ANYONE one second late should not be allowed to start. "Lines" exist all over our lives and they're there for a purpose.
PGA (bg) member Jim Furyk was DQ'D back in 2010 for a such similar reason...and those boys play for a lot more than 10K 1st, etc.
Crap happens and we have to weigh the inconvenience of preventing it (if possible) vs. it possibly happening. "Guilt" or "innocent" should have nothing to do with it. You are either "on time" or you are "late". One allows you to play; one does not.
I'm 30 minutes early for everything because I give myself 20 minutes +/- to change a flat (I'm no Nascar crew member). Ps: 2 flats and I'm SOL anyway (no second spare!).
On this we will have to agree to disagree. For me it's philosophical issue, one of the basic tenants of the American psych per say is that of fairness. You can see that play out even in Steve Dodge's thesis on fair play on another thread. One element of that is proportionality. Does the crime fit the punishment. Because the founding fathers came from a country where the punishment for stealing a loaf of bread was life in prison, or for being broke, was life in debtors prison, the founding fathers built a strong sense of proportionality into our legal system that has permeated through much of our culture. The notion that someone should be DQed for being late to an event, like a disc golf tournament, when it was out of their control, is disproportionate to their crime, so to speak. Fundamentally, I'm against that.
As a note, a major ball golf tournament is in many ways different. Leaving aside the structural differences, inserting a player part way through a round, especially a TV round, is going to be messy. Disc golf is actually different, but if we ever get to a point where we are of that size, I might see this situation differently.
Last fun time scenario. Your tournament is at the end of road B. At 7:00 in the morning, there is a four car wreck on B such that over half your field can't make it on time. Do you DQ them and hand out the money to the half that made it?
As an aside, I pity the TD that holds an event and DQs Sarah H. for what happened. Beyond being crucified in places like this, I suspect there would be other attendance issues going forward.
