Think back to high school. Does anyone remeber listening to thier teachers talk about something called The Consititution? And the books showed pictures of this long piece of paper with lots of words and a bunch of funny looking signatures at the bottom? Did you really pay attention to what your teachers were talking about?
Obviously, the commissioners of the major sports orginizations in America did not pay attention in class that day. If they were paying attention, they might grasp the concept of something we like to call The First Amendment. For those of you who are sports commissioners or Jr. High dropouts, lets show you what it says...
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
That seems pretty self explainatory, don't you think? In plain english, it means that it is illegal to tell a person what they may or may not say out loud. The government is not allowed to control your words, thus nobody else may control your words either. As US Citizens, we are allowed to excercise our right to speek freely, without restriction.
Now, there are many laws that in fact do limit certain types of speech. You cannot threaten to kill another person. You cannot spread vicious lies about somebody. You cannot yell 'FIRE' in a crowded theater unless there actually is a fire.
So why are sports leagues allowed to penalize coaches and players for thier words?
The NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and NCAA sports all have long records of penalizing coaches and player who speak out about the officiating after a game.
Bobby Knight was recently fined again for criticizing the referree after a game. It was clearly a questionable call, and it determined the outcome of the game. This was only the most recent example of a league shielding its officials from criticism.
If players and coaches cannot question a sports official's call, who can? How can coaches protect their teams from a biased ref, or an official who simply is misinterpeting the rules during a game? How are they expected to express any dissatisfaction with an official who is simply not performing at an expected level? Everybody makes a bad call sooner or later. But without criticism, how will the officials know that thier rulings were unfair to a team?
Obviously, the commissioners of the major sports orginizations in America did not pay attention in class that day. If they were paying attention, they might grasp the concept of something we like to call The First Amendment. For those of you who are sports commissioners or Jr. High dropouts, lets show you what it says...
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
That seems pretty self explainatory, don't you think? In plain english, it means that it is illegal to tell a person what they may or may not say out loud. The government is not allowed to control your words, thus nobody else may control your words either. As US Citizens, we are allowed to excercise our right to speek freely, without restriction.
Now, there are many laws that in fact do limit certain types of speech. You cannot threaten to kill another person. You cannot spread vicious lies about somebody. You cannot yell 'FIRE' in a crowded theater unless there actually is a fire.
So why are sports leagues allowed to penalize coaches and players for thier words?
The NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and NCAA sports all have long records of penalizing coaches and player who speak out about the officiating after a game.
Bobby Knight was recently fined again for criticizing the referree after a game. It was clearly a questionable call, and it determined the outcome of the game. This was only the most recent example of a league shielding its officials from criticism.
If players and coaches cannot question a sports official's call, who can? How can coaches protect their teams from a biased ref, or an official who simply is misinterpeting the rules during a game? How are they expected to express any dissatisfaction with an official who is simply not performing at an expected level? Everybody makes a bad call sooner or later. But without criticism, how will the officials know that thier rulings were unfair to a team?
When we make the officials untouchable, abuse becomes possible. The founding fathers of our nation understood this. It was part of the reason they felt the need to declare thier independence from the British Empire and fight a war to gain thier freedom. They understood this concept when they crafted the Constitution, and included safeguards that would ensure that government officials were never beyond criticism. And they intended this concept to extend into all areas of our daily lives
In order to keep officials honest, coaches and players must be allowed to express thier opinions after a game. This is not an accusation against any officials. We are fortunate to have men of integrity wearing the stripes in our major sporting leagues. They sometimes blow a call, but they try to do the right thing. But if they are exempt from criticism by thier peers and coworkers, then there is little deterent to prevent corruption from seeping into the system. And all it takes is one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch.
In order to keep officials honest, coaches and players must be allowed to express thier opinions after a game. This is not an accusation against any officials. We are fortunate to have men of integrity wearing the stripes in our major sporting leagues. They sometimes blow a call, but they try to do the right thing. But if they are exempt from criticism by thier peers and coworkers, then there is little deterent to prevent corruption from seeping into the system. And all it takes is one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch.
