Has there ever been a more obvious "let's pretend to take them seriously so they'll shut up and go away" exercise than the Indiana High School Atheletic Association's public hearings on whether to go back to single-class basketball? After conducting 11 meetings across the state, the IHSAA announces, to hardly anyone's surprise, that there is a "lack of evidence" to support going away from the current system. And that's just fine and dandy with a lot of people:
The class system allows student athletes at all levels the opportunity to celebrate sectional, regional or semistate titles that may not have been probable in the single class system.
But the more prizes there are, the less each of them means. It's the nature of the times, eh? But, but, but, the sputtering starts, it's hurtful to hold out false hope to all those little schools that they could actually win. A Milan comes along only once in a blue moon. Well, yes, but that's the whole point.
Hey, here's an idea. Let's stop awarding titles altogether and just hand out certificates of participation for everyone who plays. Bet those would be cherished for a lifetime.
