The Usual Suspects
December 30, 2016
It is difficult to find a year when the 11-player Football Finals of the Michigan High School Athletic Association involved more teams from southeast Michigan than appeared at Ford Field in 2016. In fact, just two counties (Oakland and Wayne) produced seven finalists. But then two counties on Michigan’s west side (Kent and Muskegon) supplied four of the 16 finalists.
Four of Michigan’s 83 counties producing 11 of 16 finalists in the 11-player championship games doesn’t’ feel like a statewide event; but one team from the Upper Peninsula, another from the Leelanau Peninsula in the northwest portion of the Lower Peninsula, and a team located along the Michigan/Ohio border remind us how large and diverse our state really is.
The 2016 MHSAA 11-player Football Finals consisted of many of the “usual suspects,” including two teams pursuing their fourth straight titles and one team seeking its third consecutive championship. Four of the eight 11-player champions from 2015 returned in the attempt to defend their titles in 2016, and two of the runners-up in 2015 were back to try to reverse their fortunes from 12 months earlier.
What is being demonstrated here in Michigan high school football is the trend seen in many other states. That is, as the number of classes or divisions of tournaments expands, the more often you see the same teams in the final rounds.
The surest way to have the “usual suspects” on championship day is to put them in tournaments with fewer schools. And of all MHSAA tournaments, the football playoffs have the most divisions with the fewest schools in each. The result is predictable.
This is a cautionary tale for those who desire that the number of classifications and divisions be expanded in MHSAA tournaments for other sports.
Meanwhile, we are keeping an eye on the tournament format in a neighboring state that places schools into divisions for larger schools after they are too successful over consecutive years in the classification that fits their enrollment. Those in Michigan who have been assigned to review such policies have complained that such “success factors” penalize future students because of the achievements of previous students and/or because such factors do nothing about “chronic success” by schools in the largest classification.
Counting On Officials
August 26, 2014
In addition, a half dozen local officials associations have developed programs that regularly support their closest CMN facility. For example:
- The Metro Detroit Officials Association sponsors the Referees for Reading Program at Beaumont where monies raised help fund a pediatric ward book cart which is replenished annually with new titles for patients and parents to enjoy. The MDOA has sent its members to the pediatric unit to read to young patients. This year, the Eighth Annual MDOA Officials for Kids Golf Outing was held in Livonia, benefiting Beaumont Children’s Hospital and the reading program.
- The West Michigan Officials Association has included Officials for Kids in its annual community service initiatives for several years, assisting with a Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital event for visually impaired pediatric patients in Grand Rapids.
- The West Michigan Volleyball Officials Association has used the proceeds of an annual volleyball invitational it hosts to support Officials for Kids.
- Several associations, including the Capital Area Officials Association this spring, have sponsored a “Give-A-Game” event during the season where all officials on the same day contribute their game fees to Officials for Kids.
People can say what they want about sports officials. For my part, if my car breaks down anywhere in Michigan and I’m in need of quick assistance, I’ll check my officials directory. I know there will be an official nearby that I can count on.