Frank Deford is a wuss
The Rico community is clearly news-addicted, so I imagine most of us are among the 11,000,000+ people who already have seen this viral video of the now-famous trick play executed by the Driscoll Middle School (Corpus Christi, TX) football team:
Sweet, huh?
Now comes the illustrious Frank Deford, behemoth sports writer and author. You might think Old Frank would applaud the creativity and poise that it took to pull off such a great ruse on the football field, especially in Texas, where middle school teams could probably beat DIII college squads from north of the Mason Dixon line.
But in true, bleeding-heart fashion, writing yesterday on NPR.org, Deford says that play was UNFAIR to the opposing team because it embarrassed them. "...it was only the other team's kids who were embarrassed and belittled by a children's coach being a wise guy, a bully of sorts. It wasn't genius at all; rather, it was a form of child abuse. Sure, it was legal, but it wasn't fair."
Really, Frank? Really? Child abuse?
First, Deford's comment is an insult to children everywhere who this very day will have the living snot beaten out of them for no other reason than breathing. Second, this is the sort of ridiculous mindset that is working to convince our next generation that life is supposed to be fair, that being outsmarted by someone makes the other guy a meanie, and therefore, your embarrassment and disappointment are undeserved. (Quick. Call a plaintiff's attorney.)
Frank, I say this with all due respect: You sound like a babbling fool. Shut up.
Ah, but his column ran on NPR, so I'm sure it will illicit a million comments from granola moms about the barbaric nature of football and the incivility of competitive sports generally. Someone else will have to check those responses. I just had lunch and don't want to make myself ill.
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Jul '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
DeFord is off his nut if he thinks this is child abuse. They got outfoxed plain and simple. Kudos to the coach, and maybe the defense will learn to tackle anyone with the ball unless the whistle has blown now.
Jun '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Please. Our self-esteem culture is dumbest idea in the last fifty years (OK, maybe second to reality TV shows). We can't do anything that might possibly indicate to little Susie and Billy that they are not the center of the universe.
I am all for praising honest effort (a team can lose a football game and still receive praise), but handing out plaudits for just showing up or assuring that no child ever experiences any hard knocks is lunacy.
Winning is more fun than losing and dodgeball is a great game.
Deford should know better.
Sep '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
I guess Frank Dreford would first and foremost be worried about the self esteem of the TSA officers who let a terrorist through because of some abusive trick play such as breast implant bombs.
May '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
I'm just disappointed the coach didn't keep this one secret so he could sell it to Bama for the Auburn game.
Not that we need another reason to laugh at Auburn.
Jul '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Football is barbaric.
We should welcome sports that include technological achievements, which is why my son and daughter ride motocross and drive go-karts.
At least they're just being barbaric to the environment (supposedly)...
Edited on Nov 18, 2010 at 12:13pmRe: Frank Deford is a wuss
Not that I'm a fan of this sly move (no one likes to see kids getting duped that hard), but if Frank Deford has the gall to call it child abuse, then he's out of his mind.
Moreover, I couldn't agree more that his statement is offensive to the millions of kids who fall victim to child abuse every year in America. Well put, Marybeth!
Aug '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Frank Deford is so................NPR.
Why don't you ask a texan ?
Say, Jim Hightower ?
Aug '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Deford is such a pathetic man; not really a man, a man-child.
'Liberals' are so predictable, aren't they? I would have thought this was a joke, a satire, if someone had casually mentioned it.
I'm pleased to see that one of the first votes the GOP took in the House was to defund NPR. It failed, but at least it puts those weasels on notice!
http://www.breitbart.tv/gops-first-vote-defund-npr-measure-fails/
May '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
I mentioned earlier in the week that I have umpired a lot of amateur baseball and what Driscoll did was no different than that sport's hidden ball trick. (Which I have seen pulled off once successfully in thirty years.) Yeah, it's embarrassing. But more to the adult coaching staff than to the kids. They're the ones that whine the most and the loudest..
What is embarrassing is when a youth league team runs up a score and rubs it in. Major parts of DeFord's narrative is missing. What was the score, the quarter and how much time was left on the clock? But that would involve reporting, something DeFord hasn't done in years.
Jul '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
This is why it is so difficult to satirize NPR, they are so ludicrous in their own special idiom. The drain bamage is immediately recognizable before the perp is even identified. Has Eric Holder dispatched a prosecution team yet? Are FEMA grief counselors on the scene? Is there a web site to sponsor the illegal on the suckered team? Is Janet Napolitano really on her way to grope-search the suckering team for more balls? Have we heard from Nina Totenberg on this important topic yet? Is it true that the trial is to be held in Manhatten? OMG! One of the fathers owns...a gun!!!
Edited on Nov 18, 2010 at 12:47pmOct '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Calling it child abuse is absurd but I hate trick plays like this. I yield to no one in my competitive nature but this play disgusted me for the same reason that trash talk does - it shows no respect for the opponent or the game. There are some valuable life lessons that can be learned from minor sports and being a gracious winner is one of them.
