Prep Zone

By A.J. Mealor

July 2, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this

I think it is already ridiculous that we play our football championships in a dome. It should be rotated between the largest college stadiums in our state: UGA, Tech, and Georgia Southern. Class 5A and 4A should not be combined because there would be too many schools in that classification unless we enlarge the other classifications as well.

By tbia

July 2, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this

The first thing I would do is go back to a south Georgia and North Georgia championship setup.

Second round games such as Rome at Brunswick (just hypothetical, sort of) are ridiculous.

By GHSA Questioner

July 2, 2008 9:43 AM | Link to this

To start with, the GHSA doesn’t care about anyone but their pockets. So whatever plan might be hatched, would need to keep the revenue stream up and fat.

The easy solution is to make regions of schools within about 15 miles of each other and quit playing s many elective games outside of a schools region.

Sports in Georgia is so out of control and over-rated it’s sad.

Maybe gas prices and public school costs will help to bring a dose of reality to fairy land!

By dale

July 2, 2008 9:52 AM | Link to this

I suggest we leave the football team at home and let the bands duke it out!!!

By Idea!

July 2, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this

One great idea would be for the GHSA to make the playoff system a real system. At this point, everyone and their brother seems to make it into the playoff system. If they only took the first place finishers in each region, then they could help cut a ton of extra cost.

When teams can actually make the playoffs with a .500 to even sub .500 record, the system is broken - and so too the spending of our tax dollars for EDUCATION …. not for sports!

By Julio Franco

July 2, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

One simple thing, and forget all of the others. Up the ticket prices $1. Everyone that enjoyed the games would share in the joy.

By Maniac is accurate

July 2, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this

Teams along the Oconee, Flint and Altamahaw rivers could travel downstream by drift boat and paddle back home and vice versa.

For the stream challenged, wagon trains would work.

By Daniel

July 2, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

The solution is very simple-adjust the tiebreaker rules. Many of the teams in South Georgia are forced to schedule teams from Atlanta or Savannah because they need 5A opponents for the region tiebreaker. So instead of a Valdosta-Ware County game in front of a packed house, we will see Valdosta-Jonesboro or Lowndes-Harrison in front of empty stadiums. In college football the rules allow teams to count one game with a 1-AA school towards bowl eligibility, the GHSA could adjust to something similar. Allow schools in 5A to count games against 4A schools (4A could count 3A, etc.) or put in guidelines about out-of-state games in tiebreakers (Columbia of Lake City, Lincoln of Tallahassee, Madison County, FL, Jacksonville Bolles, Aiken SC are a few schools that have been scheduled recently). Many of these schools are closer geographically than schools in Columbus, Savannah, or Macon. The upside is that it will cut travel costs, increase ticket sales, renew or start local rivalries, and increase revenue that can help offset playoff or region game travel costs.

By Ralph Sw.

July 2, 2008 10:21 AM | Link to this

Idea, You have no freakin idea. You are such an idiot and don’t realize that zero, I repeat zero, tax dollars go to fund sports. All the funds are raised by the local booster clubs. So I guess that blows your tax dollars from education theory. You were probably a beater and/or blower that thinks every one comes to football games to wqatch the band. Football is king in Georgia. The GHSA will never do anything to upset that because without football there are no other sports.

By Pay for your own damn kids

July 2, 2008 10:24 AM | Link to this

Georgia sports teams can combat the high cost of gas by having the parents of these kids pay for their kids sporting events and education too for that matter. Why should the burden of education, sporting events and all the rest of the extracurricular activities for everybodys spawn be thrust on people without kids? You want to have kids, pay for their upkeep!

By mark

July 2, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this

how about using alernative fuels? Diesel buses can be fitted to run off recycled restaraunt oil at very little cost. Wing Zone is doing it in their delivery vehicles now. They can still switch to diesel when needed and it costs $1,500 to convert one vehicle. That could be made up on 2-3 long trips

By DHD

July 2, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this

Simply increase ticket prices. Let the people who want to attend pay for it.

By Idea!

