Rules are rules, but punishment should be fitting of the ‘crime’

A big topic of discussion in the local sports realm since late last week has been the unfortunate series of events that took place prior to the start of the latest Corbin versus South Laurel boys basketball encounter.

In case you are not aware, here is a summary of what transpired… Multiple technical fouls were assessed to Corbin due to players supposedly dunking after officials had taken the floor during pregame warm-ups. I was not personally there to witness it, but several people who were present have since described to me what they saw.

Admittedly, there are some conflicting reports pertaining to how the fouls were called, when Corbin Head Coach Tony Pietrowski was notified of the violations, and if the infractions ever really occurred in the first place, so in the interest of fairness to all involved, I am not going to engage in any kind of speculation when it comes to all of that.

Instead, let’s talk about the supposed violations themselves. First of all, my opinion has always been that this is a dumb rule. I mean, why is it okay for a player to dunk during warm-ups BEFORE the officials are present, but it is a technical foul once they are out of the locker room? I get that it’s a sportsmanship thing, but I just find the whole concept kind of silly. Let the kids dunk. Who cares?

My personal opinion aside, the rule is what it is. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember, so fine, no dunking when the refs are on the court. When it does happen, I know that it results in a technical foul, and means that the opposing team will get to shoot some free throws before the game starts. I’ve seen this happen on more than one occasion, as I’m sure many of you have. What befuddles me about this particular situation, however, is how in the world we got to the point where there were THREE violations before anyone knew anything.

According to what I’ve been told, by the time Pietrowski was made aware of the technicals, it had escalated well beyond the point of just receiving a warning, and had gone all the way to him being escorted off the court and not being allowed to coach in the game.

And that’s not all!

The Redhounds were in action the following day, hosting a game on Saturday afternoon, but Coach P was still not on the sideline. And guess what? This past Monday’s game at Knox Central? Also no Coach P.

As I am writing these words it is before Tuesday night’s game between Corbin and Williamsburg, but I venture to guess that he was also not present at that game, as what I have been told by several folks is that, in addition to not being allowed to coach against South, he also had to serve a three-game suspension. FOR PLAYERS DUNKING IN PREGAME!

Come on!

I made a Facebook post late Saturday evening giving some of my personal thoughts on this matter. I simply couldn’t understand why a punishment this harsh would be necessary in this particular instance, adding that I would attempt to review the rules myself to see if I could find any kind of logical explanation. I didn’t have much luck in that endeavor, but a friend who also happens to be a high school coach messaged me to say that there is a rule stating that, should a coach be ejected from a game for any reason, they must also serve a three-game suspension on top of it.

That was news to me, but I guess it would explain why we have seen the ridiculous series of events play out the way that they have over the past several days.

As the title of my column says, rules are rules, and I do respect that, but the simple fact of the matter is we have a coach who was forced to sit out FOUR games, two of them district contests, because a few of his players dunked a basketball during warm-ups. Folks, I’m sorry, but that is dumb. No matter how you slice it.

And before I wrap this up, allow me to make one other gripe. Why in the world did I have to download an app on my phone and pay seven dollars just to be able to look at the official rulebook for high school basketball?

It should not be that difficult to look up the rules to any game. In fact, it should be very easy. That was not my experience over the weekend, though, as KHSAA.org directed me to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which directed me to download an app. Once I had the app, I couldn’t download a pdf of the official rulebook for high school basketball unless I signed up for a membership and paid seven bucks. WHY?

There are a lot of things about sports that have gotten beyond ridiculous, in my humble opinion, and everything that I have discussed above represents just a few examples. I did make contact with the KHSAA on Monday, and while I was able to confirm that “an official report concerning the incident in question” had been filed and received by the KHSAA office, they were not willing to say anything else.

Either way, the damage has been done at this point. With February just days away, the Redhounds are no doubt looking to put this behind them, and focus on putting together a strong finish to the 2022-23 regular season. I did want to use my column this week to point out the ridiculousness of this unfortunate situation, though, and to go on record as saying that I wish we could’ve avoided the whole mess by simply being able to apply some common sense.