If folks did not get a chance to read my article in last Saturday's Cumberland Times-News, here is a copy and paste. Part II of the article will be an interview with Andy Warner, executive director of the MPSSAA concerning the playoff system and if changes can be expected.
ARTICLE FROM OCTOBER 29, 2016
PLAYOFFITIS
The unofficial sports dictionary describes PLAYOFFITIS as the fear of not being able to participate in the playoffs. Since every sport in high school basically permits every team in the post-season the term PLAYOFFITIS does not really apply across the board. Football is the only high school sport that does not include everyone in the post-season. And oh brother does PLAYOFFITIS apply.
If someone feels offended after reading this article, well too bad. This one is going to vent. This one needs to point blame. This one isn't going to be positive or nice. Because what is happening in football at this level is ludicrous and disgusting. It's teaching young men to take the easy way out, teaching them that to achieve anything great requires seeking the easiest and laziest path possible. Consider this part I of an inside look at the state high school football playoff systems in both Maryland and West Virginia and how coaches have adapted to take advantage of the short falls.
PLAYOFFITIS derived from the "participation trophy" syndrome that has crippled today's PC world. If you're not familiar with the term "participation trophy" in sports today, the short explanation is that everyone gets a trophy regardless of whether their respective team lost every game or won every game. All they have to do is show up and the boy or girl gets a trophy. No effort is required and the end result spreads like cancer far past just getting a trophy. As an example, Little Johnny can't even have his name listed anymore in the newspaper as the losing pitcher of a little league baseball game. It could scar him for life. Let's only list the winning pitcher.
For the purpose of this article and from a football standpoint the participation trophy carries over to the feeling every coach has...that my kids work hard and no way should they be deprived of making the playoffs. Parents may complain, the coach could be fired, someone gets their feelings hurt. The playoffs are the trophy. Even though my team may not be very good and we may have zero shot at winning a championship, none of that matters. Our kids have to make the playoffs. That is our measuring stick of success.
So how does a coach go about making the playoffs? By working harder than the other team? Oh no, no, no. The high school football playoff system has limited space. Teams have to win more games then the other teams trying to get in. The integrity lacking catch is that no one is required to play the teams they are fighting with to get into the playoffs. So under those guidelines, how does a coach go about making the playoffs? By "dumbing" down the schedule. By finding less competitive teams that offer a better chance at winning.
PLAYOFFITIS is very contagious. Very contagious. When a few schools in your playoff class or region start doing it, you start doing it. Now everyone is doing it. The more everyone does it the more everyone does it. No team big or small is spared the PLAYOFFITIS disease and it's gotten way out of hand.
Even the Cumberland Times-News you're reading now had to drop the area high school football poll simply because nobody plays anybody locally. Teams will play one another at the youth and pee wee levels and they will even play at the freshman and JV level. But once varsity football gets under way it's another story. Why? Because at the pee wee and youth league levels everyone makes the playoffs. At the freshman and JV level there is no playoff.
The Garrett County schools don't want to play the Cumberland schools. Washington County schools don't want to play the Cumberland schools. Frankfort and Hampshire don't want to play the Cumberland schools. With the exception of perennial West Virginia power Martinsburg, all of the Berkeley County and all of the Jefferson County schools don't want to play the Cumberland schools. Why? Because Allegany and Fort Hill have a long history of being good on the gridiron and losing to them could cost a chance at the playoff participation trophy. But if you think this is a rant about standing up for the Cumberland schools you guessed wrong. Both Allegany and Fort Hill do everything they can to make sure their schedule is full of teams they can beat by 50 points at halftime just to make the playoffs, which is what fans at Greenway Avenue Stadium have been tortured into viewing on Fridays more times than not. I told you no one would be spared. Everyone is doing it and you cannot point the finger at other people when you are doing it yourself. Once again, PLAYOFFITIS is contagious.
Before pointing fingers at specific coaches and schedule makers let's take a look at the main cause behind PLAYOFFITIS. The participation trophy philosophy in society already mentioned is a major clog. But now it's time to tackle the monster. In Maryland the grotesque pigskin beast is called the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association otherwise known as the MPSSAA for short. Yes it's true, a Maryland government run and government funded system has failed miserably and has failed miserably for a very long time. The football playoff system employed in the free state is easily one of the worst, if not the worst sports systems in the country. It's so bad, that when the system is explained to coaches in other states, they literally think we are kidding.
