High school football loses its virginity on Saturday (SF Chronicle)

A quote from the piece:

"That's just sort of the reality today."

If I had a nickel for every time some person said that...I think it might be, of all the phrases, the most American phrase we have. Somebody made the reality, of course, a lot of people, in fact, but nobody is particularly comfortable with saying: "Yeah, I make a living off something that probably shouldn't be, but who gives a fuck? I need to eat man, and if it means peddling kids' football for a few extra bones, then fuck it, I will. I want my piece if everybody else is getting theirs."

Instead we get, "that's the reality today."

 

buck - not for the sake of throwing down more than understanding. do you work in cali?

 

will there ever be a true state championship (per classification)?

 

buck - i'll buy it from your point of view because you have a thumb on the pulse.

for me, growing up in a state with state champions and working in four more states that name an actual champion, i have to believe a "sectional title" has to ring pretty damned hollow.

 

I grew up in a state with state championships -- in every sport -- too. It's still taking me time to get used to it, I admit.

But I got an early introduction to the power of section titles by an ex-Yankees scout from SoCal who moved to my hometown when I was working at the paper there. He had coached at least a dozen major leaguers over the years, plus hundreds of minor leaguers, and we got into a conversation about a then-high school pitcher who was basically the greatest ballplayer our area had ever seen.

I volunteered that claim to the coach -- and he shot back that there were a dozen players in the CIF-Southern Section as good as that kid every single year.

The thing is, he's right.

Not to say that kid's not a stud; he is. He got drafted in the third round in '05, he's already in Triple-A now. He'll be in The Show next year, no problem.

But the high schools in my coverage area now have kids like that every year, in every sport. We always, always, always have athletes going to major Division I schools -- football, basketball, baseball ... volleyball, soccer, water polo ... you name it. The talent level here is tremendous.

I guarantee you that the teams that win section titles here in football ... can match up with many, many state champions from other states. So a "section title" -- which sounds hollow to me and you, where we come from -- isn't hollow at all out here.

The talent level makes it mean that much.

 

ok buck, i'll buy on.

but explain away texas. how and why can they do it and why can't california?

i'm not looking to argue a point ... just wanna know why not.

 

Tom, if all you've gotten your whole life are handjobs, you don't go bitchin that you've never been given a blowjob. If you grow up in a state that has sectional titles, you don't think twice about not having a state title.

 

I attended and covered the state bowl games yesterday and have to say, all three games exceeded everyone's expectations. there was a lot of griping before the games about the way CIF broke the state titles into three divisions (based on enrollment) because the game everyone wanted to see was De La Salle, the No. 1 team in the state, against Oaks Christian (a.k.a Jimmy Clausen's high school).

Unfortunately, De La Salle (1,000 boys) was classified in Division I while Oaks Christian (640 kids, 350 boys) was classified in Division III. The other great team from SoCal this year was Orange Lutheran, which has a QB, Aaron Corp who is headed to USC next year.

On paper, it looked like we were in for three blowouts. Oaks rolling over a team called Cardinal Newman from Santa Rosa, Orange Lutheran rolling over Palo Alto and DLS pasting Canyon High (Santa Clarita)

Guess what?

Oaks stunk, Clausen threw three picks. Newman came within a stupid false start call of pulling the upset, then lost in OT. DLS lost, beaten by a scrappy little team from Canyon, 27-13 and Corp led Orange Lutheran to a big win over Paly by going over 2,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing for the season.

It was a great day for high school football. The two heavys got punched in the gut, the scrappy little guys came up big and a future star (Corp) seized the moment.

The state will re-evaluate its bowl game format after next year. This year's format was just drawn up in a way they knew would be approved. They might go to a straight No. 1 vs. No. 2 format, Public vs. Private, four-team playoff, etc. Everything is still on the table. The guy in charge of the event is very open-minded so I'm optimistic that after a few years, we'll get the best format possible.

 

1. Running backs with area codes written on their eye black.

2. The living winners of the Calaveras County Frog Jumping Contest.

3. Only if they include living winners fo the Calaveras County Frog Jumping Contest.

4. See No. 3

5. If it's too hard for the NCAA, then clearly it's too hard for California.

 

When I worked out there, I remember very little -- if any -- complaining about the lack of a full-blown state playoff in football.

If you won a Southern Section CIF football title -- or a San Diego Section or whatever -- that was plenty big enough.

 

Considering that sections of California are bigger than most states, a sectional title there should be cherished.

 

which, i guess, is the bottom line buck.

although i have to admit, i'm still giggling like a schoolgirl at popedirk's analogy.