Derrick Hayes, Texas sprinter points to sky in victory, disqualified as ‘excessive celebration,’

[rug]

Published On: Fri, May 3rd, 2013
By Kaye Wonderhouse

A Texas high school track team won the race, by seven yards, but will not advance to state competition because one runner pointed to the sky at the finish line violating the “excessive celebration” policy.

An act of faith has cost an area track team a win and a chance to advance to the state championships.

“It was a reaction,” K.C. Hayes said. “You’re brought up your whole life that God gives you good things, you’re blessed.”

KHOU covered the Columbus High School Mighty Cardinals victory in the 4×100 meter relay and the subsequent disqualification from going to the state championship.

http://www.theglobaldispatch.com/derrick-hayes-texas-sprinter-points-to-sky-in-victory-disqualified-as-excessive-celebration-team-wont-go-to-state-26479/

[Newest Reality]

1. Okay...

get with the program:

We will have NONE of those excessive displays of celebration, nor any public displays of affection for that matter!

This policy will be ruthlessly enforced by the Bureau of Constipation, Joy Kill Department.

The new flag of binary America will be black, white and sepia. The flagpole will be clutched in hands of aging Fascists pulling the Trojan Corporate Horse through the village square amidst mournful chants of "Resistance is futile!" and "you must comply!"

Rain on the parade and puke on the sprint.

[Jim__]

2. Raising your hands in celebration is a violation - sounds like overly strict rules.

I clicked on the includes in the story thinking it would take me to a list of the rules. Instead it took me to a very annoying ad for Bing.

[rug]

3. That happened to me to.

It's likely in the school district's policies. If there's an urgent need I'll look for it. But, as stated here, it is to say the least overly strict.

[cbayer]

4. Really interesting case. The question is this:

Was this a celebratory motion, which they consider taunting and have outlawed across the board, or a religious gesture, which one might argue is covered by 1st amendment religious freedom rights.

What do you think?

[rug]

5. I can't finf the video but I suspect it was Tebowesque.

I don't think it violates the First Amendment. If it in fact was a "fuck you" gesture, then it's another story and not about religion at all.

Either way, disqualifying the whole team is harsh and unwarranted.

[cbayer]

7. I have looked and also can't find any images of the exact gesture.

His father claims it was a spontaneous religious gesture - thanking god. The state board has a rule that no celebratory gestures at all are allowed.

Agree that disqualifying the whole team seems harsh, unless they, as a team, had been previously warned about this.

[okasha]

6. Now, that is silly.

How is a single gesture «excessive?»

[Goblinmonger]

16. Most organizations go with "planned" as the key.

In Wisconsin, it is a penalty in football if it is anything other than a quick, natural celebration (I can find the phrase if you wish.). If a kid score a touchdown or makes a big play and quickly jumps or claps or something, that is generally fine. It it is long or planned (in other words, pointing to the sky or something else isn't just spur of the moment), then it is a penalty.

I think there needs to be a pretty bright line in this regard.

[tularetom]

8. There was another thread on this that contained a newspaper article

which stated that the team was disqualified for excessive celebration and behaving disrespectfully toward meet officials.

To me it implied that there was more to it than just the act of pointing skyward, that one or more of the kids had said something to the officials after the team was questioned about the original act. But I don't know this for sure.

I've been watching these meets for a long time, back to the 80's when my kids were participating and I've seen the application of a lot of chickenshit rules like disqualifying a relay team because one of the kids wore a white sock and a black sock. So it wouldn't surprise me if the team was disqualified simply because their anchor runner pointed to the sky.

But somehow I suspect there is a "rest of the story" here.

BTW I despise the influence of religion in sports but pointing to the sky as you cross the finish line? Gimme a break that's really pretty mild.

[rug]

9. White sock/black sock rule . . . .

[struggle4progress]

10. ... As he was crossing the finish line, Derrick Hayes pointed up to the sky. His father believes

he was giving thanks in a gesture to God ... Columbus ISD Superintendent Robert O’Connor said the team had won the race by seven yards ... Though O’Connor cannot say why the student pointed, he says it was against the rules that govern high school sports. The rules state there can be no excessive act of celebration, which includes raising the hands. “I don’t think that the situation was technically a terrible scenario as far as his action, but the action did violate the context of the rule,” Supt. O’Connor said ...
Houston Sports
by Andrew Horansky and Tiffany Craig / KHOU 11 News
Posted on May 1, 2013 at 5:16 PM
Updated yesterday at 11:56 AM
http://www.khou.com/sports/Act-of-fath-costs-track-team-its-win-205661221.html

[struggle4progress]

11. Religion and high school sports: a perfect mix for politics

Religion and high school sports: a perfect mix for politics
By Wayne Slater
[e-mail]
9:17 am on May 4, 2013

... Gov. Rick Perry jumped in Friday, demanding an investigation by the University Interscholastic League. Potential political rival Greg Abbott had moved a day earlier, tweeting: “Disgraceful: Winning track team disqualified for praising God” ...

... the school superintendent disqualified the Columbus High School relay team at a regional meet last month after a student engaged in an “unsporting act.” UIL has a rule banning students from excessive demonstrations – pointing, gesturing, gloating in a show of bad sportsmanship. The student broke the rule ...

FoxNews declared that the student had been disqualified because of his religion. Actually, he was disqualified for breaking a rule designed to discourage showboating ...

