Tobacco

[w_sohl]

You guys all are forgetting the most important thing here. The football field, basketball court, baseball diamond or whatever surface your sport is played on isn't just an extra-curricular site. It is an extension of the classroom and at the high school level we as officials are educators too. It is our responsibility to enforce sportsmanship and other rules. As an educator you would not allow any sort of tobacco in your classroom and that is what the football field is, a classroom.

And for those of you that say this isn't a safety rule, try checking this out.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pict...GoPmqQHljoDICQ

[HLin NC]

You guys all are forgetting the most important thing here. The football field, basketball court, baseball diamond or whatever surface your sport is played on isn't just an extra-curricular site. It is an extension of the classroom and at the high school level we as officials are educators too. It is our responsibility to enforce sportsmanship and other rules. As an educator you would not allow any sort of tobacco in your classroom and that is what the football field is, a classroom.

I get that "extension" speech quite a bit concerning coaches behavior too. How many d@#n, $#!t'Z, #3!!'s do you flag in your extended classroom on Friday night?

[w_sohl]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

I get that "extension" speech quite a bit concerning coaches behavior too. How many d@#n, $#!t'Z, #3!!'s do you flag in your extended classroom on Friday night?

Much like a teacher would do, I warn when it is appropriate. I have flagged for it too. They usually stop after my warning or they are much more strategic when doing it.

[Adam]

I don't think the question is so much why it's illegal, but why this. Why not explicitly prohibit other things that are forbidden during the classroom.

MD was joking in the other thread, but why not prohibit knives, for example?

Further, why make it a flagrant offense?

Personally, I don't have a problem with the rule as it is, but I do wonder why.

[bigjohn]

How about you just paddle the coach at halftime or suspend him for a quarter!

[MD Longhorn]

You know ... we are all (all but 1) officials here. It should be ok for a guy who's been around here a while, proven he is not a troll, etc - to mention that he thinks a particular rule should not be a rule, without being attacked and asked, "what other rules are you going to ignore". Good grief, people.

[Forksref]

The purpose of the rule? Adults in a learning environment such as a school setting, should be exhibiting good health practices. If we don't allow it in the school building then we should not allow it in the athletic environment. The NFHS believes in this concept, thus the rule. If you think it is none of our business as officials then you should consider that we are working with young people in an educational setting. This is not the NFL. And we are all in this together, officials, coaches, parents, trainers, administrators and players.

The reason that the entire crew was with the coach was because it happened to be that the crew and the coach were close to each other walking off the field. The crew suspected a problem and raised the issue with the head coach, who apparently was aware of prior behavior by this assistant coach. What happened with that coach, we don't know. I think the situation was handled appropriately.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by Forksref

The purpose of the rule? Adults in a learning environment such as a school setting, should be exhibiting good health practices.

If that were the case, they wouldn't allow football at all! Seriously, far more people are injured playing football than chewing tobacco or using wet snuff. People banging into other people is definitely a bad health practice.

I mean seriously, here you have someone using tobacco in a way that hardly exhibits it at all, and in the same general area you have a crowd of people who are definitely being exhibited banging into each other? It hardly compares!

And you're saying it's a "learning environment" just because it's on the school's real estate and/or involves students at a particular school. It really has nothing to do with learning per se. The whole thing is stretched beyond belief in your statement.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by Forksref

The purpose of the rule? Adults in a learning environment such as a school setting, should be exhibiting good health practices. If we don't allow it in the school building then we should not allow it in the athletic environment. The NFHS believes in this concept, thus the rule. If you think it is none of our business as officials then you should consider that we are working with young people in an educational setting. This is not the NFL. And we are all in this together, officials, coaches, parents, trainers, administrators and players.

Yes, we are. That's why administrators should be the ones insuring that their employees are not using tobacco products around students.

There's no NFHS football rule regarding the use of alcohol by a coach who is on the sideline. Why should we flag a coach for dip in his front lip but not alcohol on his breath or for being high? Why isn't there a rule against all the other things a coach could use that would set a poor example before young impressionable minds? Why? Because it's expected that the school has policies that will address this. Tobacco should be no different. Instead, it's an exception to everything else that a coach should not be using on the sideline.

[asdf]

Originally Posted by bigjohn

How about you just paddle the coach at halftime or suspend him for a quarter!

How about just giving the coach a choice.....

Swallow it or ejection ..........

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by w_sohl

You guys all are forgetting the most important thing here. The football field, basketball court, baseball diamond or whatever surface your sport is played on isn't just an extra-curricular site. It is an extension of the classroom and at the high school level we as officials are educators too. It is our responsibility to enforce sportsmanship and other rules. As an educator you would not allow any sort of tobacco in your classroom and that is what the football field is, a classroom.

And for those of you that say this isn't a safety rule, try checking this out.

https://www.google.com/search?q=pict...GoPmqQHljoDICQ

You could get killed driving to or from the game, too. It just seems a far-fetched cx.

And no, I don't think it's an extension of the classroom. Extramural sports are entertainment, a way to blow off steam that happens to be connected to schools for arbitrary reasons. They may get out of phys. ed. for a term by playing a sport, but that's about as far as the cx to instruction goes.

[bigjohn]

That is a matter of opinion, Robert. Most coaches would say you arre wrong about that.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by bigjohn

That is a matter of opinion, Robert. Most coaches would say you arre wrong about that.

Most coaches have an inflated idea of their importance. But in that, they're no different from others in "education".

[Adam]

Originally Posted by bigjohn

That is a matter of opinion, Robert. Most coaches would say you arre wrong about that.

Maybe, in theory, but if you start applying the same behavior standards on the field that they employ in the classroom, they'd have a cow.

The concept holds true, but it's not exactly the same.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by w_sohl

You guys all are forgetting the most important thing here. The football field, basketball court, baseball diamond or whatever surface your sport is played on isn't just an extra-curricular site. It is an extension of the classroom and at the high school level we as officials are educators too. It is our responsibility to enforce sportsmanship and other rules. As an educator you would not allow any sort of tobacco in your classroom and that is what the football field is, a classroom.

I'm not forgetting anything. I simply don't agree with your analogy.

The field or court is an extension of the classroom for the student-athletes. On that, we agree.

But if it's an extension for the coaches then that's where administrators come in. They should insure that their coaches don't chew, spit or smoke in the classroom, on the field or the court. It has nothing to do with the rules of the game.