Why? Every team makes the playoffs in every other sport in the state of Kentucky, go win less in basketball you still get to play in the district. I've seen teams in 3 team districts with just a win or two by virtue of blind draw get a bye to the District Finals which then even with a loss moves them on to the Regionals. No one ever complains about that.

 

Almost every other sport has off season competition available, but Football does not. No AAU Summer Football, or Spring Ball, no summer Rec leagues. The opportunities to play tackle football are few compared to other sports, most of which you can continue to play after high school. The fact that a win less team or a team with one wins gets into a tournament isn't a big deal, I'd rather have every kid in that state have a chance to play at least one more game that to limit to the elite few teams year in and year out.

 

The difference with other sports is you aren't traveling 2-3 hours. I often wondered why the other sports were not like Football. By your logic, then why isn't it all teams? Why do we leave anyone out at all? If you want it to be like other sports, then shouldn't every team make the playoffs?

 

How do you decide the 3 way tie for 2nd in a district. This happens every year, one team sweeps the district and the other 3 split with each other...which 2 teams do you leave home? Some districts are much tougher than others, in some districts it is much harder to come in third than it is to win or come in second in other districts.

 

It's simple, don't SPLIT. Be good enough to WIN 1st or 2nd out-right. If you are splitting games with the other 2nd,3rd or 4th place teams, then you leave it up to the chance of a tie-breaker. The regular season means something. If you understand that going in then you have something play for in the regular season. I dont' care how good your district is, if you can't at least win 2nd place out-right, you don't really deserve to be there. So leaving it up to a coin-fliip is fine with me. You put yourself in that position.

How do you decide the 3 way tie for 2nd in a district. This happens every year, one team sweeps the district and the other 3 split with each other...which 2 teams do you leave home? Some districts are much tougher than others, in some districts it is much harder to come in third than it is to win or come in second in other districts.

There can also be times where a team that is 4-6 will get the #1 seed while teams in the same district who may go 9-1 and 8-2 finish 2nd and 3rd.

The difference with other sports is you aren't traveling 2-3 hours. I often wondered why the other sports were not like Football. By your logic, then why isn't it all teams? Why do we leave anyone out at all? If you want it to be like other sports, then shouldn't every team make the playoffs?

 

 

 

It's simple, don't SPLIT. Be good enough to WIN 1st or 2nd out-right. If you are splitting games with the other 2nd,3rd or 4th place teams, then you leave it up to the chance of a tie-breaker. The regular season means something. If you understand that going in then you have something play for in the regular season. I dont' care how good your district is, if you can't at least win 2nd place out-right, you don't really deserve to be there. So leaving it up to a coin-fliip is fine with me. You put yourself in that position.

 

Again, look at my idea for playoffs, make it more like other sports where you take the top 4 in each district, and you have 2 weeks of district playoffs where the winner of the 2nd week game goes to regionals. I agree about driving all over the place in the first 2 rounds....trust me, we put over 1500 miles on the car last year in the playoffs....I'm all for a district playoff to keep teams close to home the first 2 weeks. That has always been my idea of the best way to do it. Having only 2 teams in the playoffs will not lessen the miles traveled those first 2 weeks, actually would probably make you drive even further than you would with 4 teams in each district making it. So your idea is even more flawed.

 

Your solution of "Don't Split" is just silly, do you really think teams go out and try to split their games? That is just moronic to even say.

 

You and Dragon sound like you come from the same mold of "Don't lose and you don't have to worry about it" So to that I say then lets play until you lose from week 1 of the season, that should make you happy. If you lose you are out and done playing. Only teams that win week 1 can go on and play week 2 of the season and so on and so on etc. That is exactly what you sound like you want to happen.

There were 92 schools that wanted to change from 4 teams in playoffs. 39 voted for 3 and 53 voted for 2. I guess color them stupid with me.

 

Yep, stupid is a good word for them :jump: Just kidding....misinformed would be the best way to describe them.

 

I'm curious out of those 53 are in districts that have 2 powerhouses and the other teams are usually the bottom dwellers in the playoffs each year? I can only speak of the district I am familiar with and in the 2 years since realignement there have been 3 teams that finished 1st in the district...in only 2 years. Cooper in 2011 and So. Oldham, Cooper and Conner all tied for district champs in 2012 which tells me it's a pretty competitive district and all 3 of those teams were deserving to be in the playoffs both years.

That is a pretty poor answer. Don't you get it, they won more games than any other team in their district, even beating the team that got the #1 seed.

 

You want to use that lame answer then let's do away with playoffs all together and simply say every team can play until they lose a game, that starts week 1 of the season, your team losses the first game of the season then they are done, we'll simply continue each week until there are only 2 undefeated teams in each class and they play eachother.

