Advertisement

Rolling through the backfield full tilt with broken tackles piling up behind me, the end zone was coming fast as the final seconds slipped off the clock last week. It had been a nail biting come-from-behind game of last-minute sports writing and I was going to win.

The final points settled into place as the whistle blew and I stood with arms held overhead, signaling a touchdown before spiking the keyboard onto the artificial turf inside my office.

A clever little sports column had been neatly wrapped up and delivered to the world just in time. It presented a seamless case against the Michigan High School Athletic Association and their flawed formula for football playoff pairings.

Let's watch the replayÉWords opened a hole in the MHSAA defensive line as an ambitious young sports writer charged through with all the sarcasm he could muster, running and cutting in the open field against playoff pairings that strain school budgets and the environment. 500-word touchdown!

ÊÊ The celebration dance in the end zone lasted for a couple days before a yellow flag was discovered on the field and my brilliant winning play was called back.

Somewhere during the course of the run I had apparently stepped out of bounds along the visitors sideline, sideswiped an official and taunted the other team. Or in other words, I wrote a slanted sports column that piled blame on the MHSAA for requiring football teams to travel hundreds of miles for the opening playoff rounds.

Ê I eventually stopped dancing in the end zone and listened to the call on the field, which was announced in the form of an e-mail from MHSAA Communications Director John Johnson.

"It was as recently as 2005 that we had what was called 'geographic pairings' for the first round of the football playoffs, pairing teams together by proximity rather than playoff points," Johnson wrote. "That policy was changed, at the request of schools from northern Michigan, to play the games the same way as the rest of the state Ð based on the pairings created by the playoff point averages.

Ê "It was northern Michigan schools which advocated for the playoff points to determine the home team for the second round as well, and then to determine sites at a point between the two schools for the third round if the travel exceeded 200 miles.Ê Visiting schools are given a portion of the gate (proceeds) from these games to assist in paying their travel expenses."

My step out of bounds and unsportsmanlike conduct returned the ball to where I find myself this week, writing a column from the same spot on the field but not finding any holes in the MHSAA line.

The association, which I referred to as a sacred cow last week, seems to operate much like a football team. In this case, a well-coached squad of imperfect players which continues to smooth out its rough spots each season.

The MHSAA will always incur criticism when it drops the ball or steps out of bounds, just as it will draw praise with each new advancement in high school athletics. As all bodies that govern and sanction, this team is wide open to public comment, which was made clear to me as Johnson wrote, "I recall about 30 years ago a young sportswriter from a newspaper in mid-Michigan using "MHSAA" and "sacred cow" in the same sentenceÉ I would encourage you to do what that young sportswriter did 30 years ago and call this office so that you become more familiar with how the MHSAA operates.Ê "That young sportswriter is always here to help you," he wrote. "Even when you want to question policies and procedures. The better you understand this association of schools, the better you'll be able to write about it."

Not quite the holy bovine I had suspected, the MHSAA appears to operate more like an all-star football team striving for another win, open to suggestions and new plays.

Ê Contact Chris Tredway at ctredway@michigannewspapers.com.