Warning: I’m going to sound like a crotchety old man in this column.

But I feel like some of this needs to be written, and I’m sure some of the sentiments are shared by many of you.

Or, maybe not. Perhaps I am way off base. Either way, here it goes:

What’s the big hurry? The Karns City baseball team played a game with temperatures in the 20s on Tuesday. So did Butler.

Mars played Pine-Richland Wednesday with wind chills in the teens and single digits.

Even the Butler boys lacrosse team postponed its game against North Allegheny because of the cold weather.

It’s still March. Why expose the players to those extreme conditions? What’s the hurry?

There’s still eight solid weeks of the baseball season left. Baseball is one of the few sports that schools can actually play every single day if need be.

The problem, though, isn’t necessarily with the schools’ decisions to play those games. It’s with the decision to start the season so early.

The first play date was March 21. Sure, we get warm weather that early. Just two years ago, we had a very warm March, but those are few and far between.

More often than not, we get chilly and downright cold ones like the one we are experiencing this year.

Football runs deep into basketball season. Why not push the basketball season back a few weeks and the baseball and softball seasons back, also?

It makes a lot of sense. Therefore, it will not happen. Instead, players are expected to play a very precise and technical sport meant for warm weather on days colder than any during the football season.

Private vs. Public. Of the 16 teams that played last weekend for state basketball championships, only five were public schools.

Three — the New Castle boys and the Blackhawk and Cumberland Valley girls — won state titles.

There were private schools called Neumann-Goretti and a charter school named Math Civics and Science playing for state titles. And, of course, charter school Lincoln Park, which was called a “small college” during the state playoffs.

The time has come for separate tournaments for public and private schools.

Coaching conundrum. It’s no secret it is very difficult to be a high school coach these days.

There are so many forces at work to derail their efforts.

Minnesota lawmakers, though, have made life a little easier on them by passing legislation that makes it illegal for a school to fire a coach based solely on parent complaints.

While the law is a good one in theory, I still wonder if it goes a little too far.

Not all parents lust for the blood of coaches for baseless reasons. It will be an interesting experiment to follow.

Stay tuned.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.