Yes, I've agreed with you and
@BlueDevil2022 on this point several times. Harbins ARE a good predictor of the Top 4 and are a logical way to go with good, proven predictor of winners. For us purists, it puts more emphasis on the regular season, too. For those whose biggest concern is about player health, it's also a good solution.
We seem to live in a playoff happy era even in pro sports. Yes, it's revenue driven. I hate the playoff expansion in MLB.
I guess the only counter is what I personally saw with my youngest daughter's school, Padua. They had a nice run through the playoffs beating 3 teams with better records and better seeds but ultimately getting crushed (that no one saw coming) by the #1 seed. With 4 or 8 in the playoffs, that run never happens. Safer? Yes. Would the boys prefer the 3 additional wins and 1 loss to safety? I doubt it.
Thank you for your understanding and thoughtful response, raising4.
It all boils down to the actual purpose of extracurriculars as a function of education. In my mind, interscholastic competitions are being exploited, and the children themselves are being exploited (by persons who have absolutely no interest in the long term health and well being) for short term monetary gain, it's just that simple.
if education was actually the purpose then this model of pretend/faux professional teams fielded by each school for the purpose of interscholastic competition would not even exist because the vast majority of students at each school are excluded from participation in the competitions. If it was about physical education, it would make it possible for EVERY student to participate equally in a program, if competition is a vital educational strategy, ALL students should have equal access to the benefits of competition, not just a "pretending to be professional athletes" squad, excluding the vast majority.
I believe the idea that anything is revenue driven is a canard, a false premise from the educational institutional point of view: the schools are getting almost none of the revenues generated by media companies. well not almost none. precisely none.
there is no evidence that the 224 field post season tournament generates any real revenue for any participating school, at $10 a head for admission. Everybody seems to think its all about revenue to somebody, but nobody can tell me who, except that I know who does NOT benefit from any revenue generated, and that is the kid who is out there on the field and on the practice field, never even getting into a game, being exploited.
thats whats so hard to get people to understand. there IS no REAL revenue being generated, revenue meaning income exceeding expenses such as in the business world. school districts don't even have the capacity to CALCULATE all expenses of any extracurricular because they aren't set up that way with P/L ledgers tracking expenses to any one activity.
THIS is as much detail as you or I can get. I can't even GET that much information about Padua Franciscan, it being a PRIVATE school, it does not submit itself to State of Ohio Audits.
In fact, in State of Ohio public school system audits the word "athletic" as in athletic department: DOES NOT OCCUR in the entire document.
wrap your head around THAT one.