Mercy Rule Passed
In an effort to avoid the lopsided victories, the NFHS voted 7-4 this past April to pass the "mercy rule" in high school boy's and girl's basketball beginning with the 2003-2004 season. The NFHS will leave state high school associations with the option to adopt the rule, which would institute a running clock when a specified point differential is reached at a specified point in the game.

Since the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee did not approve the change as a playing rule, each state association will make its own determination regarding whether to implement the mercy rule, as well as the point differential and the time in the game such rule would be implemented to keep runaway scores in check. Currently, 10 states have some form of a mercy rule in place for basketball.

"More contests are experiencing extremely large point differentials between the two competing teams," said Mary Struckhoff, NFHS Assistant Director and staff liaison to the Basketball Rules Committee. "In addition, in many cases, the number and intensity of fouls increase, thereby putting player safety in jeopardy. The committee believes it is appropriate for the sport of basketball to permit states to adopt a mercy rule of some kind. Precedent has been set in other NFHS rules codes to allow states to adopt mercy rules and to determine guidelines for the rules."

Although girls' blowouts recently have gained more publicity than boys, the NFHS intentionally left the mercy rule's interpretation open-ended. It is possible for states to apply the rule only to the girl's game or to set separate point differentials and enactment times for girls and boys programs.

Sports Rules Writing Process
The NFHS, the national service and administrative organization for high school sports in the United States, inaugurated its rules writing program in order for high schools to have a direct voice in developing playing rules for interscholastic competition. State associations are not required to use NFHS playing rules. However, most states use NFHS playing rules for most sports. The NFHS strives to ensure that the sports rules are in agreement with the secondary education philosophy and utilizes the following process to do so.

1. 1. NFHS staff liaison solicits agenda items from rules committee members and state
   associations. All proposals must have a written rationale, which specifically
   addresses the rule change and the need for the change. All items submitted by
   state associations and committee members shall be a part of the committee
   agenda.
   
   The NFHS staff liaison may place other items on the agenda that are received
   throughout the year from individuals if the rules editor feel they are appropriate.
2. The preliminary agenda will be prepared from input received from state
   associations, committee members, staff liaison and NFHS questionnaires. The
   proposed agenda shall contain suggested rule changes and rationale for those
   changes.
3. Each member of the rules committee needs to contact their constituents five to
   six weeks prior to the meeting for input regarding NFHS rules and proposed
   changes.
4. The preliminary agenda is mailed to all committee members and state associations
   offices.
5. The NFHS staff liaison prepares a final agenda based on the preliminary agenda
   and input from committee members and state associations.
6. The rules committee meets and acts on all agenda items. State association
   representatives may be in attendance at the rules committee meeting.
7. The Rules Review Committee meets and evaluates all changes made by the rules
   committee.
8. Rule changes and rationale are submitted to the Board of Directors for their final
   approval. The Board of Directors shall have seven calendar days to evaluate the
   committee changes. If there are no concerns, the changes shall be considered
   approved.
9. Rule changes are released by e-mail or faxed to state association offices followed
   by a news release or posting on the NFHS website.
10. Staff liaison begins work on rule publications.

Not Just Basketball
The mercy rule is not new to sports. Currently, baseball, football, field hockey, ice hockey, soccer, softball, lacrosse, and wrestling have a mercy rule in effect. Softball invokes their mercy rule with a 15-run lead after three innings and after five innings with a 10-run lead. Baseball's "run rule" goes into affect when the visiting team is behind by 10 runs after four and one-half innings or with the completion of five full innings if either team trails by 10 runs. Coaches can meet beforehand in football to agree to a running clock and on a point differential reached by the end of the first half or during the second half. Coaches can agree on a point differential in soccer as well.

States Taking Action
The Florida High School Activities Association gave its go-ahead and instituted a mandatory mercy rule in basketball. The Sunshine State's mercy rule calls for a running clock when a point spread of 35 is reached after the first half. The clock will run continuously during jump ball possessions, out-of-bounds plays, and free-throw shooting, but will stop for time-outs, injuries, technical fouls, or when the officials need to address a situation that requires excessive time to resolve.

On the table in California is a mercy rule proposal that calls for a running clock if a basketball team is ahead by 40 points at the start of the fourth quarter or anytime thereafter. The clock will continue to run even if the trailing team cuts the deficit to fewer than 40 points.

Michigan has had a mercy rule on an experimental basis for the last three seasons. There, a running clock is used after the first half if a team has a lead of more than 40 points. If the lead dips below 30, regular time resumes.

One state that is using the mercy rule in limited games this year is Illinois. The Illinois High School Association's Basketball Advisory Committee voted this past spring to use a running clock in the fourth quarter of tournament games when one team is up by 30 points.

What is the Problem?
Most basketball coaches and administrators agree that coaches bear the greatest responsibility for avoiding lopsided contests, but leaving the solution solely to the coaches may not work. The majority of the coaches are not abusers and will usually put in their second stringers and take off the press when they are up a wide margin. So, many states associations are saying they do not have a problem and do not need the mercy rule in their state.

Many opponents of the mercy rule believe that there is more of a stigma to say the mercy rule was invoked than to lose by 25 to 30 points. Some would rather play the game through, regardless of the score, opting to use every moment for teaching points, and there is always a chance to mount a comeback for the trailing team. Others fear that the mercy rule detracts from the competitive nature of sports. Starters on the winning team may let up in order to avoid being substituted, while players on the losing team may give up because they want the game to end. Moreover, some contend that the rule will cut into playing time; and punishes the girls for being good.

Even though the mercy rule would speed up blow-out basketball games, opponents of the mercy rule argued that it puts more pressure on the trailing team already at a mighty disadvantage. Others say the athletes want to play and should not be deprived of that chance.

On the other side of the debate, supporters of the mercy rule believe this rule should prevent games from getting too far out of control and still allows teams to finish all four quarters. Blowouts extend the opportunity for players to get hurt, especially when the competition is so uneven and frustrations mount. Going a step further, the blowouts may be so demoralizing to some girls that they may quit after an embarrassing defeat or two.It would also curtail some of the unneeded scoring by star players. There are some coaches who leave their standouts in the game until the waning minutes in order to achieve a school scoring record or to fatten their scoring averages, which creates ill feelings and lasting grudges among the teams as well as the spectators. Hopefully, the mercy rule will encourage winning teams to substitute their best players and pass more before shooting.

Basketball Will Continue
There will never be full parity in high school games. The level of talent from team to team in high school basketball varies greatly. Some teams have players who might go on to play at the Division I level, while others have beginners just learning how to dribble. Many coaches argue that the cyclical nature of high school sports and varying talent from year to year, make blowouts inevitable. Some say scheduling is the key to even match-ups, while others maintain that private schools should play in one league and public schools in another. New basketball programs should pick their opponents carefully to avoid obvious mis-matches with established teams and talented players. Eventually, things will even out as the talent grows in the sport and will be well distributed like the boy's game. Blowouts have become so common in girls basketball that the NFHS and state associations have taken action on mercy rules for the game. Perhaps the rule is an over-reaction to a small number of well-publicized games that are the exception rather than the rule. Only time will tell and until then, the debate over the mercy rule will continue and so will the basketball season.

Copyright © 2000 WBCA