Football, girls, scouting and  Yankee Stadium

At first glance the three subject matters in the title for this column probably don't seem to have much in common, especially in relation to football. However, the all tie in to the game that is vastly enjoyed in the south and is the most popular sport in the country.

Here are three different stories related to football that have received national recognition over the past few weeks.

Georgia girl told "No" in regards to going her junior high football team

Maddy Baxter, 12, was the starting defensive tackle for the sixth grade football team last year at Strong Rock Christian School in Locust Grove, Ga. The school is a private academy for pre-K through 12th grade.

According to her mother, Baxter recorded five sacks last year from her position on the defensive line, now the blockers trying to stop her are the administrators at her own school.

Baxter has been told by the school that she can not participate for the junior high football team this fall because "Middle school girls play girls' sports and middle school boys play boys' sports."

What a joke.

Last year it was okay for Baxter to participate in a sport that has been predominately an all-male sport, but now that she is a year older she can no longer compete with the boys.

The school also said that they were not going to allow Baxter to play on the team because it will give the boys on the team impure thoughts.

If you just fell out of your seat when you read that, don't be ashamed, I did the same thing the first time I read it too.

So if this school wants to keep their boys from having impure thoughts about girls, should they segregate their classrooms as well? I mean if boys on a football team are going to have impure thoughts about a female teammate while they are battling another team on the gridiron, just think of all the perversion running through their minds while in a classroom setting.

It's a slap in the face to females of all ages in this country that a girl is not allowed to play on a junior high football team. The only thing that should separate females from participating in any sport is ability and definitely not gender.

If Maddy was good enough to play on the school's football team as a sixth grader, I have a hard time believing that in the span of one year that she has been surpassed by all of her former teammates and no longer has the ability to compete with them. If she can compete with the boys that are her age then there is no reason that she should not be allowed to do so.

It seems to me that some parents of the male football players might be a bit worried that a girl is going to take the starting position over one of their boys, or even worse, one of them might get embarrassed by being tackled by a girl in practice.

The story has reached an international audience as Baxter and her mother have appeared on multiple morning talk TV shows and a Facebook page titled "Let her play" has received more than 47,000 likes in three weeks of existence.

Baxter has played football since the second grade and has never been told that she couldn't compete with the boys until this season. It seems plenty lame and stupid that the school has all of a sudden adopted a new policy that prevents girls from playing on the boys football team. The school allows its boys wrestling team to compete against other teams that have girls on them.

Can you so hypocrites?

A school will allow its boys to roll around dripping in sweat with girls from another school on a wrestling mat, but they will not allow one of their own girls to represent her school in a way that she loves to by competing on the football team. 

Maybe this school needs to worry more about the people that are in control of running the school and worry less about whether or not a girl should play on the junior high football team. Not every girl wants to grow up and be a cheerleader, some wish to lead while being cheered.

NCAA bans live scouting by coaches

Yes, you read that correctly, no live scouting by coaches. The new rule adopted by the NCAA states: Division I coaches in all sports will be prohibited from live scouting of future opponents.

I never even knew that this might pose a problem or an advantage / disadvantage for a school. How does a coach have the time to scout any future opponent when he is in charge of getting his team ready for its next game?

Was this even a matter that even needed to be looked at by the NCAA? Coaches can get game film from any game played on fall Saturdays. I'm pretty sure that they have DVR on their home TV's. And with the vast possibilities that the internet has to offer, it doesn't take too many mouse clicks to download any information that one seeks.

It seems that the NCAA has wasted more time, effort and money on something that really isn't that big of a deal. Maybe they could spend more time developing more rules and regulations to combat concussions and increasing the graduation rates of student-athletes.

Hey NCAA, live scouting by coaches, ain't nobody got time for that.

New York Yankees seek to host CFB playoff game

Yankee Stadium has played host to the New Era Pinstripe Bowl for the past three seasons. There have been memorable match ups between: Syracuse-Kansas State, Rutgers-Iowa State and Syracuse-West Virginia that have left throngs of fans from the northeast excitedly awaiting the event the following year.

Yes, that was a snide remark about the game, because the only people that really care about the Pinstripe Bowl are the coaches, players and fans of the two schools competing in it. 

So, why would Yankee Stadium even be consider as a possible venue for a future CFB playoff game? It shouldn't. Who wants to go to New York in January to play a game when the average temperatures range from 27-38 degrees? 

Current venues for future playoff games are Dallas, Phoenix and Miami that are climate-controlled, and have retractable roofs. Atlanta and New Orleans are also on the list, and both venues are domed stadiums. The other stadium that will host a playoff game is in Pasadena, Cali. All six of these locations are way more desirable sites to host a football game in January than Yankee Stadium.

While the thought of a CFB playoff game having a snow covered back drop might be appealing to some, it just doesn't seem like a smart decision to throw in the possibility of inclement weather in the mix for determining who the best college football team is.

SOmetimes you have to play in the elements, but when you can avoid the possibility, why wouldn't you?

Don't worry Yankees, if this falls through, you still have those memorable Pinstripe Bowl games to look forward too.