running clock will occur in the 4^th quarter when a 30-point differential is reached, and will only stop for a team, officials or injury timeout, a technical foul, or a correctable error.

Texas is a different story, because the Lonestar State segregates public from private schools. Membership in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) is limited to Texas public and charter schools only. Meanwhile, the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) is limited to Texas private and parochial schools, grades 9-12. The two participants in the recent 100-0 game are members of TAPPS. But more importantly, neither the UIL nor TAPPS has adopted a mercy rule for basketball in Texas. Had such a rule been in place, it is highly unlikely we would be discussing a 100-0 final score.

Like Texas, OSAA has not adopted a basketball mercy rule because the problem of blowout games apparently does not exist in Oregon. So, the next time you hear or read about, or even watch, a basketball game resulting in a final score of 72-18, 85-11, 90-15, 112-9 or worse, think twice about flaming the winning team, when an available mercy rule sits on the shelf unused and apparently unneeded.

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