Perspective

So the visiting team can bring any fans with them? No parents? Dang, I guess it's a good think Tampa Catholic didn't impose those restrictions last week when the IMG White team played at TC. Having taking my shot at IMG, there's also a side of me that understands their decision: Isn't the IMG campus the "bubble" for the WNBA right now? Even if that's not the case, the suits in charge probably don't want to get into a situation where they have a Covid outbreak on campus and they have to start sending kids home or rebating large tuition checks.

Regardless of which decision is made (opt out or participate in the state series) -- and I can see arguments on both sides -- I think it makes more sense for the decision to be made on a county-by-county basis, instead of on a school-by-school basis. I can just imagine the scheduling confusion that will take place if some teams within a particular county opt out and others don't. It also solves the issue of whether schools can travel outside their county: if the county opts out, easier to restrict travel; if the county allows participation in state series, it's implicitly, if not explicitly, allowing travel.

Which is why I said they could make the argument that they were "the best team in the state" and not "state champions." And with that, the clock is ticking for Columbia to jump in and make the argument (again) that a team who wins a state championship this year without the south Florida schools doesn't deserve to be a state champion.

Correct. So, if a school thinks that this is their year and they want to try to go the state playoff route (even if they know that they'll only get in 2 or 3 games before the state series begins, they'll have the right to make that choice. But if they make that choice, and lose in the opening round of the playoffs, they'll only get to play 1, maybe 2, extra post-playoff games. Or they can opt out and get a full season's worth of games in and play in whatever playoff format gets devised for South Florida, knowing that if they can win that, they can still make the claim that they were the best team in the state.

Skyway, here's my best shot at an answer to this question: Let's say Johnny plays D-line. And on Tuesday, Johnny tests positive for Covid-19. The test does not tell us how long Johnny has had the virus. He may have had it when he played his game Friday night or when he showed up for film Saturday morning. Or he may not have had it until Monday at practice. All we know is that he tested positive on Tuesday. In the meantime, he passed the virus along to three of his fellow D-linemen -- Steve, Ricardo, and Andre -- sometime prior to testing positive on Tuesday. The problem, as I understand it, is that Steve, Ricardo and Andre probably won't test positive for the virus on Wednesday and may not even test positive on Thursday. But, they've got it. So, while Johnny's sitting at home in quarantine on Friday night, Steve, Ricardo and Andre show up for the game Friday night. And because they're missing Johnny, they all have to take some extra reps, which is tough on them because they're all starting to feel the effects of the virus, but they just think they're tired because of the extra reps. By the 4th quarter, they're huffing and puffing on everyone around them: offensive linemen from the opposing team, running backs they happen to tackle, and linebackers and DB's from their team who have been in the huddle with them (to the extent they still use a defensive huddle). And they also huff and puff on a couple of old referees and their D-line coach (who played D-line 'back in the day' and now tips the scales at over 300 pounds and therefore suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure). And as they're walking off the field after a hard-fought win, their mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and aunts and uncles all come down on the field to give them big hugs and take some pictures (after all, this could be their last game, what with Covid and all). By the time Steve, Ricardo and Andre get tested on Sunday and get their own positive results on Monday, they have infected ten teammates, four players from the team they just beat, one ref, the overweight D-line coach, and two grandmothers, both of whom have conditions that make them more at risk (yeah, exactly, why were they even at the game in the first place?!?). I think that's the 'spread' that health officials and high school sports administrators are trying to avoid by quarantining the players who tests positive, along with all those in his position group (and anyone else who may have come into close contract with the player who tested positive), and not letting the team play for a week or two until it can be confirmed that no other players test positive. I'm not saying it's the best approach, but I certainly understand the scientific logic behind the approach.

Sometimes, words or symbols that were perfectly innocent when first coined or used inadvertently become inappropriate later in time because of some intervening acts. Take the swastika, for example. This symbol pre-dated its use by Nazi Germany by many years (if not decades). But, because a very hateful person and political party used it in the 1930's and 40's, it has come to symbolize hate, prejudice and the sins and atrocities of Hitler and Nazi Germany. Similarly, the restaurant chain "Sambo's" recently decided to change its name based on current racial overtones, even though the original name of the restaurant innocently was based on the names of the two founders: Sam and Bo. We're seeing similar changes being made across the nation to names and logos ranging from sports teams to pancake syrup. In the case of Robstown High School, it sounds like the "Cottonpickers" name/mascot has a perfectly innocent, if not proud, origin. However, it would be hard to argue that the term doesn't currently have racial overtones. Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that you did nothing wrong and that circumstances have now rendered your name or mascot 'offensive' to a portion of the population. When this happens, you have two choices: bite the bullet and change the name/logo or, alternatively, dig your feet in and, over time, be perceived as racist even if you're not.

