Fair in sports?

How do you define "fair" in sports? If the Twins can get 3 outs, the NY Yankees will lose a playoff game. The Yankees spend about 14 fold what most teams do on their payroll (only a SLIGHT exaggeration). They field an allstar team to play an assortment of other "mercenary" teams and small market clubs who do not have the funds to really compete year in and year out. For me, this is not a fair playing field. It is certainly "legal" and within the bounds of the MLB "system", so if you are a Yankees fan, you love it. In college football the closest comparison is Notre Dame, as they are independent, have a sweet deal with the BCS, and have their own television network (NBC) to show their games every week. I cannot pull for the Yankees, and cannot pull for the Irish. The Notre Dame "advantage" is not nearly as profound as NY in baseball.

The real imbalance in football is at the prep level. St Thomas Aquinas has a deep and talented football team and well they should. They are a private school in Fort Lauderdale, so they are able to "attract" players from all over talent rich Broward and even Dade County. The south Florida counties are sick, with the speedy players they produce every year. STA (THE YANKEES JUST HIT A 2 RUN HOMER TO TIE THE GAME - no outs in the bottom of the 9th).
Back to STA. When they play a public school like the one I attended a hundred years ago, the public school will have a roster made up of players from that community - period. They can have some good years or down years based on talent and coaching. A private school powerhouse, has kids lining up to jump on board. STA had a kid transfer in from CALIFORNIA this season, to be the BACKUP quarterback. Do you blame the kid? His scholarship chances are probably vastly improved.

In Tallahassee, little North Florida Christian has built a dynasty. Most seasons they can go toe to toe with the likes of state powers Lincoln and Godby, who are much bigger schools. Of course most seasons the NFC roster is sprinkled with kids who may have played at Lincoln, Godby, Leon or Chiles the year before. So, when NFC rolls over to a Port St Joe or a Marianna, which roster is most likely to have 6 or 7 D1 prospects? The little private school. Again, are STA or NFC or Bolles (the Jax version) doing anything illegal? No, they are completely within the bounds of the FHSAA rules. Is it a level playing field? Not in any way, shape, form or fashion.

Across the country, you still have some traditional public school power programs (Lowndes GA, Jenks and Union in OK, Prattville AL, Lakeland FL, Byrnes SC, etc, that maintain competitive excellence every year, but the big rising programs are the small private schools. Oaks Christian has now joined fellow California private school power De LaSalle in the elite. Private schools in Texas now are starting to dominate the top 10, while some of the very best teams in the country are in the private schools in Cincinnati and Cleveland. So, STA has some company around the nation, even in Tennessee, the best team this year may be Memphis University school, as they have already beaten two top teams from Mississippi (South Panola and Olive Branch). Don Bosco Prep is a private school in New Jersey that is another example. It is not quite the same level as the prep basketball factories (Findley in Vegas, Montverde, etc.), but moving in that direction...