The California Interscholastic Federation section commissioners just don't get it.
While patting themselves on the back for a job well done, they continue to go out of their way to slap the face of the majority of constituents they represent.
How can it be any other way when the 10 commissioners voted today for the selection of seven private schools to play in the five state bowl games on Friday and Saturday at the Home Depot Center in Carson?
Rocklin will be the only public school to represent Northern California. The Thunder was selected for the D-II bowl game against Servite of Anaheim, a parochial school.
Although private school enrollment is significantly smaller than public school enrollment in California, 20 of the 32 representatives that will or have played in this game during the event's four-year existence are private schools.
One can talk about strength of schedule, etc., but the bottom line is that there seems to be a bias among the commissioners for private schools that generally have larger followings, better alumni support and stronger reputations than most public schools.
The real travesty is in the D-I North selection of Bellarmine Prep of San Jose over Nevada Union.
NU had the better overall record at 13-1, and its only loss was early in the season by five points to unbeaten Rocklin. Bellarmine finished 11-1-1 and had a 24-point home loss to St. Mary's of Stockton, a team ousted by Del Oro in the section quarterfinals. Del Oro lost twice to Rocklin.
NU also was higher than Bellarmine in the esteemed D-I state bowl rankings conducted by Cal-Hi Sports.
But the Bells played the stronger schedule based on overall opponents' records and that appears to be the determining factor in the San Jose school's selection. (Or maybe the section commissioners decided to throw a bone to the Central Coast Section, which otherwise would not have had a representative in the game.)
Strength of schedule is a huge Catch-22 for public schools. Private schools like Bellarmine will always have high strength ratings because they are usually playing each other in private school leagues like the West Catholic Athletic League.
There are at least seven public schools in our area that could beat Bellarmine: Nevada Union, Rocklin, Del Oro, Grant, Inderkum, Folsom and Del Campo. All are public schools.
Those that did not win a section championship, of course, weren't eligible for consideration and most aren't in the same division as the Bells.
But like NU, D-III section champion Del Campo, 13-1, was a team that had no chance to go to this game because of strength of schedule issues and because so many public schools are lumped into the D-I or D-II divisions for state bowl consideration, another issue that needs to be addressed.
The commissioners have once again allowed the contentious public school vs. private school issue to rear its ugly head.
But do they care enough to do something about it? Today's vote suggests otherwise.
