Compassion

Its interesting to see that an action which can cause compassion, or a sense of empathy in some people, will cause a desire for vengence in others. Yesterday, I was the center ref in a U14 girls game. At halftime the score was 8-0, which is almost unhead of. Its not unheard of because its impossible, but its almost unheard of because most teams have more class than to score 8 goals in a half.

So at half timeI go up to the coach (who is also a ref) and ask (fairly nicely) if he's going to make his girls show some restraint. He turns to me and says, "Well, that was us three years ago. We got beat like 18-0, so its our turn now. We're going to run up the score!" Finally, once the score was 14-0 or 15-0 I walk over and say, "If you don't make your team back off, I'm going to yellow card you for unsportsman-like behavior."

Finally, he made his girls not score (sort of), but the game was still horrible. Here's the thing. You would think that if a team had that happen to them in the past, they would be more willing to show some class and not run up the score. Most the teams I've ever played on have been like that. And the worst part is, in a game where the score is run up like that, neither team learns anything, because one team has no chance, and the other team has no challenge. Its lame all around.

So I have more to say about my life for the past week, but I'll do that later.