We've been getting a lot of response to the resignation of Dave Austin as Putnam High baseball coach.
Most have said it's a good thing that coaches are now being held accountable for what they say, in a huddle, in a practice, after the game.
But one parent, Sue Gardner, from Putnam had a legitimate question. After what has happened to Putnam boys basketball coachTony Falzarano (a two-game suspension for talking ill about his team to the media after a game and almost including a four-letter word in the description) and Austin (a resignation, be it voluntary or forced for directing a homosexual slur at a player in practice), how difficult is it going to be to coach in Putnam? Even at a baseball game Friday, two coaches were thinking that very same thing but dared not say anything.
In the past, what Austin said would probably have never been challenged. It was acceptable to use those analogies in practice and it was almost commonplace. We live in a different world now where every word we say, can, and will be judged (just ask Don Imus).
It means that coaches, those who teach and those who don't, should be given specific guidelines as to what they can and cannot say and what they can and cannot do. It also means there should be specific punishments as to the offense not a two-game suspension here or a resignation there.
If we're going to be politically correct all the time, let's do it by the book.