 

You don't get it do you? South Oldham beat Conner in the regular season, Conner beat Cooper in the regular season, Cooper beat South Oldham in the regular season. Coopers record in the regular season was 9-1, Conners record in the regular season was 8-2, South Oldhams record in the regular season was 8-2. The district seedings were as follows, So. Oldham #1, Conner #2, Cooper #3, yet your solution is to just not lose, even though Conner and So Oldham had more losses.

 

Again your solution would have left out the 2nd best team in the state in that class out of the p,ayoffs.

 

 

If you don't want to come in 3rd then don't lose....that has to be the silliest answer ever.

 

It happens in all sports. The Reds may end up having the 3rd-4th best record in baseball and not even make the playoffs. Could they make a run if they got in the playoffs? Yes, but they may not even make it. Just about any sport that has a district, region, conference comes down to a couple games a year. Not an overall record. It comes down to a few key games. You must win those games to advance. If you don't, it's your fault. There's teams that are left out of the NCAA bball tournament every year that are much better than the teams that are in the tournament. There are teams that could have made a run left out. It happens in all sports! You must win the "must win" games. If you don't, you watch! That's what makes sports fun, interesting and competitive. And yes, even for the players. If you have teams "back in" to the playoffs, most of the times as a player (if you're truly a competitive athlete), you don't want to have it happen that way. If you are a true athlete, you know what you have to do to get there and if you don't, you understand the consequences before it happens. You don't want to "back in" to anything. If Cooper didn't make the playoffs last year, someone else would have finished second. They would have to deal with it and figure out ways to not get excluded next time. Happens in every sport and thats why sports are fun for fans and athletes!

As Dragon already pointed out, a 3rd seeded team won state, and last year Cooper made it to state finals, that's how you end up leading some of the best teams out.

 

When you say kids don't want to play in the playoffs, that's silly...why do you think they play in the first place? They love the game at least most of them do. You talk about you must win the games, yete you ignore the fact that the best record in the district may still get you a 3 seed, you have no answer for that but just go off and say only the top 2 teams should be in and if you want in then just win. That is not addressing the question, just saying win is just that, a saying because when a team that is a 3 seed does win more than the 2 and 1 seed you have no argument.

 

A 2 team playoff lost the vote and proves that the AD's etc. got it right. a 2 team playoff system is silly. I'm still waiting for those all for the 2 team playoff system to start your rants about baseball and basketball etc. Wonder why that argument never comes up for other sports? More teams make Basketball and baseball playoffs than football, yet people seem to only harp on football, must be a jealousy thing.

 

My answer is that they don't have the best District Record otherwise they would be the 1st place team. Non-District records don't matter and shouldn't. Otherwise you would have people scheduling a easy schedule to make their record better. Now that would make for some great football.

 

I think if you read my posts, I agreed that the decision was made and the current system remains. Doesn't make it right, its just makes it what it is. And I'm good with it. Lot's of things are voted on and decicions are made thate are wrong. Wrong is a matter of opinion. I'm not arguing with the fact the the decision is done and we have 4 team setup for the foreseeable future. That's what iti is.

 

My problem with you and others is the silly reasoning you give. Throwing fluke exceptions in and comparing to other sports that have Distrct Tourneys. It's apples and oranges. You have a chip on your shoulder that your Team was given 3rd place in a crappy tie-breaker. You keep using it as an example. I will keep telling you that fluke exceptions do not prove the rule or that structure is correct. Cooper may have truly been the Best team in the district last year, but the fact is they didn't show it in district play. Of course in the systems that rewards mediocrity, that get to push the reset button and try again.

 

With regards to the kids wanting to play more. I have been watching the 4th place team roll into Beechwood for a long time. I have seen their faces and they don't often look like kids that want to be there. Don't you find it the least bit interesting that many of the teams who are generally 3rd or 4th place voted to change it? Why would that be?

It happens in all sports. The Reds may end up having the 3rd-4th best record in baseball and not even make the playoffs. Could they make a run if they got in the playoffs? Yes, but they may not even make it. Just about any sport that has a district, region, conference comes down to a couple games a year. Not an overall record. It comes down to a few key games. You must win those games to advance. If you don't, it's your fault. There's teams that are left out of the NCAA bball tournament every year that are much better than the teams that are in the tournament. There are teams that could have made a run left out. It happens in all sports! You must win the "must win" games. If you don't, you watch! That's what makes sports fun, interesting and competitive. And yes, even for the players. If you have teams "back in" to the playoffs, most of the times as a player (if you're truly a competitive athlete), you don't want to have it happen that way. If you are a true athlete, you know what you have to do to get there and if you don't, you understand the consequences before it happens. You don't want to "back in" to anything. If Cooper didn't make the playoffs last year, someone else would have finished second. They would have to deal with it and figure out ways to not get excluded next time. Happens in every sport and thats why sports are fun for fans and athletes!

