High school fantasy football simply crosses the line

	Oaks Christian RB Marc Tyler is a heck of a player, but he deserves to enjoy his high school years before he's selected in a fantasy draft. Peter Read Miller/SI

What I'm about to write may make me sound 76 and not 26, but the people who should be really concerned are those closely related to football players who, plus or minus a couple years, are 16.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press this season decided it would be a good idea for a handful of its staffers to put together fantasy football teams -- of high school football players.

I've heard of college fantasy football. But leagues such as those, at least in theory, are reasonable.

Pioneer-Press senior sports editor Mike Bass, after receiving a flurry of complaints from parents and coaches, announced this week that the paper is reconsidering its having staffers pick fantasy high school teams. In a memo that appeared on the paper's Web site, Bass wrote:

"We began our high school fantasy football feature this season as a fun way to get kids' names in the paper. This wasn't about gambling, because no money was involved. As with our weekly 'playmakers' and statistical leaders, it was another opportunity to spotlight the top performers in the area.

"However, some schools are objecting and are now refusing to provide statistics and other information to the Pioneer Press until we stop this feature. They say fantasy football is inappropriate on the high school level. They say it is too closely associated with gambling and/or it promotes individualism over team. As a result, our statistics package is smaller than normal this week.

"Where do we go from here?"

Bass then asked readers to write in and say how they felt about the project, and if they opposed it, why? I would love to read some of those letters. Especially the ones from coaches. Many high school coaches get grumpy when local preps writers do features on an individual player. "Not just him," they'll say of the star running back, "talk to the o-line, too. They're the ones who block for him."