11/05/24
September 30, 2009
High School Game Ends with YouTube Moment: If you missed last Friday's high school football game between the Otter Valley Otters and the Jericho Mount Mansfield Cougars in Brandon, Vt., this recap from TV station WCAX explains why it will go down in football lore.
I didn't name him here because it seemed excessive, but I would have named him in local sports coverage. He would've been named if he did something glorious, so he should be named when he's the goat.
The bigger goat is the coach for putting two Otters players back to receive the kick on a game-ending field goal attempt.
posted by rcade at 11:31 AM on September 30, 2009
Yaaaay Mount Mansfield! Great mountain to ski on, and, um, I guess they got a football team too!
posted by lil_brown_bat at 12:20 PM on September 30, 2009
Mount Mansfield? I bet James Dean did that several times. (click here for rimshot)
I can't decide whether I would have named the kid or not, rcade. I shouldn't be protecting him, but I'm not sure what his identity adds to the story. As you said, the coach is the dumbass who sent him out there (and even if you wanted to do that, he could have been instructed to take a knee).
I'm waffling.
posted by wfrazerjr at 12:52 PM on September 30, 2009
The bigger goat is the coach for putting two Otters players back to receive the kick on a game-ending field goal attempt.
I guessing those players weren't back there to receive anything, rather they were there in case of a fake field goal attempt.
posted by BoKnows at 01:00 PM on September 30, 2009
Maybe so, Bo, but they should have been told to stay the hell away from the ball. As deep and close together as they were, though, I kinda think they were sent out to catch the kick.
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:02 PM on September 30, 2009
Why not name the player that screwed up? They're dropping names left and right during the highlights when the player does something right, was the sportscaster supposed to then say "*some kid* spiked a live ball to lose the game"?
posted by MeatSaber at 01:51 PM on September 30, 2009
Because the kid's possibly 14 or 15 years old, and he's going to catch enough hell from his teammates and classmates for the rest of the season, and possibly the rest of his existence.
It's really not necessary to put the kid's name out there as a joke on the internet (which rcade wisely didn't do), but the local TV station has to realize also it'll be picked up off the broadcast and off YouTube. It would have been just as easy to say, "An Otter Valley player unfortunately spiked the ball," wouldn't it?
As a former newspaper publisher and broadcaster, I'm normally pretty hard-assed about this kind of stuff, but I just don't know what the positive side is to naming names in this instance.
posted by wfrazerjr at 02:46 PM on September 30, 2009
By the way, Deadspin and Fanhouse didn't use the kid's name. Only a staffer from the Chicago Sun-Times did, and I've left him a note to see if he thought about not using it.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:00 PM on September 30, 2009
He caught it in the end zone- and a kicked ball is dead as soon as it crosses the goal line.
Referee fail.
posted by The_Special_Juan at 03:11 PM on September 30, 2009
Given Devin Hester's 108-yard return of a missed field goal, that's not true in the NFL.
posted by rcade at 03:20 PM on September 30, 2009
"Referee fail."
Is that in high school ball only? Because nobody told Nathan Vasher.
On posting; spooky hivemind moment with rcade
posted by Mr Bismarck at 03:21 PM on September 30, 2009
CIF rules that the ball is dead when a kick goes into the endzone. They must be under a different set of rules than are used in most high schools. I think Texas high schools use college rules, or at least they used to do so.
posted by reeserl at 03:23 PM on September 30, 2009
Because the kid's possibly 14 or 15 years old, and he's going to catch enough hell from his teammates and classmates for the rest of the season, and possibly the rest of his existence.
I don't believe that. While he may get some shit, I doubt his whole existence is under attack. Is there some personal history in play here, wfrazerjr?
posted by BoKnows at 03:50 PM on September 30, 2009
Based on Wikipedia's page on high school football rules, the kick should've been called dead once it entered the end zone.
posted by dfleming at 03:51 PM on September 30, 2009
I found a discussion of the play on the Vermont Football Officials Association web site. There is a picture (see the 10:11am entry on the thread) that shows the kick being caught in front of the goal line. The "zebras" got it right. My opinion is that the kid's name should not be plastered all over the internet. His number is clearly visible on the TV video, and I'm quite sure that he is being quite well roasted at school. That's about enough! He is young, probably resilient, and he will no doubt learn from this. The lessons will be deeper than just football.
