I am going to say no 7A game.
Dean:
This is a prescient question, but it is every bit as important to hypothesize on what will occur after the litigation concludes. I suspect Fenwick's case will draw to a close with a loss and the 7A game will proceed with ESL and PN facing one another.
It is, however, entirely possible the court case could result in a Fenwick victory and a scenario we must consider is the IHSA re-acting with fury and in throwing this child-like tantrum, cancelling the 7A game.
What occurs after this horror show is mercifully brought to a conclusion is equally important. Instead of the IHSA, an organization I will refer to as the Temple of Denial henceforth, using this as a "teachable" moment for member schools, will the IHSA use it as a "teachable" moment for itself and modify its Byzantine code to prevent such an event for occurring again? Doubtful. In fact it is highly doubtful.
It is unlikely the leadership in the Temple will do any such thing for the reason altering rules in the wake of this mess, a mess they created, would be an implicit admission they were in the wrong and not fully prepared to address any unknown state of affair which could cause mayhem in the course of an athletic event.
As I stated before, the solitary reason utter disorder surrounds the 7A title game is because the short-sighted leadership in the Temple has refused to make the needed accommodations to meet unforeseen events. By simply modifying existing code to include a device where Temple officials could review and issue a ruling, perhaps even overturning the results of a contest, the Temple could prevent bedlam from occurring and likely improve on its abyssal public image. One could only imagine how a share of opprobrium hurled at the Temple would evaporate if it would offer simple modifications to existing code.
Will this occur? Not on your life. The band of officious bureaucrats in the Temple have no intention of changing anything. In their myopic world, it is easier to either ignore pleas or reply to appeals for cooperation with a one-sentence, middle-finger-in-the-face response.
For those who choose to transform this sordid tale into another tragic chapter in the grim chronicle of the Catholic vs. public war, there is little basis for it, but it could be used more effectively as a truncheon to bludgeon the Temple as a completely out-of-touch institution with no devotion to fair competition.
If the Temple of Denial has an image problem, it only need to look in the mirror to find the source.