The big difference is there are only 15 teams in the National League. If there were only 15 teams in every class of football I would agree with you, but the fact that there are a lot more makes your point moot. Also another huge difference in Major League Baseball and the NFL go by overall record, not record in their individual division. If you went by overall record in high school football you may have more ammunition to back your idea of only 2 teams per district or more so 3 each district. But the fact that HS Football doesn't take into account the actual overall record at all makes any comparison to the major league sports null and void.

Again, look at my idea for playoffs, make it more like other sports where you take the top 4 in each district, and you have 2 weeks of district playoffs where the winner of the 2nd week game goes to regionals. I agree about driving all over the place in the first 2 rounds....trust me, we put over 1500 miles on the car last year in the playoffs....I'm all for a district playoff to keep teams close to home the first 2 weeks. That has always been my idea of the best way to do it. Having only 2 teams in the playoffs will not lessen the miles traveled those first 2 weeks, actually would probably make you drive even further than you would with 4 teams in each district making it. So your idea is even more flawed.

 

Your solution of "Don't Split" is just silly, do you really think teams go out and try to split their games? That is just moronic to even say.You and Dragon sound like you come from the same mold of "Don't lose and you don't have to worry about it" So to that I say then lets play until you lose from week 1 of the season, that should make you happy. If you lose you are out and done playing. Only teams that win week 1 can go on and play week 2 of the season and so on and so on etc. That is exactly what you sound like you want to happen.

 

It is moronic and I didn't say that so don't put words in my mouth. I simply said you have to WIN district play and that district games consequences. I never said that teams "TRY to split" I do think that it promotes a more carefree attitude towards district play.

Again, look at my idea for playoffs, make it more like other sports where you take the top 4 in each district, and you have 2 weeks of district playoffs where the winner of the 2nd week game goes to regionals. I agree about driving all over the place in the first 2 rounds....trust me, we put over 1500 miles on the car last year in the playoffs....I'm all for a district playoff to keep teams close to home the first 2 weeks. That has always been my idea of the best way to do it. Having only 2 teams in the playoffs will not lessen the miles traveled those first 2 weeks, actually would probably make you drive even further than you would with 4 teams in each district making it. So your idea is even more flawed.

 

Your solution of "Don't Split" is just silly, do you really think teams go out and try to split their games? That is just moronic to even say.

 

You and Dragon sound like you come from the same mold of "Don't lose and you don't have to worry about it" So to that I say then lets play until you lose from week 1 of the season, that should make you happy. If you lose you are out and done playing. Only teams that win week 1 can go on and play week 2 of the season and so on and so on etc. That is exactly what you sound like you want to happen.

 

I haven't even commented on that topic.

 

It is a simple concept though - if you want to be in control of your own destiny, then don't lose the district games. That applies to making the playoffs in a sport where there is a chance of missing the playoffs, or to improving your matchup in any sport. Cooper lost only one game, but it was a district game, and that took the control from them. At that point it becomes an issue of not only how many games you've won, but the quality of those teams. And Cooper, despite winning more games, was lacking in that department. It could just as easily be pure overall record to decide the tiebreaker. Someone would always have a problem with it being done one way or the other.

 

It may feel like I'm against 4 teams making the playoffs. I'm really not, I just don't like it so much with the 6 class system. When it comes down to it, I simply don't like the 6 class system because it is too many classes for a state like Kentucky.

The difference with other sports is you aren't traveling 2-3 hours. I often wondered why the other sports were not like Football. By your logic, then why isn't it all teams? Why do we leave anyone out at all? If you want it to be like other sports, then shouldn't every team make the playoffs?

Not my logic, I'm just asking that if ALL other sports advance to the playoffs what is wrong with most (but not all) football teams advancing.

 

Some 1st round games are a hour or more travel and some are not, but football unlike all of the other sports only plays once a week. That makes the length of travel for that first round game a moot point.

 

 

It's simple, don't SPLIT. Be good enough to WIN 1st or 2nd out-right. If you are splitting games with the other 2nd,3rd or 4th place teams, then you leave it up to the chance of a tie-breaker. The regular season means something. If you understand that going in then you have something play for in the regular season. I dont' care how good your district is, if you can't at least win 2nd place out-right, you don't really deserve to be there. So leaving it up to a coin-fliip is fine with me. You put yourself in that position.

Who are you to decide who deserves to be in or be out. What ever happened to settle it on the field?

 

Why don't we just let the writers vote on the top 4 in each class and let them play two rounds and get football over by the second week of November

My answer is that they don't have the best District Record otherwise they would be the 1st place team. Non-District records don't matter and shouldn't. Otherwise you would have people scheduling a easy schedule to make their record better. Now that would make for some great football.

