I'm having difficulty posting my comment on the Sun's website, so here it is. I encourage everyone who feels strongly about this to contact the officials in Maryland:
Steve Smith, MPSSAA Rules Interpreter for Track and Field
410.887.4266 x478
Edward F. Sparks, MPSSAA Executive Director
nsparks@mpssaa.org
Becky Oakes, Assistant Director, NHFS (the body who issues Maryland's HSL rules)
boakes@nhfs.com
317-972-6900
--------------------------------
This disqualification is outrageous. Officials and coaches, have some courage. This issue runs deeper than the philosophy of whether or not officals should enforce every rule to the letter or use judgment. The existence of these rules is ludicrous and against the spirt of sportsmanship.
In the Sun's linked article above these comments, Becky Oakes, assistant director of the rule creating body, defended this rule:
"Your cross country uniform is supposed to say that 'I'm from high school XYZ.' Philosophically, that's what 'team' is all about. The [multicolored] Spandex undergarment began to get away from that."
A line of white stitching on a young man's underwear began to detract from the "philosophical" essence of "team"? Uniforms are a necessary trapping of "team," so that competitors can identify each other. Strangers putting on the same uniform doesn't make a team.
High school sports are about teaching the essence of competition. Fairness, integrity, determination, and respect for your competitors -- these principles teach us humanity. The nuances of your undergarments has nothing to do with these principles. This disqualification truly is a gutless performance on the part of the official, the accepting coach, and the bureaucrats willing to defend the ruling. Anyone who stands by this ironclad "rules are rules" mentality should reconsider their place in high school sports.