Genuine sportsmanship takes back seat to IHSA's greed

Somewhere, Add A. Tude must have been cringing.

With one hand the IHSA preaches about the values of sportsmanship in the form of its orange and blue foamed mascot that looks vaguely like a wrestling mat.

On the other hand, though, the IHSA fails to practice the very ideas it preaches.

I'm referring to what took place last weekend in between the Class 7A and 8A state championship football games at Champaign's Memorial Stadium.

Something unprecedented occurred as three DuPage Valley Conference teams appeared in two finals.

Even though Wheaton Warrenville South suffered a heartbreaking 7-3 loss to Lake Zurich in the 7A game, the Tigers still mustered up the moxie to pay tribute to DVC brothers Naperville North and Glenbard North as they prepared to take the field for the Class 8A game.

The Tigers sent the defense to one entrance and the offense to the other entrance, forming human tunnels for each 8A DVC team to run through as they took the field.

It was a move reminiscent of 1992 when the Tigers, after their 5A title game, formed a tunnel for Naperville North prior to its 6A game.

A stunning display of camaraderie, it should have been allowed to stand as a symbol of sportsmanship well beyond anything Add A. Tude can muster as a mascot.

It showed heart.

It showed class.

It showed maturity.

It showed brotherhood.

It showed how teams can be fierce rivals and at the same time maintain the utmost respect for each other.

It showed all the virtues the IHSA claims to promote, virtues adults have trouble expressing -- let alone teenage young men.

And with one short-sighted move, the IHSA undercut every bit of it.

Instead of allowing the tunnels, officials forced WW South's players and coaches into the end zone stands to pose for a team picture.

Naperville North was gathered underneath the bleachers ready to run through the tunnel, but the Huskies weren't allowed to take the field because their allotted warmup time hadn't begun.

WW South stayed in tunnel formation as long as it could, but the Tigers ultimately were herded into the stands and had to settle for a few pad slaps and handshakes as a sign of DVC pride.

What I don't understand is why the IHSA couldn't wait five minutes to take the team picture and allow Naperville North and Glenbard North to run through the tunnels.

Does sportsmanship only matter when it fits into the IHSA's precious itinerary?

It made me think of all the high-minded ideas about prep sports being for the athletes. But so many recent moves made by the IHSA leave me wondering if that remains the primary goal.

Much has been said in the past week about photographers from the Daily Herald and other newspapers being barred from the field last week in Champaign. The IHSA enforced a policy of not allowing secondary use of images from state championship events, which basically means not permitting newspapers to sell the images they gather from such events.

Whether the policy is right or wrong, the IHSA needs to look itself in the mirror and ask if its motives are pure.

What exactly happens with those all-important team pictures that take precedence over everything else -- including the summit of sportsmanship displayed by WW South?

Well, the pictures are taken by a company called Visual Image Photography, Inc., which has an exclusive deal with the IHSA to market the images from its state championship events.

You can purchase the images to appear on everything from posters to playing cards.

They're the exact kind of images the IHSA is trying to prevent the Daily Herald and other papers from selling on their own, images they've been selling for years.

But if the IHSA truly were living up to its motto of "Sport a Winning Attitude," it would have recognized that what was happening on the field with the DVC teams and the tunnels was a far more enduring image than any team picture it peddles through its exclusive vendor.

It's an issue I'd love to discuss with Add A. Tude, but I don't think it'll happen.

According to the IHSA web site, there's a $25 costume fee to be granted access to our foamy little friend.

I guess even sportsmanship comes at a price.