Don’t think obscure rules can determine a sporting event.

Eastern is coming closer and closer to receiving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for an act off the playing surface.

Panthers head coach Bob Spoo may be forced to yell at Eastern’s band for causing a flag to be thrown.

I can’t tell you how ridiculous it would be for Eastern to be handed a penalty for the band being overly excited during a change of possession.

Over the last two home games, Eastern’s band has been playing while the ball is in play which creates a distraction for both sides even if it’s accidental.

How many times does Andrew Harris have to drop back to pass with “Will You Be My Girl” in the background before somebody does something about it.

However, it’s happened more than once which would either constitute a misunderstanding or dare I say blatant violation of the rule.

According to Ohio Valley Conference director of media relations Ryan Altizer, the rules handbook states a policy for indoor events that prohibits bands playing during game action, but didn’t find any rules involving outdoor sports.

“There is no policy in the handbook on outdoor events,” Altizer said.

However, this statement was found to be fundamentally incorrect after speaking to OVC coordinator of officials L.V. McGinty in which he stated there is no conference policy, but there is an NCAA policy, which states that no person should make artificial noise that interferes with a player or team’s ability to call signals in a game. The penalty is a dead ball foul. However, a player or coach must make a complaint to the official. In this case, it is an unwritten OVC officials policy to warn a band or school to cease with the artificial noise before calling a foul.

“I have not been informed of any such complaints this season,” McGinty said.

I can virtually guarantee if Illinois State and Eastern Kentucky thought an advantage could be had on an obscure ruling, that would’ve complained in a hot second. Only one crucial aspect would be required – a wild card coach willing to take a huge chance.

On July 24, 1983, Yankee manager Billy Martin knew that if Royals power hitter George Brett got a big hit in its three-game series, he had an ace up his sleeve.

Brett hit a ninth-inning, two-out, two-run homer off Goose Gossage that gave the Royals a 5-4 lead. Gossage and Brett were no strangers – they had matched up previously in the heated post-season rivalry between the two teams. Seconds after crossing the

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plate and ducking into the dugout, Brett saw Yankee manager Billy Martin approach home plate umpire Tim McClelland (Cubs fans will remember McClelland for the Sosa cork incident).

A moment later McClelland thrust his arm in the air and signaled that Brett was out for excessive use of pine tar on his bat.

McClelland had cited rule 1.10(b) which reads that “a bat may not be covered by such a substance more than 18 inches from the tip of the handle.” The umpire ruled that Brett’s bat had “heavy pine tar” 19 to 20 inches from the tip of the handle and lighter pine tar for another three or four inches.

One problem, this ancient rule was made in the early 1900’s to save on the cost of baseballs. In 1983, major league baseball didn’t have this problem.

This act sent Brett into the biggest fury of rage in sports and was forced to be restrained by teammates and umpires so the Hall of Famer wouldn’t take McClelland’s life at that exact moment.

Of course, the result was overturned by the American League commissioner and the game was ordered to be replayed and the Royals won. However, Billy Martin single-handedly attempted and came very close to stealing a victory.

If Eastern’s band continues to violate an NCAA rule, the Panthers may suffer a loss undeservingly because of it.

Maybe if that happens, I won’t hear the fight song on first-and-10.