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Insanity

Insanity

December 6, 2017

No one knows the source, but someone once said the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” I feel that way about this blog. I want to make two points – one about college football and one about the Pennsylvania state football playoffs, knowing full well that this is a waste of computer space and will fall on deaf ears. But, I will do it anyway.

Let’s start with the high school football playoffs. District XI, in my opinion, and I think most of our viewers would agree, has pretty good football. This year we sent undefeated AAA Palisades , twice beaten (by AAAAAA schools) AAAA Bethlehem Catholic, AAAAA 9-3 Whitehall (2 losses to AAAAAA schools), and undefeated AAAAAA Parkland to the PIAA playoffs. Three of the four were pummeled by Philadelphia private schools, where the student body of those schools had virtually no boundaries, not even by state. Palisades lost 34-17; Bethlehem Catholic lost 34-14; Parkland lost 49-14. Whitehall did not lose to a Philadelphia school, but the team that beat them lost to one, Archbishop Wood, by a 41-14 score.

Now I understand this may sound like sour grapes. “Boo-hoo” – the Lehigh Valley teams lost and let the whining begin. However, the playing field is not equal here. Everyone knows it. So since we all know the roster makeup of the Philly private schools will not be regulated, why not create a system where we have public school champions and private school champions? If the PIAA is insistent on six classifications, then have four public and two private classifications. May the best teams of both types, on an equal playing field, win!

Now that I have wasted my time on high school football, let me turn my attention to the college football playoffs – four teams in – Clemson, Oklahoma, Georgia, and Alabama; everybody else is out. That means Ohio State (Big 10 champion), Wisconsin (12-1), Auburn (beat Alabama), and USC (PAC 12 champions) and undefeated (the only one in the Top 25, by the way) UCF are all out. I have no argument with the committee’s top four FBS selections; there just needs to be four more teams added to the mix. That simply means one more week of football – eight teams to four; four to two; and the national championship game. Ironically, the FCS (made up of schools like Lafayette and Lehigh) does it with many more teams – 24! So arguments about time away from class and scheduling are moot.

There will still be plenty of arguments from teams below the top eight, but the volume of disgruntlement will be much less. Not having the Big Ten champion and the PAC 12 champion in the national playoffs just seems completely wrong.

The NCAA playoff system is in place until 2025 so no expansion is on the horizon.

In conclusion, the PIAA high school playoffs will not change; the NCAA college football playoffs will not change. Therefore, I have just wasted your time and my time.

But I plead “guilty by reason of insanity.”

ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)

A wise sage once told me that the reason a football game is lost can be broken down into five critical plays. Looking at the Eagles game on Monday against Seattle, how about these five:

A fumble by Carson Wentz at the one-yard line
An overthrow by Wentz to Nelson Agholor (probable TD)
Alshon Jeffery holds on a play where LeGarrette Blount ran to the one- yard line
Challenging a ball spot when the Eagles only needed an inch for a first down which they got on the next play
Not challenging a forward lateral which would have stopped a scoring drive by the Seahawks
That’s the game in a nutshell.

Beca’s opponent on Friday, Imhotep Charter, won 34-14 without top player Isheem Young. He was considered one of the top athletes in all of Pennsylvania. However, the morning of the game, he was charged with armed robbery of a WAWA in July. He has since been removed from the Penn State’s commitment list by a recruiting site.
I hope Eli Manning has a chance to latch on to a new NFL team next year. For the Giants to think they accomplished anything by playing Geno Smith this past weekend and benching Manning is a good indicator of why their season (2-10) has been so bad. Even the front office got it this week by firing head coach Bob McAdoo and GM Jerry Reese.
Tiger is back! It makes golf much more enjoyable to watch when one of the greatest returns and Tiger’s successful weekend in the Bahamas sure had a tremendous impact on viewership and interest. Let’s hope he stays healthy.
High school basketball begins on Tuesday, December 12, with Bethlehem Catholic at Parkland and Central at Whitehall. Friday, December 15, we will have Central at Liberty and Emmaus at Northampton. Let the games begin!