Here's where I'm confused; college teams will not deliberately run up the score late in a game and I've never heard anyone complain that those players are coddled because of that. So if embarrassing your opponent in that manner is unacceptable, why is this trick play okay? I honestly don't see the distinction.
May '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
It's a battle of wits. The reverse. The play-action pass. The wildcat offense. Trick plays are a dime a dozen in football. Coaches like Houston Nutt are famous for them.
I can see how a play like this might be less acceptable with very young kids, but these were middle schoolers. They've been introduced to the strategic elements of the game and are capable of appreciating such plays.
Running up the score is different because that's not about winning. Trick plays are strategies to win.
Aug '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
When I was young and played baseball on a regular basis I tended to be the leadoff hitter for the teams I played on because I had a good eye and was typically smart in my baserunning.
One of the reasons I was a smart baserunner was due to being embarrassed when I was 10 after running hard first to third. I slid into third head first. The kid tagged me. I was safe. He kept holding the glove to my face in an annoying fashion. In irritation, I tried to push the glove away with the hand I had on the bad.
"Yer Out!"
I quickly learned that you should never let your concentration lapse in baseball. Not for irritation and not due to the boredom of a routine play. It always leads to looking foolish and feeling foolish. But sometimes it is only through feeling foolish that we can learn how to best play the game.
Jun '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Aaron Miller
It's a battle of wits. The reverse. The play-action pass. The wildcat offense. Trick plays are a dime a dozen in football. Coaches like Houston Nutt are famous for them.
I can see how a play like this might be less acceptable with very young kids, but these were middle schoolers. They've been introduced to the strategic elements of the game and are capable of appreciating such plays.
Running up the score is different because that's not about winning. Trick plays are strategies to win. · Nov 18 at 1:09pm
You already know this, Aaron, but I have two words for Chris. trap block. Better known as ouch!
May '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Chris - Here's what Frank DeFord didn't tell you and it's something that I found in less than a minute on the internet: When Driscoll pulled off this play they were down 6-0 with less than a minute to go in the third quarter. And after scoring the touchdown they missed the extrapoint. So the Championship game ended in a 6-6 tie with co-champions. What could be more wussy, liberal touchy-feely than that!? A tie! Everybody wins!
Context is everything. If Driscoll had been up 53-7 when this play was run that would be different.
Jun '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
The heck with the play. Marybeth, you are one great woman. With American women like you raising our kids, this country has nothing to worry about.
Oct '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Aaron - Fair enough but I don't consider those other plays to be "trick" in any real sense. Let's face it - moving the ball is often about misdirection so, in that sense, the things you mentioned are merely variations on a theme, rather than "tricks".
To everyone else who thinks I'm being wimpy, let me add this for context: In high school our biggest rival was the school across the street. On the field, it was no-holds-barred, smash-mouth, blood-on-your-uniform, stuff. Beautiful football even though we always got creamed on the scoreboard. Off the field both teams were friendly, if not friends exactly, because there was a mutual respect. They may have always won but we gave them bruises. They respected us for giving them everything we had and we respected them in return because they were a great team and they didn't showboat. I don't see any respect in that video IMHO.
Interesting that I only play hockey now - there's no such thing as a trick play.
May '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
Chris is exactly right. This was a tacky play. The first time I saw it I assumed that either something was wrong with the quarterback or the offense saw something the defense didn't (their backs were turned). If you're tricked on a hidden ball it's because you didn't watch the ball correctly; if you're tricked on this play, it's because you were unsure on what the protocol of the situation was. The dynamics to the play were all external to actually playing the game. A more fitting example would be a player faking an injury, then taking off with the ball before the ref could blow the whistle but after the opposing players let up in case of injury. Suppose the defense thought the referee was moving the ball, and they just didn't hear the whistle. A hit against the quarterback would have been a personal foul. It's not child abuse, and it isn't wrong because it's embarrassing. It's wrong because it relies on inexperienced players' confusion of the protocol, not dynamics, of play. Would he have tried this in the NFL? Nope, not inexperienced enough. Tacky play.
May '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
On the other hand, Deford wrote a very fun football novel back when I was a young person (be not deceived, the cover is a significant overstatement- it is about an ultimately happily married couple where the husband is a wacko Baltimore Colts addict).
Senility does set in for the Left at an earlier age.....
Oct '10
Re: Frank Deford is a wuss
As former Texas 5A football player, I'd like to explain to Mr. Deford and any other NPR news-whisperers how little boys in Texas cope with the crippling humiliation of having a fast one pulled on you. It's pretty simple: You win the game, and make a point to knock the snot out of that tricky little quarterback every single time you get the chance until the final whistle blows. The psychological harm that comes with being outwitted once is nothing compared to the thrapeutic effect of getting the last word and handing out a little retributive justice along the way. Lots of good life lessons are being learned on that field. But I suppose if you work for NPR any appreciation for the realities of competition waved bye-bye to you long ago.