My friend and very occasional fellow blogger Jed Blackwell has come up with a game…or either stole it from the intrawebs, but it's a good one. He and I are both the same age and both grew up in largely rural upstate South Carolina, so we have a lot of the same life experiences. When he notes a major change of some kind in life or society, he phrases it as a way to indicate how old we are. For example, he says we are "we didn't have peanut allergies years old." That's not to make light of those allergies at all, it's just that they've become much more prevalent in recent years. Neither he, nor I, can recall anyone suffering from those allergies when we were in school.
The other day, he was discussing a recent trip to a high school where he was directed to go to the media center. He reported to me that he, apparently, is "we didn't have a media center years old" or maybe "we called it a dang library years old." That got me thinking about how much technology has changed in schools over the years. Until I started working for a newspaper and had a reason to go to schools (for signing ceremonies and such), I'd not set foot in one since graduation, so I wasn't familiar with the whole "media center" concept. Because the way people get information has changed so much in the last 20 years, there are now computers and other tech devices in the "media center." We called that place the library. It mainly had books in it...for our much younger readers, books were these sort of rectangular things filled with pieces of paper that stories and information were printed on, inside a hard cover with a binding to hold the old-fashioned learnin' thing together. If you needed some information to write a report or term paper about, you actually had to go get books and read them. Sometimes these books fell into the "big ass" category and you only needed one little piece of information from it, but had to read and flip pages and everything. There wasn't an internet yet (I swear I'm not really that old) so you couldn't "google it." Back then we did know what "googol" was (it's pronounced the same way), that being a number that starts with a one then has 100 zeroes behind it. Yahoo was what the Duke boys hollered as they jumped their car over a river, foiling Roscoe's effort to arrest them once again…that often followed a commercial break, which was preceded by a freeze-frame cliff-hanger that had Waylon Jennings proclaiming "How are them boys gonna get ouuta this one?" But I digress…Now, if you've grown up in the "media center" era, you might be wondering, "So, decrepit, coot, spinster fogey, if there were just bunches of these book thingies on shelves, how do you ever find the right book?" Well, there were these big shelves that had lots of drawers in them and all those drawers had lots of little cards inside. You had to find the card that corresponded to the book you wanted and it would tell you what section and shelf to find it on. There was something called Dewey...you know what, that'll take too long. Basically you'd go to that section and shelf and try to find the book. Sometimes people would pull books out to look at them, them put them back in the wrong place, which made things difficult. Then other times, somebody else would have the book on race cars or female anatomy that you REALLY wanted to check out and you'd have to wait, sometimes weeks, for it to be brought back. So in some ways technology is good. Information isn't "checked out" really, it's always there for your use and access on the computer. You don't have to wait six weeks for Jim Bob's sorry tail to bring back the book on UFOs or female anatomy anymore. Now you younger folks might be saying "come on grandpa, there had to be some technology in the media cen...er, library for you to use." I guess technically there was. When I was in kindergarten, we'd go to the library once a week. You could look at books or play games, but if you'd been really good that week, the teacher would pick you to sit in a big carpet-lined bathtub to listen to a book-on-tape. You got to put on these giant headphones…think of them as clunky, frequently shorting out Beats that were plugged into a primitive tape recorder. You see, tape recorders played these things called "tapes" that were plastic rectangular cases, filled with plastic tape treated with an ferromagnetic oxide...you know what, I'll skip that part. It was magic as far as we were concerned. When I got a little older, we watched stuff on these thing called film projectors. It was sort of like watching TV only you had to cut the lights off and the moving images you saw were actually projected onto this big, white screen you had to fight with to unfurl. Most of the film strips they showed you were really old, including the one they showed us about "the birds and bees." I seriously think it was black-and-white and starred one of The Little Rascals, who was starting to have weird feelings and hairs. It might actually have been instructional, but we were about 11 and talking about no-nos just made us all laugh. A little later, maybe in junior high (I'm "we didn't call it middle school years old') or high school, we actually had TVs. Now, we didn't have one per class like they do now. There were about three of them, and they sat on top of these big, multi-tiered carts with wheels. They also had this thing called a VCR hooked up to them that were old and about the size of my car. If your teacher wanted to show you a movie or something instructional, she'd have to make arrangements in advance to get the TV. She'd send somebody to the library and they'd wheel it back to your classroom. Of course, now classrooms have "smart boards" that are internet enabled and can show streaming video and perform all kinds of other amazing tasks. Needless to say we didn't have those. I'm "teachers wrote on the board with chalk years old."
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There is almost nothing about my make-up, my history, my education or my life experiences that should say to anyone "this guy can explain complex problems and is also good at math." Still, I'm going to try.
