Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Evil Uniforms.


Look closely at those two basketball jerseys. One of them is a normal, everyday uniform. The other is purely evil, causing referees to have fits and assess the offending team a technical foul. Have you spotted it yet? No? Look closer. The evil of it just jumps off the screen. Still don't see it, huh? O.K., I'll give you a subtle hint. It's the one on the left. Was that subtle enough? So what is so evil about it? It is so obvious I just can't believe you can't see it. The letters Br in Brookville are lower than the numbers. SAY WHAT????!!!!

Who in their right mind is going to nitpick like that? The Illinois High School Association is the culprit. They have been cracking down on teams because of this. Their enforcement of the rule has been spotty, and they are now allowing schools to file for a waiver to exempt them from this rule.

Actually they are not the ones who made that rule. The rules are set by the National Federation of State High School Associations. To defend themselves they explained that it needs to be that way so that opponents, scorekeepers and referees can quickly identify a player. They set the guidelines, but it is up to each state to interpret them. In the Midwest, only Illinois and Missouri enforce it. I will give the IHSA a little credit (very little), they are not demanding that schools immediately replace their uniforms. They are saying they will allow the schools to make the changes during the normal replacement of the uniforms, which is about five years. Considering they cost about $1000 each, it could get very expensive if they made the schools do it now. With the financial crunch most schools are going through today it would be ridiculous to force that. Of course the smart thing to do would be to change the rule, but how often do organizations like that do the smart thing?

2 comments:

Caron said...

This sort of bureaucracy is so common, yet so aggravating. I do wonder at how it can go on endlessly handed down from one generation to another.

Jinxo56 said...

I think it is mostly a power trip. they do it because they can.