blowout (sports)

In sports, a blowout is an easy or one-sided victory. It occurs when one athletic team or individual performer outscores another by a large margin or in such a fashion that allows the second team or individual little chance of a victory from a point early in a competition, game, contest or event, e.g. ''Team Frosties defeat Team Goose 9-1''. The term is often used in reference to athletic competition, but it is used in other contexts such as electoral politics (see also the synonym ''landslide'').

During blowouts, sports play-by-play announcers are challenged to maintain viewing and listening audience interest and ratings. The announcers attempt to keep a stock of relevant informative discourse for such events.

Ethics and sportsmanship

During blowouts, some coaches and players are challenged by the ethics and sportsmanship of the event. Some believe it is not appropriate to give full effort when winning by a blowout margin, or " run up the score", and others believe that in athletic competition one is supposed to give full effort at all times. It can also be difficult for the losing team to keep their cool. Yelling/fights and players being removed from the game often take place when a team is being blown out because the losing team is frustrated and embarrassed. During the portion of the game that is played after the outcome has been decided, which is known as garbage time, most teams rest many of their better players and play reserves who do not regularly play in their place. This keeps the regular players from getting injured and gives them a chance to get some rest. It also gives the reserves a chance to get some experience under game conditions. The fans often amuse themselves with chants about favorite teams and players that they want to see play during garbage time or teams that they look forward to playing in future rounds of playoff competition.

However in some sports, maintaining a large margin of victory must be done in order to retain the lead in statistical tiebreaker computations for playoff contention, and in other sports such as baseball, a strong inning or comeback win by the trailing team is always possible in pressure situations, due to the non-timed nature of the sport.

Notable blowouts

Some of the most one-sided sporting victories are given below:

*American football (college). In the 1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game, called "the biggest blowout in football history" by ''Los Angeles Times'' columnist Paul Aurandt in 1983, Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland College by a score of 222–0. Georgia Tech rushed for 1,650 yards and did not allow a first down by Cumberland. In a record-setting season of blowouts, the 1901 Michigan Wolverines football team defeated its opponents over the course of the entire season by a combined score of 550–0.
*American football ( NFL). In 1940, the Chicago Bears beat the Washington Redskins 73–0 in the league's championship game. Chicago coach George Halas reportedly showed his players newspaper clippings in which the Redskins' owner called the Bears "crybabies and quitters" after the Redskins beat the Bears, 7–3, in the regular season.
* Australian rules football ( AFL). In 1979, Fitzroy defeated Melbourne 238–48.
*Baseball (MLB). In 1897, the Chicago Colts of the National League defeated the Louisville Colonels, 36–7. The modern record (i.e., post-1900) for margin of victory was set in 2007, when the Texas Rangers defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 30–3. (The 30 runs are also a modern-era record for runs scored in a nine-inning MLB game by one team.)
* Basketball ( NBA). On December 2, 2021, the Memphis Grizzlies beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 152–79.
*Canadian Football (CFL). On August 24, 1959, the Edmonton Eskimos defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders 55–0. On July 29, 2017, the Calgary Stampeders defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 60–1.
*Canadian Football (IRFU). In 1956, the Montreal Alouettes defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 82–14.
*Canadian Football (IRFU/WIRFU). In the 1923 Grey Cup, Queen's University defeated the Regina Rugby Club 54–0.
* Club association football. In 1885, Arbroath defeated Bon Accord of Aberdeen in a Scottish Cup

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