Pussification Of America Continues: California Pop Warner Teams Will Have To Pay A $200 Fine And The Coach Will Be Suspended For 2 Weeks If They Win By More Than 35 Points

(Yahoo) – As reported by Sacramento NBC affiliate KCRA, the Northern California Federation Youth Football League (NCFYFL) instituted stiff new penalties for any teams that beat opponents by 35 points or more. Specifically, those teams will be fined $200 and their coaches will be suspended from all league activities for two weeks. The penalty is a drastic change for the league of 7-13 year-olds, which previously issued teams with a warning following such blowouts and required a written description that detailed what the victorious team had done to try and keep scores low. With the new, harsher penalties, some players have begun insisting that their development is being hurt. One team has stopped attempting any field goals, leaving kicker James McHugh unable to attempt any scoring kicks except points after touchdowns. That’s a problem for a 13-year-old who hopes to serve as a high school placekicker in fall 2014. McHugh’s mother, Kelly McHugh, told KCRA that players on her son’s team are afraid to score once they get a lead for fear that their coaches will be penalized and the team won’t be able to play the following week.Naturally, the controversial issue has advocates on both sides, with NCFYFL Deputy Commissioner Robert Rochin claiming the rule is a pro-active attempt to keep more kids interested in the sport while teaching others how to be good sports. “We lose a lot of football players because their teams lose so badly,” Rochin told KCRA. “If they are constantly getting beat, who wants to play anymore? We lose kids all season long because of that. “It’s not hurting the kids, it’s teaching them compassion for the other team. It’s teaching them sportsmanship.”

Robert Rochin can take a fucking hike. The kids playing football are afraid to score touchdowns and this isn’t hurting them? Don’t piss on my head and tell me it’s raining bro. If kids are afraid to do the exact thing it takes to win, then I’d argue it’s almost exclusively hurting them. And what, so you can teach them “compassion”? Awesome, because everyone knows in order to be a successful football player you absolutely have to be compassionate. Can’t be an asshole out there on the grid iron. Ask LT and Dick Butkus and Brian Urlacher. They’ll all tell you that the keys to a Hall of Fame career are tackling low and being very compassionate.

How ’bout if a kid’s reaction is to quit, rather than get better, if they keep being beat then he isn’t a football player and doesn’t deserve to be out there. Anyone think of that? Sometimes a herd needs thinning and if your fight-or-flight response is to run for the hills after losing by 5 touchdowns, maybe you’re better suited for the cheerleading squad.

I’m not saying a league shouldn’t have a mercy rule, I understand them. But how ’bout instead of punishing a team for success you just end the game once it gets out of hand? You know, like every other mercy rule in the world. Punishing success sends a wildly incorrect message.