Winners never quit. But winners also manage to score the odd field goal every month or so. From the Lansing State Journal’s Hannah Northery.

A northern Michigan school district is canceling its football season because adults don’t want the members of team – which hasn’t scored a point all season – to risk getting hurt.

But Lansing-area schools that have suffered through losing streaks say Oscoda Area High School’s decision to throw in the towel sends the wrong message.

“The message you’re telling the kids is that when it gets tough, you’re giving up,” said Eaton Rapids football coach Randy Taylor, whose team went 0-9 last season.

Oscoda coach Kyle Tobin said the team was not physically competitive, had too few players and faced a tough schedule in the North East Michigan Conference.

A editorial in today’s Huron Daily Tribune intones,

We have to remember playing sports in high school is a privilege, not a right. Students are there for an education, not a college athletic scholarship.

When these football players look back on this decision in the years to come, they will realize it was the right decision.

Sometimes, the right decisions are the hardest to make.

Indeed, there is a time and place for the ritual humiliation of weaker male athletes. That time is every weekday afternoon, and the place is Long Island.

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