Sports Question

[Tiassa]

Some years ago, there was a brouhaha when a basketball player was allowed an unopposed shot in order to allow her to capture the record despite being injured.

Today, this column appeared in the Seattle Times, rehashing an old story from an old rivalry:

. . . he insulted the Cougars for life because, back in 1950, he allowed WSU's Ed Barker to catch a 22-yard touchdown pass in a game Washington would win 52-21.

No one said much at the time.

In fact, it wasn't until years later that Sprague was reminded of the game by comments from Forest Evashevski, the WSU coach who had moved on to Iowa. Evashevski allowed that his team was never given anything by the Huskies.

"That's interesting," Sprague told Seattle sportswriters at the time, "because I was the guy who did it."

Sprague was just following orders. As time ran out in the game in Spokane with the Huskies way ahead but the Cougars with the ball, a UW defensive tackle rushed in waving his arms and yelling, "Let them score, let them score."

Sprague, a safety, had no idea what was going on until the tackle, from his stance, turned around just before the ball was snapped and said, "Heinrich needs one more completion to break a national record."

Sprague played behind Barker in the end zone and "just watched him catch the pass."

On the next series, Don Heinrich completed a pass for no gain to Roland Kirkby to give him 134 completions for the season, one better than the NCAA record set by Charlie Conerly of Mississippi in 1947 . . . .

. . . . "Never," he said, "was there any thought that we were trying to belittle or humiliate Washington State.

"As for me, I was trying to help a teammate gain a record he deserved. In the end, what we did do was give the Cougars another touchdown."

As it turned out, the Huskies got one more themselves. After two Heinrich passes, the Huskies sent Hugh McElhenny around end on third down for 83 yards.

According to Sprague, years later at an Alumni Association meeting, Howie O'Dell, the Washington coach in 1950, explained that the assistant coaches had come to him and said, "We've got to do something to help Heinrich break the record.

"And we were out of timeouts."

Seattle Times

I have reservations about the sorts of records that are achieved amid a suspension of normal, fair play. I find such records belittling to the athletes who hold them, and a slap in the face of the previous record-holder.

It certainly is a twist on the basketball story. In this case, you step back and allow the other team to score in order to give your quarterback another chance at a record, which then comes on a zero-gain pass. There's just something disingenuous about it. And it seems like a bit of a joke: Here, have a record that you might not have achieved if you'd played the game the way it's supposed to be played.

So much for teaching the kids about teamwork, eh?
___________________

Notes:

Newnham, Blaine. "54 years ago, WSU insulted by Sprague's TD gift". Seattle Times, November 19, 2004. See http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002095312_blaine19.html​

 

[hotsexyangelprincess]

its akin to when you're playing a game, take risk for example, and when one guy has a sufficiently large invading force, the defender has a habit of giving up and just giving it to the other guy before even trying. poons like that irritate me. :m: