blowout

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). 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: