I've had good luck with RCR's if you think it's dumb (plain rotors,broken crankshafts) put in a solid RCR and things may happen. I thought a 8.8 was legal in CMC?
Read extreme ownership by Jocko Willink, I take this approach with my team, before passing blame did you do everything you could to "win" (I'm in sales).

I figure a lot of the GM Ford stuff is just for fun, but if it's a real issue, you have the power to do something about it.

I agree, a 4k ford 9" legal but a cover isn't is BS, but that hasn't been an issue for me so I didn't try to change it.