July 2, 2008 11:10 AM | Link to this

Ralph - sorry I am so ignorant. Thanks for setting me straight. I’m sure all those booster clubs don’t raise money and spend money in many and frequently questionable ways. I am sure that football is more important than anything in your world. Do these same parents raise money for education too?

Get real - our tax dollars DO pay for football. The cost of football is high for all students. There’s absolutely no evidence that students who spend years and time practicing football instead of studying are much better for the experience and become better adults.NONE!

BTW - I think marching bands may be the dumbest idea any football coach dreamed up.

The GHSA is about MONEY - period. It would be much better for football to be something students sign up for outside of school.

The GHSA playoff system is about MONEY.

Anyone who believes that isn’t the case is the really ignorant one in this blog!

By Nick

July 2, 2008 11:12 AM | Link to this

Schools need to invest in a vehicle, not a bus, that is big enough to haul a trailer, but still gets more than 15 mpg’s, to carry the teams equipment. That way you can fit more kids on a bus and take one, maybe two, buses less.

Biodesiel. I dont know why Georgia is not getting in on this. It is a great short term fixer until the school bus companies start making hybrids or hydrogen buses.

Regions need to be closer. I know this year my longest drive will be about 45 minutes. Not bad but there are 2 high schools not 5 minutes down the road that are 5A that my 4A school could play. What is GHSA afraid of? A 4A knocking off a 5A power?

O well. Desperate times call for desperate measures…

By CJ

July 2, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this

Just as important as sports is the Marching Band at the high schools. These kids work their tails off in the hot August heat during their summer break, and also 2 or more afternoons during the school year. We need to find solutions for them to travel as well!

Considering the record of losing games by many football teams at many schools, it’s the band that draws the crowds, not the team!

By Common Sense

July 2, 2008 11:47 AM | Link to this

If you want to participate in extracurricular activities, you pay for it. (IE: the parents pay for their kids, if they want to do something besides go to school and learn!)

The price of food is soaring thanks to both the Oil and Biodiesel Industries. If we go for corn-based biofuel, we need (petro-based) synthetic fertilizer to grow it, and so we are back where we started from—dependent on oil.

By woody

July 2, 2008 11:49 AM | Link to this

Build sidewalks and make them walk.

The kids are spoiled enough…it will give them the exercise they need, instead of being little fat ahsses pampered like kings and queens.

By davil

July 2, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

If you don’t want to have kids and help with the educational cost of kids in your county, give back your diploma and pay your parents neighbors back what you cost them when you were in school moron! ‘As long as I got mine’ sounds like the typical ‘Metro’ male response these days. Go pour somebody’s tea.

They are going to have to adjust the #A classification and go to a Mile Radius system, and/or scale back the number of games on the schedule. Marching Bands may need to be a home only production except for playoffs and in-town/county rivalry games (Warner Robins vs Northside vs Houston County) etc.

By Give Gas to the State Champs

July 2, 2008 12:23 PM | Link to this

Maybe GHSA needs to give a years supply worth of Gas to the State Champs for each classification.

By AstroFan

July 2, 2008 12:38 PM | Link to this

Something has to be done, I feel so sorry for Greenbrier H.S. That school is not even apart of Metro Atlanta and all of their games are against teams from Dekalb, Henry and Atlanta. Something has to be done to help this school out.

By Linda

July 2, 2008 12:39 PM | Link to this

Surely there’s something wrong with money going to support sports when there are so many academic troubles in Georgia schools (just look at the SAT scores). I think that the people who want to support sports in the schools should pay to do so: why should a school pay to send a bus full of softball players to a game, when that same school lacks updated textbooks, science labs, or art? School is, first and foremost, a place for education, and kids can play sports in a well-functioning PE program. Devoting resources to busing kids to play ball is like focusing all the efforts on the gravy instead of the steak. Most of the participants in high school sports retain little, if any, benefit from it except good memories. By contrast, they will certainly be helped later in life by, for instance, understanding algebra better or by being able to understand a potential employer’s literary references.

By bdg456

July 2, 2008 1:17 PM | Link to this

I think they should raise the admission fee to $8.00-$8.50. I don’t think an extra dollar would hurt anybody pockets to much.

