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3 May 1999
TO: Selected Superintendents and Newspaper Editors

The enclosed is a copy of a letter sent to XXXXXXX, the IHSAA representative from XXXXX, to register my dissatisfaction with his position in the recent vote to destroy one the most hallowed of Indiana institutions at the expense of our children.

If you are a Newspaper Editor, please consider this an open Letter to the Editor, and consider it for publication so that your community members may be informed of the travesty their education system has given their children.

If you are a Superintendent, please take whatever action you feel is necessary to show this person the error of their ways. If you in any way support the action that has been taken, then you may consider all the admonitions contained in the letter as applying to you as well, and you may rest secure in the knowledge that you have taken an active role in destroying our children's future as well.

No rebuttal will be accepted, as none may logically be offered. Any plans for action will be readily accepted and acted upon with the vigor this situation deserves. Thank you for your time.

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May 3, 1999

TO: IHSAA Board Members responsible for the destruction of basketball in Indiana

Esteemed Board Member:

I would like to share with you a letter I sent to the editor of The Indianapolis Star:

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I am compelled to write regarding the recent vote by the Board of Directors of the IHSAA on the multi-class sports system in the High Schools of Indiana.

The state of Indiana has been shamed by the actions of this board. Formerly, the rivalry between Indiana and Kentucky as to which state was truly the home of basketball had valid arguments on both sides. Excitement, drama, and the thrill of seeing all schools pitted against each other in even matchups was a March feast for the senses which could be topped nowhere else in the country.

Now that administrators and directors have emasculated our tournament, basketball in this state has been reduced to a level where Indiana will never again be regarded as anything other than a state with kids who play basketball, just like any other state. No more Hoosiers. No more excitement. Only mock state "championships" filled with hapless student athletes who have had the opportunity for true excellence stripped from them by so many politically-correct, don't-hurt-their-feelings, why-even-keep-score-as-it-might-hurt-their-feelings bureaucrats.

The titles these kids win will be hollow, their example of what competitiveness in the real world is like having been diluted to the point of non-existence. The IHSAA's actions have a logical extension: Implement a class for every single school in the tournament. Then, every team would be a champion, and every child will have been fully indoctrinated into the completely unrealistic notion that playing is winning, and effort is tantamount to results. Pride in one's effort and work ethic, even in defeat, will have become replaced with false victories that have not been earned on a fair playing field.

We do not fully realize how much we dilute our own society in this way; rather, we wonder at our own self-destruction when its results become manifest. Rhetoric prevails when foresight, wisdom and action should have triumphed over weakness and simple "solutions" from the beginning.

The "polls" fostered upon us by the IHSAA as proof of the public support of their misguided actions are fatally flawed. In every questionnaire, every poll, every mailing, the sports of baseball, basketball, softball and soccer were always lumped together as though there were no differences between them. While a single-class system would be the correct solution for all these sports, my intention is not to suggest that all of them aren't positive or valid activities for our young people. No sensible argument can possibly be entertained that there is in any way the same excitement, drama, tradition, or public desire for a single-class system across all sports. Indiana is not the baseball capital of the United States, it is the basketba... Well, not any more.

This change has been sanctified by the classmongers as that which is best for the kids. There is no way that watering down the competition makes anyone stronger. This change only hurts the kids.

I feel sorry for them, as their most sincere efforts are destined for the garbage dump through no fault of their own. I will never support this system. I will never attend a tournament game. I have lost the sport I love. My beautiful home state has been mortally shamed.

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I honestly cannot believe that an educated person who has taken on a responsibility for fostering our children's growth can possibly entertain an opinion such as that expressed by your vote. You and your kind seek to undermine the strength of future generations for reasons known only to you. Is it pride? Ego? Lust for Power? Deep-rooted insecurity? Or just possibly, pure and simple sadism? The truth notwithstanding, one must conclude that your efforts have been motivated by other than that which you publicly proclaim; that is a prostitution of your authority, and you are worthy of the greatest contempt a society has to offer because of your embrace of such an incompetent and morally inept position.

The children you have injured have my sympathy. You have my unabashed, unbridled hatred and contempt. May the kids have the strength to overcome the handicap you have placed on them.