SPORTS SEASONS

There was celebration Monday in the offices of the Michigan High School Athletic Association in East Lansing. The MHSAA learned that the U.S. Supreme Court accepted the group’s request for an appeal in the years-old sports season litigation.

It doesn’t mean the MHSAA will win its case, but it does mean there will be no change in sports seasons for the next school year.

Those who have maintained the attitude of “I’ll believe it when I see it” are hardly surprised by the move.

One more delay seemed inevitable since the change has been postponed year after year since the late 1990s.

The MHSAA press release states that “thousands of student-athletes, parents, coaches, administrators, officials, board of education members, sports media and fans of high school sports are breathing a sigh of relief that they will have another day in court.”

That’s true, but there are also thousands who think the Association’s battle has been a ridiculous waste of time and money. Many people would welcome the opportunity to join the rest of the union and have girls basketball in the winter and volleyball in the fall.

School officials claim that gymnasium time will be impossible to schedule if boys and girls play basketball in the winter. The logic of this argument falls flat since volleyball is also played in a gymnasium.

The MHSAA insists that this change would cause other changes, such as moving boys golf to the spring where it would be forced to compete for athletes with track and baseball.

Again, the reasoning behind this argument is hard to understand when so many other states manage just fine. Why are we so different?

The initial change would surely cause scheduling problems, but it’s a problem that would soon disappear in a season or two. Border schools such as Morenci would even have expanded options by being able to face neighbors to the south.

The MHSAA might prevail with its argument, but it might fail. Then Michigan can step into the 21st century.