The thoughts haven’t stopped running through my head since Nov. 8, when injunctions were filed in Wood and Cabell counties challenging the selection process for the West Virginia football playoffs.
It’s like when Charlie from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia†is trying to explain a conspiracy.
Now, I’m not saying there’s conspiracy with this at the WVSSAC level. It’s the thought of me being Charlie, and he’s on the verge of mass craziness.
There was not a day this week we didn’t have breaking news regarding the future of high school football and volleyball.
Here’s my first bold take of this piece.
There are too many hands in this cookie jar.
I understand it’s a large cookie jar, but it’s crazy seeing all these injunctions and legal action taken against decisions the executive directors of the WVSSAC didn’t make.
The decisions that were the tipping point for the current injunctions were made in August, when the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission Board of Review sent 22 schools down a class, including five schools in the Mountain State Athletic Conference.
Then, you have all these injunctions that have been filed in the last week.
It’s no surprise to see local judges issuing rulings that support their local communities. But it does strike me as odd that those judges would seemingly disregard a decades-old Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia ruling that seems to apply here.
In 1968, in WVSSAC v. Oakley, the ruling read: “As a general rule, courts should not interfere with the internal affairs of school activities commissions or associations.â€
I’m no attorney, but that ruling seems pretty cut and dried.
Stories you might like
This is also an unpredictable time for these athletes, especially for seniors.
Why can’t we set aside what adults are saying and think about these kids?
These athletes, football and volleyball players both, have worked tirelessly to get to where they are in postseason play.
Also, imagine the mindset of players who work tirelessly throughout the week to prepare for a contest, and then are told at the 11th hour that they’re not playing.
I’m referencing the football play-in games matching St. Albans against Point Pleasant and Capital versus Hampshire. They were scheduled for Saturday — and then canceled Friday.
It’s difficult for coaches to be honest and transparent, because they’re also trying to keep team morale high.
If people are in this business for the athletes, then why can’t we simply set aside our own agendas and line up and play?
My uncle, a forward for coach Bill Walton at South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä High School in the 1980s and who now lives in Ohio, and I were talking on Friday.
He knows the feeling of playing in the basketball state tournament and competing for a championship.
“It’s stupid that it gets settled in the court and not on the field,†he said.
He’s exactly right. Let’s get past this for the sake of the athletes.
