THE WAY I SEE IT

By Pat Bigold

St. Louis football team: No mercy

BRAVO, St. Louis School football coaching staff. I admire many of the athletes you produce.

I enjoy seeing them succeed at the college and NFL levels.

But I abhor the way you continue to stomp on the dignity of youngsters who play for much weaker programs.

No one can tell me that the 84-0 hit-and-run humiliation of Damien over the weekend was necessary.

Don't give me the old alibi that you can't tell your kids not to score. Don't give me the one about how the weaker team was so inept that you had no choice.

Nor do I want to hear about how you only threw two passes in the second half or that the mercy rule was applied too late.

If mercy isn't asked, mercy should be offered when you've got someone under the sword. It's the decent thing to do.

Most of all, don't blame it on your own kids. You run the show.

Your players graduate but you perpetuate the bullying tradition.

There were 77 points on the scoreboard after two quarters and three timeouts called near the end of the first quarter. Give me a break.

You're not just crushing a program when you do this. You're crushing kids.

Kids who are playing football in high school because they think it's fun.

Well, it was until they played you. I wonder how many won't feel like playing again.

I wonder how many other kids who thought about coming out for football in the Interscholastic League of Honolulu this year are glad they didn't.

The kids on the zero end of the 84-0 score will be hearing about their humiliation for a long time - on the bus, in the classroom, on the street, at the dinner table and at family gatherings.

I can imagine how the parents who had to watch you grind their sons into the turf felt.

These are kids who dream of gridiron glory just like your players do.

In Damien's case, they are kids who don't even have a full football field on which to practice. They know they can't ever have what you have.

But how emphatically must you remind them of that?

I can only say I'm glad that I'm not a parent who had to look into the eyes of a son who didn't know what hit him Saturday. A parent who's helpless to repair the hurt.

And I'm glad I'm not one of the players who found out football wasn't really fun anymore.

SWITCHING channels to collegiate ball…

That ban on beer at the start of the third quarter seemed to work just fine Saturday night at Aloha Stadium.

Even though it was Budweiser's game, people had only two quarters to tank up, and they had to get out of their seats for refills.

Obviously that considerably diminished fan bravery.

Some still may have thought about it, but no one actually jumped out of the stands to take on the refs and the entire HPD security detail this time.

But, hey, you didn't have to get blotto to endure what went on in the 57-48 San Jose State win.

In fact, if the remaining home games have that much offense, all of Warrior fandom can go on the wagon.

I just hope that nobody really thinks that bongo boy and his pal stooges who perform that nutty pregame ritual had anything to do with all those Hawaii touchdowns.

I happen to be a virtual teetotaler, but that could drive even me to drink.

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Pat Bigold has been writing at daily and weekly newspapers in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1972.