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Mild rant on high school football:
Stu Whitney's op-ed piece in the 10/19/13 Argus Leader about the football classification system in SD is, in my opinion, correct (It's a rare day I read Stu's writings, let alone agree with him) and worth the read. He points out the folly splitting the big-schools into two classes and notes the six-class system proposed by Bob Lowery (MS, SDSU 1977) of the SD High School Activities Association (just before Bob retired from the SDHSAA) is the way to go. Bob was right. Stu is right to remind us. The SDHSAA and the ESD schools (I'm from Watertown) which promoted the seven-class system screwed it up.
Stu hasn't departed from his pot-stirring but this time I agree with this particular pot. In the past, Stu has written stuff suggesting the Sioux Falls schools are on such a roll, they'll never be caught. In this particular piece, Stu correctly points out that things run in cycles: Sioux Falls schools went 25 years before winning a football state championship and there are signs clearly showing the cycles grinds on...Washington and O'Gorman have losing seasons right now.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/2...nclick_check=1
I am tired of people complaining about (although I like the following phrase because it captures the sentiment accurately) the "pussification of America" and "every kid getting a blue ribbon for participation"*. But, that's what happened when we split 11A into two classes. Some ESD schools including my home town sold that on the basis that those schools just could no longer compete with the Sioux Falls schools. That's when I decided to pay less attention to high school football.
*In an episode of "King of the Hill", the underachieving Bobby, son of Hank Hill, disappoints his father by refusing to go out for football and instead, goes out for soccer. Bobby runs home after his first practice and exclaims to Hank (who is totally mortified around his friends because Bobby didn't go out for football) "Dad, I'm one of eight co-captains!"
Stu Whitney's op-ed piece in the 10/19/13 Argus Leader about the football classification system in SD is, in my opinion, correct (It's a rare day I read Stu's writings, let alone agree with him) and worth the read. He points out the folly splitting the big-schools into two classes and notes the six-class system proposed by Bob Lowery (MS, SDSU 1977) of the SD High School Activities Association (just before Bob retired from the SDHSAA) is the way to go. Bob was right. Stu is right to remind us. The SDHSAA and the ESD schools (I'm from Watertown) which promoted the seven-class system screwed it up.
Stu hasn't departed from his pot-stirring but this time I agree with this particular pot. In the past, Stu has written stuff suggesting the Sioux Falls schools are on such a roll, they'll never be caught. In this particular piece, Stu correctly points out that things run in cycles: Sioux Falls schools went 25 years before winning a football state championship and there are signs clearly showing the cycles grinds on...Washington and O'Gorman have losing seasons right now.
http://www.argusleader.com/article/2...nclick_check=1
I am tired of people complaining about (although I like the following phrase because it captures the sentiment accurately) the "pussification of America" and "every kid getting a blue ribbon for participation"*. But, that's what happened when we split 11A into two classes. Some ESD schools including my home town sold that on the basis that those schools just could no longer compete with the Sioux Falls schools. That's when I decided to pay less attention to high school football.
*In an episode of "King of the Hill", the underachieving Bobby, son of Hank Hill, disappoints his father by refusing to go out for football and instead, goes out for soccer. Bobby runs home after his first practice and exclaims to Hank (who is totally mortified around his friends because Bobby didn't go out for football) "Dad, I'm one of eight co-captains!"
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