Over the years, I've had some great conversations with refs. From those conversations, I can assure you they know a lot. They know who the good teams are. They know who the good coaches are. They know who the bad teams and coaches are. They know which coaches are a pain in the azz. I'd bet my bottom dollar the crew that did the IMG/Venice game knew that IMG was nationally ranked first and that Venice was ranked high in pre-season polls. I've also seen some things. I've seen refs greet coaches and AD's like long-lost brothers an hour before the game starts and before the crowd has arrived (and sometimes before the other teams has taken the field). I've overheard refs telling each other ahead of time to not give this coach or that player any slack. I've heard a coach tell a ref "we'll talk about that call at church on Sunday." I've heard refs bragging after a game ("I told you I'd teach that coach a lesson"). But I've also heard (as late as this past Friday night) a sideline official communicating with coaches and players in a most excellent way (letting a player know when he did a good job pulling up and avoiding what would have been a late hit, reminding coaches -- more than once -- that players could go down to the 15-yard line, but coaches still had to stay between the 25's, etc.). Lest we forget, officials are people, too. They come to games with their own personalities, preconceived notions, biases and prejudices. Some of them have been doing the job for years and know the coaches and the coaches know them. They've worked together at seminars or workshops. Or they know each other because of their respective day jobs. Coaches hire officials for 7 on 7 games and tournaments. Sometimes these relationships work to a coach's benefit; sometimes they work against him. In my opinion, the smaller the area, the more likely it is that coaches and refs will know each other. Larger metropolitan areas generally have larger official associations and are more likely to get different crews every week. It makes it harder to develop a relationship with any of the refs, including the white hat, when you only see a crew once every year or two. Smaller areas often see the same crews 2 or 3 times a year, if not more. And here's my parting shot. As I said, refs are humans, too. In a split second, they have to decide whether to make a call or not. If they "like" a particular coach, they're more like to make that split-second call in a way that benefits the guy or team they like. Human nature. It's the exact reason why the FHSAA assigns independent crews from outside the area of the teams involved in playoffs games. That way, they avoid both the appearance of impropriety and impropriety itself -- for the most part. I truly believe that the vast majority of officials show up at a game planning on being 100% neutral and planning to do their best to call the game this way. But they simply cannot avoid the fact that they are humans, not computers. At least not yet.

Who hacked Jesse's account?

Age-old question: talent vs. team. Venice will need to 7-yard button-hook it all the way down the field and hope to eat up a lot of clock and keep the ball out of IMG's hands. If they can do this, they have a chance to frustrate IMG and pull the upset. That said, the betting man side of me would put my money on IMG to win the game.

It can be done online using the link in my post above.

Hornet, I agree with you 100% that Miami-Dade Public Schools should be ashamed and embarrassed. The FHSAA is a little trickier. As I explained earlier, the FHSAA policy, as I understand it, is that they do not investigate a matter (player, coach and/or school) until someone files a formal complaint or the school self-reports the matter. Complaints can be filed with the FHSAA (and can even be done anonymously) by using the following link: https://www.fhsaa.org/webform/fhsaa-allegation-form If and when an investigation is opened and no action is taken, that's when you'll see me get upset.

From what I have read, he was initially "suspended indefinitely." A month later, he was reinstated.

Half of them to either Wake Forest or Maryland. Two each to Miami and NC State. Interesting.

Guys, the FHSAA may actually have an out on this one . . . at least for the time being. The way it's been explained to me, the FHSAA won't begin an investigation until a complaint/report has been filed. The website has a procedure that someone can follow if they want to turn someone in, accuse a player of cheating or school of recruiting, etc. And, the process can even be done anonymously (although they warn it may take considerably longer if done this way). But, as I understand it, unless someone reports an alleged violation (or unless a school does what they call a "self-report"), the FHSAA doesn't do anything - regardless of what they might otherwise know. The coach of Northwestern, Max Edwards, apparently was suspended indefinitely by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. A month and an Instagram apology later, Edwards supposedly was reinstated. In short, it was Miami-Dade County, and not the FHSAA, that dished out the punishment (if you want to call a one-month suspension when no one could do anything a punishment). To my knowledge, the FHSAA has not even opened a file on this. If someone knows otherwise, please let us know.

