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Track team disqualified for believing in God

I'm an old guy and maybe my memory's failing. I sort of remember sports being played in a "sporting" manner. At the end of an event, it was common for the competitors to congratulate each other. The losers might even hear "good game" from the winners.
Not saying it was universal by any means, but generally speaking, it was a lot more fun for me to watch sports before every score resulted in an impromptu dance of self worship.

In this case of course, its alledged that the winners were merely thanking God for the win.
Why the "God of Love" would be watching a track meet while genocide and starvation are loose in the world is a whole other topic.
 
Spindrift said:
It's not a stupid rule. It might have been stupidly applied but the rule itself is not bad.

I'm actually a certified track official and while given the written evidence I don't think I would have disqualified the runner. However, until I see what actually transpired, I would have to withhold judgment. If should be noted that the ruling was upheld by the meet referee, a second senior official at the meet.

This is high school only we're talking about. Not college, not Olympics. High school sports can be very contentious, yes even track. The rule is meant to not inflame situations and there are similar rules in all high school sports. We're dealing with teenagers and parents who can get very emotional and overreact at the drop of a hat. Coaches know or should know the rule. It's not new and has been around for a long time.

Bottom line is it had nothing whatsoever to do with religion. The title of this OP and newspaper articles I've seen are just flat out wrong about that.
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Having read your reasoned response to "It's a stupid rule", I still find that it is indeed a stupid rule.

Perhaps one of the most stupid rules I've ever heard of, anywhere, under any circumstances. We're not allowed to be happy when we win???
 
NoahFence said:
Having read your reasoned response to "It's a stupid rule", I still find that it is indeed a stupid rule.

Perhaps one of the most stupid rules I've ever heard of, anywhere, under any circumstances. We're not allowed to be happy when we win???
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It doesn't say that. You can be quite happy. I've seen celebrations all the time.

That is why I suspect there is more to this story than has been reported.
 
CORed said:
The NFL (National Football League, professional American Football) does indeed have a rule against excessive celebration. In practice, the player who scores a touchdown can spike the ball and do a little dance, but if he carries on too long or their is a group celebration, it will usually draw a penalty (5 or 15 yards, I forget which, assessed on the following kickoff). Some sportscasters, when this rule was first enacted, quipped that "NFL" stands for "No Fun League";.
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Harsher still in the College game, you get the touchdown taken off the board.

Follow the rules, as idiotic as they may seem to some of us, and you're golden. Isn't that what should be getting drummed into these young athletes?
 
Spindrift said:
It's not a stupid rule. It might have been stupidly applied but the rule itself is not bad.
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I don't know why you think so. When you win, you typically are happy, and people who are happy usually show it, intentionally or not. Raising one's hands is a common way of doing that, and I see no reason to make a rule about that. It would be like banning shouting "yes !" when you win.
 
Belz... said:
I don't know why you think so. When you win, you typically are happy, and people who are happy usually show it, intentionally or not. Raising one's hands is a common way of doing that, and I see no reason to make a rule about that. It would be like banning shouting "yes !" when you win.
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I have never seen anyone DQed for raising their hand, shouting 'Yes' or other typical expressions of happiness at winning. That is not the intent of the rule. The rule is to stop taunting and over the top behavior.

I have seen DQs for throwing down the baton and getting in the face of other runners after the race.

As I've said in several posts, I think there is more to the situation in the OP than is currently known. If not and all the kid did was 'point to the sky' then I whole-heartedly agree that the official and the referee are jackasses. But the rule is not the problem, it's a misapplication of the rule.
 
Guys who showboat are generally cocky asses, but I don't know why celebration has become so frowned upon. It's often funny and amusing. Now you get like a penalty for it some sports leagues. It's not a big issue.
 
malicus said:
Harsher still in the College game, you get the touchdown taken off the board.
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I remember when they passed a rule in both pro and college ball where you would get a celebration penalty for removing your helmet after a play. Shortly after it went into effect, a college player who dropped an easy pass took off his helmet in disgust, and was flagged for "celebration".

Follow the rules, as idiotic as they may seem to some of us, and you're golden. Isn't that what should be getting drummed into these young athletes?
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Sports teaches kids to find a balance between passion and discipline. It's a valuable lesson. When they go out into the world, we wouldn't want them to fire up a celebratory joint in the HR office after being offered their first job.
 