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/05/religion-and-high-school-sports-a-perfect-mix-for-politics.html/

[SwissTony]

14. Showboating? That's showboating?

That's a pretty thin definition of showboating. And how is it unsporting? Are you supposed to show no joy at having won the race? If I were in a race and the guy who wins gives a short, sharp "thanks" to his personal god, I wouldn't regard that as an "unsporting act". And I'm an atheist.

[struggle4progress]

15. The competition rules apparently forbid such displays, including the raising of arms.

It's a judgment call by competition officials

Lacking any comparative photos that show how officials have ruled in similar cases, of course, it's difficult for the rest of us to know whether this judgment call was obviously consistent with prior practice or whether it was borderline

I don't doubt the kids are disappointed. But even if it was a bad call, I rather doubt the kids are scarred for life. And there's no reason to think the officials were motivated by any antipathy towards religion: the claim, that the judgment call was a grossly unfair attack against a religiously motivated gesture, was pushed by Faux News and taken up by rightwing Texas politicians, who certainly are showboating

[SwissTony]

17. I agree it seems more like a case of political correctness gone wrong than a religiously motivated

decision.

But we're talking high school here. Part of the fun of high school is giving and taking banter from your mates when they beat/have been beaten by you. And that includes physical gestures.

I wonder if the same rules apply to sports such as football or soccer. Are players expected to NOT celebrate a touchdown/goal or a victory?

You have to wonder...have these officials actually played sport?

Of course, it's to be expected that Faux News would pick this up and run with it in the wrong direction.

[struggle4progress]

18. "Political correctness" in HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS competitions in TEXAS?

[SwissTony]

20. I'm sorry, you've lost me.

I'm not American and therefore not Texan.

I suspect I'm well out of my depth here. My apologies.

[struggle4progress]

21. Texas has a large rightwing population, and so high school sports has a conservative flavor

there: official rulings on high school track meets in Texas are quite unlikely to be influenced by "PC" considerations

[kentauros]

22. As a Texan, I'm not interpreting this as a PC action.

Rather, what's coming across loud and clear is your typical suburban/HOA control-freak stubbornness. Give those kind of authoritarians a little power, and they abuse it with impunity.

[Lordquinton]

19. I believe that there are rules against showboating in pro sports

Soccer has rules about "Ungentlemanly like conduct" and football hands out fines for excessive chicken dancing.

So yea, there is precedence.

[Lordquinton]

12. I guess god didn't want him to win.

[struggle4progress]

13. ... "Whether or not it's a ball just on the outside or a strike that just barely hits the corner

of the plate, those are all up for interpretation they're all judgment calls, it's the same thing here," said UIL Deputy Director Jamey Harrison.

Harrison says the UIL hasn't seen any video of the so called unsporting conduct by the Columbus High athlete religious expression or not.

"There is no national federation rule that has anything against a sign of religious expression nor does the UIL have any such rule... this was a judgment call by a meet referee who made the decision in his opinion that this was an unsporting act," Harrison said ...
Act of praise deemed "excessive" costs Columbus track team chance at state ...

Act of praise deemed "excessive" costs Columbus track team chance at state
Posted: May 02, 2013 5:41 PM EDT
Updated: May 02, 2013 7:00 PM EDT
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/22146374/act-of-praise-deemed-excessive-costs-columbus-track-team-chance-at-state

[struggle4progress]

23. Statement regarding investigation of Region 4 Conference 3A Track Decision

Date: May 06, 2013

An incident involving the disqualification of the Columbus High School 4X100 meter relay team at the Region IV Conference 3A regional track meet occurred on April 27, 2013. The UIL was made aware of this issue on May 2 after media reports of the disqualification began airing on May 1. Once becoming aware of the incident, the UIL immediately began investigating the matter thoroughly.

Over the course of the investigation, the UIL interviewed several eyewitnesses and reviewed video of the race. Additionally, the UIL spoke to the involved parties. The UIL has concluded the investigation and has found no evidence to suggest that the disqualification took place as a result of the student-athlete expressing religious beliefs. The basis for the disqualification was due to the student-athlete behaving disrespectfully, in the opinion of the local meet referee.

Based on the UIL’s investigation, the student athlete raised his hand and gestured forward at the conclusion of the 4x100-meter relay. The meet official approached the student-athlete in an effort to warn him of a possible disqualification should that behavior continue. In the opinion of the official, the student reacted disrespectfully. Based on his reaction, the student-athlete was subsequently disqualified. Any decision to disqualify a student-athlete at any track meet must be upheld by the head meet referee. The meet official and the meet referee conferred, and the disqualification was upheld on-site. At no point during the discussions surrounding the disqualification at the meet was the issue of religious expression raised by any parties.

The UIL’s investigation also revealed that all coaches involved were notified prior to the regional meet that any gestures in violation of the National Federation of State High School Associations track and field rule against unsporting behavior would be grounds for disqualification. Coaches were instructed to discuss this with their student-athletes prior to all races ...

https://www.uiltexas.org/press-releases/detail/statement-regarding-investigation-of-region-4-conference-3a-track-decision

[cleanhippie]

24. Good find, s4p. Looks like there was more than just a finger point to Jesus involved.

As is usually the case when people cry persecution.

[struggle4progress]

25. It's a clear violation of UIL rules to argue with referees

Post #8 had indicated some early media coverage had indicated behaving disrespectfully toward meet officials was a contributing factor in the disqualification, so once the political showboating began, some UIL statement like this was likely to appear

[mike_c]

26. whatever happened must have been god's will, right?