Rules exist to give people, society and organizations guidelines within which to live and act.
Sometimes, however, rules can be too arbitrary or lack sense.
Never has this been more evident than in the situation in Columbus, Texas recently where a high school track and field 4×100-meter relay team was banned from competing in the state championship simply because a winning athlete made an inoffensive gesture.
Derrick Hayes, the anchor on the Columbus team, gestured skyward with his index finger after finishing a race, appearing to have thanked God for his team qualifying for the states. He ran a blazing split time and only pointed his finger toward the sky for a few seconds.
Race officials, however, said the finger gesture violated the state’s interscholastic division’s excessive celebration rules and barred the team from competing in the state championships.
This was an absurb decision and is in violation of Hayes’ constitutional rights.
It doesn’t matter what one’s religious beliefs are, whether one is Christian, atheist, Jewish or Muslim, these athletes should be allowed to compete in the state championship meet. They weren’t forcing other athletes to have prayer meetings. They weren’t espousing their religious views on the rest of those in attendance. The team didn’t harm anybody, and the gesture was not offensive or unsportsman-like. And it most certainly was not excessive.
Many athletes thank their god continuously for what they believe are their “god-given abilities” and make quick gestures skyward pointing to the heavens on a regular basis. That is their right.
During Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds’ home-run record setting years in the early 2000s, the two players always crossed home plate after hitting a home run and pointed toward the sky. It’s a quick gesture that is not excessive.
It appears the Texas rule can be easily misinterpreted and is too subjective if the point of a finger qualifies as excessive. Pointing one’s finger is clearly not excessive. By these standards, athletes would be allowed nothing more than perhaps a quick smile after winning, for fear that anything else would be deemed “excessive.”
We are all for good sportsmanship and applaud Texas for trying to discourage excessive celebrations that disrespect other competitors. There is no place for that in interscholastic or college athletics. Professional athletes love to jump into stands after scoring a touchdown in football, or wag a finger in a player’s face after rejecting a shot in basketball, but they get paid millions of dollars to entertain. To deny kids something that they earned over a simple gesture, however, is ridiculous.
It would be one thing if an athlete danced around, flashed a gang sign or made an inappropriate sexual gesture toward the other teams, but that didn’t happen in this case.
Residents from around the Columbus, Texas area have spoken about the incident and question the wisdom of the rule and the decision. We still live in the United States, where all people have religious freedoms. Yes, there is a separation of church and state and no publicly funded school should be allowed to force religious beliefs on its students, but if an individual student wants to personally thank their god, then that is their right. That is what has happened in Texas.
The state should make the right call, overturn the decision and allow these four young men to compete in the championships. After all, they earned it regardless of who they thanked.
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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards on behalf of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.
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