All Sports is Local
By John Bell | 8.22.08
Tip O'Neil suggested that all politics is local. So, allegedly are high school sports - close enough to religion and politics in Northern New Jersey that the adage maintains relevance.
Well, high school sports are local, unless that is, you work for the NJSIAA. In a radical realignment mainly affecting high schools in the counties of Essex, Hudson, Union and Bergen, the efforts predicted by a member of the committee to be "not a perfect plan, but .... a good starting point," turned out instead to punish private (read: non-public or Catholic ) schools for their previous success in football, among other high profile sports.
For those who to view the full carnage you can follow this link.
In short, this is what you get:
Don Bosco Prep, a perennial Top 5 football team nationally being placed in a division with traditionally weak opponents.
Queen of Peace, North Arlington gets to travel to Shabazz, Eastside (Newark), Westside (Newark) and Irvington. Enjoy Route 21 guys!
Ridgewood still faces a division filled with non-public opponents.
As the Bergen Record's Art Stapleton observed: we wanted to believe a state run organization could get things correct. But, as usual, we were wrong.
What's the point of the NJSIAA's plan? Perhaps it's simply incompetency at a shrill and conspicuous level. Or, perhaps it's just the beautiful disaster of New Jersey's politics at its finest again.
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