First of all, Rut, my check to you is in the mail and you should receive it Monday. Second, I want to apologize in advance for this long post.
Third. There are a number of officials who think that:
1) The OhioHSAA and MichiganHSAA policies requiring the official/umpire to make contact with a school adminstrator the next school day is not a good idea. I have been an OhioHSAA registered official since 1971 and a MichiganHSAA registered official since 1984. I was registered by the FloridaHSAA from 1973 to 1977, and a member of the Southern Calif. Bkb. Off. Assn. from 1982 to 1984.
While in Florida and California I had the undesireable duty of filing game reports for player ejections. During those years neither the FloridaHSAA nor the California Interscholatic Federation had no formal game report form to complete. I can not remember if (and I do not feel like climbing up into the attic to rummage through forty year old files; those who read the Basketball Forum will understand that comment) contacting a school adminstrator was a requirement in those days (I do not think it was.). But I do know that game reports at that time were a he said/she said affair. Nothing good ever game of them because StateHSAA did not have penalties in place for ejections.
The same situation that was in Florida and California was in place in Ohio and Michigan until the early 90's (that's 1990's for the basketball guys reading this post). It was about that time that the OhioHSAA and MichiganHSAA adopted penalties for ejections and both orginzations adopted almost identical game report forms and ejection protocols. The forms were in triplicate with one copy going to the State, one copy to the school, and one copy to the official. The school also received a form to complete. It allowed for a very limited response. And that response was practically dictated to them by the State. The response had to state that the school had taken the appropriate punitave steps as required the StateHSAA Rules and Regulations. The StateHSAA would not accept and he said/she said response from the school. I can only speculate, that Ohio and Michigan requirment of the official notifying the school is so that the school principal, who may not have been at the athletic event and therefore may not know yet of the ejection will be notified in a timely manner and that he will be receiving a game report.
In recent years both Ohio and Michigan has gone to an online reporting system, but still require the phone call to the school administor. Michigan's is 100% online, and Ohio's is psuedo online (no need to explain because it is not germain to the discussion).
2) I did not handle the AD appropriately. Rut and others, as well as myself, have stated that game reports are to be short, succinct (something I am not very often,
), and sweet. Meaning the report needs to be on point and nothing else. That also applies to the notification of the administrator.
Everybody here knows that I can go on flights of fancy and hyperbole and very capable of making a short story long (case in point: this post,
). Every official has his own tolerance for profanity, the F-bomb, the N-word, taunting, and other unsportsmanlike conduct. That tolerance is also determined by the sport being officiated because one sport's penalities for such conduct can not easily be applied to another sport's penalities for such conduct.
Those who post on the Basketball Forum know my position on profanity, the F-bomb, the N-word, taunting, and other unsportsmanlike conduct. I guess one could describe me as old school (Note to Basketball Forum readers: Not that Old School.). I was raised to compete in a way that one could play hard, have emmotion, repsect your opponent, and still conduct onself as a lady or gentleman on the field of competition. Sadly, there are certain elements within the world of sport who find that philosophy quaint to say the least.
I believe that I handled my conversation correctly and I am not alone in this position. That is, a sports official's official comments should be succinct and to the point. They should be germain to the subject being discussed and nothing more. There is a good reason for this position: Silence can not be misquoted and is very difficult to be quoted out of context.
I think I have said enough for a while.
MTD, Sr.