More IHSA Multiplier Mess - do these hypocrites know how ridiculous they look complaining about what they asked for?

If you follow high school sports at all you surely notice the recent news that IHSA has revamped numerous rules on class sizes and the "multiplier".
There have been hundreds of editorials and opinions written about it and every one - 100% of them - are negative and don't like the way the whole system stinks now.

Tiny schools of 280 enrollment are being moved up a full class, and the whole system is now so complex nobody can grasp it....

Just read Kirk Wessler's rants the past two days against IHSA and how badly they have boneheadedly screwed up high school sports in the state.

There are lots of quotes I could use but here are a couple from Kirk Wessler...

"..stupidity ..Even the most diehard fans now cannot tell which team at each school is in what class without a scorecard. Yes, there is a scorecard. It’s a 12-page, color-coded chart that looks like something you would expect to see in the air-traffic control tower at O’Hare."
"Don’t think for a minute this can’t get worse. Every step the IHSA takes down this path is worse than the last one. And it’s not going to stop.

This is what social engineers do.

As long as something is broken, their existence is justified. They must do something, because if they do nothing, perhaps we will realize they are not necessary. And what a shame that would be."
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/wessler/x438674237/Wessler-In-reality-dream-is-a-nightmare
http://www.pjstar.com/sports/wessler/x601862160/Wessler-IHSA-playing-social-engineers


Personally, I am having a field day enjoying all this and watching it unfold....and laughing uncontrollably when the very people who argued for changes are in absolute misery over where those changes have taken them. These people have choked on their own medicine...

Remember -- this all started 8 or 10 years ago -- and it paralleled the losses by Metamora High School football year after year to Joliet Catholic High School, and then the realization that even when the number of football classes was increased from 5 to 6 (1980), to 8 (2002) -- that a substantial number of private schools were still kicking butt and winning. And not just in football but way too many private schools were sneaking into way too many Final Fours in way too many sports.
Of course nobody bothered to notice that all those kids had spent 12-13 years going to those schools, starting in kindergarten and were NOT transfers, and that those schools had simply gotten GOOD because of a commitment to be good -- that's all --but clearly we had to penalize their success -- surely they must be cheating if they're winning more than they should in our opinions.

The solution was clear -- and the vast majority of people who had kids in public schools and the vast majority of the state's newspapers like the PJ Star took a very STRONG standpoint that something had to be done - and some penalty had to be instituted against the private schools. We absolutely had to "level the playing field" --- but that didn't mean help the public schools do better - but instead, make it harder on the private schools. Some penalties had to be instituted. We had to knock them "privates" (which they label "unboundaried" even though the private schools DO have boundaries and the public schools actually do NOT!) down a notch!

They instituted back-breaking penalties against any kid who transfers from a public school to a private school -- so severe that it just isn't done now. Private schools were banned from co-op-ing in sports which all public schools can freely do. Even geographical distance limits were set so kids at private schools couldn't come from outside a certain distance radius!!

Private also schools came under intense scrutiny such that every time a private school (like when Peoria Christian came out of nowhere and went to state in 2004 Basketball) wins a trophy or does unexpectedly well....calls flood in to view all their academic records, their history and transfer backgrounds, and even their sports physicals -- with both officials from IHSA and other scorned high school coaches who got whupped calling to demand to see the proof that all those kids were indeed eligible -- hoping like crazy and like they did to Hales Franciscan but were unable to do to Peoria Christian -- to find something to take their trophy away from them!

But never mind that there were already lots of rules applying only to private schools...we had to have more or they might just win more titles!!!

So the MULTIPLIER was born and specifically devised just to hurt the most successful private school programs -- forcing many private schools to play up and face far steeper competition.

Many cheered when the multiplier was instituted but within a couple years we saw many private schools were still winning in many sports...so some even called for steeper penalties and a more punitive multiplier --
"we didn't go far enough" was their cry -- "we have to do more!!!"
These rabid pro-public school fans were never going to be satisfied...they even called for the private schools, which by the IHSA's constitution and bylaws are FULL and EQUAL members, to be banned and kicked out and forced to go form their own organization!
(This was also considered in Ohio then abandoned when it was realized the private schools, and their successful teams & athletes like LeBron James, were a HUGE reason the state athletic association was rolling in dough -- they don't want to lose that revenue!!)


So now the IHSA has responded to those calls from the sad losers around the state and the editorial writers like Kirk Wessler.
The IHSA has really kicked butt with these new rules....they've gone way past expectations so they won't ever again be accused of being soft and "not going far enough"....

And then the expected and predictable result...
All those same people -- the exact same people who were clamoring for this crap -- are now whining because they can't understand all of what's happening -- it's too complex -- it's way too overboard...
They don't like it and want it revamped again!! OMG -- serious -- they're never happy unless we just arbitrarily award their favorite school or team every state trophy without even bothering to compete!


Time, after time, after time, the pro-multiplier whiners have gotten their way...and now they get another gift from the IHSA and suddenly they're whining even more. This is fun to watch -- and ironic -- like the fox finally getting the sour grapes...or the Emperor finally getting his wish to walk down the street with his "new clothes" - only to find he's being laughed at and ridiculed because he looks so stupid in his nakedness.

There's really only two things I agree with in all those anti-IHSA editorials....
that this whole intervention by IHSA is really sad & stupid and has nearly ruined high school sports, and that knowing IHSA -- this is only the NEXT STEP -- and that more is going to be coming soon -- why not -- keep tinkering........