I just heard back from the County regarding their violation of players’ First Amendment rights detailed below. My letter has been forwarded to the Legal Department for feedback, and they will eventually get back to me.

That’s great, although I’m still proceeding with my plan to disregard the rule in the coming tournament.

What’s more important, softball or free speech?

That’s the question I’ve been forced to confront.

It’s a strange question, to be sure. But recently I’ve been made aware that our local government is violating our First Amendment rights every time we gather to play Rec-League softball, a situation which prompted the odd query above.

So how does free speech relate to softball?

A few years back, there was some complaining about excessive cussing during softball games in the Spokane County Parks and Recreation leagues. As a result, a new rule was adopted, the “Casual Profanity” rule, which was worded as follows:

“Umpire will make ruling on inappropriate use of profanity”

In practice, what this meant was that the umpire would exercise sole discretion to decide if we softball players were being potty-mouths, and would assess punishments for any offenses. The punishments ranged from warnings and/or loss of outs, all the way up to ejections and/or loss of games. I’m not sure, but I think this rule came into effect about five years ago.

For the most part, everyone complied. Occasionally there would be a warning issued, but not much more. As far as I can remember, no one was ever ejected, though swearing did continue, though often a bit quieter and under our breath. The umpires appeared largely unconcerned with our language, with one or two exceptions.

Recently, those exceptions have become far more alarming and intrusive to the game.

A couple weeks ago, an umpire assessed (for the first time in my memory) an extra out on an opposing team because a player said “shit!”. The player in question didn’t even shout the word, she merely uttered it in shock after being caught off base. The umpire then threatened ejection for any further outbursts.

I thought that was a bit extreme, and grumbled a bit about it, but figured it was an isolated incident. Boy, was I wrong.

Last Friday, a different umpire, while meeting with the coaches prior to the game told both coaches that he would not tolerate any profanity, and he listed a few examples to convey his intent. The examples he used showed exactly how far he was taking the “casual profanity” rule. He said:

1. Any use of the “F-bomb” would earn immediate ejection.
2. First use of the word “Crap” would earn a warning. Second use of “Crap” would earn ejection.
3. Any “taking the Lord’s name in vain” would earn ejection.

At that time, the coach for the other team strongly objected, but her objections were disregarded by the umpire. Once the rest of us heard of the “rules” we were all in agreement that they were completely arbitrary and unfair. But we wanted to play softball (and none of us are lawyers). So we fell into line under the stated speech restrictions.

Crap! Crap?! Yes. Crap! A word we hear in G-Rated movies is unacceptable in an adult softball league.

That sure lit a fire under me, let me tell you.

While my previous answer to the question “Free speech or softball” would have been “Softball!”, mainly because it didn’t appear to be that much of a problem for me to curb my “crappy” tongue, now my answer has definitely changed. I did some thinking; I consulted with a brilliant young lawyer (who also happened to be my daughter); and I did a bit of research.

Now I realize just how wrong I was to accept the “Casual Profanity” rule.

In point of fact, the county government has absolutely no right or authority to censor anyone’s speech, even when they are participating in a county organized and run softball league, and especially in public parks. Such a rule amounts to a violation of our First Amendment rights to free expression.

I probably still wouldn’t have objected to the rule myself, but the above examples of over-the-top umpire interpretations forced me to act. Now I’ve committed myself to getting this rule removed from the Spokane County Parks and Rec softball rules.

This weekend is the annual End of Season Tournament, and I’m going take the following action:

• Write a letter of protest requesting the rule be removed. This was written yesterday and sent this morning. You can download and read a copy of it here.
• Inform my fellow team-members that I will no longer accept the “Casual Profanity” rule as a legitimate rule for County softball, and that if the umpire insists on applying it, that I will, in turn, insist that he eject me before any play starts. I’m hoping my team will back me up on this, but it’s entirely up to them.
• Inform the other team in the same manner and ask for their support.
• Inform the umpire and see what happens.

Some might think it’s such a small thing to control one’s tongue, so why make such a big deal about it?

The answer is simple. Last week, it was the F-bomb. Yesterday it was “shit”. Today it’s “crap”. What will it be tomorrow? When will it end? The incremental loss of liberties is an ongoing problem in this country; I have chosen to draw my line in the sand right here, in this little corner of the universe. I’m not asking for much, just the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

I look forward to the End of Season Tournament every year, and this year is no exception. We’ve got a great team with a super chance of winning it all. I’d love to make that happen.
But these days, for me at least, there are some things that are more important than softball.

The First Amendment, for starters.

UPDATES:

• Here’s the letter I wrote to the County (in PDF form)
• My letter to the County has been forwarded to the legal department
• The United States Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) agrees with me, sort of
• So why am I doing this?