Garbage time

For instance, in American football, if the losing team is behind by several touchdowns, the offense may resort entirely to the passing game in a futile effort to catch up.

Complementing this strategy, teams sit their first-string players during garbage time to give them more rest and avoid further injuries for future games.

[citation needed] Particularly at the youth level, garbage time is eliminated by the use of a mercy rule, which automatically ends a game when the margin of victory has reached a point that is presumably insurmountable.

Most (although not all) elite competitions now employ tiebreakers that de-emphasize or even outright ignore the importance of statistics such as goal difference for which there would be an obvious incentive to "run up the score.

[5] Technically, the term does not exist in fighting sports such as boxing and martial arts since in those, an opponent who is down by a large amount with seconds to go, can still win the contest by scoring a knockout.

[6] It refers to a period when social development goes against natural rules, individuals are powerless to change, and the entire era is bound to fail.

During the garbage time of an already settled American football game, the previously full stadium is now half-full and the substitutes are on the field.
Garbage time in the fourth quarter of a decided game (the USC Trojans lead the Washington Huskies 49–0); as a result of the home team's assured victory, the announced crowd of over 80,000 has dissipated.