Slow season coming - rule changes?

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

Everyone? So you understand language that inner city kids might say to each other that are not the common words? And I gave you an example that some people that are religious get upset by and those not so religious or a different belief system never get upset by.

Again, it doesn't matter....whether you or other are offended or not or whether there are cryptic neighborhood jargon that is only locally known, you could easily effectively and completely eliminate all of the common words that large groups of people consider profane. For the local slang, the officials could easily be asked to cover those too if they recognize it. If they don't know it, what does that matter? Someone could, in anyone of your games call you the worst thing you've ever heard in Chinese and you'd not have a clue. It doesn't mean you should let all of the stuff you do understand go.

Non religious people know words that religious people don't like and the only real reason to still use them is to shove it in their face.....those words actually only come from religious contexts as they mean absolutely nothing outside of it....so those words only express something when considered religiously. If you're not religious, why invoke religious language.

[JetMetFan]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

Again, it doesn't matter....whether you or other are offended or not or whether there are cryptic neighborhood jargon that is only locally known, you could easily effectively and completely eliminate all of the common words that large groups of people consider profane. For the local slang, the officials could easily be asked to cover those too if they recognize it. If they don't know it, what does that matter? Someone could, in anyone of your games call you the worst thing you've ever heard in Chinese and you'd not have a clue. It doesn't mean you should let all of the stuff you do understand go.

Non religious people know words that religious people don't like and the only real reason to still use them is to shove it in their face.....those words actually only come from religious contexts as they mean absolutely nothing outside of it....so those words only express something when considered religiously. If you're not religious, why invoke religious language.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to put multiple quotes in responses.

As I mentioned before I am Black and I officiate in the NYC public schools. I've worked those games for about 20 years and I also work in Hudson County, NJ. To say those are heavily ethnic areas would be an understatement. There's certain slang you'll hear when moving from neighborhood to neighborhood but there are some words which are used in every community. Those are the words you adjudicate, regardless of whether people think it's proper to use them in their 'hood. If there are words/phrases you don't understand then you don't deal with them but you also ask around so the next time the term comes up you know whether it can become an issue.

As for "language inner city kids might say that are not the common words," I just tell them they're not being used in my game that day. That's why in an earlier post I said in my PSAL pregame I tell kids the no profanity mandate includes the N-word. I'm perfectly aware kids in certain neighborhoods use that on a regular basis but if I set the standard from the start it's not a problem. As I said before, there are profane words which transcend cultures. Those are forbidden in every game and the kids know that. Once they get out of the habit of using those, the others which may not be as cross-cultural start going away as well.

Also, there are cultural habits which have already been dealt with in the NFHS rule book. Remember the "Fab 5" and wearing your shorts below your waist or your jersey outside your shorts? 3-3-5. Frayed t-shirts under your jersey? 3-5-6. Wristband on your bicep? 3-5-4c. The time-honored tradition of trash talking? 10-3-6c. I'm sure 10-3-6g - the smokeless tobacco rule - falls in there somewhere as well.

As Camron said, if we enforce them the kids adjust...the same way they adjust to the way we call contact, hand checks, etc. If a kid uses one of the well-known words, gets a T and asks us why, we tell them they can't use it durnig the game. Either they'll stop or they won't play.