CIF Might Use New Rule That Says: ‘Give It Back’

Define “Post-Injunctive Remedies:”

A) The latest socially correct cure for post-nasal drip.

B) The band behind the “Beastmaster 2” soundtrack.

C) Emergency instructions on every Post Toasties cereal box.

D) Catchy nickname for new California Interscholastic Federation By-Law 226.

If you chose “D,” congrats. You’re one step closer to understanding the latest rule to break into your local Blue Book. (That’s on page 50, for those of you following along at home).

Basically, Rule 226 states that any athlete determined ineligible by the CIF may be forced to return all awards, trophies and plaques--if that athlete is granted a temporary restraining order or injunction that is later determined by the courts to be unjustified.

For instance, say wide receiver Jocko Jones is ruled ineligible by the Southern Section for one reason or another. Jocko doesn’t like being kept out of sports, and neither do his parents, so they enlist the help of an attorney.

They go to court and the judge quickly issues a temporary restraining order, good for about 15 days. Jocko is back catching passes the next day and the section can’t do a thing about it, even if it’s in the middle of the football playoffs and Jocko’s ineligibility should have kept his team out of the playoffs in the first place.

But at the time of the hearing, the judge receives more detailed testimony from the section. The judge rules in favor of the section, saying Jocko shouldn’t have been allowed to play.

This is where the change comes in.

In the past, Jocko and his team might already have won a league or section championship by the time the courts caught up with them, and the section officials were left to fume.

Enter Rule 226, a.k.a. Post-Injuctive Remedies.

With this rule, the CIF and its sections have the power to do many things, none of which will make Jocko, his parents, coaches or teammates very happy. They include:

--Requiring all records and performances, both individual and team, achieved during the time of ineligibility be vacated or stricken.

--Requiring all individual and team awards earned to be returned. This includes banners, team patches and trophies.

--Requiring all net receipts gained by the ineligible athlete’s school during CIF playoff competition be given back to the CIF. Footnote: Those monies will be used for the CIF’s drug abuse or scholar-athlete programs.

--Requiring the team’s victories be forfeited. If the athlete is declared ineligible subsequent to the competition, “all records of the team’s performances, as well as the individual’s, shall be deleted, the team’s place in the final standings shall be vacated and the team’s trophy, banner, patches and other indicia of victory shall be returned to the CIF . . .”

In other words, if you lose in court, you lose big, at least in the pride-and-trophy-case department. Imagine, it’s enough for a teen-age athlete horror flick: Poof! The championship plaque vaporizes right off the bedroom wall. Pow! The trophy explodes into a zillion bits. Rip! The championship patch is stripped from the varsity jacket. . . .

Now, section officials want to stress that these penalties aren’t guaranteed to be enforced. The CIF gods may have mercy.

But don’t count on it.

Besides, there could be worse things than losing your ego-ware. What if the CIF made every ineligible athlete walk around with a big scarlet “I” on his letterman’s jacket. Or made the parents put a bumper sticker on their car that said “My Kid Made The Ineligibility List At Ho Down High.” Or what if the people behind the S&L; Scandal Trading Cards (no kidding, it’s for real) came out with a set of “Burned by the CIF” cards, detailing each ineligible athlete’s offense?

Makes those Post-Injunctive Remedies sound better all the time.

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday and Sunday.