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Originally Posted by JRutledge
Larks,
You are exactly correct. None of us have to work with David, so it really does not matter what he thinks should be called.
Peace
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Now you're just backing off, like in the Mechanics thread (you brought it up) to "do whatever you want, it doesn't matter anyway". And which I specifically said, in the other thread (again, you brought up the other thread), that that wasn't a legitimate response.
We had a guest lecturer at our opening officials/coachs meeting this year. His speech, for a half hour or so, focussed on the falling apart of our game. When we need to have games played at 4 in the afternoon in some cities, so they don't have spectators show up to cause problems...when you have to have games stopped and replayed because of officials feeling there was one fan that made one racial slur against them... when you have the NFHS picking sportsmanship as a POE almost every year... when I have a coach I watch chew out his team for, literally, 15 minutes, flinging profanity at the kids left and right, with younger kids around well within hearing distance, with parents watching and well within hearing distance, AFTER A SUMMER LEAGUE GAME... these all lead toward our game falling apart.
If we choose to sit back, and watch these things occur, and do nothing to #1 prevent them, and #2 address them when they do occur, we're not going to have a game to officiate anymore. Yes, using the OP word isn't going to cause the game to collapse. But our unwillingness to address similar issues - our "not hearing" things we don't want to address or have to deal with, etc... is heading down a slippery slope that will damage the game, and sports in general, in the long term. You will say "one word, no big deal" - fine - one word leads to another and another, and the line gets blurrier and blurrier... and eventually, there is no line anymore.
Bottom line - if you wouldn't tolerate a coach saying it to you, why would you tolerate a coach addressing his players that way? Would you tolerate him addressing the scorekeeper that way? How about the timer? How about the ball-boy? How about the janitor during the intermission? How about a parent during halftime or during the game in the crowd behind him? Where do we draw the line? The behavior is unacceptable, and needs to be addressed in some way. Whether with a T or a warning - not addressing it simply allows them to get away with things, which build to larger things, which damages the game.
Again - why would they make sportsmanship, of which the language issue is a part, a POE almost every year in most sports, if it wasn't important?!?