WHEELING — I’m the type of guy that thinks all people are inherently good. Suffice to say it takes something fairly egregious to make me believe otherwise.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you one of those cases today. Allow me to introduce to you the Ohio High School Athletic Association, or the OHSAA as it is generally referred.
In a perfect world it would be great to believe that the OHSAA’s decision to allow 16 teams per-region into the state football tournament, would simply be a case of that organization doing so in an effort to allow more kids the opportunity to compete on the state’s biggest stage.
The problem with that is, in addition to believing in inherently good people, I’m of the opinion that there are no coincidences. And the 16-team format just so happens to be taking place the year after the OHSAA lost a shit-ton of money due to Covid-19. Some postseason events didn’t even take place, while a host of others did so without spectators in attendance. That put quite the dent into the organization’s coffers, so it had to come up with a way to recoup some of that money.
Gee, how about allowing 16 teams in each region to make the playoffs? That should do it, right?
Well, that will be good for the OHSAA. But it’s going to be pretty difficult on everyone else involved.
Tickets to postseason high school football games in the state of Ohio are $10 each, with not one dime of that money going to the home school. That means another week of operational costs for many schools that would have normally been turning in their equipment this week. In other words, many schools will have a hefty chunk of change going out, with little revenue coming in. Concession-stand sales are not going to cover the rest of the cost, meaning it’s a weekend in the red for far too many.
Oh, but these kids are getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you say? In what regard? They get to have a running clock in the second half while they get their noses rubbed in the turf all night? Count me out for that.
But wait, there’s more.
Did you know that Cincinnati Oak Hills, with its 0-10 record, will be traveling to Archbishop Moeller for a Division I, Region 4 opening-round game? That’s the same Oak Hills, mind you, that got outscored by an average margin of 24.3 points this season and was beaten by 2-6 Hamilton (50-7), 1-8 Middletown (33-23) and 5-5 Sycamore (42-20).
Boy, I bet those kids are going to have an experience they will never forget this weekend. It’s just too bad that it won’t be a positive one in any way.
Would you like some more cost-efficient results (for the OHSAA — wink, wink!)?
Well, try this one on for size. By my count there will be 79 sub-.500 teams competing in the first round. Locally there are 20 first-round games that include Ohio Valley Athletic Conference schools, with seven of those featuring a team that finished below .500 during the regular season. Of those seven, four of those instances are local teams — No. 16 Harrison Central (4-6) goes to No. 1 Kirtland (9-0) and No. 14 Buckeye Local (3-5) visits No. 3 Garaway (10-0) in Division V, Region 17; No. 15 Buckeye Trail (4-5) is at No. 2 Fairland (8-1) in D-VI, Region 23; and No. 10 Monroe Central (4-5) gets a rematch with No. 7 River (6-4) in D-VII, Region 27.
Folks, don’t take this the wrong way as it’s not meant to be an insult. But in that group only Monroe stands a chance of not getting its collective head knocked off. And that’s an experience worth having?
Look, I don’t know what is in the heart of the ones making these decisions, and I’d never guess. But it all adds up to only being in the best interest of the OHSAA. And last I checked, that’s not why decisions like this are supposed to be made.
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