One other note; judging from the comments in the thread, these guys can get rougher than SpoFites.
posted by Howard_T at 04:05 PM on September 30, 2009
"Based on Wikipedia's page on high school football rules, the kick should've been called dead once it entered the end zone. "
Thanks dfleming. The different rules at the different levels is not something we get exposed to in the UK. The only difference I knew about was that the college ball has a stripe on it.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 04:22 PM on September 30, 2009
So the kid catches some heat because he made a boneheaded play...take your lumps, try harder next time, and be the hero. Did we learn nothing from 80s teen movies???
I'm sorry, but I don't subscribe to the notion of putting children in a bubble that protects them from all pain, physical or emotional. Life is hard, better to learn that lesson early than to be thrust into it without any experience. I don't disinfect every surface in my house my kids might come in contact with...I don't censor my language, video games, TV, music or movies...I tell my kids when they're bad at something, and laugh at them when they screw up. But I also do anything I can to help them get better and learn from their mistakes. But I guess in today's world that makes me a bad parent, not isolating them from all the evils of the world...
Wow, is it just me, or have there been a LOT of touchy subjects here lately...
posted by MeatSaber at 05:17 PM on September 30, 2009
I don't censor my language, video games, TV, music or movies....laugh at them when they screw up
But I guess in today's world that makes me a bad parent
That makes the DEFINITION of a bad parent
posted by bdaddy at 06:07 PM on September 30, 2009
I'm sorry, but I don't subscribe to the notion of putting children in a bubble that protects them from all pain, physical or emotional. Life is hard, better to learn that lesson early than to be thrust into it without any experience. I don't disinfect every surface in my house my kids might come in contact with...I don't censor my language, video games, TV, music or movies...I tell my kids when they're bad at something, and laugh at them when they screw up. But I also do anything I can to help them get better and learn from their mistakes. But I guess in today's world that makes me a bad parent, not isolating them from all the evils of the world...
Talk about your overreactions.
I asked rcade because he has a background in newspapering. It's a decision I would have had to consider were I the editor at the local TV station, although I think I would have come to the same decision.
I get using it locally, as I think WCAX figures most people would either know or easily find out who he is. I've decided I also would have used his name in the local paper, as the same rules apply.
But as for the Chicago Sun-Times, I don't know. I'm hoping Kyle Koster will come over and join in the debate here (although I was a bit of a douche in my initial comment there and have apologized for that). Of the five sources I can find who have written about this story (including us), only he used the name. Kyle responded on his blog that the name was right in the broadcast, and I have responded that I don't think leaving the kid's name out diminishes the story in any way.
As for putting kids in a bubble, MeatSaber, I'm not sure how not putting the kid's name out there for possible national ridicule is the same. This is not your kid tripping and falling into the pool at your neighbor's house and you catching it on your cell phone. This is his name being put out there in conjunction with Leon Lett and Bill Buckner -- two professional athletes who probably didn't deserve the crap they caught.
posted by wfrazerjr at 06:29 PM on September 30, 2009
naming the kid really isn't much of an issue...what difference does it matter if I know his name? The people in his town already know.
Silly plays like this happen all the time, even in the pro's. So, I'm thinking the kid will get over it, though he will get shit from his friends for the rest of his life, especially if this loss has any influence on playoff possibilities.
(on a personal note, I still get crap from High School friends for a stupid play I did in a game that we won! Jimmy Carter was President at the time, so friends can have a long memory. No one else remembered in a week.)
posted by dviking at 06:41 PM on September 30, 2009
That was my experience from the popesquatter thing, too. I was famous for 36 hours. A week later I had to go out of my way to tell people I was famous and carry newspaper clippings with me for proof, which sucked.
posted by rcade at 07:06 PM on September 30, 2009
Naw... You were famous for at least 48 hours.
I think you should use the kids name, but admittedly, this is a little harder to swallow in the YouTube era, where fame and infamy are immediate and wide spread. '
However, that's a bit of an unusual play and I don't think the kid catches holy hell for it. Most of us didn't really know the letter of rule either it seems. Of course, if he keeps most of his high school friends, he'll be reminded of it weekly for the rest of his life. (I kicked a big piece of dogshit once, by accident, while wearing sandles 10 years ago. I was reminded of it again last weekend. Good guys.)
posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 10:29 PM on September 30, 2009
Head's up play by the kid who ran it in, but rcade, you're probably in the best position to answer this -- would you have named the kid who caught the ball and spiked it into a turnover on the TV report?
I'll wait for your answer.