In less than two weeks, the South Carolina High School League Executive Committee is going to decide how many athletic classifications our state will have starting with the 2016-'17 school year. I can pretty much assure you that the current four classifications system is going the way of the Dodo and Crystal Pepsi. When the full legislative body met last month it received no support from anybody. We will probably see a move to either five or six. There is also a strong indication that there may be a floor for a new 5A and a ceiling for Class A...basically, any school with more than 1,600 students would be 5A and any school with under 350 students would be Class A. On top of that, a measure that will essentially force all private and charter schools to play up one classification was passed, much to my surprise and delight. Class A has become populated with non-pulic schools and they have become dominant in everything, winning state titles in 12 of 16 SCHSL-sanctioned sports. They have a built-in advantage over their public school counterparts, including the lack of fixed attendance lines and the ability to cap enrollment, which lets them decide which classification they wish to participate in. Class A public schools, as the state's smallest (and often poorest) are the least equipped to compete with privates and charters, so the hope is that making them play up one class will level the playing field for everybody. Now, that measure may not stand because private and charter schools are going to challenge it on the basis that it does not give co-equal treatment to all students and schools. The state legislature has to pass a proviso annually that keeps the SCHSL active and functioning...there are some in Columbia who want to dissolve the league and put prep athletics under the control of the State Department of Education. This proviso and the new legislative committee that can hear rejected disciplinary appeals were concessions that had to made recently to keep that from happening. I'd rather the department of education spend its time doing something other than lining up officials for a McBee-Green Sea-Floyds JV softball game, but that's for another show, as Alton Brown used to say. So, what will the league look like when the new realignment begins in August of 2016? We can't know that until the executive committee meets and decides whether to go with five or six classifications, but we can take a semi-educated guess. Now, understand the classifications I've created below were made using the 135-day enrollment numbers from 2012-'13. The newest numbers should be available soon and certainly there will be some movement...and some new schools coming on line. So, think of this as a "general idea" or "totally worthless crap" if you're a jerk face. I do what I can people (when the new numbers are made available, I'll do this whole thing over for accuracy's sake). So, assuming there are five classifications with a 1,600 enrollment floor for the new 5A and a 350 ceiling for Class A, there will be 36 5A teams and 37 1A teams, with 134 (about 45 per class) in each of the three classifications in between. They will look something like this... 5A WANDO DORMAN SUMMERVILLE SUMTER BOILING SPRINGS JAMES F BYRNES WEST ASHLEY MAULDIN DUTCH FORK HILLCREST ASHLEY RIDGE FORT DORCHESTER GAFFNEY SPRING VALLEY CLOVER CAROLINA FOREST ROCK HILL WHITE KNOLL LEXINGTON SPARTANBURG STRATFORD GOOSE CREEK T L HANNA NORTHWESTERN EASLEY IRMO WEST FLORENCE J L MANN WOODMONT FT MILL WADE HAMPTON (G) COLLETON COUNTY LUGOFF-ELGIN SOUTH FLORENCE BLYTHEWOOD RIDGE VIEW 4A WESTSIDE RIVERSIDE GREENWOOD LAURENS NATION FORD SOUTH AIKEN RIVER BLUFF CANE BAY CONWAY SOCASTEE NORTH AUGUSTA YORK WESTWOOD GREENVILLE ST JAMES HARTSVILLE AIKEN RICHLAND NORTHEAST BEAUFORT SOUTH POINTE LANCASTER PICKENS JAMES ISLAND CHARTER CHAPIN BERKELEY AIRPORT EASTSIDE ORANGEBURG-WILKINSON A C FLORA NORTH MYRTLE BEACH WREN TRAVELERS REST MYRTLE BEACH UNION COUNTY HILTON HEAD MARLBORO COUNTY MIDLAND VALLEY LOWER RICHLAND BLUE RIDGE DREHER CRESTWOOD LAKEWOOD BLUFFTON GREER WILSON 3A BEREA BELTON-HONEA PATH HANAHAN R B STALL DARLINGTON D W DANIEL BROOKLAND-CAYCE WEST-OAK PALMETTO CAMDEN WALHALLA GEORGETOWN EMERALD SENECA GILBERT CHAPMAN BROOME SWANSEA CHESTER SOUTHSIDE LAKE CITY MANNING CLINTON DILLON WOODRUFF PENDLETON