Man, back in my day... our 4x800 relay team was disqualified because the anchor shouted "sh!t" as he crossed the finish line because he started cramping.
She walks back to get the fire extinguisher from her father, so it was a planned celebration. For Maurice Greene, it was some creative showmanship among pros to drum up interest. To do this at the California State high school championships is classless and bad parenting. However, I give them credit for a throwback stunt.
Maurice Green’s antics occurred about 30 years before she was born.
My nephew’s little league team has kids mimicking Babe Ruth’s called shot and Willie May’s basket catch. Every kid in Argentina knows Maradona’s hand of god goal and attempts it in pickup games.
Some events are iconic and are memorable no matter what generation and when you see them.
A California girls' track and field state championship not only faced warranted criticism for a transgender athlete winning not one, but two titles over the weekend, but was also labeled racist by the parent of one competitor.
Transgender student athlete AB Hernandez took first place in the girls' high jump and triple jump during the meet held at Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif., but another controversy unfolded during the girls' 400-meter finals.
North Salinas High School sophomore Clara Adams finished runner-up during the preliminary race and followed that up by crossing the finish line first during the finals. After earning the victory to become a state champion, Adams celebrated with her father and brought out a fire extinguisher to spray her shoes to joke that her feet were on fire after running a fast race.
This resulted in Adams being disqualified from the race she had just won and kept her from competing in the 200-meter race later in the day as well.
Adams' father, David, explained to the Monterey Herald that the celebration "wasn't disrespecting anyone" and was done away from the opponents. He then went on to tell the outlet that he believed the decision to disqualify his daughter was "racially motivated" as his daughter is black.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) made the call to disqualify Adams for what they deemed to be an unsportsmanlike celebration.
So, not only did the CIF allow a biological male to compete and dominate female competitors at the state championship, but also took an opportunity away from another young girl because she had fun celebrating an accomplishment.
The CIF is a laughing stock. Further proof of that is the organization's announcement days prior to the championship meet that any female who finished behind a biological male would be appropriately rewarded a medal based on where they placed among female competitors.
The state of California and the CIF fully recognize the advantage a biological male athlete has over a female athlete, but instead of accepting that reality, they created their own in which the trans athlete can dominate the females, but it's all made right because the girls Hernandez beat got a medal and stood on the podium too.
first off, this is a state meet with a formal medal ceremony for everyone in the final, do you really need a separate elaborate celebration on top? it's not like some random meet where your coach gets an envelope of medals that maybe get handed out on the bus or on monday.
if you look at the meet schedule, it's dense, they're trying to do races every 5 minutes, they don't have time for mess and cleanup.
pro celebration standards do not set school ones. that's backwards how it works.
she's an underclassman and will have another shot.
that and a google search sources the mo green celebration to the eminent, prestigious "home depot invitational." not the olympics. not worlds. not nationals/trials. they may indulge victory laps and camera posing, and some officially encouraged bell ringing, but not shenanigans.
we were always told treat the big HS/college combo meets and state progression stuff like super serious, mind your ps and qs, read the meet sheet, follow the rules, be where you're supposed to be early, etc. it's borderline but get crazy at big junior meets at your own risk.
i'm old enough i remember it being a naughty thing when a guy on our team spiked the ball after a HS touchdown without drawing a flag. it has actually loosened slightly.
This was a bonehead move by Dad who is also her coach and who some might consider a little over the top in promoting his daughter. Less focus on a celebration and more on the race, and maybe she runs sub-53, not to mention costing her the 200M as well. She is an extremely talented athlete, and her standout performances as a freshman and sophomore speak much louder than any celebration stunt. Her style and flair and were likeable up until now. Completely unsportsmanlike. There will be some sort of warning added to next year's CIF regulations because of this.
CCS currently has 2 of its greatest most decorated sprinters in history at 100M and 400M, and Adams is beating them on reg. She was well on her way to being the best ever in CCS, and maybe even CA. Now this is the story. Not a good sign that they are both playing the victim.
Yes, not a good sign of sportsmanship. But she likely learned it from watching pro Maurice Greene do the same. He didn't suffer from a DQ, he received a ton of media attention.
I am fairly certain the MG thing was staged. Im not sure he ran into the tunnel and ripped an extinguisher off the wall. Not sure if thats what happened here. But doing things in HS because a top pro does it can have bad consequences. They get way more rope.
Yeesh, when did you guys get so soft. Remember when the NFL banned celebrations and how up in arms folks got about letting players HAVE FUN? The girl did it for 2 seconds, on the infield, with no sense of bravado nor ego, it was FUN. Our sport needs more of that.
I'm not sure how you could get all the way to the State meet and not understand that this would be a DQ. You can't do anything. I saw someone get DQd for having about 1 inch of their foot over the arrow in the relay and it didn't provide an advantage. The officials are searching for things to DQ people for and to do this right next to the official on the infield is about the clearest DQ of the meet.
I wouldn't use these to two events as hyperbole that CIF is a laughingstock. I was there on Friday and it was run so smoothly. Crowds were large and there some impressive performances. I mean just the time to make the finals in events like boys 800, would be faster than another state's champion. I think only Texas and Florida would be at the same levels of competition and professionalism
The CIF awarding a separate medal to the trans-girl (which I don't think she should be awarded anything) follow progressive countries like Canada who have a separate open category for this situation.
Fire-extinguisher on shoes after the meet, definitely crossed the line, and DQ from event was appropriate. Her coach would have prevented that if he knew. Although DQ'd from the entire meet was a bit excessive.
Yeesh, when did you guys get so soft. Remember when the NFL banned celebrations and how up in arms folks got about letting players HAVE FUN? The girl did it for 2 seconds, on the infield, with no sense of bravado nor ego, it was FUN. Our sport needs more of that.
You're kidding, right? The act of spraying her shoes with the extinguisher is a major act of bravado & ego. This young lady is being failed by her dad who encouraged this behavior, and is now defending it.
Yeesh, when did you guys get so soft. Remember when the NFL banned celebrations and how up in arms folks got about letting players HAVE FUN? The girl did it for 2 seconds, on the infield, with no sense of bravado nor ego, it was FUN. Our sport needs more of that.
Honestly, this was my initial reaction too. But high school meets are strict for several reasons, one of which being that it's good to hold kids to strict standards or they'll take advantage of you. Plus, discharging a fire extinguisher in a crowded public space can be dangerous and is definitely annoying and disruptive. I think this was the right call, in the end.
Yeesh, when did you guys get so soft. Remember when the NFL banned celebrations and how up in arms folks got about letting players HAVE FUN? The girl did it for 2 seconds, on the infield, with no sense of bravado nor ego, it was FUN. Our sport needs more of that.
You're kidding, right? The act of spraying her shoes with the extinguisher is a major act of bravado & ego. This young lady is being failed by her dad who encouraged this behavior, and is now defending it.
Not only that, but she's not special. If every winner of every race decided to do this, the meet would be severely delayed with constant childish antics. If she thinks it's OK for her to do this "look at me" stunt (which also puts dangerous chemicals into the air directly in front of people who are just about to start racing), then they would need to let every race winner do this. Dq is the right call. Dad should be embarrassed and apologize. But nope, he doubles down. Low class
