Though school in Wisconsin doesn’t start for 10 more days, the high school football season starts tonight.

I will be on the air in Platteville tonight announcing that rarest of things, a big early-season game between Darlington, apparently the prohibitive favorite in its conference, and Platteville, one of two favorites in its conference, at 7 p.m. on WPVL (1590 AM) in Platteville and online worldwide at http://www.theespndoubleteam.com.

Similar to where I used to announce, Ripon, Platteville is embroiled in its own conference problems, about which you can read my thoughts here. Those thoughts may seem similar to my thoughts one year earlier (and before that elsewhere) because as far as Platteville goes, not much has changed.

The more I watch the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, which sanctions Wisconsin high school sports, the less I’m impressed. The I in its initials could stand for (dis)Ingenuous, as in essentially all its arguments in its lawsuit against Gannett Newspapers, which dared to broadcast postseason basketball without going through the right WIAA hoops (so to speak).

The WIAA claims to be a voluntary association, which in truth is as voluntary as holding a driver’s license. Do you need a driver’s license? Only if you want to drive. Driving is theoretically optional, but factually mandatory. One of those A’s in WIAA should stand for “arrogance,” too, given that the WIAA refuses to acknowledge that none of its activities would be possible without taxpayer dollars — the taxpayer dollars that build and maintain the schools (including UW campuses and UW–Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium and Kohl Center) that hold high school events, the taxpayer dollars that pay coaches (most of whom are teachers, whose salaries are paid for by us taxpayers), the taxpayer dollars that buy many athletic supplies, and so on.

On that happy note, enjoy the season.