Columns

I serve as a consultant researching rules and regulations on interscholastic questions. Serving as a consultant for state athletic regulations on athletics in public schools, I understand rules can be interpreted many ways. Usually questions are about eligibility, athletic participation, and practice rules. Many times, the violations are honest mistakes. How people respond to mistakes shows their true character.

More than 250 teams across Texas are playing 6-man football. Not having enough students to compete with bigger school districts, small schools have chosen a different type of football to play. Different in how the game looks but none the less exciting.

As Texas Agriculture Commissioner, I am responsible for the licensing of more than 850 entities that currently grow, handle, sample or process hemp in Texas. Hemp and marijuana are two different names for the flowering plant known as cannabis. The legal difference between the two is the concentration of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC. THC is what gives the ‘high’ feeling people associate with cannabis. By law, marijuana has a concentration of THC that is 0.3% or higher. Hemp has a concentration of THC that is 0.3% or lower by dry weight.

The young man’s bride of a whole six months waltzed dramatically into the den to show off her new outfit. But engrossed in the college football game of his alma mater, he never took his eyes off the screen. Slightly miffed, she moved in front of the tv to force him to notice her. Unfortunately, at the precise second she chose to make her move, his quarterback launched a 30-yard pass that hopefully would tie the game. He let out a frustrated bellow, and certainly not really thinking of consequences, young husband brusquely told her to move aside so he could at least see the replay.

Blackened old banana peels, egg shells, used coffee grounds, moldy grapes and dried-up orange skins. The diet of champions. Loaded with antioxidants and nutrition, and guaranteed to make the body healthier. And so appealing to the eye. Just makes you drool at the very thought of loading your plate, right?

In athletics, we sometimes perceive a coach or player has lost their edge or usefulness. Coaches, for example, might have served admirably for several years. Then, for whatever the reason they are replaced. For many years they were productive, then suddenly, leadership perceives they need to make a change. In the same context, players sometimes are labeled and cannot shake the coaches’ perception. Decision makers have the right to make changes as they perceive are needed. What is the perception by the decision maker?