The MPSSAA regional playoff set up takes the top four teams in each region into the playoffs. But few if any of those regional teams are playing each other. This system has to be the dumbest concept ever developed for sports. There has been plenty of talk about ways to remedy the Maryland playoff system through change. One of the most popular is to just do away with regional alignments and seed everyone 1 through 16 exactly as they do in West Virginia. First, people pushing for such a move for some reason fail to understand that the MPSSAA is never going to do away with regional alignments because of money, equal geographical representation and travel. This platform has been pushed and clamored for a dozen times with no luck. If a playoff set up change is going to happen, it has to be done somehow, some way with the regional set up in place.
The West Virginia playoff system also has huge flaws. Teams are still trying to work their way into the playoffs by organizing a less competitive schedule. PLAYOFFITIS is just as pertinent south of the Potomac River even in the 1-16 system.
When one is able to finally see the forest through the trees there can be only one true solution. How do we keep everyone from scheduling to make the playoffs? In other words how do we eliminate PLAYOFFITIS? Simple...Everybody makes the playoffs. Shorten the regular season, do whatever allows this set up to become a reality. Yes, there are lots and lots of folks who just cannot grasp this concept for high school football. Every other sport does it but that makes no difference. Football must have more stubborn traditions. But when the need to work the system just to get into the playoffs is removed we'll see teams playing each other again. And everyone can get their participation trophy.
If you are one of the people that just cannot grasp this "everyone in the playoffs" concept, then don't complain about more 50 point blow outs being played against some aptly named Academy at a stadium near you.
Luckily, the entire state of Maryland is suffering from this currently antiquated playoff system. It's not just a Western Maryland problem. Ultimately that means changes are coming albeit at a typical over regulated, lazy, bureaucratic, lawsuit fearing, politically correct, red tape snail pace. In other words, in typical Maryland fashion. We'll cover that one in Part II of this story.
Todd Helmick is a former Fort Hill High School and Florida State University football player. He is the owner of the college football website NationalChamps.net and his weekly radio show can be heard on Baltimore 105.7 CBS Sports Broadcast.
ARTICLE FROM OCTOBER 29, 2016
PLAYOFFITIS
The unofficial sports dictionary describes PLAYOFFITIS as the fear of not being able to participate in the playoffs. Since every sport in high school basically permits every team in the post-season the term PLAYOFFITIS does not really apply across the board. Football is the only high school sport that does not include everyone in the post-season. And oh brother does PLAYOFFITIS apply.
If someone feels offended after reading this article, well too bad. This one is going to vent. This one needs to point blame. This one isn't going to be positive or nice. Because what is happening in football at this level is ludicrous and disgusting. It's teaching young men to take the easy way out, teaching them that to achieve anything great requires seeking the easiest and laziest path possible. Consider this part I of an inside look at the state high school football playoff systems in both Maryland and West Virginia and how coaches have adapted to take advantage of the short falls.
PLAYOFFITIS derived from the "participation trophy" syndrome that has crippled today's PC world. If you're not familiar with the term "participation trophy" in sports today, the short explanation is that everyone gets a trophy regardless of whether their respective team lost every game or won every game. All they have to do is show up and the boy or girl gets a trophy. No effort is required and the end result spreads like cancer far past just getting a trophy. As an example, Little Johnny can't even have his name listed anymore in the newspaper as the losing pitcher of a little league baseball game. It could scar him for life. Let's only list the winning pitcher.
For the purpose of this article and from a football standpoint the participation trophy carries over to the feeling every coach has...that my kids work hard and no way should they be deprived of making the playoffs. Parents may complain, the coach could be fired, someone gets their feelings hurt. The playoffs are the trophy. Even though my team may not be very good and we may have zero shot at winning a championship, none of that matters. Our kids have to make the playoffs. That is our measuring stick of success.
So how does a coach go about making the playoffs? By working harder than the other team? Oh no, no, no. The high school football playoff system has limited space. Teams have to win more games then the other teams trying to get in. The integrity lacking catch is that no one is required to play the teams they are fighting with to get into the playoffs. So under those guidelines, how does a coach go about making the playoffs? By "dumbing" down the schedule. By finding less competitive teams that offer a better chance at winning.
