I’ll give my full thoughts on the passing of Policy 6 by the FHSAA
board of directors at a later date, but here are a few quick opinions
for now …

* To those who are acting as if the FHSAA wanted to
reduce the number of games played by high school teams, ask yourself
why you think that way. It makes no sense for the FHSAA go in this
direction if the association didn’t think it was absolutely necessary.
Cutting games benefits the FHSAA in no way.

* One thing I do
find preposterous from the FHSAA’s side is the supposed gender equity
by saying football and competitive cheerleading won’t be touched by
Policy 6. Competitive cheerleading??? Nothing against the young ladies
(and men, making “gender equity” a questionable term here) who
participate in competitive cheerleading, as no doubt they work very
hard and deserve their own spotlight. But football is a
revenue-producer, competitive cheerleading – which still doesn’t have
many schools involved – is not. I’m guessing the reason something like
volleyball or basketball wasn’t selected is having to justify picking
one sport over the other. Still, how do you justify competitive
cheerleading as a compromise? To me, it is insulting.

* Oak Hall
athletic director Jeff Malloy, on the FHSAA board, came across very
well at Monday’s meeting as a champion of those who didn’t want the
reductions. He fought to have the vote go against Policy 6 and even had
a compromise policy in his back pocket, hoping that would be
acceptable. This topic has created a definite divide, and the majority
of people who have written me are anti-Policy 6. They should all be
thankful Malloy tried his best to be their voice on the board during
the meeting.

* On the other side, it is obvious FHSAA executive
director Roger Dearing believes this is the only way to go, and while
taking hits for his stance, Dearing does feel Policy 6 is what is best
for high school athletics in Florida for now. It is difficult for me to
believe this was an easy call for him.

* South Florida appears
to be torn on the issue. A few hours after Cheryl Golden of the Greater
Miami Athletic Conference expressed her support for Policy 6 at the
board meeting, I got an e-mail from Chuck Little of the Junior Orange
Bowl Committee expressing his dismay with the vote.

* There is
an informal call for schools to boycott preseason games as a way of
protest. Not sure how that helps the athletes now playing 20 percent
less regular-season games, but I guess it would prove a somewhat viable
way to get noticed as being upset about the situation.