The Southaven, Miss., Broncos were leading 25-0 and well on their way to winning a recent game when they lined up for the extra point. What happened next might have been poor sportsmanship or a broken play.
Watch this video. They're either running the fumblerooski or the quarterback fumbled.
After careful examination, it's unmistakable that it's a fumblerooski. If you pause at the four-second mark, the center clearly is holding onto the ball. He puts it down, No. 87 picks it up and then takes off. He's tackled by No. 55 (great closing speed there, sport), and the play is over. Funnily enough, at the 33-second mark, the referee pantomimes to the Southaven coach how the play is properly run (you have to actually hike it through the legs instead of how it's done here). That raises the question: Would the referee have called a penalty had No. 87 scored?
And then there's the bigger question that Bob's Blitz's headline seems to ask: Is calling a trick play in a pee-wee game that is all but over actually poor sportsmanship? On the surface, yes, but at the same time, it looks like No. 87 doesn't get a lot of touches. If he plays tight end, we're going to go out on a limb and say he's relegated to blocking duty most of the time. For all we know, these are the second- or third-string players, and the coaches were just trying to let them have some fun. The only cause for concern is that it sounds as if the crowd knows the fumblerooski is coming, so the coach must've tipped them off to his intentions somehow. For his sake, we hope it was done in a tasteful manner.
That said, these kids should be focusing on the fundamentals, otherwise they'll never be good enough players and will have to go work at the old mill like every other person in that goddamn town.
Pee Wee Team up 25, Zilch ~ Why Not Attempt a Fumblerooski? [Bob's Blitz]