Perspective

ColumbiaFan, you're young (or so I've been told). Opinions are like . . . belly buttons (generally, another anatomical feature is used in this analogy, but I'm trying to keep things clean). I'll say it again, opinions are like belly buttons. Everybody has one. And it's OK that they're different. You can share your opinion and I can share mine. Just because I don't agree with your opinion doesn't mean I don't respect your opinion. It just means you're wrong. JK. It just means we're looking at this from different perspectives. No need to get bent out of shape just because another poster disagrees with your analysis or your perspective. That said, if you're the only one on a particular side of an argument (say, for example, you believe Madison County would beat every other high school in the country), it might be time to re-examine your arguments and beliefs. Regarding the playoffs, I understand the point you are making. I've said/posted before that if the South Florida schools are unable (through no fault of their own) to participate in the state series, whoever wins it will have an asterisk next to their name. And if the teams in South Florida are able to play for their own championships, those teams will have asterisks next to their names. And 50 years from now, the players from the one championship team can get on an Interest message board and argue with the players from the other championship team over which team would have won had they been given the chance to play. And in the end, we'll never know because all those posters will ever have is their opinions. By the way, just because someone stops posting a particular opinion doesn't mean they've abandoned their beliefs. It could just mean that they've come to realize they aren't going to change other people's minds, so why waste the time saying it again. Peace.

Pinellas County has been maintaining 'social distance' from a state title for many years now. (Sorry, Peezy, I just couldn't resist).

When you get to the final week of the season and one 8A team not from South Florida is hosting another 8A team not from South Florida for the state championship, I can tell you a few things: first, the kids (and coaches) from those two teams won't give a rat's azz that the game is not being televised statewide. (As an aside, I'm trying to remember whether the championship games last year were televised statewide? I thought you had to do some sort of pay-for-view or subscription in order to watch the championship games? Either way, I digress. The kids won't care). Second, in the weeks leading up to a traditional championship game, multiple games are played in multiple locations. Personally, I don't see why the playoff games -- especially the championship games -- can't be spaced out a little (Thursday, Friday, Saturday), but there likely will have to be some overlap this year. So what? FHSAA staff and media will have to divide and conquer. Third, we don't know whether fans will be allowed in any games this year. I suspect this will be a county-by-county decision and the maximum number may change (increase or decrease) over the course of the season. But, if we get to championship games, it's likely a sign that the Covid situation has improved and larger home crowds may help offset the loss of anticipated gate revenues from a neutral site game. Fourth, when all is said and done, if we get to an 8A state championship game (or 7A or 6A, etc.) and regardless of whether there is a team from South Florida, a TV crew, or fans present at the game, if you were to walk along both of the sidelines just before kickoff and ask every player if they think it's "silly" for them to be there playing that game, I suspect you'd get exactly zero "yes" answers. Columbia, 2020 is not going to be like any year in the past and hopefully won't be like any year in the future. To quote our current President, "it is what it is." (Note: not a political statement). For 2020, the first priority should be player/coach/officials safety. Second priority: give as many kids possible the chance to have as close to a normal high school football year as possible under the circumstances. Third priority: if possible, allow the schools to participate in some form of playoff competition, regardless of how different it looks from prior years (in terms of where they play, when they play, who gets to watch them play, etc.). And if the playoff experience in one part of the state is different from the playoff experience in another part of the state, so be it. It's not ideal, but it's better than punting.

Is Winter Park simply the flavor of the month in Orange County right now? Do they have a new coach (or new coaches)? What's prompting the sudden influx of transfers into their program?

Good synopsis, HornetFan. I'll summarize the situation as follows: North Florida is ready for football. South Florida is not ready for football. South Florida wants North Florida to wait until South Florida is ready so that all the teams in the state can compete in a traditional state series, even if this means that ultimately no one gets to compete in the state series if the Covid situation deteriorates.

