Driving Force that Needs to be Re-Routed
November 30, 2015
The MHSAA's Fall issue of benchmarks examined the transfer regulation, including the reasoning behind recent changes. This is the first of four installments that will appear on Second Half this week.
By John E. “Jack” Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
During the 2014-15 school year, over the course of 12 meetings, the MHSAA Executive Committee considered 467 requests of member schools to waive Handbook rules. Of those, 300 requests were to waive some aspect of the Transfer Regulation.
So an issue of benchmarks which examines the MHSAA transfer rule is well justified. Perhaps overdue.
Over the years, families have moved about and split apart with increasing frequency. Public policymakers have adopted laws that encourage students to move, and to keep moving, until they find a school more to their liking or they graduate, whichever occurs first.
Meanwhile, the profile of competitive sports has blossomed to the point of becoming overblown, the influence of non-school sports has spread and the delusion of college athletic scholarships has infected the brains of more students and parents. All of which increase the likelihood that students will move as much or more often for athletics as for academics and all other factors combined.
Add to this that the United States, and Michigan in particular, has become the favored landing zone for foreign exchange students, and the result is the need for a transfer rule that is like a great outside linebacker – tough, quick and nimble. We need a rule that is tough, acts fast and can keep changing to keep up with the times.
Thank Roosevelt for Football Weekends
December 20, 2013
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
The next time you find yourself immersed in a tense crosstown football rivalry on a Friday night followed by a Saturday pilgrimage to the nearest college campus and a Sunday afternoon with a remote and your favorite snacks and beverages, take a moment to consider what the weekend would be like if it weren’t for Teddy Roosevelt.
The man who became our 26th President shortly after the turn of the 20th Century following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 was a football fan like you. Maybe more so.
Today’s game of football has reached a critical crossroads. Player size and speed have increased across the board. Savage use of equipment as weapons rather than protective gear has been glorified on television networks and social media. Leaders of the game at all levels have recognized the need for change, employing new rules and widespread educational efforts to aid in preserving the sport.
History, as they say, is repeating itself.
In an ironic twist, it was Roosevelt who saved the then-brutally violent game of football from itself more than 100 years ago. Yes, the same “Rough and Ready Teddy” who led the charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War and often sparred in the boxing ring while in office from 1901-09 opined that football was becoming so gruesome that he delivered an ultimatum: clean up the game or it would be outlawed.
The Chicago Tribune reported that in 1904 alone, there were 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries, mostly among prep school players. Football deaths suffered by younger players were reported on a nearly weekly basis, as outraged citizens called on colleges and high schools to banish football outright.
In stepped Roosevelt, who called head coaches and representatives from Harvard, Yale and Princeton – college powers at the time – to the White House in 1905 urging them to eliminate excessive violence and set an example of fair play for the rest of the country. When the casualties actually rose by one during the ensuing season, Roosevelt reacted with greater resolve and convened leading football authorities for the purpose of authoring drastic rules changes. What emerged was an intercollegiate conference which was the predecessor of the NCAA.
Among the most effective changes for the 1906 season were the legalization of the forward pass, the elimination of mass formations, and the creation of a neutral zone. Football fatalities fell to 11 in each of the next two seasons, and severe injuries fell drastically.
Thanks to the introduction of protective equipment and ever-evolving rules changes, football during the 100-plus years to follow has become an exponentially safer game. Yet, the game’s leaders always will need to adjust and react to scrutiny that comes with the territory.
So, as the game once again undergoes rules modifications in the name of safety, give a tip of the cap to President Roosevelt while you enjoy college bowl season and the NFL playoffs and begin to think ahead to the first high school practice of 2014.