By Chris

July 2, 2008 1:23 PM | Link to this

Add a dollar to the games being played or 50 cent and take the total from that and give it to the schools playing for gas. If you have good crowds that will be plenty for gas. Or you can do a region budget for gas where you add the dollar and put it in a region budget and split the money between all the schools in the region for gas.

By Give Gas to the State Champs

July 2, 2008 1:35 PM | Link to this

SCREAMING: GHSA SHOULD GIVE GAS TO THE STATE CHAMPS FROM EACH CLASSIFICATION FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR FOR WINNING AND THE TROPHY AS WELL.

By Chris

July 2, 2008 3:10 PM | Link to this

Add a dollar to the games being played or 50 cent and take the total from that and give it to the schools playing for gas. If you have good crowds that will be plenty for gas. Or you can do a region budget for gas where you add the dollar and put it in a region budget and split the money between all the schools in the region for gas.

By Reeze

July 2, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this

Good read Todd . Just the other day CNN did a story on the high cost of fuel and the effects on law enforcement. I forget which state ,but one particular county tags a $12.00 fee on each speeding ticket to offset the cost of fuel….bdg456 and Chris make good points , add a dollar to each ticket for adult only (not student) tickets , .I think people will understand knowing the high cost of fuel ,especially diesel…..trimming schedules, playoffs and rearranging regions is the last action that we should take…..Though the division of funds ,for example smaller schools to larger schools or region to region would be a nightmare.

By Vince

July 2, 2008 3:58 PM | Link to this

For one thing, I believe there are far too many teams rewarded with playoff spots in all HS sports. Cut these in half, (top two in each Region), and you will save dollars and have more interesting match-ups.

By Nick

July 2, 2008 4:07 PM | Link to this

add a dollar to the ticket? Hello people! The whole point of this is gas is hurting not only the average Americans wallet, but the schools as well!

If you tack on an extra dollar thats just another reason not to drive to the school to watch a game.

We have to kick our dependancy on oil, not hold off the inevitable…

By JTF

July 2, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this

Football travel is miniscule compared to baseball, basketball, softball, etc.(5 away games vs. 12-15 per season) The GHSA has had their heads in the sand for years. Region 2 in AAAAA this year will be sending teams to Evans(almost Augusta)from Douglass which is just west of downtown Atlanta, Dekalb, and south Henry county(Luella). This really makes sense. I’ve also seen multiple busses used to take teams to locations when one bus would do. Again, why would government employees worry about wasting money.

By mvljog440

July 2, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this

There need to be several options developed. Home football games adding a small fee is great if that fee actually goes towards funding transportation and not some other cause.

Bio-diesel is a good move but only soybean bio-diesel works well in school buses. Vegetable fat does not. It gels and lubricity of low sulfur diesel fuel is a concern.

Schools need to cut back on 9th grade and JV schedules and schedule other schools that are within a reasonable distance. We have middle schools traveling two hours to play a middle school football game. Cut back on the seasons. Wrestling and golf are probably the most costly sports transportation wise. Baseball with 9th grade/JV and Varsity teams for even smaller high schools needs to be reviewed.

Play region schedules and perhaps just one or two outside region events to reduce costs.

By the way…idea is correct. Tax dollars do pay for fuel/labor for high school athletics…that is taxpayer funded.

Sports teams need to put one body in each seat and not request multiple buses so athletes or band members can have an entire seat to themselves. That alone could probably reduce fuel costs significantly.

The GHSA shouldn’t put their head in the sand. This issue is one they need to be proactive on and they haven’t been yet.

By D Fin

July 2, 2008 6:16 PM | Link to this

I THINK THAT ALL SPORTS EXCEPT FOOTBALL SHOULD BE CUT BACK ON THEIR SCEDHULE BECAUSE FOOTBALL PLAY LESS GAMES, AND CLAYTON co. CAN DO WITHOUT THESE hoochie band and dance team taking 2 buses alone and most basketball games in clayton co. are not sellouts.

