Several UIL realignment scenarios possible
Jeremy Heath

Jeremy Heath is the Dispatch Record's sports editor. His column appears Fridays. He can be contacted via e-mail at jheath@lampasas.com.

The University Interscholastic League's biennial statewide classification and district realignment is scheduled for today.

And, per usual, there is little utility -- outside of the simple fun it provides high school sports fans -- in trying to predict what the UIL will decide. It never quite turns out the way people expect it to -- or perhaps more accurately the way people want it to. The results most fans convince themselves will be most logical (read: most beneficial to the schools they follow) seldom materialize.

But, again, it is fun to discus, so let's examine some of the possibilities for Lampasas High School.

Let's start with the possibilities surrounding LHS' current football and basketball placement in District 25-4A. Rumor has it Cedar Park Vista Ridge is a shoe-in to move up to Class 5A, and Pflugerville Connally is a possibility. There are also rumors Burnet could move down to Class 3A, and that Hutto could move from 3A to 4A.

Let's presume all four of those things happen. Logic would dictate LHS would stay in 25-4A because those moves naturally would whittle what has been an eight-team district to a six-teamer without the UIL plucking a team from 17-4A, 26-4A or 27-4A to fill any void left by a departing LHS.

With Class 4A adopting a top-four-teams-makethe playoffs system next year, this could be extremely beneficial to a Badger football program looking for positives as it rebuilds and a boys' basketball program with a legitimate shot at a fourthplace finish this season.

Let's say only Vista Ridge moves up to 5A, and Hutto moves up to 4A. It would seemingly make it easy on the UIL to simply replace Vista Ridge with Hutto. The problem that scenario would create -- perhaps perpetuate is a better word -- is that Lampasas would remain in an eight-team district.

Now let's say Vista Ridge and Connally move up to 5A, and Hutto moves up to 4A. Moving Hutto into 25-4A and leaving the rest of the district in place would create a seven-team district. If that happens, precedent would suggest the probability of moving one of the existing 25-4A teams to another district (of the eight 4A districts in Region IV, only District 32-4A is a seven-teamer).

At that point, the most logistically reasonable move would be to send Lampasas to six-team District 16-4A, where it is rumored Brownwood will move down to 3A.

Confused yet? I know I am. Hold on a second while I refill my coffee in an attempt to piece together my fractured focus.

OK, now let's say Vista Ridge moves up, Hutto moves up and Burnet moves down. Again, a seventeam 25-4A would be the immediate result, and the possibility of LHS moving to 16-4A again presents itself.

My head hurts, so let's simplify this by saying that unless something really drastic occurs -- like LHS moving down to 3A or three 25-4A teams moving up to 5A -- it appears the Badgers will be playing football and basketball in 25-4A or 16-4A for the next two years.

So which of those two districts would be the best fit for LHS? Well, it depends on the size of 25-4A. If 25-4A remains an eight-team district, LHS probably would fare better in a six-team 16-4A. If 25-4A is a six-teamer, LHS could be more competitive there.

The only certainty is that we'll know at 9 a.m. today.

* Super Bowl XLII Tidbits

What a Shock-ey: Does anyone out there find it terribly interesting that the New York Giants didn't start their run to the big game until after mouthy tight end Jeremy Shockey broke his leg in a 22-10 loss to the Washington Redskins in Week 15?

The loss dropped the Giants to 8-6, and they were left scrambling just to make the playoffs. Since the injury, the Giants have won five straight -- including three straight road playoff games.

No one can dispute Shockey is one of the most physically gifted tight ends in football, but his sometimes divisive on-field and off-field behavior is well documented. It's just another example of team play winning out over individual greatness.

Off-Broadway Eli: In January of 1969, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath sat poolside with reporters and guaranteed victory over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.

Namath backed up his comments by directing a 16-7 win in Super Bowl III.

The magnitude of the win -- it legitimized the status of the American Football League as an entity on par with the more established National Football League -- spurred Namath to a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction, despite the fact he threw 173 career touchdown passes and 220 career interceptions.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is certainly not the type to make brash predictions. He's almost an anti-Namath.

But a Giants win on Sunday over the heavily favored New England Patriots would certainly measure historically with the Jets' win.

Would precedent then make Manning a lock for the Hall, even if he puts up average numbers for the rest of his career?

Terrific Tom (nope, not Brady): If the game is a blowout -- and it usually is when there are two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl -- party hosts can take solace in the fact that their guests can at least look to the commercials for entertainment.

This is one of the rare Super Bowls when the commercials can afford to be duds, as well. That's because Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers are playing during halftime.

I've seen hundreds of country, rock, blues, jazz and even rap (I know, I know) musicians live. I've seen only one performer work as hard on stage as does Petty.

That was Bob Dylan.

Rest assured, Petty will give America his best effort. And that, in itself, is worth sitting through four hours of boring football.