Pink cancer pins

[Welpe]

We all ought to mail him a pink whistle.

[Rich]

Unless the state said "no pink whistles" in advance (like NC), exactly what are they basing this "decision" on? The NFHS manual only says "whistles" without reference to a color.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Unless the state said "no pink whistles" in advance (like NC), exactly what are they basing this "decision" on? The NFHS manual only says "whistles" without reference to a color.

Only thing I could think is they have a policy that the whistles must be black. Their policy always trumps anything in that manual, but I had a friend claim there is more to the story. Not sure what that is but I still think the WOA is overreacting to a situation that really is not a big deal.

Peace

[Canned Heat]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

Unless the state said "no pink whistles" in advance (like NC), exactly what are they basing this "decision" on? The NFHS manual only says "whistles" without reference to a color.

Agreed. I have a white one that I won as a prize at a clinic. Rarely, if ever, gets used....sub whistle on occasion for someone who forgot or breaks theirs. Should I not be using it? Ridiclulous.
I know some pretty good officials who work all the way to the state finals here every year and more than one uses a Roy Gonia bright orange dog hunting whistle.

[rockyroad]

Since those of you who are bashing on Todd do not live in Washington State, let me take a moment here to tell some of you to lighten up. You heard/read one side of the issue - a very slanted side, I might add. One of the officials involved works for the tv station that ran the story - they taped almost 25 min. of interview with Todd, and then whacked it down to several short sound bites to make him look like the bad guy.

Short story - there is a process in place to apply for a waiver of the WOA policies. The PNFOA did not follow that process - and has violated many other policies of the WIAA/WOA over the last several years. This is not the first issue where they have done their own thing and told the WIAA and the WOA to stick it. If they lose playoff berths over this, they knew it beforehand and chose to forge ahead anyway.

It is not about the pink whistles or not supporting breast cancer. It is about one local association in the State trying to tell the State Association to take a hike, over and over. And now that it has come back to bite them in the butt, they run to the media...and people who know nothing about the situation inundate Todd Stordahl with e-mails and pink whistles because they believe what they see in the media without taking the time to get the whole story.

[JRutledge]

Rocky,

I have tried to see this from their point of view too. I had a friend that lives in that state and is more familiar with the situation than I will ever be and makes similar statements that you have made (ironically he has been on this site).

Here is what I do not get, this is just a whistle. We are not talking about changing the entire uniform or something that most people would care about. If this was not made and issue through the media, I doubt many people would even know the officials were doing this in the first place outside of the field. We all know the media can blow a situation out of proportion, but this is partly based on the comments from Todd. Todd should realize that what he was saying is going to get used maybe the way he does not want to it to be used. Heck officials know that, why not him?

And I met Todd over a year ago and he seemed like a very good guy and tries to help out with officials and their issues. He represented his state well when he was at our conference. Many officials in my state asked him questions and he was nothing but accommodating. Of course none of us are going to totally understand, but to get all upset about this very specific issue and to talk about that to the media is kind of silly. If that was the issue then talk about the other things that are at hand and not allow the issue to only be about the pink whistles. I am sure there is some radio show or some forum they could talk about all the issues not this issue. I remember that was the case when my state was going through the uniform issue in basketball a few years ago.

BTW, we contacted our person over the "Official's Department" and who also is the Administrator of Football that assigns all officials to the State Football Playoffs and he was asked about the pink whistles. His email response was quick and simple and said there is "No problem with pink whistles in our state." And I am sure he could have made it clear there was a policy or some standard and he just allowed them and we moved on. I think the WOA could have done the same in this case.

Peace

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

Since those of you who are bashing on Todd do not live in Washington State, let me take a moment here to tell some of you to lighten up. You heard/read one side of the issue - a very slanted side, I might add. One of the officials involved works for the tv station that ran the story - they taped almost 25 min. of interview with Todd, and then whacked it down to several short sound bites to make him look like the bad guy.

Short story - there is a process in place to apply for a waiver of the WOA policies. The PNFOA did not follow that process - and has violated many other policies of the WIAA/WOA over the last several years. This is not the first issue where they have done their own thing and told the WIAA and the WOA to stick it. If they lose playoff berths over this, they knew it beforehand and chose to forge ahead anyway.

It is not about the pink whistles or not supporting breast cancer. It is about one local association in the State trying to tell the State Association to take a hike, over and over. And now that it has come back to bite them in the butt, they run to the media...and people who know nothing about the situation inundate Todd Stordahl with e-mails and pink whistles because they believe what they see in the media without taking the time to get the whole story.

That all may be true, but it doesn't change two important things: 1) Washington even cares in the first place what color whistle is used. 2) They chose to use this instance to finally do something.

The color of whistle used is a pretty insignificant thing. If their uniform rule really dictates this, they are being far too controlling in the first place.

If the association has been bucking the state's authority for some time, there was no particular reason to make this time the straw that broke the camel's back. As much as Todd may try to say it has nothing to do with breast cancer awareness, he can't get past the fact that he's suspending them for an act that was to promote breast cancer awareness when he (apparently) let other acts go unpunished. This is, at the very least, an unforced PR error and one that was completely unnecessary.

