I had a weird dream last week that there was a notion of allowing the state's high school football teams to hold a two-week spring camp.

Oh, it wasn't a dream? Someone was actually serious about this?

If this idea comes to fruition, it could go down as the biggest blunder in high school football — other than state playoffs that last until a week before Christmas.

The negatives outweigh the positives — if there's even a positive — so much that this idea should be tabled very quickly.

Where to begin?

• How about the timing? The play is to hold it after Memorial Day and run into early June.

Fine, track and field is over then. But if you're playing on a good baseball or lacrosse team, you won't be a part of it, so football team most likely won't have all they're returning players in attendance.

Besides, it's getting close to summer. Kids have worked since August to represent their schools. You want them to do more?

• There's a reason why, other than weightlifting and conditioning drills they do throughout the year, that football is confined to one time of the year: It's a physical game.

Like NBA great Bill Russell used to say, "Basketball is a contact sport. Football is a collision sport."

As for being in football shape, most teams have been done since early November. I guess they think it's like riding a bike — until you fall off.

Football in the spring and summer is out of its element — ask the USFL or XFL.

• I see Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt and Penn State coach Joe Paterno put on a united front to push for support of this bad idea. Why not? Only they can benefit. What players are able to accomplish or grasp in the spring will have to be relearned again in August.

Wannstedt said if one player can earn a scholarship out of it, it's worth it. Again, for who? You can grasp the knowledge, but will it make you better, especially in the fall?

Anything that benefits football is great for football coaches, but don't expect Timmy to go from Division III to Division I because of two weeks in the spring.

It's not going to happen.

And, if you shred your ACL like string cheese, do you think those coaches are going to drop by the hospital or send you a card?

No, they won't care one iota. They won't need you.

• Colleges already have their useless spring games, which do absolutely nothing except give coaches an early look at what's coming back.

Leave that for the colleges, however. Leave high school the way it is.

Keep football in the fall. It's where it belongs. High school football on Friday nights, college Saturdays and NFL Sundays. No need to mess with the order of things.

The high school years come and go very quickly. Let the players enjoy their spring. There's only so much you should be allowed to take.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer from for the Butler eagle.