State finals illegal uniform redux

[falsecut]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Are you saying that you could quote all the rules on uniforms without looking them up in the rulebook and you would be able to identify the exact inches of a seam or the size of a number?

Unfortunately, yes, I did know that it was four inches. I hate having to know that kind of trivial nonsense but I do remember a lot of it. And numbers are six inches in the back, four in the front, since you ask.

But that is hardly the point. I don't carry my tape measure to measure whether or not the inseam is four inches or five, but I know that an inseam that is swooped and not vertical is not legal. And even if I didn't T it up if I saw it, I could file a special report to the state reporting that I believed I saw an illegal uniform but was unable to determine it for sure. That could have prevented this little fiasco at the finals.

I have been around this place for longer than two years, I cannot think of a single discussion on uniforms that ever was discussed about the size of a seam.

Maybe you missed the complaining about our being the fashion police at our association meetings then? I didn't say it was necessarily on the forum.

Also last year the IHSA did not want officials dealing with uniform issues (so not two years for everyone) or giving Ts for uniform violations. We were told to only report illegal uniforms directly to the IHSA and that the IHSA would handle it.

So you're saying that because we weren't going to enforce a penalty, you took the year off looking for it? Wouldn't you have to look at it to report it to the IHSA? Or did you decide it was too big of a nuisance to bother? You know, one of the reasons that we didn't enforce the rule was that it was seen as way too harsh to be giving out five Ts at the beginning of the game. That was part of the complaining at the association meetings and why the IHSA decided to waive the rule for a year. But they didn't waive reporting the violation.

Maybe you are perfect, but most of us are not concerned about things that have little or nothing to do with playing the game. If you can see the numbers, that is all most officials are going to care about.

No, not perfect by a long shot. But your comment goes to the crux of the problem. If nobody bothers to enforce it over the first 33 games, then all of a sudden it becomes an issue in the 34th one and a big deal when if we were doing our JOBS for the other games, we wouldn't be talking about this. How many times have we shown up and directed that the leg brace/taped earring/chain/beads or metal in the hair be removed or remediated and been told, "You're the first guy to tell us that all year"? Isn't consistent application of the rules what we all strive to accomplish?

So Jeff, what else that has "little or nothing to do with playing the game" do you feel we can all safely ignore?