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Conduct Unbecoming

December 21, 2012

We had some of the most exciting games ever – and a couple of “instant classics” – but as I watched the MHSAA Football Finals at Ford Field in late November, I sensed a loss of something schools have successfully preserved until now.  It is this:

While first the NFL and then the NCAA have allowed showboating behavior on the field, high schools have not ... until recently, it seems.

At the high school level we have penalized sack dances and end zone prances ... until now, apparently.

I am so disappointed – embarrassed, really – that coaches and officials are allowing players to strut and point after touchdowns and tackles and to demonstratively wave their arms to signal incomplete passes.  Drawing attention to themselves.  Disrespecting opponents.

Such behavior has no place in educational athletics; and it’s time we address it. Before it’s so much a part of school sports culture that we cannot.

Ice Hockey Penalties

May 27, 2014

After each rules committee of the National Federation of State High School Associations meets, the list of changes is sent to all member state high school associations for advance examination before being finalized and publicized.

Recently, I took special notice of the work of the NFHS Ice Hockey Rules Committee. What caught my attention first was the brevity of its list of rules changes for 2014-15 – just three items. And then I was struck at the stated purpose of each of the three changes: risk minimization.

  • The penalty for a check, cross-check, elbow, charge or trip that causes the opponent to be thrown violently into the boards is no longer a Major or Minor – it’s a Major (five minutes).
  • If a check is flagrant or causes the opponent to crash head-first into the boards, a Major and Misconduct or Game Disqualification penalty must be assessed.
  • The penalty for a push, charge, cross-check or body-check from behind in open ice is no longer a Minor and Misconduct – it’s a Major.

Only three rule changes .. three tougher penalties.

Committee chair Tom Shafranski of Wisconsin commented after the meeting: “In each case, the rule has been strengthened for officials to assess a stronger penalty than in the past – a good strategy for further protection of high school hockey players ... There will likely be traditionalists who don’t agree with the increase in penalty time; however, boarding and checking from behind (even in open ice) are high school hockey’s most dangerous contact situations.”

MHSAA Assistant Director Cody Inglis serves on the NFHS Ice Hockey Rules Committee and supported these changes.