{"id":6168,"date":"2023-02-26T08:40:42","date_gmt":"2023-02-26T13:40:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=6168"},"modified":"2023-06-11T11:45:15","modified_gmt":"2023-06-11T15:45:15","slug":"fair-or-foul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/02\/26\/fair-or-foul\/","title":{"rendered":"Fair or Foul"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Officiating the Pole Vault in the Covid Year!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It’s been a while, but here’s a “Sunday Story”. No politics here – just a story about folks who try to make sure the competition is fair.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addiction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I coached track and field for forty years.  My last year as a coach was 2017, six \u201cseasons\u201d ago; so long ago that the high school athletes I coached are long graduated.  While some coaches remember me, even they are growing grayer.  Six years is a long time in the \u201clife\u201d of a high school sports team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And for a while, I avoided the track.  I used to say that I had polyurethane and fiberglass in my blood (track surface and pole vault poles).  The only way to \u201cbreak the addiction\u201d was to stay away.  But after a year of near total abstinence, I recognized that I wanted to be around without the \u201call-in\u201d that coaching required.  So I regained my license, and went out on the track in the black and white uniform as an official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were all sorts of jokes from both sides.  The officials that I joined saw me as “that coach” they crossed horns with for forty years. And the coaches looked at me as if I crossed over to the \u201cdark side\u201d.  But track, and in fact, all sports officiating, has a problem.  Fewer and fewer people sign up to do it, and the remaining officials are growing old.  While at sixty-six, I may not lower the average age of a track officials meeting anymore, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m raising it either.  There\u2019s a need, I have the expertise \u2013 so why not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parsing the Rule<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Besides, officiating track is natural to me.  I\u2019ve coached every event in high school track and field, and some events that aren\u2019t.  No event \u201cintimidates\u201d me, and especially my area of expertise, pole vault.  Many officials shy away from that one, leaving a natural opening for me to fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My track officiating has expanded in the past couple of years.  This year I even officiated eight indoor meets, and I am close to having a \u201cfull\u201d outdoor schedule with twenty-five meets already on the calendar.  It\u2019s fun, (of course, it\u2019s track); and a way to get some extra cash.   And I\u2019m \u201cgiving back\u201d to the sport and the athletes I love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of being an official is attending \u201crules interpretation\u201d meetings. It\u2019s kind of like studying the Torah (or Bible): a bunch of \u201cstudents\u201d sit around a room and discuss \u201cpassages\u201d from the rule book.  They bring varied experiences of their own to the conversation, telling stories that highlight the particular rule we are parsing.  It can be \u201cdry\u201d, I guess; especially after a long day.  But even the driest topic in the rules, the management structure of a track meet (Rule 3), has something to offer.  That\u2019s what last Thursday\u2019s meeting was like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Show Me in the Book<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The rule was being \u201cpresented\u201d by a \u201csenior official\u201d, Doug, who has officiated as long as I\u2019ve coached.  We are good friends; even when I wasn\u2019t with him on the \u201cdark side\u201d, and more so now. We share a common goal: make sure kids get the best experience possible from their track competitions.  I respect him immensely.  Not only is he sharp on the rules, but he\u2019s clear in his heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to \u201cthe rules\u201d, I tend to fall back on my one semester at the University of Cincinnati Law School.  The concept is \u201cBlack Letter Law\u201d: when a law is codified clearly in \u201cblack letters\u201d that leave little to interpretation.  As a coach, one of my favorite arguments was to say, \u201cJust show me in the book where it says that\u201d, when arguing a particular issue.  I knew (and still know) that book forwards and backwards \u2013 the \u201cblack letters\u201d clear and to the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track in Ohio<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Track and Field is a spring sport in Ohio.  That means that when we begin at the end of March, it might be in the snow.  I started an early-season track invitational called the \u201cIcebreaker\u201d. There were several years when we literally broke the ice off the apparatus to have the meet.  At the end of the season in June, we are often worried about heat illness and dehydration.  We compete in snow and rain as well as sunshine.  Really; only inches of snow, floods of rain or lightning will stop a track meet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the season there\u2019s a series of meets designed to qualify to the state final championship.  At the beginning hundreds compete in events in different parts of the state, narrowing to sixty-four, then to the final eighteen per event at the State Meet.  Getting to state is huge for any athlete, winning it even bigger.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throw in the Rain<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was on that first level of the qualifiers, the District meet, that our \u201cTorah\u201d study focused Thursday evening.  The competition began in a steady drizzle, not hard, but rain.  As always, the meet began with the field events, including discus.  Throwing a discus requires the athlete to handle the implement, a two pound or more disc of rubber, wood, or plastic; and spin around to throw it out into a portion of field.  The competition is for distance, and, not surprisingly, holding onto a wet disc is difficult.  The first two sections of the discus participants struggled to throw, but the competition went on.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the rain really turned into a downpour.  No one could hold onto the disc. The official couldn\u2019t write the distances down anyway as the results paper began to dissolve.  They agreed to suspend the competition, and when the heavy rain continued on into the evening, to hold it another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black Letter Law<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Rule 3, Section 2, Parts 5 and 6 <\/strong>clearly states that, \u201c\u2026a meet may be suspended by the referee, due to an emergency such as weather conditions.  Competition shall be continued from the point of interruption\u2026All trials and marks made up to the point of interruption shall stand.<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s the \u201cblack letter law\u201d.  Those throwers in the rain would have to live with their throws, according to the \u201cbook\u201d.  Those lucky enough to be among the \u201csuspended\u201d, could throw in the bright sunshine the next day.  Not surprisingly, the athletes and coaches protested \u2013 knowing that their best water-soaked marks wouldn\u2019t stand up to the changed conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cblack letter law\u201d is clear \u2013 \u201call trials and marks\u2026shall stand<\/span>\u201d.  But it\u2019s not fair.  Even some state qualifiers from the previous year would fall victim, not to injury or failure to perform, but to the random sorting of the competitors which left them in the rain rather than the sunshine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The easy answer as an official would be the one  that starts \u2013 \u201cshow me in the book\u201d.  And it\u2019s in the book, Rule 3-2-6, throws in the rain must stand. But it\u2019s not fair, and my friend made a different decision.  He threw out all of rain soaked results, and re-did the whole competition from the beginning in the sunshine.  It was a qualifying meet, he wanted everyone to have a fair shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Right Call<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My fallback position:  as an official  we wear black and white, we are hired for black and white decisions, black letter law is what I can \u201cshow them in the book\u201d.  So I entered our \u201cstudy\u201d with the thought that Doug was wrong.  But it\u2019s hard to beat his sense of fairness.  Are we really hired just for black and white interpretation, or are we hired to use our best judgment, forged in decisions over decades, to be fair?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His decision might \u201churt\u201d someone.  An athlete that would have qualified to the next level due to the rain, would now be beaten by someone else.  In short, someone who got lucky, and got to throw in the sun, would beat someone who, through no fault of their own, was throwing soaking wet.  In Doug\u2019s more even competition, the better thrower would win out to qualify, instead of the luckiest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It might not have been \u201cthe right call\u201d by the book.  But it was fair.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our \u201cdry\u201d  discussion at Thursday evening’s study of Rule 3, section 2, parts 5 <\/em>and 6; still keeps me thinking, days later.  It\u2019s made me consider a different aspect of our black and white uniformed jobs.  And it gives me an even deeper appreciation and respect for my friend and fellow official, Doug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h5>\n\n\n\n