I know it's only July, but thanks to the PIAA, your holiday shopping problems are over.

Make your list now, and in one easy trip to Hershey you can take care of everyone on it.

Little Timmy and Suzie? Done. Dear ol' Mom and Dad? Ditto. Grandma and Grandpa? Cross them off, too.

Oh, you could stop at Chocolate Town or pick up some knickknacks while you're there, but the state football championships are the place to be.

Imagine the envy of all your friends when you pick up an armful of the well-hawked sweatshirts available at the souvenir stand.

Why? Because of the late start — Sept. 4 — to this year's football season, those competing in the state championship games will be wrapping up — pun definitely intended — on Dec. 18 and 19.

Sure, you might think you're pushing it awfully close, but, hey, even I still need a gift or two to buy a week for the holidays.

In the past, the WPIAL Championships were held the weekend of Thanksgiving at Three Rivers Stadium, then Heinz Field. Two weekends later, the PIAA Championship game was played. Now, with everything pushed a week back, we're cutting it pretty close to the holidays.

The state quarterfinals will be played Dec. 4 and 5 and the semifinals Dec. 11 and 12. The Class A and AAA title games will be played Dec. 18; Class AA and AAAA the following day.

At first, I thought a few basketball teams might be missing a handful of players the first three weeks, but the PIAA thought of that, too.

In the past, the basketball season usually started with Tip-Off Tournaments. What was once near the Thanksgiving weekend had slowly been pushed to the beginning of December.

This year? Dec. 11 is the first play date.

Oddly enough, the basketball regular season will end pretty close to where it has in the past. The last section game must be played by Feb. 13 and the playoffs are slated to begin Feb. 19.

That's a significant amount of time, but just a few days later than last year.

My solution to get the seasons finished in a timely manner is to eliminate the state playoff games. Not just in football, but in basketball and most other sports.

Individual events like wrestling and track and field could still have a state competition. They tend to occur over two to three days, not three weeks.

I never liked the anticlimatic feel of winning a WPIAL or district title, then having to gear up to play teams in which you have no interest or knowledge. The motivation, at least from teams on this side of the state, is not as fervent as on the eastern side.

The only other option is to scale back the regular season. I've always believed that 24 basketball games was too many, and, fortunately, they reduced that to 22, which is still too high. I think two events per week (excluding football) over two months is enough for student athletes.

But that's for another day. The holidays will soon be upon us. And in case anyone's looking, I take an extra large.

Sam Tallarico is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.