High school sports writer Craig Smith, aka "Sideline Smitty," took a swing in yesterday's Seattle Times sports page at the Archbishop Murphy debacle. Smitty expresses the stunned disgust I have yet to see disputed by any soul I've spoken to about the story. The WIAA ought to be ashamed.
Posted by Eric Earling at November 14, 2007 07:27 AM | Email ThisSo, so sad.
Posted by: swatter on November 14, 2007 07:46 AMSidenote: Are you going to comment on the Clowncils' tax increases, or is that boat going to be missed (pun intended) like the I-747 decision?
Posted by: Palouse on November 14, 2007 08:18 AMOr, going back to Bryan Suits, he would tackle this if he were still there. Suppose Shrambo and Carlson would take it on? Where's the Kirby?
And where is Mike Siegel when you need him?
Posted by: swatter on November 14, 2007 08:33 AMThis piles on the strange acts schools do when they see plastic guns on toy soldiers, Tylenol rage and hyperventilating at the site of a Christian bookstore within 300 feet of a school campus.
Hey you bitter angry Cascade Conference AD's oh boy don't you look so smug in front of the mirror. There is rules and there are rules. The rules never cover every situation that is why this one was a no brainer. But hey next time you get summarily execute another team won't you?? Of course you never will again. Your chicken crap. Ya know ½ a day of poking around your meeting minutes will find how full of it you are.
You're the same ones that are going to allow a boy to cheerlead as a girl in Mount Vernon next year?? Ya you good black and whiters there with the rule book yep ya - Smug Alert!!
And Bellingham you have NO class!! You would have declined to play Mark Morris you LOST to ABM.
Once again "Public" Education attacks and destroys society.
Separation of School and State anyone?
To the ABM Team and School nothing but class, again nothing but class. Wronged for being right when it was mistake and not a wrong.
WIAA - your right but really you're wrong.
Rules and laws are important, but they exist to serve justice, not create it. Its a shame the people on the WIAA have forgotten this.
Posted by: giffy on November 14, 2007 09:21 AMI think it was the Dr. Spock invention on how to raise kids got us away from rules are rules.
The NCAA and WIAA have too many rules and because they were made by liberals, they became too cumbersome and ridiculous by a long shot.
And Giffy, every rule or law that has been made was good intentioned and would solve the problem it was meant to.
However, it is the emotionalism and ME and NOW generations where rules and laws are made on emotions rather than serious discourse that causes all these rules that are made to be broken.
Posted by: swatter on November 14, 2007 09:53 AMCan anyone say DOUBLE-STANDARD.
Posted by: Frank on November 14, 2007 10:30 AMSomewhere, someplace I read that they said it's because they have rules against students playing without up to date physicals, but nothing against students playing when they are accused of or have admitted to violent felonies.
Go figure.
Posted by: Mike H on November 14, 2007 10:44 AMOh Dan, there you go again with your liberal nanny statism. If kids don't get checkups, that's their problem. Why should the secular progressive union-controlled schools insist that our kids get checkups? This just puts on on the slippery slope toward commmunist forced healthcare like Hillary wants.
And "stop and think" before complaining about liberals? What sort of nonsense is that?
Posted by: Bruce on November 14, 2007 11:09 AMBut you're right, someone should never let their own death prevent them from doing their job. I mean, really, where were this guy's priorities?
Posted by: Mike H on November 14, 2007 11:21 AMThis then spread into school policy with things likes guns, drugs, sexual harassment, and a myriad of others behaviors. Both the left and the right applied the standard to causes they supported under the belief that strict enforcement was the answer.
The problem is that not all violations are created equal. Form a purely legal standpoint the champion marksman who leaves her ammo in the car is the same as the gang member who brings a handgun to school. However I think we can agree that they should not be treated the same.
The trick is how we can do that given the fact that it is hard to get good people in to the system and that the media will over report and incorrectly report any perceived failures leading to more cries for "zero tolerance".
Posted by: giffy on November 14, 2007 11:37 AMRainer Beach Highschool has new basketball phenoms transfer in every year. Many requiring, and receiving hardship waivers from the WIAA to make the transfer 'legal.'
When the one of the driving principles of the WIAA is to make sure athletic priorities do not supplant academic priorities, why would they let anyone transfer to Rainer Beach HS?
Posted by: fineday on November 14, 2007 12:03 PMFor all those trying to justify this despicable decision with the "zero tolerance" nonsense, get a clue!!! Zero Tolerance was started with regard to ILLEGAL activities, not common sense. Coach Ennis was a big part of these young men's lives. The team obviously wanted to shine for what they knew would be the last season with their coach. WIAA owes the team, the school, and the community a front page apology. Fat chance we'll get that. Grrrrrrrrr.
Posted by: Burdabee on November 14, 2007 01:28 PMI'm just asking.
Posted by: Organization Man on November 14, 2007 09:26 PMHowever, for a new school to get so good and so quickly and so often, it requires recruiting. But recruiting more than is associated with getting kids in a private school? I don't know. More than asking Mr. Smith not to send his kid to the Northshore School District, but to send the kid to AM? I don't know.
I have to take the story at face value. Don't forget the milquetoast AM president, either. He has to have a lot of culpability. Just has to.
Posted by: swatter on November 15, 2007 06:46 AMI just hopped on their website, and it says the school was founded in 1988, so I'm not sure I'd call it "new". I would think that 19 years would be long enough to establish a decent football program.
Also, I've never heard anything about their president, but I would think that sports physicals compliance would probably fall out of his area of responsibility.
Posted by: Mike H on November 15, 2007 07:28 AMSometimes those in charge have to resort to drastic means to get their points across. The kids did.
No one is blaming the school and their policies at this moment. I believe I stated I would take the story at face value until I heard different.
Kevin, a lot of times there are sour grapes why one school does better than others in athletics. You can just take the UW experience as an example as to what the jealously begets.
It seems to most of us that the infraction was so minor that there just had to be something underlying such a drastic measure. That's all.
Posted by: swatter on November 15, 2007 08:48 AMI did... it is not a new school. Yes, in 1999 it moved to a new facility and changed it's name, but it was still the same school, same students, same teams, same faculty, same management. Schools are renamed all the time, and they occasionally move locations. That doesn't mean the school itself is new.
Posted by: Mike H on November 15, 2007 10:45 AMShould a self-reported inadvertant paperwork issue, quickly, easily, and "legally" correctable, have a less severe sanction than intentional actions designed to benefit a team by circumventing and hiding the rules infractions?
Should the destruction of a whole season, and dozens of eligible players, be the first recourse or the last?
All student-athletes, especially those that have done everything required of them by WIAA rules, should be able to expect better treatment from the WIAA.
I hope that through this latest episode the WIAA has finally learned that they need to add common sense to their rulebook and that they are reminded that they are there to promote and lift up the student athletes, not tear them down and destroy them.
Posted by: SouthernRoots on November 16, 2007 01:27 PM