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September 2, 2008
ROBERT HORNE
Normally, a football game played with seven overtimes in a driving rain storm with two coaches being ejected sounds like a classic. Indeed, a game that dramatic and epic would be replayed continuously on ESPN Classic the next day.
Unfortunately, the game played like the one I just described may do more to hurt a sport I love than be considered an instant classic.
According to parents who were at the game, the Murphy termites, a team made up of 7- and 8-year-old boys, played a game like that on Saturday afternoon in Franklin.
The game kicked off moments after 5 p.m. After playing four 8-minute quarters – on a 100-yard field, mind you – neither team was able to score. In youth sports, that should be the end of the game – no high school or collegiate overtime system, and no sudden-death overtime period like in the National Football League.
Both teams should have met at midfield, shook hands and be content with the tie – especially considering two other games needed to be played.
Instead, those young boys embarked on an epic overtime fiasco that didn’t end until well after 7 p.m., when Murphy finally scored. One parent said they left the stadium around 7:30 p.m.
As if all of that isn’t bad enough, some kids did not even get to play. I know it can be very demoralizing to a young boy, because I sat on the bench a few times and never got to play.
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