Back by popular demand: my annual playoff mismatch rant

[ramblinman]

There is no number of blowouts that is too many for me. I am willing to let the first two rounds of the playoffs weed out 75% of the teams, many of which are less competitive, and then I consider the playoffs to begin in earnest with the quarterfinals.

Thanks for answering the question. I obviously feel differently and subscribe to the theory that playoffs high school football playoffs should be designed to be as competitive as possible. I totally understand that not all games would be competitive.

I try to remember the playoffs do not primarily exist for my benefit as a fan, but, instead, they primarily exist for the enjoyment of the players and for their positive development as human beings.

I understand that. I just feel that there can't be all that much to enjoy being on the unfortunate end of a 70-0 exercise in futility. NCAA hoops playoffs have blowouts, too, but those would be along the lines of 30-40 point drubbings when the losing team scores 40+ points. At least in those situations, the losing team can take some consolation at having a small amount of success in putting points on the board.

 

[ramblinman]

Well, my point is that your stance that takes away memories of hundreds of kids.

How so?

And I can answer your question, you just won't like the answer. There is no number of blowouts that are too many.

So, all of them could be 70-0 and you would have no problem with that. Yes, that's taking it to the extreme, but that's what you're asking for when you say that no number would be too many.

I, frankly, wouldn't want to watch such games and neither would I want to play in them.

If you think that making every game competitive is the goal of high school sports, I think you need to look outside your personal experiences.

That mystifies me. Where did I ever say that? I didn't, so then why do you think that I might think that way? I want every playoff game to be as competitive as possible. Sometimes, it's not possible. Sometimes, that's just the way it is between two teams. And sometimes, the system is set up in such a way that those mismatched games could be reduced, not eliminated, if the system were changed.

Besides, who is it that you feel is "in pain"? I watched my son get manhandled last year and I love that he grew from it and worked harder this year. I watched a CPS team get throttled this year too. Take away the playoffs for that 5-4 CPS team and what were they fighting for all year?

The great programs will get their due on Thanksgiving weekend, but just cutting out any group because we only want the best from the first round is elitist.

I'm not saying to cut anyone out. Keep your 8 classes and 256 teams if you can't bare to cut any of them out. Just classify the schools differently to try to achieve less of a gulf between the most and least competitive schools in each class.

 

[HotBeer]

18, 19 both had city playoffs. When they eliminated the Redbird and Heartland, they went to different Illini conferences that were only eligible for the city playoffs. I know Payton wasn't in those conferences. A couple of years back, the lower level conference champions were included in the city playoffs, getting hammered in the process. Maybe @Coach Percy could shed some light on this one.

FWIW, the Illini conferences (including Heartland and Redbird) existed through 2021. I wish I could find the CPL brackets from those years, very curious what went down but don't think it was simply excluding 2 conferences.

Illini Champions by conference from '13-'21 (excluding 2020 Covid Year) were:

Heartland:
Payton x4
Urban Prep x2
North Lawndale x1
Brooks x1

Land of Lincoln:
Phillips x7
King x1

Prairie State:
Morgan Park x3
Payton x2
Hubbard x2
Kenwood x1

Red Bird:
Simeon x6
Morgan Park x1
Curie x1

 

[crazylegs777]

What do you mean refused? Arent they assigned to a conference? How does one "refuse" where they are placed?

This is the CPS we are talking about.You guys here can't make the state or city playoffs,and you guys here only a few of you can make the state playoffs but not the city playoffs.And you guys here most of you can make the state & city playoffs but not all of you.We don't think you guys can compete although 90% of the teams we send now get their arse handed to them 🤪🤪🤪😒😒😒

 

[eireog]

@ramblinman Any news on the Nipple?

 

[ramblinman]

@ramblinman Any news on the Nipple?

None that I know of, but I feel like lots of back room conversations are happening behind the scenes on the part of the public school whiners. Let's see what they propose to the IHSA which they basically control. Will be interesting to see what happens with Dan Tully from NDCP as IHSA board chair. Stay tuned.

 

[SouthofI80FootballFan]

I'm still confused on the need for this rant in the first place. Blowouts happen at every level, playoffs and regular season alike. We see them in the championship games. Hell, we see them in the pros at the SUPER BOWL! It happens in the NCAA tournament every year.

Yes. This is a "Old Man Yells at Cloud," argument. The system is not perfect nor will it ever be. Those who don't get what they want will never be happy. Hence why districts are being discussed. Lots of potential changes coming to IHSA football in the near future.

 

[eireog]

None that I know of, but I feel like lots of back room conversations are happening behind the scenes on the part of the public school whiners. Let's see what they propose to the IHSA which they basically control. Will be interesting to see what happens with Dan Tully from NDCP as IHSA board chair. Stay tuned.

I’ll be as interested as you. Fingers crossed that Dan will stand his ground.

 

[ramblinman]

Yes. This is a "Old Man Yells at Cloud," argument. The system is not perfect nor will it ever be. Those who don't get what they want will never be happy. Hence why districts are being discussed. Lots of potential changes coming to IHSA football in the near future.

For my part, this old man is not seeking perfection. Just better.

 

[stonedlizard]

Anything but districts…

 

[crazylegs777]

Anything but districts…

I was looking at possible districts posted last year.A school like Joliet Central might never ever win a game & Argo doesn't have a good chance either so what would that do for their programs?

 

[crazylegs777]

I was looking at possible districts posted last year.A school like Joliet Central might never ever win a game & Argo doesn't have a good chance either so what would that do for their programs?

And I'm not talking about a year I'm talking many

 

[Crispy Linnetta]

Argo is trying hard to build it's program up.2 years in a row making the playoffs.They got running clocked in round 1 each year so that needs to change.Both years 5-5 & continuous blowout losses to EP & Richards & they are better than that.They need to go to the next level which is 6-3,7-2 or better,host a playoff game or 2 & win some playoff games.

I knew I recognized you. Same crap, different name. I got you.