Baseball stands ordered torn down for being better than softball's

While we're at it, on the subject of the Plymouth school district's obviously profound and perceptive thinking on possible consequences (see also their obvious and blatant infringement on the Nashville Predators' trademark, a case which any trademark attorney would tell you they WILL LOSE in a micromillisecond should the Preds ever decide to take it to court), what exactly was the school district's plan to deal with the inevitable injury lawsuits when, eventually, somebody sitting in the luxurious deluxe not-obstructed-by-chain-link-fencing baseball seats got drilled with a foul ball?

Seats are put behind chain link fences for a reason. If the old-time pre-2008 baseball seating was situated behind the fences, it was to prevent people from getting drilled by foul balls. If seats are put where people can get drilled by foul balls, eventually they will get drilled by foul balls. If people are drilled by foul balls, eventually one will sue. What was the plan then?

 

Can't speak to the Preds logo but my brother-in-law's football team uses a college logo.

They buy their gear through a regional supplier, and that company gets the appropriate licenses and releases for the trademarked logos.

So the school could be perfectly fine as far as copyright law goes and I suspect that's the case here.

 

Fuck off, loser.

 

Clayton Bigsby approves this message.

 

Weighing in a bit late, but it was a busy day. This is the school district, and campus, I attended. And, yes, this is bullshit because the baseball program raised extra money; the softball program didn't. Unfortunately, there's a nearby case that supports this: The same thing happened about 10 years ago at Ann Arbor Huron High School, which is about 15 miles west. The softball facilities were upgraded by the district to match what the baseball program had raised.

And, like was said above, the three high schools in the Plymouth-Canton district aren't cross-town rivals. They're cross-campus rivals. All three schools are on the same campus, and students have classes at all three. On top of that, students at the middle schools are randomly assigned to one of the high schools when they're still in middle school. If you have an older sibling on campus when you arrive, you can switch. Otherwise, tough.

When I was there (class of '83), Plymouth High didn't exist. It was just Canton (my school) and Salem. It was unusual getting on the bus with the kids I went to elementary and middle school with, only to have half of us trudge to Canton and half to Salem.

The good thing - strike that, great thing - about that campus is that with 6,000 kids (4,000 when I was there), the class offerings are incredible. I felt like I already was going to college.

As far as extracurriculars, each school has its own sports teams, but several of the other programs are combined. I worked at the radio station (at Salem) and the newspaper (at Canton); my sister was in the marching and symphony bands (at Canton). The radio station celebrated its 40th anniversary two years ago. Working there was an amazing experience, and the friendships remain.

For those who say a campus that size is impersonal, it is if you want it to be. A 200-student high school can be impersonal if you choose.

There are many, many small districts in metro Detroit that could take a lesson from Plymouth-Canton about the power in numbers, even if there are bullshit things like this baseball-softball dispute.

 

1, They'd better make sure.

2, This is the year 2014. Computers have existed for 20 years. Every nitwit dingleberry pulling a C-minus grade average in every high school in America has a laptop or a smartphone which can download a graphics app or a simple synth keyboard program and write songs and create logos. (FWIW there are also shitloads of free-use clipart logos for things like 'wildcats' available on teh intertoobes.)

Any principal of any high school (or college, for christ's sake) in the United States of America which does not have its own original logo and fight song should immediately inform the student body and citizen/taxpayer base that they will not enter athletic competition for the 2014-15 school year unless and until the school community (staff, students, parents, alumni, taxpayers) have come up with absolutely original fight songs and graphic logos, NOT originating with any other entity.

If your high school doesn't have somebody who can cook up a rowdy-looking wildcat logo or a rough-and-tough-looking trojan logo or a brutal-looking bulldog logo, or somebody who can whip up a 45-second ditty including three chords, a pounding drum beat, and a rousing cheer of "Go Shitkickers Go" at the end, you need to shut the damn place down.

 

Actually, that's nothing like what happened here. A facility that was upgraded with private money has been ordered destroyed by an arm of the federal government.

Based on what you're saying, nothing was taken away from the boys at Huron. Instead, something was given to the girls, which is perfectly reasonable.

In this case - much like in most bullshit Title IX arguments - something was taken from the boys and nothing was given to the girls.

 

Yeah, but don't overlook the fact that it also allowed Starman to make an asinine fool of himself (again) and compare bleachers to lynchings.

 

Except the facility was upgraded with private money on an entity belonging to the public.

 

Which doesn't change my point at all.

But keep trying little man.

 

Which most people with a lick of common sense would say is a good thing, since a public facility was improved without any additional cost to the taxpayers.

 

Which is why your point is wrong.

I'll put it another way. Say a donor wants to build a fancy locker room for a public school's boys basketball team. That donor, or the school, has to also provide a fancy locker room for the girls basketball team, or otherwise, the school cannot accept the donation.

How is this concept so hard to get through your head?