By hs football ref

July 2, 2008 6:16 PM | Link to this

For what it’s worth, I think scheduling 9th grade and JV games as double headers would help. Only 1 team would have to travel- except in Dekalb, or other places where they share county-owned stadiums. The schools can split the gate money so 1 school is not losing the whole payday.

They might also think about moving the start time of the games back a little, so that busses aren’t stuck in traffic getting from one school to the other. This would also help parents get to the games- more paying customers. I realize that that means the kids have more free time between the time the school day ends and the time the game(s) begin, but hey, what about having a study hall? There would also be the curfew concern if you moved the time later and scheduled double headers, but I do believe that that part can be managed.

For Varsity games, first, set a limit on the number of players that can dress out. you don’t need to bring the whole school in uniform to crowd the sidelines. That way you can reduce the number of busses you will need.

By ugadawg11

July 2, 2008 6:39 PM | Link to this

As a coach and a traditionalist, I think there are a couple of things that can be done to help with this problem. First of all, we need to go back to four classifications. This would increase the size of many regions in more rural areas of Georgia and allow for teams to need fewer non-region games to fill out a schedule. Often times, these non-region games involve teams from other parts of the state. For example, Region 1-AAAAA currently runs as far north as Warner Robins and as far south as Valdosta. That is about 150 mile trip just one way and that involves 3 schools from Warner Robins and 2 schools from Valdosta. Under the old four class system, Region 1-AAAA went no further north than Tift Co. It also included Lee Co and Bainbridge, along with the current teams in 1-AAAAA. With the population increases, there are a couple of other current AAAA schools in South Georgia (TCC and Americus) that could also possibly make up Region 1-AAAA. That would put Valdosta, Lowndes, Colquitt Co, Coffee Co, Tift Co, TCC, Bainbridge, Lee Co, and Americus in the same region, and the travel for most teams would be much less than having to make two or three trips to Warner Robins each year. That also leaves all of those schools only needing to find two extra non-region football games, and there are plenty of teams in South Georgia and North Florida that could help fill the void. Another thing that definitely needs to happen is to go back to the old South Georgia / North Georgia Championship format. Currently, we have teams traveling as far as Augusta to Thomasville to play a game in the first round of the playoffs. That is ridiculous. Under the old system, the first two rounds of the playoffs were played between region foes to determine the region championship. The first round of the state playoffs (state quarterfinals) decided the four teams that were the Southwest Georgia, Southeast Georgia, Northwest Georgia, and Northeast Georgia champs. The Semi-final teams would then play for the North Georgia and South Georgia Championships. It was not until the finals that a South Georgia team had to travel further north than Macon, and that is the way it should be. Just these two things alone would do a lot in helping with the gas problem, and it would bring back an opportunity for teams to be labeled champions. It sure sounds a whole lot better when a team that loses the state title can say, “Hey, we had a great year. We are the South/North Georgia Champions.” It certainly has a better ring to it the State Runner-Ups.

By Glenn

July 2, 2008 6:43 PM | Link to this

The GHSA should divide each classification into 16 regions therefore making for smaller regions closer to home and allowing more non region games versus schools closer in distance. Instead of 4 teams making the playoffs only 2 from each region would go.

By flip

July 2, 2008 9:57 PM | Link to this

High school baseball and basketball schedules allow for more games than they used to in the 70’s. All sports other than football can cut back their schedules 10 to 20 percent and not lose a thing. Actually most parents and fans would probably appreciate that because there are just too many games especially in baseball and basketball.

By gasman

July 2, 2008 10:23 PM | Link to this

Just a quick thought. Many just don’t seem to understand that in most schools, athletic programs run in dependently from the school budget so it’s not taking away from the education of the kids. For the person who said that athletic participation doesn’t help kids’ later, are you serious??? The physical discipline, competitiveness, teamwork, and learning to lead and follow will be way more important than picking up an employer’s literary references???? or doing algebra. How many of us really use algebra on a daily basis? Anyway, cutting games will not solve the problem because it corresponingly cuts gate receipts. You pay $54 to get to a game 60 miles away and back, but you can make that up if you have a crowd of 40 after officials for a basketball game. Most folks will get a crowd of 40. Play home and away and have parents show and you’ll break even at least. Wait, did I just do algebra??? Now in all your non-gate sports, I don’t know what to tell ya.

