This postseason has been tremendously rewarding for The SMG Report. We have enjoyed a front-row seat to incredible action on the gridiron. We argue that aside from Florida and California, Texas has the best football in the country. This season has also given us a front-row seat of what would be the equivalent of a prize fight without adult intervention. As we prepare for state championships in a few weeks, we want to address a growing issue in sports with a word from our editor.
After our kids learn stances, positions, moves and tactics, we must be sure that we teach them the most important skill they’ll need in the field of play, emotional intelligence. In their take on the matter, Salovey and Mayer assert that emotional intelligence is ‘‘the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotion in the self and others.’’ Emotional intelligence on the gridiron is one of the most overlooked and underdeveloped skills today. Since the beginning of the playoffs, I’ve seen more punches thrown and flags thrown for unnecessary roughness and personal fouls than ever before. When I played, we couldn’t even dance in the end zone for fear that touchdowns would be called back. Now, officials make way too many questionable calls in the trenches and let emotions and fists fly after the play. I’ve seen it way too often during the regular season and the discrepancies have increased in the postseason. Each week, I wonder if coaches are submitting officiating complaints to the UIL. More than likely, they are not, but when missed holding calls lead to shoving and punches after the play, who’s to blame?
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Kids today play with aggression and while that can be great for the game, but unregulated aggression could potentially wipe out their success on the field. When what starts as a 15-yard penalty becomes a dust up between plays, it could even boil over to an ejection or sideline clearing brawl.
Injuctions and appeals got the kids back on the field but not before upending postseason plans for Georgia high school football. I get it, it’s the playoffs. Emotions are high, passion for the game is at fever-pitch levels, but kids fighting and bickering even before kickoff is absurd. Making matters worse, many coaches don’t shut it down. Of the several football playoff games I’ve seen this postseason, there was nearly a fight or dustup at each one. You wouldn’t know it because officials don’t always penalize the extra activity, but I’ve taken note.
When Eastern Hills played Celina, the game got chippy in the second quarter. Both teams were physical, and the game got intense. As the game wore on, Celina had the game put away handily, but many of the plays had a little too much talking and an occasional mix-up after the whistle. You could chalk it up to a frustrating outing by the Highlanders, but Celina wanted no part of the post game handshake which Eastern Hills was already lined up for. Coach Devvin Anderson had already diffused any lingering bad feelings on his squad and coached them up for the final moment of their 2025 season. Celina opted not to shake hands and gave no public explanation as to why.
Sometimes, the playoffs create matchups between urban and rural communities. Sometimes, these matchups pit kids who have never been in the same orbit against each other in fierce competition. Sometimes, this bodes well for the young athletes, and sometimes, internal turmoil spills over into on-field interaction manifests in fighting, name calling, threats, taunting and more. Add in the element of social media and many athletes have already taken aim at their opponents by the time the buses arrive at the stadium. This isn’t limited to males in sports. Watching the recent volleyball tournament, I noticed the taunting and name calling after points were scored. The “mean girl” plays sports too and that heckling from the other side of the court is most often mean spirited, not just competitive chatter.
I’m not asking for a sanitized version of sports. Michael Jordan is the GOAT of, if nothing else, trash talking. He knew how to get under players’ skin and knew just how to wait until the perfect time to mention even the most miniscule facet of their life or play to throw them off their game. Who could forget Dennis Rodman? The worm often had one job, take their best player out of the game by either drawing a charge or foul by instigating conflict without actually fighting. The Worm 2.0 Draymond Green has crafted a hall of fame career as a pivotal member of the Golden State Warriors. Green is often the equalizer in the paint, taking on power forwards and centers much bigger but lacking the self control to ‘deal with’ Green for four quarters.
Sports are very much cerebral competitions. What you can’t overcome physically can always be overcome mentally, a tactic many overmatched teams often employ. I wish I knew why our student athletes can’t seem to compete without conflict. It’s not new. The cataclysmic nature of football collisions is unparalleled. This sport is violent, it’s mental, it’s physical, but it’s not pugilistic. Coaches are focused on winning, and I get that. I would hate to see a potential championship lost on account of an ejection or huge gain erased by a penalty.
We’re a few weeks away from Championship weekend at AT&T Stadium and I hope to see every player from each roster make it to the game and through the game without any personal fouls or ejections. Before you blame the parents, coaches or environments, understand that these young athletes are simply mirroring what they see in professional sports. Just weeks ago, a huge brawl broke out during the Seattle Seahawks and Houston Texans game. This game was televised nationally and millions of people around the world saw professional athletes unable to control themselves, willing to disrupt their workday to fight.
We were told to win with class. I wonder if that’s a thing of the past. While it may be a thing of the past, it’s one part of the championship formula they’ll need if they see a trip to AT&T Stadium in their future.
