Many fans of college athletics are aware that NCAA has an unbelievable list of rules, because they often hear of their favorite school committing a violation by breaking some obscure rule, that seemed irrelevant, but was indeed in the rulebook.  The Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA) is not as strict as the NCAA, but it does have rules that schools are supposed to follow.  The rules are public knowledge, as anyone can go to www.tssaa.org (under our links page) to see them.  The problem is, they are often broken, and sometimes totally ignored.  Now, to be fair, I do not agree with the rules the TSSAA has set for baseball.  I feel like they were made by someone who does not understand the game.  However, I have been convicted of the ethical importance of running a clean program and setting an example for our players of doing things the right way.  I have always been a believer that over the long haul, if someone does things the right way, they will be rewarded.  The problem is, as a rebuilding baseball program, we are in competition with teams that are rumored to be violating the rules.  Now, I have no proof of this, but the luster has been taken off some accomplishments of teams we compete with, if in fact these rumors are true.  To avoid sounding hypocritical, I have made some mistakes in my coaching career and will probably make many more, but the Johnson County Longhorn Baseball Program will be clean.  It's the right way to do things and it sets a valuable example for our players.