NoahFence said:
Having read your reasoned response to "It's a stupid rule", I still find that it is indeed a stupid rule.

Perhaps one of the most stupid rules I've ever heard of, anywhere, under any circumstances. We're not allowed to be happy when we win???
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Belz... said:
I don't know why you think so. When you win, you typically are happy, and people who are happy usually show it, intentionally or not. Raising one's hands is a common way of doing that, and I see no reason to make a rule about that. It would be like banning shouting "yes !" when you win.
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No the rule itself is there to correct a rather big problem. In youth sports where there are no such rules it is agonizing to watch as the winner gets right in the face of the loser and taunts them endlessly. Incredibly the parents frequently either egg their kids on to do it or actively participate. Often it degenerates into a fight either between the kids, the parents or both.
 
Travis said:
No the rule itself is there to correct a rather big problem. In youth sports where there are no such rules it is agonizing to watch as the winner gets right in the face of the loser and taunts them endlessly. Incredibly the parents frequently either egg their kids on to do it or actively participate. Often it degenerates into a fight either between the kids, the parents or both.
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That is insane...
 
Spindrift said:
It not the victory but every time they score even if the score is 50-7. Act like you've scored before. And it's not even the celebrating so much as it's when it turns into taunting.
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"When you get in the endzone, act like you've been there before."
Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant
 
There's some scuttlebutt that there was more to the DQ than just pointing to the sky. The story as I've heard it: The athlete in question was told to get off the track after finishing. The official placed a hand on the athlete to assist and the athlete shoved the official. That was what caused the DQ.

A few points, high school track meets are long events. It's not like the Olympics, you can't run around the track in a victory lap, there simply isn't enough time. Any athlete who has run more than a couple races knows they have to get off the track quickly, the next race is about to start.

Athletes can be unmindful of that either because of exhaustion, exhilaration or disappointment and occasionally an official will often place a hand on an athlete to guide them off the track. Never is that done forcefully, at least I've never seen it, and it happens all the time.

As far as I've been able to find, no news organization has talked to the officials involved. There's not even a "so-and-so official" did not respond to repeated requests for comment or phone calls.

No video has surfaced so far as I could find, but it still comes down to that it has nothing to do with religion.
 
I get it. Pumping your fist, not OK. But pointing out that the deity, which you claim is One and True and shared by all, favors your cause over your opponents' on the track? That's supposed to be OK?

Why don't these people pray in the closet, like their god-man said to do?
 
MarkCorrigan said:
Is this the same kind of rule that leads to pro teams in the US being frowned upon for celebrating scoring?

I recall a thread on here not so long ago about football (soccer) goal celebrations and American Football celebrations that included a couple of American posters being aghast at goal celebrations in football (soccer) describing them as bad sportsmanship.

The whole idea that emphatically celebrating a victory with your team or fans was bad sportsmanship seemed utterly ridiculous to me.
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Ha, a sure way to get under my fellow Europeans' skin is to start a discussion of how badly designed a game soccer is. The reason it's OK to excessively celebrate in soccer is that point scoring is such a rare occurrence. Why'd this sport get so big when often 90 minutes will go by with nothing interesting happening?

Of course, that's also part real-world trolling for the heck of it.
 
Spindrift said:
There's some scuttlebutt that there was more to the DQ than just pointing to the sky. The story as I've heard it: The athlete in question was told to get off the track after finishing. The official placed a hand on the athlete to assist and the athlete shoved the official. That was what caused the DQ.

A few points, high school track meets are long events. It's not like the Olympics, you can't run around the track in a victory lap, there simply isn't enough time. Any athlete who has run more than a couple races knows they have to get off the track quickly, the next race is about to start.

Athletes can be unmindful of that either because of exhaustion, exhilaration or disappointment and occasionally an official will often place a hand on an athlete to guide them off the track. Never is that done forcefully, at least I've never seen it, and it happens all the time.

As far as I've been able to find, no news organization has talked to the officials involved. There's not even a "so-and-so official" did not respond to repeated requests for comment or phone calls.

No video has surfaced so far as I could find, but it still comes down to that it has nothing to do with religion.
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I am entirely shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear that this was not persecution of the religious on the PC altar.

Either that, or I'm a sarcastic ass who should just be thanking you for taking the time to update as more facts come in . . .
 
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