xxcloud417xx said:
Oskamunda said:
It's gay, but legislation is legislation. If 12 hours ISN'T too old, then when does the exception line end? One day? Two days? One week? One month? Not fair to the kid, but others have suffered similarly. If some kid can't play sports because he is one day too old, then this kid shouldn't get off because he is 12 hours too old, even if his birthdate is a month after the close of school.
Solution?
Change the date for the cutoff.
Okay... but who the FUCK legislates high school sports so damn strictly? Government really needs something better to do with its fucking time. There should be no fucking legislation on High School Sports, it's just stupid. It's not like it's professional sports fuck it's a high school team trying to play for fun. This shit is the same as the fucking kids that aren't allowed to play on another high school's sports team (even after they completely switched schools between years) because the other school refuses to let them play. Did the kid sign a contract? Then why all the ridiculous rules?
I agree that they need something better to do with their time. I agree that these rules are TOO strict, but you are incorrect that it's not like professional sports and that it's only for fun. High School sports are ridiculously competitive nowadays, and for more than one reason.
Playing really well in High School can land you a scholarship, saving you tens of thousands of dollars and providing opportunities that you otherwise never would have had. Playing really well in a college can land you an opportunity to get scouted professionally, which could make you a millionaire or a superstar or both, depending on the sport and the level of talent. Do you really think that this kid is spending almost all of his senior year in court because tri-sporting was his "childhood dream," and "the only thing he EVER WANTED?" It may be a dream, but that's not why he's fighting so hard, he knows he may be missing out on a lifetime opportunity if he doesn't play. The other end of the spectrum is that when a varsity team succeeds, the school succeeds. There is a LOT of money in high school sports--ticket sales and yummy vittles at the games, mostly--and the better your team is, the more money they can make for the school. Not to mention regional, area, and state level competition...those things can garner a shitload of attention for a school. Put together a school that was blue-ribbon TEN YEARS AGO and that made it to state in football this year, and you got some serious articles being written about you...when people move into the city, they'll move to be near your awesome school, which turns into an overall increase in tax dollars and therefore school funding.
The reason all of this is important is that there is a large opportunity for corruption here; imagine a coach knowing he can put together a crack team replete with 19-year olds when all the other schools only have 17- and 18-year olds? It would be the same as a performance enhancing drug being passed around the locker room, because there IS a big difference physiologically between an 18-year old athlete and a 19-year old athlete.
Hashime said:
I hate to say it, but as someone who has run a football league (with my father) I agree with the ruling. Now, it is a little unfair, but if you grant one exception to a rule that rule is open to exception and there by exploitation.
We were soft one year on the age restrictions and people exploited that to build a stacked team (coach's draft). We did not allow such things again.
And this would be correct, illustrating what I'm talking about. It sucks that the kid is literally a dozen hours too old to play, and he should be allowed to play...but you can't make an exception. I agree with Hashime completely, as the logic is sound.
The solution is still the same: Change the cutoff date to something less ridiculous, or change the date of enrollment for kids who straddle the line.