Covid is an isolated event (hopefully) and 2020 is an outlier year (hopefully). With the amendment allowing teams/schools/counties to "opt out" this year and basically do whatever they want in terms of a season and a post-season (and, oh by the way, the FHSAA staff will even assist in the process), why would South Florida schools need to leave the FHSAA? Just opt out this year. If South Florida schools opt out, they won't be able to win a State Championship. If South Florida schools leave the FHSAA, they still won't be able to win a State Championship -- only a South Florida Championship. Either way, and through no fault of their own, they don't get want in 2020. Probably the case for most of us this year. Classic "I'm not getting my way, so I'm taking my ball and going home" attitude. Not exactly the ideal life lesson to be teaching kids.

Well, they hadn't quite finalized their 2020 recruiting class as of the ranking publication date. JK.

Well done, Josh. Nice summary.

Wait, you're allowed to do that??!?

Hornet, I agree with your thinking. However, if I remember correctly, in one or two of the FHSAA meetings from last month, some of the board members discussed the problem that schools were having with getting on the golf courses they traditionally have used. I don't know if they were talking about public courses, private courses or both and I don't know whether that situation has gotten better over the last month or so. But I do remember golf and bowling being somewhat problematic because of venue concerns.

So, I was just joking around (suggesting that someone caused the whole coronavirus pandemic just to help keep a high school team's regular season home winning streak alive). That said, your response has me wondering: how could/did the FHSAA force any school to play local area teams only? Unless they put you in a 10-team district. Otherwise, I wasn't aware that the FHSAA really had any control over scheduling. I was under the impression that scheduling was handled on a county-by-county basis. Again, just curious.

Bingo.

One of the Board Members (John Gerdes) apparently sent out a tweet late this afternoon announcing that the FHSAA board meeting on Friday will be live-streamed after all. Details being worked out.

If Deon Sanders can go from the football field to the baseball field (in a helicopter!), then so can high school kids. I agree with you on this one. Let kids play multiple sports (perhaps with a limit on the number of "contests" per week; or one sport per day).

Did anyone else read the Orlando Sentinel article on why the FHSAA wasn't going to livestream the meeting this Friday? The explanation made no sense to me. It was, basically, "well, that's just not the way we usually do our meetings." Um, this is an emergency meeting, specially called to deal with the impact of a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and that's the excuse you want to give? The president of the FHSAA board wants the meeting livestreamed (just like the past two were) and FHSAA staff essentially said "F*#% you; we're not going to do it that way." Am I missing something? Can anyone defend Tomyn's position on this issue? Josh, are you planning on attending? How early do you think you'll need to get there in order to insure that you get one of the twenty or so spots available to the public?

That works fine for the larger class sports. Sure, you'll get a handful of kids who play multiple sports who will have to choose which sport they want to play. But, as FHSAA Board Member (and immediate past-President) Bobby Johns, Athletic Director at the small panhandle Wewahitchka High School, pointed out at the last meeting, if the football players don't get the chance to play spring sports like baseball and track, they simply won't have enough athletes/kids to field those spring sports. This was just one of the many reasons Johns was pushing so hard to keep the fall sports calendar the way that it was.

I'm pretty sure this was the Athletic Directors Advisory Committee. If you want to see who is on that committee, click on the link: https://www.fhsaa.org/gov/ad

Point well taken. I based my comment purely on the in-person eye-test: how they played the one night I saw them compared to how the two other teams played the nights they played Plant. But, again, your point is well taken.

So, in trying to figure this one out (I'm pretty sure I know the answer now, as does Skyway), I stumbled upon what could be another interesting trivia question: What is the best set of brothers named "Darren and Troy" to ever play high school football in Florida?

As athletic as they may have been, I'm guessing it wasn't the Pouncey twins.

Dwyer in 2013 is the right answer. But two years before that, East Lake suffered another heartbreaking overtime loss in a playoff game. On a cool, foggy night in 2011, East Lake lost 28-21 in OT at home to Plant in the State Regional Finals. Plant then went on to beat Fletcher (26-7) and Miramar (31-20) to claim the first 8A state title. In hindsight, the two best teams in 8A that year were Plant and East Lake.

Badbird, I don't know you well enough to ask, but I am wondering which coaching club is more exclusive.

Probably the second best RB from the state of Florida with the last name Henry to ever play.

Just wondering if he works for SpaceX now?

I don't know the answer off the top of my head, but I can't imagine going from a higher high to a lower low more so than this team from Texas. Gotta have the sound on at the end to truly appreciate it.