By coweta county

July 3, 2008 8:08 AM | Link to this

5AAAA DIV.A has all Fayette county schools except for Northgate which is Coweta county. This is a good example of how things need to be done. All teams are within thirty minutes of each other.

By williev

July 3, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this

A great deal of the transportation cost for high school sports is funded by the local taxpayers through school system budgets and not booster clubs in local building. This cost MUST be reduced. Too many of you are saying that these sports are “self-supporting”.

By TCC Fan

July 3, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this

Combine classificatons and put teams in the right regions. For TCC, Region 1 has Lee Co….120 mile round trip, Americus….150 mile round trip, Bainbridge….85 mile round trip, Westside-Macon…..300 mile round trip, Harris Co…….360 mile round trip, Hardaway, …….296 mile round trip, Upson-Lee……..326 mile round trip, Jones Co………364 mile round trip. That’s how far TCC would have to travel if they had to visit each one of the 1-AAAA schools on the schedule. Each one of the schools that had TCC on their away schedule will have to make a big trip to Thomasville. Completely insane that the nearest 1-AAAA school from TCC is still 45 miles away (Bainbridge). Now….Combine 1-AAA and 1-AAAA and you have…..TCC, Cairo, Worth Co, Dougherty Co, Bainbridge, Westover High, Albany-Monroe, and Lee Co. Hmmmmm….Looks a LOT like the old 1-AAA allignment from the 90s, huh? In short, why can’t the schools in a 4-5 county radius be in the same regions? In the above class, you would have Thomas Co, Grady Co, Decatur Co, Dougherty Co, and Lee Co…..All in a 5-county radius, and the longest round trip TCC would have to make would be to Lee Co. Makes better sense, dont ya think?

By TCC Fan

July 3, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

On the other hand, if you combine 1-AAAA and 1-AAAAA, you would have…..TCC, Colquitt, Bainbridge, Lowndes, Valdosta, Tift Co, Lee Co, and Coffee Co…..Still a lot better on travel than what we have in 1-AAAA right now.

By A

July 3, 2008 1:14 PM | Link to this

1. When teams typically have 18-24 starters, limit roster sizes to ~40 - our team typically has 80+, most of whom are just cannon-fodder.
2. As GHSA won’t give up the $s, the 1st two playoff rounds should serve to par down the regions, then progressively move from the nearest to the furthest regions (how tennis and wrestling are generally done).
3. Some schools are too weak and their support is too poor to field teams in an expensive sport like football (i.e., dump the Meadowcreeks and Tri-cities altogether). (Does anyone believe that some moron gave Tri-cities an astro-turf?)
4. Charge for parking, and reduce the admission prices.
5. Doubleheaders for JV and Freshman, as suggested above.
6. Travel costs are mostly a non-metro issue. Many 5A country schools don’t even have the numbers needed. Travel times and costs would go down if all but the largest (~1/4) of the 5A non-metro schools were realigned more-geographically.
7. As noted, keep non-region games close to home.
8. I like the idea of using some of the college stadiums for the later rounds if they are convenient to the teams involved.

By Patrick Clay

July 3, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this

Will the freshman quarterback (murray) for Fayette High School be able to take them to the playoffs? I have seen him in middle school and he is awesome.

By cpa

July 3, 2008 9:09 PM | Link to this

Here is the problem:

When GHSA went back to 5 classes, it further spread out the geographic territory a region must cover in order to have enough schools

Also, w/ only 8 regions in each class, there are so many schools in each region. The coaches insist on a balanced schedule vs other region opponents in order to determine playoff participants. Thess games, which are often played between schools w/ little or no history and rivalry, are poorly attended.

Even worse, they take up so much of the schedule that they leave very few, if any games to play against traditional rivals in continguous counties.

The rival, neigbor games are important for several reasons:

1) close by — easy on the travel budget 2) better gate because it is a rivalry game

What can be done to address these problems:

GHSA should go to 16 regions in each class — this would mean only 4-5 region games a year — then the rest of the games could be money games w/ greater local interest.

