The Boomerang Effect

March 6, 2013

The image of football on all levels, and the future of football at the youth level, are both worse off today as a result of the NFL’s recent years’ public relations and political campaigns.

The constant barrage of negative publicity about youth football as the NFL advanced its agenda to pass concussion legislation in all 50 states has, to levels not seen before, kicked off the concerns of moms and dads and the media nationwide.  In state after state, kids with concussions have been paraded before state legislators, in the company of NFL staff.  The NFL has administered a self-inflicted wound, shot itself in the foot, and made FOOTBALL the face of America’s youth sports concussion problem.  How the NFL brain trust ever thought this would promote the game of football in America is a wonder.

School-based football today has no greater obstacle to promoting a safe game than the NFL.  No brand of football captures the game’s brutal aspects for video more than the NFL.  No brand of football celebrates it more.  No brand of football CAPITALIZES on it more – so much so that the NFL can donate several million dollars to youth football to buff its “caring” conscience, when in fact it’s a miniscule portion of its multi-billion-dollar business.

Moreover, one of the NFL’s favorite groups for its self-promoted “philanthropy” is USA Football which promotes itself as the national governing body for amateur football in America.  One of USA Football’s initiatives is an international championship for high school players, which of course means more hitting out of season for these players.  The very activity the experts are telling us to reduce – out-of-season contact – is being promoted by this NFL underwritten organization!  And WE get criticized as being against the promotion of football in America when we don’t go along with this backward thinking?

Week 6 Football Playoff Listing

September 26, 2012

Here is a list of Michigan High School Athletic Association football playing schools, displaying their win-loss records and playoff averages through the fifth week of the season. Schools on this list are in enrollment order. An asterisk (*) beside a record indicates that a team has eight or fewer games scheduled. A carrot (^) beside a school’s name indicates that a team is one win away from playoff qualification.

Those schools with 11-player teams with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules, or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer, will qualify for the MHSAA Football Playoffs beginning Oct. 26-27. Schools with 5-4, 4-3 or 4-4 records may qualify if the number of potential qualifiers by win total does not reach the 256 mark. Schools with six or more wins playing nine-game schedules or five or more wins playing eight games or fewer may be subtracted from the field based on playoff average if the number of potential qualifiers exceeds the 256 mark.

Once the 256 qualifying schools are determined, they will be divided by enrollment groups into eight equal divisions of 32 schools, and then drawn into regions of eight teams each and districts of four teams each.

Those schools with 8-player teams will be ranked by playoff average at season’s end, and the top 16 programs will be drawn into regions of eight teams each for the playoff in that division, which also begins Oct. 26-27.

To review a list of all football playoff schools, individual school playoff point details and to report errors, visit the Football page of the MHSAA Website.

The announcement of the qualifiers and first-round pairings for both the 11 and 8-player playoffs will take place at 7 p.m. on Oct. 21 on the Selection Sunday Show on FOX Sports Detroit. The playoff qualifiers and pairings will be posted to the MHSAA Website following the Selection Sunday Show.

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11-Player Playoff Listing

1.

Utica Eisenhower

2772

3-2

62.000

2.

Sterling Heights Stevenson

2766

4-1

75.800

3.

Clarkston ^

2721

5-0

94.400

4.

Grand Blanc

2644

3-2

57.600

5.

Macomb Dakota

2608

4-1

80.600

6.

Lake Orion ^

2565

5-0

96.000

7.

Rockford

2526

3-2

57.400

8.

Troy

2502

3-2

57.400

9.

Clinton Township Chippewa Valley

2462

4-1

77.000

10.

Dearborn Fordson

2442

4-1

83.400

11.

Holland West Ottawa

2262

4-1

71.000

12.

Northville

2220

3-2

60.400

13.

Detroit Cass Tech

2200

4-1

77.400

14.

Canton

2166

3-2

51.200

15.

Monroe ^

2154

5-0

83.200

16.

Detroit Catholic Central

2060

3-2

47.800

17.

Plymouth

2050

4-1

71.200

18.

Salem

2039

4-1

75.600

19.

Livonia Stevenson

2005

4-1

77.200

20.

Holt

1992

3-2

57.200

21.

Hartland ^

1932

5-0

91.200

22.

Warren Mott ^

1879

5-0

86.400

23.

Livonia Churchill ^

1877

5-0

100.800

24.

Walled Lake Central

1857

3-2

52.200

25.

Macomb L'Anse Creuse North

1853

3-2

58.400

26.

Saline

1849

4-1

72.400

27.

Grandville

1846

3-2

53.600

28.

Flint Carman-Ainsworth ^

1772

5-0

88.000

29.

Grand Ledge

1743

4-1

70.600

30.

Rochester

1725

4-1

72.800

31.

Traverse City West

1720

4-1

72.200

32.

White Lake Lakeland

1700

4-1

72.400

33.

Harrison Township L'Anse Creuse

1680

3-2