A few opinions here ... NO FACTS. Just opinion. Only fact is that football according to the IHSA is a six-game season, period.
Opinion 1) Whoever posted the idea of the 24-team Catholic League developing its own playoff system for this season ought to be considered for idea of the year, but ONLY if the plan gets followed up on and implemented.
Last year, there were six four-team divisions in the league, and the teams are divided I guess based on some combination of enrollment and number of players and success in the win-loss column.
(FYI: The only thing I really know about the Catholic League is that I have kept a Carmel High School Corsairs winter hat which I got during their state-title run in the early 2000s.)
That said, I do know a brilliant idea when I read one, and this Catholic League thing that was posted really could become the envy of the rest of the state if it's implemented.
Four-team divisions, playing a round-robin. After three weeks, the top two teams in the four biggest-school divisions form an eight-team Gold Bracket, the bottom two teams in the biggest-school divisions form an eight-team Silver Bracket, and the eight teams in the two smaller divisions form the Bronze Bracket.
You then play three weeks of tourney play, in which. the single-elimination bracket play out in both winner's and loser's brackets so that on the final weekend, there is a 1st-place game, a 3rd-place game, a 5th-place game, and a 7th-place game in each of the Gold, Silver and Bronze brackets.
Each bracket gets six games and when the six-week season is over, three teams will feel like champions and no more than 2 teams could finish 0-6.
Obviously, in a division, there could be a 3-0 team and three 1-2 teams, or there could be three 2-1 teams and one 0-3 teams. Come up with a tiebreaker. That stuff comes up in Christmas season holiday hoops tourneys every year. Settle on a tiebreaker and you're good to go.
Again, this is not my idea. Somebody suggested it on this site. The challenge is to communicate to whoever is in charge of the Catholic League. There must be somebody to make it happen.
Opinion 2) I think the number of senior boys who play football for this six-week season is going to be way less than what many people believe, based on months and months of comments on this site regarding how kids want to play one final season with their classmates/teammates before hanging up the pads for good.
This is the thought process ... opinion only.
Football is not fun. Basketball is fun ... going into a gym and launching 3-point shots and trying halfcourt heaves, etc. It's fun to have a basketball in the gym, and even more fun when you have someone with you to shag the ball for you.
Football is a completely different animal. The ultimate team sport for boys ... obviously.
But, the theory of wanting to get film of a kid in a game makes total sense for current juniors. By April 1, virtually every senior who is planning on playing football in college at some level (D1, D2, D3 NAIA, etc.) has already been admitted to the school so no tape on games played in April will matter. For juniors, yes, get your tape. But seniors? National signing day is in February.
But beyond the matter of getting game tape, there's the hard work that it takes to play football. Forget the weather. Football is tough. So the question is: Why do kids who are never going to play football again after high school play?
Well, there's the comroderie in school, but school now is hybrid and heck, some schools are still all remote, and not just the Chicago Public Schools either.
There's no Homecoming week to get excited for. There's no pep rally. There's no talk in the school cafeteria about the upcoming game. There's also no playoff berth to try and earn. Even a league title may be shaky. I am just picking a league here ... the eight-team Fox Valley Conference. You only have six games so some teams won't face each other. What if Huntley doesn't play Prairie Ridge? Or what if Cary-Grove doesn't play Huntley? Now, even the "big game" against the rival might not happen.
Plus, there's the fact that basketball and football DO overlap. A basketball player ends his season and then joins the football team for 10 practice days before he can play on Week 2 of the six-week season. So for basketball players, the football season is just five weeks long.
For baseball players, the football season ends on April 23/24, Baseball's first game can be played on April 13. So a football player who wants to play baseball is going to miss the first two weeks of baseball games, at least.
A senior who's not going to play football in college, but likes playing sports, can play the basketball season and baseball season (or track if. you so desire), and not miss anything. Playing football means what? Quitting basketball two weeks before the end of the season, and joining a baseball program after two games of games have been played? How does a baseball head coach select his team if he's going to get football players after two weeks of games.
Basically, seniors who are ending their football playing days this spring are going to have difficult choices. And knowing how difficult the sport of football is, I just believe the number of senior players will be way down.
Opinion 3) Freshman football is in big trouble in terms of numbers of players.
Obviously, the number of football players is down in many places due to the concussion thing. That's reality.
But think about a freshman who has to decide basically now what sport or sports he wants to pursue for the next four school years.
If he wants to play basketball, he misses the start of football practice and the first game. If the kid's a future college, that's OK. But I'm talking about the freshman who like to play sports and wants to be part of a team.
If he plays basketball, how can he play football? He's going to be way, way behind.
If he plays baseball, how can h e play football? He's going to be way way behind in baseball. And seriously, baseball is kind of a roster-limited sport. A coach is going to select his freshman team of let's just say 20 players, and then after playing two weeks of games, seven freshmen who just finished their football season are going to show up and say they want to play? How does everybody get playing time? How do tryouts work?
I don't think it will work out at all, and the freshmen will decide what they want to play, and the gut feeling here is that basketball, baseball and track will trump football for the average athlete who wants to be on a team.
Thanks for reading and, again, if someone could push that Catholic League football playoff plan to somebody who needs to hear about it, that would be a good thing.
