That parochial thing

Bishop Luers is headed back to the state finals this week for the first time in eight years, which is a great story when you consider the Knights were 3-6 in the regular season and getting ball-peened by everybody for awhile, losing three games by 34, 25 and 38 points, and three of their last four by 10, 37 and 22.

But head coach Kyle Lindsay and his staff got their kids' heads right for the playoffs, and the Knights commenced being a team that wouldn't take an L. And now they're playing Western Boone Friday for the 2A title, and, like I said, it's a hell of a story and congrats to everyone down there at the corner of Paulding and Clinton.

Of course, being a parochial school, it was inevitable that by showing up downstate again, they'd once more get dragged into that whole parochial -schools-have-an-unfair-advantage silliness.

It got out in the open initially when the coach at Tipton made a passing reference to it after the Knights dispatched the Blue Devils 36-17 in the regional. And Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star acknowledged it in a recent column, noting there's a possibility five private schools could win state titles this weekend, and that doubtless will get the whole business stirred up again.

In the past, some folks have suggested the private schools should have their own state tournament separate from the public schools. We'll probably hear some of that again this weekend if Luers, Indianapolis Cathedral, Indianapolis Roncalli, Indianapolis Chatard and Covenant Christian all win. 

The usual tired arguments about Unfair Advantages (i.e.: "Those private schools can recruit!") will be trotted out. The usual response from people like me -- "What are you, afraid to compete?" -- will also be trotted out.

And so one last time, boys and girls, for everyone who missed it the first half-dozen times: The notion that Luers or Bishop Dwenger or whoever "recruits" its football hosses is ridiculous, and irrelevant anyway in a town where the public school powers themselves have always wound up with hosses from suspiciously distant parts of the city. And when I say "always," that covers a lot of ground, considering I was born and raised here.

(And before I'm accused of some innate Luers/Dwenger/Catholic school bias: I was also born and raised a Methodist and graduated from New Haven High School. Try again.)

In any event, what I've always pointed out is the "recruiting" charge is nonsense, because if Luers or Dwenger or even Concordia were actually doing that, why do so many of the same surnames show up on their rosters year after year after year? Why do so many of their players wind up where their brothers did or their uncles or their fathers?

That makes this a family deal, or so it seems to me. And in the cases where it's not a family deal, the Blob can cite you numerous examples in which it was the families who recruited the school, not the other way around. 

Which makes sense because, in Luers' particular case, the Knights have 11 state football championship banners hanging from the rafters in their gym. And on the other side of the city, Dwenger has five state titles to its name.

So how much "recruiting" do you suppose Jason Garrett or Lindsay would have to do?

The obvious answer: Very little. Or none.

The Luers and Dwengers and Cathedrals and the rest win because they've always won, and winning feeds on itself. It's tradition, and tradition has always been the fuel for sustained excellence. Those little kids you see chucking a football around behind the bleachers and dreaming their dreams on game nights grow up to be the next generation of Knights or Saints or Irish. This is how it works and always has.

Segregating this wouldn't make high school football in the public schools better. It would only diminish whatever the kids at those schools achieve.

And who would want to see that?