[Hoot Gibson]

It's more than one game at stake. It's a game plus a week of practices over the course of a high school player's career who finds himself living in a district of a weak football program.

I don't get why anybody thinks that allowing all teams into the playoffs is part of an "everybody gets a trophy" mentality. How many Kentucky high school basketball players has anybody ever heard boasting about making the playoffs? Playoffs are all about determining champions. The regular season, at the high school level should be all about competition, building strong teams, and developing the skills of the young men who decide to be part of a team. Nobody is going to be feeling like they won a prize if their season ends in a loss, particularly a first round loss.

People should stop thinking about high school football like they do about teams of adults playing big time college football or in the NFL. High school football is not about those of us who enjoy watching the games, it is all about the players of the game. The playoffs are like a final exam to grade teams on the progress that they have made during the season and from season to season.

I was on a very good high school baseball team that never made it to the regional tournament. We made the playoffs every season, just like every other baseball team in the state, but even my dumbest teammates did not celebrate playing in the same tournament as every other player in the state. The "everybody gets a trophy" objection to including every team in the football playoffs is about the most ridiculous argument that I have ever read and every time this subject comes up, I read multiple people making the same silly argument. It really makes absolutely no sense. Think about it. Now think harder.