[jTheUmp]

Originally Posted by WAzebra24

Let me clear up a few issues as someone in the mix:

1. No one has been suspended and no games have been lost at this point

Ok, fair enough.

2. The association was aware of the potential consequences prior to the use of the pink whistles and choose to go ahead anyway. They were aware prior.

Why should there be consequences for the color of the whistles used by the officials? (see my comment to #4)

3. Todd Stordahl is the commissioner for all officials in the state of Washington not just football.

Your point being?

4. The association in question did not follow the approved process for use of non approved uniformn equipment.

Please enlighten us and point us to the document where it states that whistles must be a certain color in WA? As others have said earlier in the thread, there is no rule on whistle color in the NFHS manuals.

Additionally, does this document (which I must assume exists somewhere, or this pissing match is even more idiotic then it appears to an outsider), spell out the penalties for using improper/incorrect equipment?

5. The issue is not breast cancer awareness or the whistle. It is id the official commissioner of the state interpretation of the WOA bylaws should have been followed a local association. Breast cancer awareness as all other noble causes are worthy of our support and money.

Breast cancer research (and any cancer research), is definitely a noble cause. Nobody is questioning that fact.
Again, we need to know what the WOA bylaws state in regards to whistle color.

6. The association backed Todd into a corner and what options did he have? He headss 150 officials associations in the state. Each one can't go their own way otherwise there chaos.

How about this: Don't allow yourself to think you're 'backed into a corner' over something trivial like the color of a whistle. As others have said upthread, don't pick a battle you can't win.
Other options:
1) Explicitly tell officials that the use of pink (orange, blue, silver, white, etc) whistles is allowed prior to the start of the season.
2) If pink (orange, blue, siliver, white, etc) whistles are explicitly not allowed

a) let this go for now, address it at the end of the season.
b) Say nothing about the whistles, and don't assign the officials in question to any playoff games that they haven't previously been assigned. If asked, make up something about the officials "not rating higly enough" or somesuch. (NOTE: I strongly oppose this option, but would have been an option).

I will add Todd has been unjustly villified and threats have been made to his wife and children.

Villified, I'm sure. Unjustly, I don't know. However, I'm sure everyone else on this board would agree with me that any kind of threats made against Todd and/or his family are completely unacceptable.

Come on it its just a whistle.

Which is exactly the point that everyone else here has been trying to make. If Todd had taken that stance initially, we wouldn't be having this conversation AT ALL.

This is a local Washington issue and debating the righteous of either side in this forum is not warranted.

It certainly is warranted. We debate the correctness/widsom/intent of rules and interpretations thereof all the time here. That's one of the main reasons why this board exists.

Each state has it's own structure and decision making process. What works in state A does not apply in state B.

Quite true. However, if an official in state A learns that state B handles situation X in a different, and possibly better, way then state A, that official can use that knowledge to possibly make changes in his/her state. In the business world, this is known as "adopting best practices".

The real question is how the media was made aware of this issue and by whom? I know the answer and it was not the WOA!

Irrelevant.

Please stop passing judgement on WOA, Todd and the association in question.

This is The Internet. Passing judgment is what The Internet does. If you want some of The Internet to change its judgment, you to give The Internet a valid reason for doing so. Of course, you must realize that part of The Internet will never deviate from it's initial judgment.