What a Joke (or Section 1=FAIL)

Kevin Devaney Jr, writing over at Lohud.com, said that Section 1, the governing body of high school sports in the Hudson Valley, has denied the Journal News' request to broadcast games live on their site.

Hmmm...I smell a rat. Follow the money...all the way to Cablevision (via MSG Varsity).

You see, MSG Varsity is carrying games on their channel, but "live to tape" as we say. That means the games are shown at a later time. The Journal News wanted to air them live. See where this is going?

Section 1 Executive Director Jennifer Simmons told the paper:

“Media is growing leaps and bounds and we need to make sure we’re protected as far as live event goes,” Simmons said. “We’re having ongoing conversations at the board level and we’ve decided to put a halt on everything until we’ve looked at it and decided what we’re going to do.”

“We have lawyers going back and forth and each school has a different interpretation. What waivers need to be signed? Do we need one signed by the parents of every player because it’s live? That’s become a big issue.”

B.S. Plain and simple. Devaney follows that up:

Basically, the concern with a live event is over what could happen that Section 1 wouldn’t be able to control (i.e. a brawl, serious injury, etc.). Simmons also said there’s concern over what a broadcast could do to the attendance, and revenue, although she said that “was part of it but not a huge part of it.”

So what would they do to radio broadcasts? Same garbage? Please.

A big BOO on Section 1 for this. Even the CIAC doesn't screw this one up.