PLAYOFFITIS is very contagious. Very contagious. When a few schools in your playoff class or region start doing it, you start doing it. Now everyone is doing it. The more everyone does it the more everyone does it. No team big or small is spared the PLAYOFFITIS disease and it's gotten way out of hand.
Even the Cumberland Times-News you're reading now had to drop the area high school football poll simply because nobody plays anybody locally. Teams will play one another at the youth and pee wee levels and they will even play at the freshman and JV level. But once varsity football gets under way it's another story. Why? Because at the pee wee and youth league levels everyone makes the playoffs. At the freshman and JV level there is no playoff.
The Garrett County schools don't want to play the Cumberland schools. Washington County schools don't want to play the Cumberland schools. Frankfort and Hampshire don't want to play the Cumberland schools. With the exception of perennial West Virginia power Martinsburg, all of the Berkeley County and all of the Jefferson County schools don't want to play the Cumberland schools. Why? Because Allegany and Fort Hill have a long history of being good on the gridiron and losing to them could cost a chance at the playoff participation trophy. But if you think this is a rant about standing up for the Cumberland schools you guessed wrong. Both Allegany and Fort Hill do everything they can to make sure their schedule is full of teams they can beat by 50 points at halftime just to make the playoffs, which is what fans at Greenway Avenue Stadium have been tortured into viewing on Fridays more times than not. I told you no one would be spared. Everyone is doing it and you cannot point the finger at other people when you are doing it yourself. Once again, PLAYOFFITIS is contagious.
Before pointing fingers at specific coaches and schedule makers let's take a look at the main cause behind PLAYOFFITIS. The participation trophy philosophy in society already mentioned is a major clog. But now it's time to tackle the monster. In Maryland the grotesque pigskin beast is called the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association otherwise known as the MPSSAA for short. Yes it's true, a Maryland government run and government funded system has failed miserably and has failed miserably for a very long time. The football playoff system employed in the free state is easily one of the worst, if not the worst sports systems in the country. It's so bad, that when the system is explained to coaches in other states, they literally think we are kidding.
The MPSSAA regional playoff set up takes the top four teams in each region into the playoffs. But few if any of those regional teams are playing each other. This system has to be the dumbest concept ever developed for sports. There has been plenty of talk about ways to remedy the Maryland playoff system through change. One of the most popular is to just do away with regional alignments and seed everyone 1 through 16 exactly as they do in West Virginia. First, people pushing for such a move for some reason fail to understand that the MPSSAA is never going to do away with regional alignments because of money, equal geographical representation and travel. This platform has been pushed and clamored for a dozen times with no luck. If a playoff set up change is going to happen, it has to be done somehow, some way with the regional set up in place.
The West Virginia playoff system also has huge flaws. Teams are still trying to work their way into the playoffs by organizing a less competitive schedule. PLAYOFFITIS is just as pertinent south of the Potomac River even in the 1-16 system.
When one is able to finally see the forest through the trees there can be only one true solution. How do we keep everyone from scheduling to make the playoffs? In other words how do we eliminate PLAYOFFITIS? Simple...Everybody makes the playoffs. Shorten the regular season, do whatever allows this set up to become a reality. Yes, there are lots and lots of folks who just cannot grasp this concept for high school football. Every other sport does it but that makes no difference. Football must have more stubborn traditions. But when the need to work the system just to get into the playoffs is removed we'll see teams playing each other again. And everyone can get their participation trophy.
If you are one of the people that just cannot grasp this "everyone in the playoffs" concept, then don't complain about more 50 point blow outs being played against some aptly named Academy at a stadium near you.
Luckily, the entire state of Maryland is suffering from this currently antiquated playoff system. It's not just a Western Maryland problem. Ultimately that means changes are coming albeit at a typical over regulated, lazy, bureaucratic, lawsuit fearing, politically correct, red tape snail pace. In other words, in typical Maryland fashion. We'll cover that one in Part II of this story.
Todd Helmick is a former Fort Hill High School and Florida State University football player. He is the owner of the college football website NationalChamps.net and his weekly radio show can be heard on Baltimore 105.7 CBS Sports Broadcast.
