By GEORGE MAHL – Sports Editor

I know many of you are already familiar will what the Louisiana High School Athletic Association did to the Reserve Christian boys basketball team recently. It seems to me there is a conspiracy going on right now. Before a break out the old soapbox and start a rant, let me make this perfectly clear.

I do NOT show Reserve Christian any favoritism. I DO Not and don’t intend to donate any money to the school. I will admit that I have a good relationship with Timmy Byrd, RCS head coach. But then again, isn’t every sports writer supposed to have a good relationship with every coach they come in contact with? In case you have not heard, the last Thursday the LHSAA ruled that Reserve Christian was ineligible for post-season play because they did not complete the necessary paper work that needed to be filled out. I was told that a person by the name of Carlos Mena, who is a pastor from Shreveport, told Byrd and other RCS administrators that he would “take care” of the paper work.

You can’t blame Byrd or anyone at RCS for this one. If a person says they are going to take care of it, then that is their responsibility. I find the timing of this very ironic. It was decided the day before the boys playoffs were set to begin. The part I don’t like is that the team that turned them in, Midland, got beat by the Eagles in the playoffs last year. It sounds to me like there may be some sour grapes up the road in Midland.

Interesting enough is the fact that Reserve Christian, had they not been thrown out of the playoffs, would have likely played Midland in the second round of the playoffs. I would have paid anything to see that one.

This is not the first time the LHSAA has followed the Eagles closely. Last year, they ruled that Kristin Johanson was ineligible because of the dual residency law. It seems the LHSAA likes coming down on private schools. They are always watching schools like Evangel and John Curtis with a magnifying glass. This is not good for those schools as well as the other private/catholic schools in the state.

I was told recently that 25 percent of the schools in Louisiana are private.

I would be willing to almost bet that is an above average percentage compared to other states. Lost in all of this is the one group of people that this has hurt the most: the players.