 

I think if you read my posts, I agreed that the decision was made and the current system remains. Doesn't make it right, its just makes it what it is. And I'm good with it. Lot's of things are voted on and decicions are made thate are wrong. Wrong is a matter of opinion. I'm not arguing with the fact the the decision is done and we have 4 team setup for the foreseeable future. That's what iti is.

 

My problem with you and others is the silly reasoning you give. Throwing fluke exceptions in and comparing to other sports that have Distrct Tourneys. It's apples and oranges. You have a chip on your shoulder that your Team was given 3rd place in a crappy tie-breaker. You keep using it as an example. I will keep telling you that fluke exceptions do not prove the rule or that structure is correct. Cooper may have truly been the Best team in the district last year, but the fact is they didn't show it in district play. Of course in the systems that rewards mediocrity, that get to push the reset button and try again.

 

With regards to the kids wanting to play more. I have been watching the 4th place team roll into Beechwood for a long time. I have seen their faces and they don't often look like kids that want to be there. Don't you find it the least bit interesting that many of the teams who are generally 3rd or 4th place voted to change it? Why would that be?

It's funny because my problem with your reasoning is just that, because it's silly reasoning. You say we use "fluke" examples and make it sound like it doesn't happen very often when in reality it happens a ton.

 

Just last year there were 4 districts in the state that had teams tied in district games records. 4A dist 1 had 3 teams tied with same record for 1st, 4A dist 4 had 2 teams tied for 2nd, 5A dist 5 had 3 teams tied for 1st, 6A dist 7 had 3 teams tied for 2nd. So for something you claim is a fluke actually happens a lot more than you even realize.

I haven't even commented on that topic.

 

It is a simple concept though - if you want to be in control of your own destiny, then don't lose the district games. That applies to making the playoffs in a sport where there is a chance of missing the playoffs, or to improving your matchup in any sport. Cooper lost only one game, but it was a district game, and that took the control from them. At that point it becomes an issue of not only how many games you've won, but the quality of those teams. And Cooper, despite winning more games, was lacking in that department. It could just as easily be pure overall record to decide the tiebreaker. Someone would always have a problem with it being done one way or the other.

 

It may feel like I'm against 4 teams making the playoffs. I'm really not, I just don't like it so much with the 6 class system. When it comes down to it, I simply don't like the 6 class system because it is too many classes for a state like Kentucky.

 

I can see the argument against 6 classes. I just don't see the argument against 4 teams making it into the playoffs from each district, mainly because the same people who are against the 4 team rule say nothing when it comes to other high school sports in the state. In reality there are less football teams that make it to the playoffs than baseball teams and basketball teams.

It is moronic and I didn't say that so don't put words in my mouth. I simply said you have to WIN district play and that district games consequences. I never said that teams "TRY to split" I do think that it promotes a more carefree attitude towards district play.

It may promote a more carefree attitude for districts that only have 4 teams, I can understand that point. But for districts that have more than 4 teams then you are punishing them by taking away 2 teams from entering the playoffs. Sure some districts that only have 4 teams could probably care less, but that doesn't mean the ones with more than 4 don't take their district games more serious because I know for a fact they do. district games mean everything to them because they know if they don't win a district game they will be out of the playoffs.

 

So maybe that is where the problem lies and you pointed it out to me and makes me understand a little better. I am in a district that doesn't have the luxury of every team making the playoffs and that is why my vision is so different than others. What the state needs to do is combine some districts or something to make each district have at least 5 teams or even 6. that would solve a lot of the problems I believe.

 

When there are districts out there that only have 4 teams and other districts that have 6 teams, well that is the problem.

Just last year there were 4 districts in the state that had teams tied in district games records. 4A dist 1 had 3 teams tied with same record for 1st, 4A dist 4 had 2 teams tied for 2nd, 5A dist 5 had 3 teams tied for 1st, 6A dist 7 had 3 teams tied for 2nd. So for something you claim is a fluke actually happens a lot more than you even realize.

 

Just as a means of information.

 

Three way ties under the 6 class system (% out of 48 total districts):

2012 - 4 (8.3%) - 2

2011 - 2 (4.2%) - 1

2010 - 4 (8.3%) - 1

2009 - 5 (10.4%) - 1

2008 - 4 (8.3%) - 1

2007 - 6 (12.5%) - 0

 

So in a given year, you can expect 4 districts or so to have a three way tie. That number I added after the percentages is the number of times the team with the best overall record among those teams failed to win the tiebreaker.

There can also be times where a team that is 4-6 will get the #1 seed while teams in the same district who may go 9-1 and 8-2 finish 2nd and 3rd.

 

What everyone is trying to say is that overall record really doesn't matter in a district system. You could play a very weak out of district schedule and end up with a great overall record. But if you can't beat the district teams, it doesn't matter what your overall record is.