Proset, you've piqued my curiosity on this. I've never heard of a "Freelance" classification within the FHSAA. Interestingly, when I search that word on both the FHSAA.org and the FHSAA.com websites, the only references I see are to freelance reporters and photographers. And when I look at the classifications for the schools participating in football, IMG appears on the last page under the heading of: "Class Independent - Region Independent - District Independent" So (and I'm trying very hard not to phrase this is a way that shouts out "I'm right and you're wrong"), but I'm trying to get more information on your comment that IMG is considered "Freelance." Do you have a source for this? If I'm mistaken, I'd like to know so that I can say it the right way next time. Also, just curious, are there any other Freelance schools? Thanks.

I wonder where people got the idea that not wearing a mask was the right thing to do? (Uh, oh, did I just cross the line into politics??).

The title of this topic is a little misleading. Each player on the 60-man roster, each band member, each cheerleader and each coach will be allotted four tickets to be distributed electronically to parents, friends, etc. So, you might get 500-600 fans per team at each game. Trust me (and I know you know this), there are some schools in Hillsborough County that would be thrilled to get that many fans at one of their games. Of course, there are other schools that are going to suffer. It probably didn't help that Hillsborough and Jefferson had players test positive for COVID right before the final announcement was made. I think the County is trying to do what it can to allow as much football as possible to be played this year without the whole ball of wax getting shut down by COVID. In short, half of loaf is better than no loaf at all. Or, in the case of some schools, a bite or two of the bread is better than no loaf at all.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, until someone proves me wrong: IMG is a member of the FHSAA (I'll explain why below), but they have chosen "independent" status and have opted not to participate in the state series. In other words, they don't get put in a classification and they can't compete for a state championship. However, they are a member of the FHSAA and, in theory, are supposed to abide by all FHSAA rules and regulations -- including the prohibition on recruiting (and, yes, I'll wait a minute or two until the laughter subsides before I continue). So, why does IMG care about being in the FHSAA? Well, it gives them credibility, but more importantly, and as I understand it, most states (and/or the NHSF) has a rule that essentially states that in order to play a team from out of state, that team has to accredited or credentialed or a member of the states federation or something like that. So, for IMG to play Florida teams or big-name schools from out of state, IMG has to be a member of the FHSAA, even it they elect independent status and opt out of the state series. And without the ability to play these other teams, IMG would simply become a year-round training facility and few, if any, high school players would be willing to leave their school behind and head off to IMG's greener pastures. But, to return to the point of this conversation, IMG is supposed to follow all FHSAA rules just as if they were a 3A team from Tallahassee or a 5A school from Orlando. Convince me otherwise.

Covid somehow picked up wins over Hillsborough High School and Jefferson High School in the same week to move to 2-0 on the season. Covid vs. Randazzo should be a good match-up this year.

Does the FHSAA limit the amount of time a team can practice per week (I couldn't find it in the football manual, but I didn't spend much time looking)? Or is that a county-by-county thing?

Way to go out on the limb and pick the team that will be favored in every game.

So, here's how Hillsborough County solved the Week 1 problem: Reminder, two schools (Hillsborough High and Jefferson High) had players test positive for COVID. Therefore, those two schools will not be permitted to play the first week (Sept. 11 for Hillsborough County). Hillsborough was scheduled to play Gaither and Jefferson was scheduled to play Chamberlain. Since HHS and JHS can't play, the County decided to let Gaither play Chamberlain next Friday night. The HHS/Gaither game could have been rescheduled until the end of season, as both teams have the same bye week, but that would not have worked for Jefferson and Chamberlain. So, Gaither and Chamberlain will play each other in the first week of action. Oh, and as it stands now, they'll play each other again the fifth week of the season. Yep, the same two teams will play each other twice in the span of five weeks. I'm not really sure how I feel about that other than I'm happy to see the County getting a little creative and trying to get games in for these kids while they still can. Who knows what the Coronavirus landscape will look like a month from now or two months from now. My guess is that counties and head football coaches are going to have to get pretty good at calling audibles at the line of scrimmage this year. And every decision they make is likely going to make some people happy and other people angry. I guess that's why those coaches get paid the big bucks.

So, the ends justify the means? I understand your point. The same can be said of kids throughout the state. Honestly, I could be a little more sympathetic if they were just doing conditioning, but they were flat our practicing and running plays. And we wonder why athletes (of all color) develop a mentality that they can break the rules, but that's OK because of how well they are able to use their God-given talents and hard work to play a particular sport.

Has anyone heard anything new on this? Any updates?

Columbia, I feel your pain and I understand the passion that you have developed towards sports other than football. That said, from a reality/practical/business standpoint, none of us should be surprised by decisions made at the state and county level that seem to favor football. It's the meal ticket. If there's a sport that is going to receive special attention or consideration, it's the one that brings the vast majority of us to this website on a regular basis.