Latest dumb high school decision..

[NotDutra5]

....and the kid pulls out a victory. I'm still trying to figure out why he or his coach was not told of the violation and dq. Frankly, any decision made by these bozos should be circumspect possibly moreso because of the method of handling it. It would be bad enough if one of the officials had the nuts to go to the kid and/or coach after the race and tell him why he was dq'd but none of them either thought of doing so or had the stones to do it.

This all assuming that this is how it went down.

[Conor Dary]

The high school track officials involved here are a bunch of cowards with no common sense at all....

[gm]

Let's just throw out the rule book, then. There, solved!

[Conor Dary]

Let's just throw out the rule book, then. There, solved!

Better than this nonsense....

Officials as dumb as a brick....what else is new.

[gm]

Better than this nonsense....

Officials as dumb as a brick....what else is new.

The way you throw out these kind of statements through many threads, I get the idea that no one is as smart as you.

[Conor Dary]

The way you throw out these kind of statements through many threads, I get the idea that no one is as smart as you.

A lot smarter than most track officials...

I directed a marathon when I was 16....you keep it simple.

From my own experience I have lots of tales....but my brother the physicist has seen plenty... he still works meets in Minnesota...the tales he has...he once worked a Junior Olympics in the Midwest years ago and some of the officials were so insane he refuses to ever work another one.

He was the one who said that it is the first time a lot of the guys get some authority and it goes completely to their head.

[J Rorick]

He was the one who said that it is the first time a lot of the guys get some authority and it goes completely to their head.

Same thing with HOA board members.

[Conor Dary]

I taught high school mathematics for several years once in South Boston in the 80s....

The idea of disqualifying a student for a swear word in excitement after doing a great achievement just boggles my mind....the stupidity shown here by the adults in charge is something else.

[jc203]

Decades ago as a high school coach I was on both sides of competition F-bomb situations.
1)I was officiating the discus at an invitational meet when a girl committed a foot fault on her first throw, immediately screamed “F**K!!!” while turning toward a large crowd of competitors and spectators, and stalked away. (BTW: There was never any doubt that she had stepped out of the ring.) I stopped the competition, followed her and told her that she would be DQ’ed if it happened again. Next throw, it happened again so I DQ’ed the young woman. That brought on a lot more very angry profanity directed at me. Other competitors thanked me, though, as did her coach who was embarrassed and upset with his athlete. Ironically, she was by far the most talented thrower in the event. If she’d previously recorded a fair throw I would have needed to consult the handbook to know if all her marks should have been deleted. Is a winning mark erased by a later DQ?
2) Coaching HS x-country at a league championship meet one of my runners was obviously struggling to maintain a lead over a determined rival about 30 yards behind. My guy was hugely talented, just as undisciplined and had a knack for making bad choices at every opportunity. The rival coach (a very good guy and very competitive) yelled a long stream of encouragement to his runner, “He’s gassed, he’s dying, go get him, he’s got nothing left, etc., et al. My doofus, not knowing who was yelling (at least that’s what he said… he was an idiot but not a liar) responds by wasting a whole lung full of oxygen in a feeble but clearly audible, “F**k You!". That other coach was hosting the meet but laughed off the incident. Me, I would have had no problem with DQ’ing the offender. In the aftermath, I wrote a letter of apology to the coach signed by me and the entire team. The offender was at first reluctant to sign but I made it clear he would never run for the team again (and maybe never leave the room alive) if he declined. It was an entirely different cultural era for both coaches and athletes :-).

[Steele]

We haven't seen hoards of coaches storming the Bastille to overturn this rule (same for parents).

My kids' HS coach would be the first in line to disqualify one of his charges for an outburst in these circumstances. He was respected and loved by all his athletes, he made them better on and off the track.

This rule says that it is way more important how your comport yourself in winning than winning itself, which is patently true. There is more to life than personal glory and achievement.

[GHM]

Have you attended any track and field or XC HS or College meets? This is very common that most of them are old (men) but God bless them they do it for love of the sport. What do you expect? They are traditionally strict with language (less in track).
What to do? Volunteer to help out in meets. I did it four years while my kid was in HS. I also volunteered in swim meets.

Let's do it folks.

[SoCal45]

Not track or high school but makes one wonder what got into the ump... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Vdl-EMY1E

[lonewolf]

Yes, the officials' cadre is long in the tooth. At 90, I probably qualify as an old, or at least elderly, track official. Officials I trained 40 years ago are dead, dying, or retiring. I keep doing it because we need track officials and I still can. I cringe when I see incompetent/ignorant/egotistical officiating and try to intervene when prudent/possible but I cannot be everywhere at once and have not been ordained to police officials.
Until very recently, grunt officials were seldom compensated but we spend thousands of dollars and hours and most of us are trying to get it right.

[Tuariki]

My kids' HS coach would be the first in line to disqualify one of his charges for an outburst in these circumstances. He was respected and loved by all his athletes, he made them better on and off the track.

I am pretty sure Coach Jack Mooberry at Washington State would have kicked us off the team if we used foul language. Coach Chaplin a bit different in that respect. GH might have an opinion on this.

[18.99s]

My kids' HS coach would be the first in line to disqualify one of his charges for an outburst in these circumstances.

Can a coach who is not a meet official DQ one of his/her own athletes after the race is done? I don't think so. The coach can bench or suspend the athlete in future meets, or refer them to the school's administration for some other punishment, and I have no philosophical objection to either. It's appropriate to Invoke some form of post-meet punishment, but don't negate the athlete's effort and result after the fact for something like this.