STROM THURMOND POWDERSVILLE NEWBERRY FAIRFIELD-CENTRAL BATTERY CREEK LAKE MARION AYNOR WACCAMAW TIMBERLAND COLUMBIA LORIS INDIAN LAND MID CAROLINA RIDGELAND-HARDEEVILLE WADE HAMPTON (H) PELION MARION KEENAN EDISTO 2A CHERAW LIBERTY CRESCENT CAROLINA BARNWELL GARRETT BISHOP ENGLAND KINGSTREE SILVER BLUFF CHESNEE WOODLAND CENTRAL EAU CLAIRE BUFORD ACADEMIC MAGNET ANDREW JACKSON LEE CENTRAL SALUDA LANDRUM ANDREWS NORTH CHARLESTON ABBEVILLE BLACKSBURG BATESBURG-LEESVILLE MULLINS NINETY SIX CHESTERFIELD WHALE BRANCH EARLY COLLEGE NORTH CENTRAL JOHNSONVILLE GREENVILLE TECH CHARTER CALHOUN COUNTY LATTA FOX CREEK BRASHIER MIDDLE COLLEGE CHARTER C A JOHNSON CARVERS BAY GREER MIDDLE COLLEGE CHARTER CHRIST CHURCH BAMBERG-EHRHARDT ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC BURKE LEWISVILLE HEMINGWAY HANNAH PAMPLICO 1A ALLENDALE-FAIRFAX DIXIE GREEN SEA-FLOYDS SOUTHSIDE CHRISTIAN MCBEE WARE SHOALS ST. JOHNS WILLISTON-ELKO EAST CLARENDON WAGENER-SALLEY LAMAR C E MURRAY ESTILL LAKE VIEW BAPTIST HILL GREAT FALLS RIDGE SPRING-MONETTA DENMARK-OLAR CHARLESTON CHARTER BLACKVILLE-HILDA MILITARY MAGNET MCCORMICK CREEK BRIDGE TIMMONSVILLE SCOTTS BRANCH BRANCHVILLE HUNTER-KINARD-TYLER CROSS NORTH BETHUNE-BOWMAN GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL/MATH TAMASSEE-SALEM WHITMIRE CALHOUN FALLS CHARTER LINCOLN SC SCHOOL FOR DEAF & BLIND The one consideration that has to be made is that if the private school bump-up plan withstands legal challenge, Southside Christian and Charleston Charter will move up to AA, while St. Joe's, Christ Church, Greer Middle, Brashier Middle, Greenville Tech Charter and Bishop England will all move up to AAA, with the four smallest AAA schools moving down to AA. A state legislator, one who does favor something to give Class A relief from all the private and charters and Class AA relief from Bishop England, told me there is no way this will happen, though. He doesn't think it woud be fair to make private and charter schools play up two classifications and said not many other folks do either. Now, what if we go with six classifications? In that case, if the floor for what would then be 6A and the 1A ceiling remain intact, those two classifications would look the same as above and the four classes in-between will have 33 or 34 schools per. Personally, I don't see the executive committee going the six-classification route, because it would be nearly impossible to draw up regions that make any sense with so few schools and any regions you could concoct would lead to outlandish travel for games and would probably lead to lower attendance for events across the board. Still, those middle four (and I'm assuming there's no way a bump-up for privates and charters would remain intact in a six-classification system, so I'm not even listing the "what-ifs" for that) would look like this. 5A WESTSIDE RIVERSIDE GREENWOOD LAURENS NATION FORD SOUTH AIKEN RIVER BLUFF CANE BAY CONWAY SOCASTEE NORTH AUGUSTA YORK WESTWOOD GREENVILLE ST JAMES HARTSVILLE AIKEN RICHLAND NORTHEAST BEAUFORT SOUTH POINTE LANCASTER PICKENS JAMES ISLAND CHARTER CHAPIN BERKELEY AIRPORT EASTSIDE ORANGEBURG-WILKINSON A C FLORA NORTH MYRTLE BEACH WREN TRAVELERS REST MYRTLE BEACH 4A UNION COUNTY HILTON HEAD MARLBORO COUNTY MIDLAND VALLEY LOWER RICHLAND BLUE RIDGE DREHER CRESTWOOD LAKEWOOD BLUFFTON GREER WILSON BEREA BELTON-HONEA PATH HANAHAN R B STALL DARLINGTON D W DANIEL BROOKLAND-CAYCE WEST-OAK PALMETTO CAMDEN WALHALLA GEORGETOWN EMERALD SENECA GILBERT CHAPMAN BROOME SWANSEA CHESTER SOUTHSIDE LAKE CITY 3A MANNING CLINTON DILLON WOODRUFF PENDLETON STROM THURMOND POWDERSVILLE NEWBERRY FAIRFIELD-CENTRAL BATTERY CREEK LAKE MARION AYNOR WACCAMAW TIMBERLAND COLUMBIA LORIS INDIAN LAND MID CAROLINA RIDGELAND-HARDEEVILLE WADE HAMPTON (H) PELION MARION KEENAN EDISTO CHERAW LIBERTY CRESCENT CAROLINA BARNWELL GARRETT BISHOP ENGLAND KINGSTREE SILVER BLUFF CHESNEE 2A WOODLAND CENTRAL EAU CLAIRE BUFORD ACADEMIC MAGNET ANDREW JACKSON LEE CENTRAL SALUDA LANDRUM ANDREWS NORTH CHARLESTON ABBEVILLE BLACKSBURG BATESBURG-LEESVILLE MULLINS NINETY SIX CHESTERFIELD WHALE BRANCH EARLY COLLEGE NORTH CENTRAL JOHNSONVILLE GREENVILLE TECH CHARTER CALHOUN COUNTY LATTA FOX CREEK BRASHIER MIDDLE COLLEGE CHARTER C A JOHNSON CARVERS BAY GREER MIDDLE COLLEGE CHARTER CHRIST CHURCH BAMBERG-EHRHARDT ST. JOSEPH'S CATHOLIC BURKE LEWISVILLE HEMINGWAY HANNAH PAMPLICO There you have it, a fuzzy, faded, old Polaroid snapshot of what the future may hold for prep athletics in our state. A complex issue made far more convoluted and difficult to understand than necessary. You're welcome! You may or may not know this, but my sister Lynly is a actress. You may have seen the back of her head in an episode of "Mad Men" or caught her nanosecond of screen time in "Poseidon" just before her unnamed character was blowded up.
