high school soccer coach apologized after letting a player score 17 goals against winless team

[gratuitous]

37. My dad coached high school basketball for a while back in the 40s

His team was usually good, and competed for the league championship every year with another team that was the Wooden-coached UCLA of their era. Another team in the league had had a falling out between the star player and the coach, and the star player quit the team, taking most of his buddies with him. They had a junior, a couple of sophomores, and filled out the lineup with freshman. Naturally, they were horrible and took their lumps twice a week.

The powerhouse team got their turn against the Sad Sacks, and beat them by the then unheard-of score of something like 90 to 16. The next practice, Dad came in and the team chatter was all about how powerhouse had scored 90 points, and they were going to shoot for 100, just to show 'em. Dad let the kids talk for a little while, then announced his starting lineup for Tuesday's game against the Sad Sacks: One of the usual starters and four second stringers. "But Coach, we could set a school record for points! We could get a hundred!" Yeah, you could. But you're not going to.

Dad's team shellacked the Sad Sacks, but nothing like 90-16. Afterward, the Sad Sacks coach told Dad how much he appreciated getting a more competitive game. Dad said it was an archaic concept called sportsmanship.