"Teachable Moments"

Earlier this year, I received an e-mail from our assistant athletic director, just drawing our attention to a change in the rules for clothing in high school athletics. Specifically: Rule 9, Section 6, Article 1b of the National Federation of High Schools rule book, which states: "Items displaying seams stitched on the outside of the garment in a visible contrasting color to the undergarment will be illegal beginning with the 2009-10 school year."

I've always felt the clothing police were going a bit overboard in our high school sports (especially considering half the officials don't actually go through proper procedure for things that MATTER, like starting a race), and this just continued the trend of ridiculous requirements. But I certainly didn't think the new stitching rule would actually have an impact on results. How wrong I was. In Baltimore County, the fourth-place finisher in cross-country finals was DQ'd for violating this rule, thereby costing his team the title.

/head explodes

The idiots who make rules for high school sports are always doing crap this (like banning the A-11 offense in football). And pretty much the only way I can defend this rule (and outcome) is that it is teaching our student-athletes that those with power will create arbitrary, pointless rules that serve no purpose other than to further their own sense of control and prevent change. And since they will have to deal with people like this their whole lives, I guess it's good to teach it to them at a young age. But it's a pretty damn sad. And really, how does a coach "winning" because of this rule actually accept the trophy?