Recently in Issues Category

There's a column in here somewhere, and we'll soon explore the topic more in-depth, but did you see these two stories?

Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports absolutely crushed it with this explanatory piece about how NFL teams are doing due diligence on prospects. Show them an attractive woman's profile, get on to their Facebook page and then sift through all the friends, pictures and comments:

"It works like magic," said a personnel source that was familiar with his team's tactic of using counterfeit profiles to link to Facebook and Myspace pages of potential draft picks. The source directed Yahoo! Sports to one of the team's "ghost profiles" - a term he coined because "once the draft is over, they disappear. It's like they were never there."

Elsewhere in cyberspace, John Calipari's daughter Megan changed the status update on her Facebook page and broke a major college basketball story in the process. Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com details the scoop:

JOSH PASTNER IS THE NEW COACH AT MEMPHIS!! YAY!!

Chances are you won't be drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs this month, or be named the head coach of a Conference USA program anytime soon, but these types of stories raise a whole new set of issues for students, reporters, employers and anyone who has a Facebook account.

What's your reaction?

With the news that there were two positive steroids tests out of 10,000 high school athletes in the first year of a $6 million drug-testing program in Texas, are you still in favor of the drug-testing program the IHSA approved this spring?

Now, $6 million is a lot of money. I'm sure that even in Texas, that kind of scratch can go a long way. I won't rail against it as a waste of time, or a waste of money as at least one Lone Star politico has.

A critic, Republican state Sen. Dan Patrick, said the initiative is a "feel good" program that is not acting as a deterrent and should be abolished.

In some ways, I agree with Sen. Patrick. But when he says the money should be spent for teen alchohol prevention, he loses me. There isn't enough money in the world -- not even all the money we borrow from China -- to stop kids from drinking.

If a couple hundred kids tested positive for steroids, I'm sure Sen. Patrick would be on the other side of the issue talking up family values and whatnot, and it's too bad he's not because I'm a huge fan of whatnot.

I wrote in March that the IHSA program has its flaws. I also think it's worth it if it only catches the stupid, because the stupid are certainly in line for some help.

The National Federation of State High School Associations announced this week that instant replay will not be an option for high school basketball in state tournament games.

After much discussion, the committee voted against the use of instant replay to review specific situations during state tournaments. Three proposals were considered by the committee this year after three states had last-second shots in championship games.

"The committee discussed the issue extensively, but there was very little support for implementing video review at the high school level," Struckhoff said. "Some felt the use of video to review officials' decisions is against the philosophy of high school sports. Others said that video review doesn't always provide a conclusive decision, and the equipment would not be consistently available in facilities throughout the country. The committee also felt it would be difficult for officials to officiate without replay throughout the season and then be expected to use it at a state championship."

The NFHS did make two significant rule changes: the rebounding spots closest to the hoop will now be empty to reduce fouling per a pilot program in Georgia; the head coach, not the player, will now be given a technical foul for a player with an illegal uniform.

Rules changes for wrestling and swimming were also announced.

I've seen a lot of high school wrestling in my time, but I've never seen a backflip. Now I never will thanks to the killjoy association NFHS.

The IHSA announced on Tuesday the creation of a Sportsperson of the Year Award that will honor seven people each year "for their outstanding sportsmanship during interscholastic competition."

It took almost another two full sentences in the press release to plug the title sponsor.

There are five criteria listed that potential good sports awardees need to own, but three are boing so I will skip to the two that caught me eye.

-- Student shall not have EVER been ejected from a high school contest.

-- Student must have a minimum of a 2.5/4.0 Grade Point Average (GPA).

Nothing against all you C students out there, but I find it interesting that the IHSA is willing to dip that far down in the GPA scale just to find someone who hasn't been ejected.

Each school can nominate one student-athlete as long as that school participates in the IHSA's sportsmanship program.

What I think is important to make clear is that it is possible to book the Add A. Tude mascot for your next high school event for the low-low rate of $25. Silly mascots rule.

The entry deadline is May 16. The award will be given out June 2 along with $500 to the winners courtesy of the sponsorship deal. I guess it's a "scholarship" or something like that, but what's up with an amateur athletic body handing out cash?

About a month ago, we learned that Neuqua Valley senior Chris Derrick was named to the IHSA All-State Academic Team and that Waubonsie Valley's Mark Homan, Naperville Central's Steve Couch and Benet's Sarah Clark were given honorable mention.

The IHSA let us know on March 18 that these athletes were amazing students, needing a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or greater after their seventh semester. On Friday, the IHSA let us know that again, seemingly posting the exact same notice.

If you look at the IHSA homepage right now, you can see both of the notices listed. But there isn't anything about the court case with the Illinois press the IHSA settled this week.

Wonder why this is hidden? The poster contest from this week is there, but not the only major announcement since the drug testing policy on March 17. Anyway...

I don't have screen grabs figured out yet, so while it lasts take a look at March 18 and see if there is anything different with April 11. Derrick, Homan, Couch and Clark are on both lists.

Maybe somebody took a semester off. Maybe somebody who works at the IHSA has kid who is a really smart athlete.

UPDATE: I just checked both the all-state team and the honorable mention list on both links and they identical. This seems to be a glitch.

Arizona recently became the fifth state in the country to require all high school coaches, including faculty, to take and pass a coaching class.

With this move, Arizona joins California, Massachusetts, Oregon and Rhode Island in requiring this certification.

The NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching course, which was started in January 2007 as the signature course of the NFHS Coach Education Program, address the following subjects: educational athletics and the role of the coach, the coach as a manager, the coach as a teacher, the coach and interpersonal skills, and the coach and physical conditioning.

In Illinois, only non-faculty coaches are required to take a class called the ASEP. Should the IHSA become the sixth state to require this training of all coaches?

When the IHSA decided to go ahead with its proposed drug testing program in January, it did it on the merits of this survey of its member schools.

At the time, I couldn't figure out what was more significant: that only 54 percent of the schools responded to the survey or that 60 percent of those that did respond said they didn't think teams should have to forfeit playoff awards if one of their players came up dirty.

By D.J. Wanberg
I don't know if it's a fix to get me to the next football season or that I'm fascinated by the whole process. But I can't get enough of the NFL draft.

I bought my first NFL draft preview magazine yesterday and saw a local name in it. In Lindy's Pro Football Draft Preview, former Naperville North star Corey McKeon, who went on to play at Nebraska, is listed after the top 15 prospects at inside linebacker in the Worth Watching section.

McKeon, listed at 6-1, 230 pounds, runs the 40 in 4.73 according to the magazine.

The referendum measure presented today to residents of Naperville School District 203 offers some improvements for the athletic programs at Central and North, though neither is in line for a new field house.

Where would you rank Central and North's facilities within the DuPage Valley Conference? How does its facilities compare to those at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley?

Will the referendum's impact on athletic departments influence your vote? Or do you simply consider FieldTurf and pool renovations to be luxury items?

What do you think about the IHSA's new policy to test high school athletes in Illinois for performance-enhancing drugs?