A high school track relay team from Texas was disqualified after a win because the anchor runner pointed to Heaven as he crossed the finish line.
The governing body labeled it “an excessive celebration.” C’mon. Can we just be human for a second? I don’t know what this is about in the end. If it’s about a horror that someone acknowledged God and must be punished that would be typical. Horrific but typical.
Or whether it’s that the governing body saw a runner acknowledge that they were actually better at something than the other teams. Doesn’t he know that in 21st century America, nobody can win anything. We’re all equal at everything. No matter what.
It could be a combination of the two.
KHOU reports:
An act of faith has cost an area track team a win and a chance to advance to the state championships.
This past weekend, the Columbus High School Mighty Cardinals had just won a boys relay race when a runner’s final gesture got them disqualified.
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.
“It was a reaction,” father KC Hayes said. “I mean you’re brought up your whole life that God gives you good things, you’re blessed.”
Columbus ISD Superintendent Robert O’Connor said the team had won the race by seven yards. It was their fastest race of the year.
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.
But critics, including the runner’s father, see it as a violation of religious freedom. Some of them have even complained to the state, which does not appear to be budging.
“You cross a finish line and you’ve accomplished a goal and within seconds it’s gone,” KC Hayes said. “To see four kids, you know, what does that tell them about the rest of their lives? You’re going to do what’s right, work extra hard, and have it ripped away from you?”
It has proven to be a difficult lesson for a team which showed how well it can win. It must now show how well it can handle loss.
May 6, 2013 at 4:09 am
"but the action did violate the context of the rule"
What does that even mean? And the superintendent said these words? Another advertisement for homeschooling.
May 6, 2013 at 12:21 pm
One does not "homeschool." One teaches one's children, and perhaps the first lesson should be that there is no such construct, either as a noun or as a verb, as "homeschool."
May 6, 2013 at 1:41 pm
One does not "homeschool."
Collins, Random House and the Oxford English Dictionary disagree.
May 6, 2013 at 3:07 pm
Ok as a homeschooling parent midday this teaches those kids that being a Christian means having to sacrifice for your faith They'll always know they won.
May 6, 2013 at 3:52 pm
Hey, Mack…one doesn't "Photoshop" something either, yet that has become a common usage as a verb (despite Adobe's desires otherwise). The fluidity of the English language is actually a good thing.
Lessons:
homeschool – compound word
As a noun, this is a school in a home.
As a verb (by the lovely process of verbing, or functional shift), it means to educate at home.
Verbing has been around for a long long time. Do you complain when someone says "It's raining"? You should…rain is a noun that was verbed.
Then again, perhaps you would have gone to a Shakespearean play at the Globe and spent all of your time complaining about the words he created or altered the usage of. (Hope you don't become apoplectic with my ending a sentence in a preposition.)
May 6, 2013 at 4:29 pm
Atheistic tyranny. Christians are outlaws.
May 6, 2013 at 5:28 pm
It means they've sold out to the Islamists. Pointing to the heavens where the Judeo-Christian God, the One and Only God lives is outlawed. Kissing the ground where the Islamic demon Allah lives underneath is OK.
May 6, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Looks like another ASS HAT operative strikes again!
Adult Stupidly Spoiling Human Adolescents' Triumph.
May 7, 2013 at 1:52 am
If you support them, walk your next relay. Anchors cross the line at once. Maybe then they will get the idea that "their" rules do nothing to benefit the students. This is where effort is spent, when we have a crumbling education system. Well done. Do you want more of my tax dollars? Why yes,of course, you can have it!
May 7, 2013 at 3:26 pm
"Islamic demon Allah"? Oy, vey, I hope that avatar picture isn't you, and if it is, please do some reading on actual, traditional, orthodox ecumenism and the questions it poses.