IHSAA Missed the Boat

[SASF]

IHSAA Missed the Boat

More data is needed. That's what the Board of Control said is needed before any changes will be considered to the current (brutal) playoff system. The Board of Control has managed to cram 4 Playoff games into a 15 day span, normally 4 high school football games would be spread out over the course of 28 days. Why hasn't the Board of Control been collecting data prior to now? So by ignoring the obvious for the last 4 years and not looking at the data the Board of Control has potentially put some athletes at risk. To miss the boat means that one doesn't understand what is going on.



The Board of Control will have a difficult time in retroactively getting accurate data, and exactly what data will they be looking at? There is an old saying in statistics, "Garbage in_ Garbage out" I would recommend that they look at more than just the total number of injuries. To be honest with you I have to question if playing 4 games in 15 is actually more dangerous.



Is Football more physical than Hockey, or Rugby? Some would argue no. Heck a rugby team can play as many as 4 games in a weekend tournament, and get up and go to work on Monday morning. So as "Football guy" I would like to know if football truly is a more physically taxing sport than Hockey or Rugby, that it should be played only once a week, and why is 7 days the magic number? If Football is so physically demanding maybe there should be a 10 to 14 day rest period in between games.



I think most would agree that preparation for a football game plays a part in the one game a week, I think it is nice but necessary, I don' tknow. I also believe that logistics play a big part in how often Football is played. But is it really more dangerous?



We should already have this data! The Board of Control should have done this research before they made the decision to expand the playoff format that makes the teams that reach the Finals play 4 games in 15 days.



What if the data suggests that there is no increase risk for serious injury playing 4 games in two weeks, how could that change the way we watch football. Imagine if you will football every night of the week? Does it any better than that?



So let's get this ball rolling Board of Control! If the data (that you should have been collecting the last 4 years) suggests that football can be played more often than once a week then why not look at expanding the season to 16 games. Can you say Cha-Ching$$$

http://www.stalbertsportsfan.com

 

[PNation]

The thing I don't understand is why not have the quarter finals on Saturday, that at least gives teams 4 days between each round. More than likely Iowa, Iowa State and UNI would be done with there games so there isn't that conflict, and to me that just makes sense.

 

[HookEmHaren]

The bottom line is the IAHSAA screwed up royally when they became "money-hungry" and expanded the playoffs to 32 teams...what an absolute joke. Making the playoffs used to be a big deal. Now we have teams qualify for the playoffs with not just losing records but records like 3-6, 2-7, and even 1-8, just so the IAHSAA can put money in their pockets. And now that they're taking heat for cramming so many games into a short timeframe, they're answer became possibly shortening the season to 8 games and creating a loss of revenue for Iowa high schools due to lost home games??? The logical answer would be to go back to the 16-team playoff format, but we'll never see that because for the IAHSAA it's all about money.

 

[dj1432]

While I agree 4 games in 15 days is too much, during the season teams play 4 games in 21 days, so it isn't as drastic a difference as it seems.

 

[wallywally]

I believe one of the main reasons there are no high school games on Saturday is that they don't want to conflict with Iowa,ISU and UNI. The boys in Boone don't want to have to compete with college football games. ISU and UNI do sometimes play late afternoon or night games in November and there are many games on television that would compete too.

 

[PNation]

Personally I don't think that people who are going to go to a quarterfinal game to support a school are going to skip that to watch an Iowa, Iowa State or UNI game, or any other college game for that matter, if they really want to go to the quarter final game in the 1st place. The semis used to all be on Saturday afternoon before they were all moved to the dome, that is the turn around that really upsets me, as usually they are the toughest game in the playoffs due to familiarity with your opponent.

 

[brewcrewman1]

Perhaps they boys in Boone should look at what Nebraska does when it comes to spreading out the time between playoff games. If I am not mistaken Nebraska plays all their Championship games on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week. By doing something like this you could spread out the playoff schedule a bit and rather than 4 games in say 15 days...it would be 4 games in 18 or 19 days. Just a thought !!!