Let’s talk about how a high school you have never heard of – Bishop Sycamore HS out of Columbus, OH – has become the poster child for everything that is wrong about HS athletics today.
This past week’s headlines focused on Bishop Sycamore HS, a highly-suspicious HS allegedly based in Columbus – which found its football team playing on ESPN against mighty powerhouse IMG Academy of Florida. IMG crushed the Bishop Sycamore Centurions 58-0, which boasts of having numerous Div I prospects – but in reality, the team doesn’t seem to have any D-I prospects. What they DO have is a bunch of kids who have already played 4 years of HS football, are now 19 or 20, and in several cases, apparently have some legal issues.
In addition, Bishop Sycamore had just played and lost two nights earlier to a team in PA 19-7. And many of Bishop’s players play both on defense and offense, meaning that they were risking serious injury by participating in a football game in less than 48 hours. And from what I can gather, the team doesn’t have an athletic trainer.
Trust me when I tell you that I’m not making any of this up….I was simply incredulous as I read numerous reports and accounts from the Columbus OH and national media about this so-called HS and their football team.
But there’s a lot more to what seems to be a major scam.
Now, Bishop has only been around for two years….and its football team hasn’t won a game yet.
And amazingly, Bishop played IMG last season, and they got pummeled in that game 56-6. Surely, you would think that someone from IMG would have asked some questions about re-scheduling this opponent again. But apparently no one did.
It’s difficult to track any real detail because the Bishop Sycamore website is scant at best. It gives an address as the school’s home address but is actually a workout facility.
It claims that it teaches its student body via online classes, but again, it’s hard to track any of this down.
Here’s what is even more amazing…
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Just a few years ago, the same scam was put forth in an alleged school called Christians of Faith Academy. Pretty much the same administrators and coaches were involved. Apparently, that school touted itself as the “IMG of the Midwest” although they certainly didn’t have anywhere close to IMG’s success.
In any event, all of this has led to a major investigation by the state of Ohio. Even the governor of Ohio is asking questions as to what’s going on.
All of this came to light last week after Bishop Sycamore’s resounding defeat to IMG, and even the ESPN announcers started to wonder out loud on the telecast as to why this game has been scheduled.
It all gets stranger and stranger. I can assure you that you have never heard any kind of story like this before. And it’s all real.
