Gamma Gobbler
Well-known member
I love football more than anyone I know, I live for HS games and wish I could see more. Seeing kids play the game for the love of it and for those that will excel in the future. Just to see a kid in HS that goes on to college and/or NFL is amazing to say, "I saw that kid in HS" or a kid that spilled his guts for four years to never play again makes me proud that I was one of those that put his hand in the dirt and share that brotherhood.
I wonder is a 10 game regular season too much with a potential six games added? Why 10 games? Why not 8 or 7? Are we risking our kids health to a potential 16 games, what used to be a NFL regular season? Colleges only play 12 regular season games, conference title game, bowl game and for two other schools another game, 15 maximum college games (is my math correct?) but in HS we are exceeding that for a select few. Why?
I know, I know the typical answer is, "because that's what we have always done". Kids are bigger, faster, stronger now than 10, 20 or 30 years ago and injuries are up. (Knee injuries are up 30% with the "new" turf fields and are being questioned by NFL players as to their suitability as a playing surface). A school in Iowa just cancelled their season due to excessive injuries on the varsity (interesting note, they play the freshman/jv prior to the varsity game on Friday...hmm) and if history is an indicator, that will happen more often and it may be happening in Ohio. I have not validated my statistics but in my quick view of the past two years, teams that were within the top 16 at week 8 made the playoffs...I will accept there are exceptions. However, if the regions are settled by week 8, why the additional two games? To settle seeding would be what I consider a weak excuse.
Just food for thought.
I wonder is a 10 game regular season too much with a potential six games added? Why 10 games? Why not 8 or 7? Are we risking our kids health to a potential 16 games, what used to be a NFL regular season? Colleges only play 12 regular season games, conference title game, bowl game and for two other schools another game, 15 maximum college games (is my math correct?) but in HS we are exceeding that for a select few. Why?
I know, I know the typical answer is, "because that's what we have always done". Kids are bigger, faster, stronger now than 10, 20 or 30 years ago and injuries are up. (Knee injuries are up 30% with the "new" turf fields and are being questioned by NFL players as to their suitability as a playing surface). A school in Iowa just cancelled their season due to excessive injuries on the varsity (interesting note, they play the freshman/jv prior to the varsity game on Friday...hmm) and if history is an indicator, that will happen more often and it may be happening in Ohio. I have not validated my statistics but in my quick view of the past two years, teams that were within the top 16 at week 8 made the playoffs...I will accept there are exceptions. However, if the regions are settled by week 8, why the additional two games? To settle seeding would be what I consider a weak excuse.
Just food for thought.