A Little to Literal

Ok I'm crossing over into "Chris Parker Territory" for a moment and looking at a quick cross country story. This blog is inspired by a story from Baltimore, where a cross country runner was disqualified because the shorts he wore under his uniform had white stitching on them. Check out the story here:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.crosscountry29oct29,0,3430170.story

After hearing about that I decided to bust out the good old KSHSAA cross country manual to see what rules are in there that seem a little too picky.

Here's the first one I came across:

Legal Uniform: Rule 9-6-1 & 4-3-1

"When other visible apparel is worn under the school uniform it shall be unadorned and of a single (same solid) color. Example: Navy blue and royal blue are not the same color. If worn by more than one team member (two or more) that apparel must be of the same color, but not necessarily the same in length."

This is a lot like the problem with the kid in Baltimore. So that problem could feasibly happen here in Kansas. Personally, I think as long as your jersey says your school's name on it, I don't really care what color you're wearing underneath. And why should anybody care? Last I checked this was about competition not fashion. I understand having rules, but seriously, take a pill and lighten up a bit. Also, have you seen how short those cross country shorts are? Yeah I'd take whatever I could to get something underneath there!

This one I found under jewelry:

"Excessive safety pins are considered jewelry."

I recently found myself in a situation using excessive safety pins. It was at one of my best friend's weddings and the zipper split on the maid of honor's dress. About 15 minutes and 10 safety pins later apparently the maid of honor had on "excessive jewelry." Let me tell, that was definitely not considered a good looking accessory walking down the aisle. I know they need to have this rule just in case the question comes up but it really prompts me to ask, who in the world had enough safety pins on his/her uniform to warrant the writing of a rule like this? Was there a particularly goth cross country kid who was doing it as a fashion statement?

When did sports stop being about the competition? I figure as long as what a kid is wearing doesn't interfere with any other kid's performance I think it's ok. I'm just waiting for the day that high school becomes like the NFL and kids/teams get monetary fines for uniform violations. I guess the penalties in high school are a little bit worse though. Because of his stitching on his shorts that kid in Baltimore essentially lost the state title for his team to a rival school. That's something you can't replace. I'd like to find the official who told the kid in Baltimore that his choice of undergarment cost his team the title and ask said official how it felt to crush a kid's joy. I know he's just doing his job, but come on, shouldn't we all just lighten up a bit?