In addition, schools would be free to create conferences or leagues which could consist of traditional rivals. These leagues could even cross class lines and even subdivide and have a week 10 championship if they wanted.

Bottom line — more schedule flexibility — as long as the school played the 4-5 games to seed for the classification state playoffs.

With 16 regions in each class, 2 would qualify from each region so the state playoffs stay at 5 weeks, but the bulk of the schedule is devoted to local, rival, money games which cause less travel for schools and fans.

By Dillon Hutchinson

July 3, 2008 10:07 PM | Link to this

Ive noticed that cheerleading squads of 15 to 20 girls are taking a flat nose 30 seat bus all by themselves. I say let band and cheerleaders combine. Theres one bus with gas left over. Football teams are taking older buses that i can see are far worse on gas with less. So give them the big 30 seaters. Same amount of people, less buses. If need be, let the teams have a 7-0 season. Only play the qualified region games. Combine A and AA. Theyre all small. So who cares about them. Have 2 teams come out for playoffs. That way there is 16 teams. With 4 rounds. And instead of the Dome or Centreplex. Find a stadium suitable about halfway from each opposing teams homefield. That will save on Dome and Centreplex rental. Then GHSA might have enough money to provide transportation for the teams during the playoff season.

By Vike

July 4, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this

There are no rental fee’s at the Georgia Dome for the GHSA,the dome is owned by the state and the GHSA is a state run organization,this is the resaon the GHSA loves the dome,they make alot of profit.

By Vike

July 4, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this

There are no rental fee’s at the Georgia Dome for the GHSA,the dome is owned by the state and the GHSA is a state run organization,this is the resaon the GHSA loves the dome,they make alot of profit.

By Vike

July 4, 2008 1:44 PM | Link to this

There are no rental fee’s at the Georgia Dome for the GHSA,the dome is owned by the state and the GHSA is a state run organization,this is the resaon the GHSA loves the dome,they make alot of profit.

By wolverinepride

July 5, 2008 7:35 PM | Link to this

I say from now own all ne high schools be built with thier own staduims.

For example in dekalb most of us are 4 and 5A school and more than half are less than 20 miles from each other.

That way only one teams are using the buses and home teams can take the money from the gate and pay for the gas money.

By wolverinepride

July 5, 2008 7:36 PM | Link to this

I say from now own all ne high schools be built with thier own staduims.

For example in dekalb most of us are 4 and 5A school and more than half are less than 20 miles from each other.

That way only one teams are using the buses and home teams can take the money from the gate and pay for the gas money.

By wolverinepride

July 5, 2008 7:36 PM | Link to this

I say from now own all ne high schools be built with thier own staduims.

For example in dekalb most of us are 4 and 5A school and more than half are less than 20 miles from each other.

That way only one teams are using the buses and home teams can take the money from the gate and pay for the gas money.

By citi slicker

July 6, 2008 2:26 AM | Link to this

georgia already has five classes they should keep em and divde each into eight regions but instead of divding by population divide by geography the five classes should be called north georgia ,east georgia ,south georgia ,west geogia and metro atlanta this will cut on gas and all games will sellout because there would b more pride at stake for a battle against your neiborhood rival i dont think the size of a school matters ne way for example name one 5a school in gwinett who bufford cant beat another example mcnair in dekalb couty biggest rivals are the bigger schools in dekalb and they give stepheson and mlk a good game every year so size dont matter.

By citi slicker

July 6, 2008 2:33 AM | Link to this

o ya i forgot to mention 32 teams from every class should make it to the playoffs thus alwoing more teams to compete for a state championship

By Cougarmom

July 9, 2008 3:51 PM | Link to this

AHS baseball doesn’t use buses…they rely on the parents to get the kids to their away games….no joke - I dare you to try and find a Douglas County School bus at an AHS away baseball game. The parents grumble a little but are more than willing to do it because they have a winning program. :)

By randy

August 3, 2008 1:18 AM | Link to this

The old N/S system was best for everybody.It didn’t take 16 games to a champion. Why wear these kids out for the sake of a dollar.It says we only regard the money rather than the safety of our kids.