Actually, she's done quite well for herself and has now started to move behind the camera. She decided to go into documentary filmmaking, because it's so lucrative and everybody watches them (HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!) At one point she wanted to make a documentary on Chernobyl, the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of the world. All these years later, we still may not fully grasp the damage it caused. I helpfully suggested that Chernobyl was depressing and she should dress it up with funny hats and dancing Panda bears to make it more watchable. She argued that there weren't any Pandas in Chernobyl but I told her it didn't matter. "Look, nuclear death and environmental destruction are sucky and dark and you need to lighten the mood if you want people to watch this thing. It doesn't matter that there weren't Pandas there. I don't think there was actually a super-smart green dude with big ears who could levitate named Yoda, but he was in some of them Star Wars flicks wasn't he? People like big, happy bears. Screw historical accuracy." She ignored my advice. Now, I've told you this inane story to set the stage for another. I went with my wife and dog to the lovely South Carolina coast earlier this week. On Monday, it was readily apparent that Tucker the super dog had a lot of pent up energy from the ride down and being cooped up a bit on Easter Day, so I decided to take him for a long walk. We were at Pawleys Island, which is apparently a hotbed of biking enthusiasts. Man, Tucker and I encountered them by the dozens. Lot of health-conscious folks down there. Granted, I was walking on a bike path, but I don't think that's why I saw them. Nope. There are an uncommonly high number of bikers at Pawleys, I shan't be swayed from that opinion. Anyway, this one guy rode by us and I noticed that he had one of those little GoPro cameras attached to his helmet. The helmet stood out to me, because when I was young we rode our bikes off of building roofs and stuff and didn't wear any weenie helmets. Granted, I turned the way I did, but that could be from anything, not just wanton brain negligence. But I digress, I was intrigued by the fact that the guy appeared to be recording his ride and talking as he did so. Who films their own bicycle rides? I mean, are they going to go back and watch it later. "Look honey, I peddled past a bunch of trees. Lemme back it up so you can see it again. It's crazy...there's just trees everywhere. Oh wait...I hit a bump here in a second. RIGHT THERE. See the camera shake? Get the kids down here, they'll positively revel in my two-wheeled follies." I thought to myself "wow, what a self-absorbed goon." Then I thought about Pandas and funny hats. Maybe this guy was making a documentary...the crappiest documentary ever. What do you say on your "I'm riding my bike" movie? "Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot BRAKE!!!!!! I'm going past Eagles now and they have free hermit crabs and sand dollars according to the sign in the window. Don't believe the hype kids. No such thing as a free lunch...although I don't know that you can eat hermit crabs and sand dollars, but I don't know that you can't eat them either amirite?! Right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot COAST, COAST, pop a wheelie. Pop a wheelie. Left foot, right foot." At some point, he turned around and rode past us again. "Right foot, left foot...there's Eagles again. A criminal always returns to the scene of the crime...but so does the investigator so which one am I Mr. Delicious Hermit Crab? Haha! Left foot, right foot..." I'd rather watch the Chernobyl movie. |
TravisI am Travis, the king 0f SC 1A Football Archives
November 2021
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