PREPS

I remember walking into The Spokesman-Review sports department years ago and mentioning something about USA Today's national poll to long-time S-R prep reporter Merle Derrick.

I was met with a withering stare from over his glasses and a well-thought-out lecture from the man everyone called Doc about the stupidity of national high school rankings.

Merle had lots of points, but the main one had to do with teams from different states not playing each other, so who could really tell which was the best team in the nation? It just had to be opinion, not fact.

Irregardless of the point all polls are opinion and not fact, Merle was right then. And, despite the growth of national prep travel (we ran a story about it not too long ago), he is still right.

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