Not sold on it yet ..

There has been a good deal of attention placed on the games this high school football season that involve teams from the Shore Conference and teams from Middlesex county. I am well aware that there are both positives and negatives to be taken from this arrangement but one of the things I am not sure the powers that be really took into account was the impact on the fans.

First, there is increased travel in a lot of cases and that goes for both teams. A bus ride down to Monmouth or Ocean county wouldn't be anything as a fan or parent I would be looking forward to coming from Middlesex Cuonty and vice versa. I realize making a trip to Pinelands or Matawan wouldn't be a whole lot of fun either depending on where you are coming from but at least those are still Shore Conference teams so it has some logic to it.

Second, it does not do a whole lot to booster fan support. Take this weekend as an example, how much interest could there possibly be in the school or community for these games; Freehold Township at Sayreville, Carteret at Red Bank Catholic, Long Branch at South Plainfield, Colonia at Ocean, Monmouth at Highland Park, or Holmdel at JFK-Iselin. I would be shocked if anyone outside of the coaches and maybe a few players knew the nicknames of any of the teams they were playing this week. Is that a big deal? Probably not in the grand scheme of things but wouldn't be nice when talking about game with a fellow fan to say, "Those (fill in the blank with a team name) have a great defense and tough running game." Let's be honest, most schools have a hard time getting big crowds out to watch games anyway and to me these games do not help at all.

Third and finally, I am not sure how to make the system better and the people that in charge of the process will never make everyone happy and certainly know more about it than I do. That being said, I would much rather go back to the days when teams scheduled who they wanted as non-conference games as you are talking about three games anyway and they usually work as a home and home series. So at worst you stuck playing a team twice before you can find another matchup that might work better. It really didn't work when the computer did it for the past several years as we got major mismatches each and every year but at least they were Shore Conference mismatches and not teams with no connection at all.

Not sure how many of you heard the discussion we have been having on the Thursday night show about the new football divisions for next year and while I think this a step in the right direction, I see some big flaws in this plan too. Why was there 7th division created with the same number of teams playing football (43)? I like the idea of going back to a more local division schedule but why label one division a "C" division when there are three "A" and three "B" divisions? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me especially when you look at the teams in it. I like the divisions having the names that they do now and finally when everyone has gotten used to them it goes back the other way. I am sure in two more years there will be another plan but I would love coming up with something that could stick around for awhile.

Have a great football weekend!!!



Broadcast info this week/weekend .. 10/8 .. High School Football Show .. Live @ Boston's in Toms River .. 6pm to 8pm .. 1160 WOBM AM & FOX Sports 1310 .. 10/9 .. TRN @ Brick Memorial .. 7pm kickoff .. 1160 WOBM AM & FOX Sports 1310 & 105.7 FM The Hawk .. 10/10 .. Monmouth vs Wagner .. 1pm kickoff .. 1160 WOBM AM & FOX Sports 1310 .. listen to all three broadcasts on the web at shoresportsnetwork.com