OPINION: Florida House sends embarrassing message to rest of the nation

Wither you like the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) or not, we all know in good form that the association does serve a purpose.

That purpose is to help balance the notion of athletics and athletes within the educational background. There are people that work at the FHSAA that have worked at the school level before working for the association and know first hand what it takes to create such a balance.

Obviously, that balance is about to lose its luster thanks to legislation now moving full steam ahead in Tallahassee.

Previously, I wrote about the need of Tallahassee needing to butt out of high school athletics and instead focus on more important needs of the schools which include proper funding.

But, Tallahassee doesn’t care what you or I have to say at this point and it really shows in the voting in this bill.

In a vote of 86 Yeas and 29 Nays, the House moved HB 7137 one step closer to reality and one step closer to allowing fair play to go out the door in its entirety.

You could say though that fair play has lost its luster over the last few years and I would certainly agree it has to some degree where you are at, but now it just makes its even harder to keep teams that are trying to do things with kids from their own neighborhoods or towns from being competitive, especially if they have to play in the same district as a school that has decided it would like to win at all costs.

Basically all Tallahassee has done has listen to a select few because they got caught red handed for doing something they shouldn’t have and would rather win at all costs instead of balancing the line between athletics and education. Now we are left stripping down what is left of the way HS athletics are now and possibly allow the chances of schools to hand pick which sports belong to what conference or association. Not smart at all.

Furthermore, I was raised you don’t always get what you want in life and life ain’t fair. However, it seems Tallahassee is trying to make it to where we might as well just hand out a trophy to everyone and go home. Forget doing things the right way.

In the process of breaking all the news out including quotes involving the passing of the bill in the House, one of our followers, a student athlete saw something else here that is going to be ruined in the process: School Pride. I couldn’t agree more that school pride is going to go down big time the way this bill is written.

As a matter of fact, I received permission from this student athlete who is Chase Howell and has proudly represented Buchholz High over the last four years as a STUDENT-ATHLETE. Howell is quite disgusted that Tallahassee even has the time to deal with this bill.

My views on SB 7137 as a high school athlete @FlaHSFootball @SunPreps pic.twitter.com/57D2hd6IQb

— Chase Howell (@ChaseHowell13) April 22, 2015

There is a lot that I agree with in what he said. Tallahassee doesn’t understand the pillars of high school athletics and what they are suppose to mean. If you want to win at all cost, that is for the pros, but high school athletics serves a purpose for community pride and to help mold students into future leaders. Athletics is more than about sports…it is about lessons that will carry on forever in life way beyond when the playing days are over.

But, all of this sends one message to the rest of the nation that our own government knows more of how to run high school athletics than anyone at the FHSAA or inside the schools. It is like saying we don’t care what you know, we know best because the people elected us here. Not the case and should never be the case.

In the end though this is what Florida has to show for its 2015 legislative session while students, teachers and administrators are frustrated over this test, test, test mentality and the fact that both the House and Senate are bickering over a budget that likely will seem to call a special session or send the current session into major overtime. Never mind the fact they can’t fund schools properly or the fact they are putting a hospital in Jacksonville on the brink of closure which would then result in the loss of jobs.

To all the legislators in Tallahassee who have decided to not work with the FHSAA and instead decided to do what was in the best interest of a select few, please take your ball and go home. It is really embarrassing that I have to call myself a Florida resident in seeing this garbage come out of place just 154 miles northwest of me.

I will sit here now while I try to explain to the rest of the nation why our own legislature can’t listen to its own citizens and try to ruin high school athletics in the same sentence.