A sad state of affairs in high school sports

Not too long ago, I wrote a post about playing sports for the love of the participation and passion for the games. When I wrote that I was unaware of something that happened in my home state of Maine that really has me sad.
Granted, rules are important in sports. When you break the rules, you get punished, but at the same time, rules are established for a reason. Some are based on situational factors while others are set up to stop something from possibly happening. We have increasing seen different sport almost re-write their rule books to allow for interpretation of rules that have particular areas of grey. This is one of those rules that certainly should have been better evaluated prior to acting upon…
In late October, the Massabesic Mustangs’ Girls Cross Country team was competing in the Maine State Championships when they encountered “Rule 4, Section 5, Article 8-c of the National Federation rulebook prohibits: Competitors joining or grasping hands with each other during a race.”
At the end of the 23-minute race two of Massabesic’s runners were about to finish 5th and 6th in the race. While the team already had two top-ten finishers, a Class A State Championship was all theirs; and then freshman Nicole Smith took the hand of teammate and senior, Kendra Johnson. After crossing the finish line, both competitors were disqualified and Massabesic High School fell from 1st to 4th overall.
When asked about the disqualification, Massabesic Coach Mark Crepeau said, “There was no intent to help. Their intent was to congratulate each other because the race was over." And the coach has a point. The rule in question was established so runners couldn’t band together and block other runners from passing. There were no runners approaching Smith and Johnson.
Sadly, the Massabesic team lost what should have been a title for them and a shot at the New England Championships being held this weekend. Even sadder is that none of the other teams had a problem with the disqualification even though the situation was clear.
Nicole Smith and Kendra Johnson are competitors who celebrated the spirit of competition on that day and they were penalized for their love of both the sport and the concept of being a teammate.

Sports Talk Radio

Admittedly, I am somewhat fascinated by sports talk radio. Why, you ask? Well, that's a good question and as a sports fan, I'd never thought about it prior to this afternoon as I was driving home from work. And then after about five calls in a row - all about the exact same topic, I got to wondering why some people can't just leave well enough alone. Seriously, it's like a for or against debate that goes on for hours at a time and I'm totally captivated by it. I guess it's sort of like a daytime television talk show without actually seeing the people who have garnered your attention. How into it am I? Alas, I'm just a listener when I'm in the car or shaving et cetera, but don't be fooled; many of the listeners are a religious about their favorite sports talk shows as anything else in their lives. Some call daily and are known by name by the host or hosts. Others even have on-air names like "Carolina Guy" or "Boston Lou." and yet while I sit here and contemplate how odd the whole concept seems to me - because I truly do listen for scores and news more than anything - there are thousands of people who listen to these shows who think exactly the same about people who express themselves or connect with others through blogs. Go figure...