Did the crew knowingly subvert the state's authority? Apparently yes.

However, what the rest of the world sees are bureaucrats that are so consumed with their own power that they can't make reasonable exceptions for charity. It's all about deciding to fight the battles you can win, and the state can't win this one.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

Since those of you who are bashing on Todd do not live in Washington State, let me take a moment here to tell some of you to lighten up. You heard/read one side of the issue - a very slanted side, I might add. One of the officials involved works for the tv station that ran the story - they taped almost 25 min. of interview with Todd, and then whacked it down to several short sound bites to make him look like the bad guy.

Short story - there is a process in place to apply for a waiver of the WOA policies. The PNFOA did not follow that process - and has violated many other policies of the WIAA/WOA over the last several years. This is not the first issue where they have done their own thing and told the WIAA and the WOA to stick it. If they lose playoff berths over this, they knew it beforehand and chose to forge ahead anyway.

It is not about the pink whistles or not supporting breast cancer. It is about one local association in the State trying to tell the State Association to take a hike, over and over. And now that it has come back to bite them in the butt, they run to the media...and people who know nothing about the situation inundate Todd Stordahl with e-mails and pink whistles because they believe what they see in the media without taking the time to get the whole story.

Life is all about choosing which battlefieds you want to fight about, and unfortunately, this was an extremely poor choice for WIAA-WOA to make.
Before you start spinning your wheels you have to determine whether or not you're sitting in soft sand.

[rockyroad]

And all of you need to understand that this is a progression...the first time the local association bucked the State, they were warned. The second time, there were meetings. The third time...it goes on. The loss of possible play-off berths is a progressive consequence. They knew it and bucked the State anyway.

Look, our local football and basketball associations in this part of the State do the pink whistles and blue flags and all of thet - but we go through the proper channels and get the proper waivers. These clowns have been telling the State to stick it for the last few years, and it has built up to this point. This is not some knee-jerk reaction by some bureaucrat, no matter how badly some of you may want to make it seem like that.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

And all of you need to understand that this is a progression...the first time the local association bucked the State, they were warned. The second time, there were meetings. The third time...it goes on. The loss of possible play-off berths is a progressive consequence. They knew it and bucked the State anyway.

Look, our local football and basketball associations in this part of the State do the pink whistles and blue flags and all of thet - but we go through the proper channels and get the proper waivers. These clowns have been telling the State to stick it for the last few years, and it has built up to this point. This is not some knee-jerk reaction by some bureaucrat, no matter how badly some of you may want to make it seem like that.

It looks like one of two things:
1. The state finally got fed up with the behavior with this issue.
2. The state has been following procedure with progressively stronger statements. The locals knew the next step before hand and did this anyway.

If officials can't be expected to follow the proper procedures and rules, who can?

[Rich]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

And all of you need to understand that this is a progression...the first time the local association bucked the State, they were warned. The second time, there were meetings. The third time...it goes on. The loss of possible play-off berths is a progressive consequence. They knew it and bucked the State anyway.

Look, our local football and basketball associations in this part of the State do the pink whistles and blue flags and all of thet - but we go through the proper channels and get the proper waivers. These clowns have been telling the State to stick it for the last few years, and it has built up to this point. This is not some knee-jerk reaction by some bureaucrat, no matter how badly some of you may want to make it seem like that.

Does Washington have a football officials manual that specifies a color of whistle or not? The NFHS manual does not, so if the WIAA (Washington)'s manual does not, Todd is making rules up that don't exist. Someone please answer this question and post the relevant written section of the WOA's manual.

[Eastshire]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

And all of you need to understand that this is a progression...the first time the local association bucked the State, they were warned. The second time, there were meetings. The third time...it goes on. The loss of possible play-off berths is a progressive consequence. They knew it and bucked the State anyway.

Look, our local football and basketball associations in this part of the State do the pink whistles and blue flags and all of thet - but we go through the proper channels and get the proper waivers. These clowns have been telling the State to stick it for the last few years, and it has built up to this point. This is not some knee-jerk reaction by some bureaucrat, no matter how badly some of you may want to make it seem like that.

If that is the case, the state fell directly into the trap that the local association laid. By not making an exception for something that everyone's in favor of, they acted like jerks, even if their actions were justified.

You can't get past the fact that the proximate cause of their suspension had to do with breast cancer awareness. The state should have taken a pass on this one and dinged them on the next one.

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by rockyroad

And all of you need to understand that this is a progression...the first time the local association bucked the State, they were warned. The second time, there were meetings. The third time...it goes on. The loss of possible play-off berths is a progressive consequence. They knew it and bucked the State anyway.

Look, our local football and basketball associations in this part of the State do the pink whistles and blue flags and all of thet - but we go through the proper channels and get the proper waivers. These clowns have been telling the State to stick it for the last few years, and it has built up to this point. This is not some knee-jerk reaction by some bureaucrat, no matter how badly some of you may want to make it seem like that.

Not to poke a stick at you, but exactly where does it state that the football officials' whistles must be a certain color? They aren't getting that from the rulebook. So exactly what rule did they need a waiver to break?