Following a recent football playoff game, the MHSAA was contacted about unsporting behaviors of the host team – distasteful online chatter leading up to game day, activities in the parking lot before the game, celebration bordering on taunting by the team after the game.

When the MHSAA receives written comment (either positive or negative) about the operation of a pre-Finals event, it is provided to the tournament host management.  A response is required if the situation described was in violation of an MHSAA tournament policy, procedure or guideline, or was of such seriousness or frequency of comment as to merit follow-up.

As for the playoff game in question, it did not appear any MHSAA policy was involved, however unpleasant the visitors found the experience to be.  But, there was a more compelling reason the MHSAA did not wade further into this matter.  The two schools involved are of the same school district.

This was an intramural squabble.  A local issue.  Best addressed and solved at the local level.

In this matter we may be seeing again, as we do often, the desire of some citizens to seek the MHSAA’s help to address their concerns with their local school districts.  To help them modify the schedule of game nights or times; to help them change academic or conduct codes; to aid their efforts to fire coaches or administrators with whom they disagree; to view game tapes and overturn officials’ calls they believe were wrong.

This is not the Big Ten, NBA, NFL, NHL or Major League Baseball, where a small number of contests, participants and officials can be thoroughly scrutinized from a central office every week.  During a typical week in the winter, for example, there are 100 more high school basketball games than NBA games.  We serve not one sport, but 28; approximately 150,000 contests over 10 months, with a fraction of the resources of major college and professional sports.

This is high school sports – a massive program that can only be run at the local level, and is only successful when expectations are communicated and enforced locally.