Sold Out

December 13, 2016

We are sometimes criticized for limiting the scope of school sports – for restricting long-distance travel and prohibiting national tournaments; but there is no question that we are doing the correct thing by protecting school sports from the excesses and abuses that characterize major college sports.

Across the spectrum of intercollegiate athletics, but especially in Division I football and basketball, there exists an insatiable “keep-up-with-the-Joneses” appetite.

Universities are building increasingly extravagant facilities. They are sending their “students” into increasingly expansive scheduling. But it’s never enough.

There is always another university somewhere building a bigger stadium, a fancier press box or more palatial dressing rooms, practice facilities and coaches quarters.

So-called “students” are sent across the US and beyond to play on any day at any time in order to generate revenue to keep feeding the beast.

The Big Ten knows it’s wrong, admits it, but schedules football games on Friday nights to attract larger rights fees from television.

Feeling used or abused, some of the athletes of Northwestern and then at the University of Wisconsin, talk of creating a union to protect themselves from the obvious, rampant exploitation.

And then occasionally, some college coaches dare to suggest that high schools are wrong to have regulations that reject the road that colleges have traveled, a road that has distanced athletics very far from academics in intercollegiate sports.

The intercollegiate model is not and must not be the interscholastic model. We who are sold out for educational athletics have nothing good to learn from those who have sold out for broadcast revenue.

Performance of the Week: Birmingham Seaholm's Colton Kinnie

November 3, 2023

Colton KinnieColton Kinnie ♦ Birmingham Seaholm
Senior ♦ Football

The Maples’ third-year starting quarterback led Seaholm to a 56-49 win over rival Birmingham Groves in a Division 2 District Semifinal on Friday after Seaholm also had defeated Groves 21-14 in the regular-season finale the week before. Kinnie ran for four touchdowns and threw for two more as his team improved to 9-1 this fall.

Seaholm earlier repeated as Oakland Activities Association Blue champion and is a combined 17-4 over the last two seasons after finishing just 1-8 in 2021. The 6-foot-2, 220-pound Kinnie has been a major contributor to the turnaround, and he’s joined by an experienced cast of seasoned starters including twin brother Granden. Both also joined the Seaholm baseball varsity as sophomores and helped that team to a District title in the spring.

@mhsaasports 🏈POW: Colton Kinnie #football #touchdown #seaholm #letsgo #part1 #highschoolsports #tiktalk #interview #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA

@mhsaasports 🏈POW: Colton Kinnie #tiktalk #questiontime #part2 #suits #chipotle #nighttime #kitkat #reeses #phone #family #performanceoftheweek #mistudentaid #fyp #MHSAA ♬ original sound - MHSAA

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MHSAA.com's "Performance of the Week" features are powered by MI Student Aid, a part of the Office of Postsecondary Financial Planning located within the Michigan Department of Treasury. MI Student Aid encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 college savings programs (MET/MESP), as well as scholarship and grant programs that help make college Accessible, Affordable and Attainable for you. Connect with MI Student Aid at www.michigan.gov/mistudentaid and find more information on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.

Past 2023-24 Honorees

Oct. 27: Lauren Timpf, Macomb Lutheran North golf - Report
Oct. 20:
Alena Li, Okemos golf - Report
Oct. 13:
Seth Norder, Grand Haven cross country - Report
Oct. 5:
Paige Anderson, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer golf - Report
Sept. 29:
MacKenzie Bisballe, Lake City volleyball - Report
Sept. 22:
Jhace Massey, Gladwin football - Report
Sept. 15:
Kaylee Draper, Sturgis swimming - Report
Sept. 8:
Owen Jackson, Traverse City St. Francis tennis - Report
Sept. 1:
Rachel Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country - Report

PHOTO Seaholm quarterback Colton Kinnie eludes a Groves defender during their Division 2 playoff matchup. (Photos courtesy of the Birmingham Seaholm athletic department.)