Former King standout Greenwood home again

May 25, 2012

Chris Greenwood has won at Ford Field before -- as part of the Detroit Martin Luther King team that claimed the 2007 Detroit Public School League championship at the NFL Lions' home field.

It's his favorite high school football memory. 

And this fall, Greenwood hopes to make that building a permanent home.

Our Brian Spencer -- one of Greenwood's Albion College teammates the last three seasons -- chatted with the Lions hopeful this week about from his took away from high school football, and what he's experiencing now as he works to jump to the game's highest level after a lesser-traveled path through Division III football.

Click to read this week's MHSA(Q&)A.

PHOTO courtesy of Albion College.

Ready for Some Football

August 12, 2014

How seriously should we take public criticism of tackle football when that public promotes boxing or cage fighting? Or how seriously should we take public criticism of football played with helmets when that public allows motorcyclists to ride without any helmets at all?

This fickle if not hypocritical focus on football deserves to be exposed. 

However, and more importantly, this does not reduce our obligation to rise above the obvious questions of fair and balanced criticism and keep pressing for a safer environment for schools’ most popular participation sport.

In Michigan this has led to new limitations on head-to-head contact in football practices that began for more than 600 high schools this week. Specifically, no team or individual may participate in more than one collision practice per day before the first game, and no more than two collision practices per week after the first game.

The new policies promote instruction in proper blocking and tackling technique. It is full speed head-to-head contact that is further reduced, not full speed shoulder contact with sleds, shields and dummies nor slow speed contact between players.

Last month, and perhaps two years too late to be helpful, the National Federation of State High School Associations hosted a high-profile, high-powered summit to discuss practice policies of the kind that we developed, debated and adopted during the past school year to be ready for this 2014 season.