Encouraging good sportsmanship is always a good thing, but 50 points in high school football isn't that much. That's seven touchdowns. Get a couple interceptions returned, a couple fumbles, and you could score that in a quarter or two. And then what? You spend the whole second half punting on first down?

In basketball it's a little easier to manipulate the score, a little easier to stall without making a mockery of the game. This could get silly. Teams fumbling on purpose. Letting the other team score, so your team can actually try again.

What if you have a player who could break a scoring record? Do you not let him? What about a yardage record? Do you tell him to run out of bounds at the 1-yard line?

And think about this: What if one team is up 49-0 late in the game? Could the other team get a safety on purpose to get the other team's coach suspended?

Better yet, what if it's a "Varsity Blues" situation with a mean guy like Jon Voight's character? The players could conspire to get their own coach suspended. This could get interesting.

Can you imagine if this was a national rule? Some states have 8-man football. Fifty points in 8-man football is nothing. That's like telling a basketball team not to win by more than 30.

You'd think with only eight high schools in Connecticut, the coaches could all get along.