Dear dimwit on the phone

The UP --- and even parts of the LP --- are very geographically isolated. Actually much of America is. If you ever drive cross country, you might be surprised (as I was years ago) at how much open countryside is there.

 

Called up next year's MHSAA enrollment list. There are 24 schools under 50 in enrollment. By my educated guess, nine are parochials, five appear to be charters (including a school for the deaf), one's an Indian school and the rest are public.

Of those 24, six are within the 906 area code (which is essentially the U.P.), one being the Indian school, a Baptist academy in the East, two located on islands in the middle of the lakes (Mackinac Island and Beaver Island) and two way out of the way on the Lake Superior shoreline east of Munising.

 

Why would your paper leave up on the web, but not print it for the following day's paper? That's absurd.

 

Because the only man who can stop the evil principal's plans is a 96-year-old retired superintendent who doesn't have web access. He just needs 24 more hours until the plan is complete!

 

Go Grand Marais Polar Bears! Haha...great brewery in that town by the way.

Yes, the Yoop is pretty desolate between towns. Heck, when I was in high school, one of our conference-rival weekend basketball trips was to Alpena (Friday night) and Traverse City (Saturday afternoon)...it was a 700 mile round-trip (on a school bus!).
At least they let the cheerleaders stay in the same hotel as us that night!

 

There was a high school in the Adirondacks that did not have a graduation ceremony last year because THE senior said he didn't want them to have to go through the hassle just for him.

 

This is not necessarily enrollment-related, but there was a strong push in the area around Albany, NY (the outlying counties) to go to eight-man football this coming season.

 

If the KHSAA banned middle schoolers from competing on varsity teams, some schools' cross country and wrestling teams would be screwed.

A few years ago, one team's top three or four runners were in middle school and some of the best wrestlers to come through this area started varsity while still in middle school.

 

I remember that from when I worked in Clarskville and did stories on Fort Campbell's teams. I don't think Fort Campbell ever had any middle schoolers that were in their top six, but I know other schools did, especially on the girls side.

 

Good fodder for "How I Met Your Mother" years from now.

 

Sigh, nothing quite so exciting as all of that. They just wanted to be able to make a formal announcement to the team today before it was in the paper.

 

I don't know about the rest of the state, but in Section II in New York, you can get a waiver for seventh and eighth if the kids are solid enough to compete.

I think you need parental permission, too.

It's a way to keep the 96-pound weight class alive.