In the past week or so, the talk in the state is proposals submitted to the KHSAA by the board of controls. Some of the proposals are contraversial and one actually makes sense. The one that makes sense is proposal #15. It was submitted by someone that Laf may know, Mike Wlosinki. All it says is that "Due to inclement weather during the month of Febuary and early March, it would allow that baseball and softball would have 10 days in September (between Sept. 1 and Sept. 31) to evaulate players. Also, it respects the Fall participation as as keeping a non-competitive enviroment during the off-season. Participants in other Spring sports are already allowed off-season preparedness training (tennis and track). It also allows athletes to be better prepared for the season. "

The big contraversy is that a few of the proposals want to have seperate "state" championships. One for the public schools and one for the private schools. It seems that a few of the coaches in the Northern part of the state are upset that they aren't getting any championships and the private schools are. Lexington Catholic won the state baseball championship this past year. First private school, I believe, to have done so in a few years. It's the football coaches that are upset. I don't have the numbers, but the majority of the championships are won by the private schools. Especially the ones in the Louisville area.

The other alternative is to classify basketball, baseball, softball, and other sports. Which would kill the KHSAA, because the "Sweet 16" would no longer be. They would have 4 classes just like football. But, that isn't happening, IMO. They may classify the other sports, but they wouldn't classify basketball. I'd hate to see baseball classified. One part of the state is just as stong as the other. All regions have a chance. In the past few years there were a good mix of teams from different parts of the state. There were a couple of teams from Eastern KY, 2 from the Lexington area and Louisville, as well as one or two from the western part of the state.

Here is the link to the proposal if you want to read them for yourself. You have to have Adobe Acrobat since it is a .pdf file.

KHSAA Proposals

Tas - Thanks for the link. I certainly do know Wloninski although I hadn't heard anything about those proposals. I'm very proud to know he's trying to make some changes that could help my favorite sport.

I had heard about the separate championships and that the issue of classifications as well. I wonder how many other states are like KY and don't classify sports. I don't think there are many. (State Champ was Lexington Christian Academy) I'll agree with you that I don't see anything that could harm the Sweet 16 coming to be. We all know what basketball means and that's not going to change. I think participating in a state championship is such a special opportunity that to classify would allow more boys to experience that, although you don't any longer have A state champ. I'm not sure what the answer is. As with many issues - it's not a black and white one.

Would love to see Wlolinski's proposals get passed though.

I'm not sure how many other states do not classify. Hopefully most of these proposals will be shot down. With the exception of the baseball proposal.

The proposers are also targeting AAU. In that proposal they want kids to only play for their schools during the season instead of AAU or whatever league they may have.

Some make sense and some don't. Go figure.

Tas - Keep us posted on these changes and what passes. Thanks.

Will do.