And so the latest conflict is upon the Eastern Connecticut Conference, where if only its member schools did championships they way they do ultimatums.

It's football again. Wrangling over divisional placement. Oh, the humanity. Meet the new cross, same as the old cross.

It's about time, though, that "what" trumps the "who." Translation: The tenets of the league must outweigh the complainants. Bylaws count. And it's time the ECC adheres to parameters, rather than mixing and matching as its member schools so choose.

League bylaws designate divisions based on enrollment, not relative program strengths. This is where league officials must choose. It's school size or program strength. Not both. Because this just in: Current methods aren't working. Too many schools are allowed to present laundry lists that strictly suit their needs, thus creating even more dysfunction. And really, who knew that was possible?

League officials must decide. Enrollment? Fine. You are where you are. Program strength? Fine. Construct a working definition of "program strength," whether two-year records, three-year records or other variations. And you are where you are.

But an enrollment-based outline that hinges on certain member schools doing the perceived right thing - ignoring enrollment - adds to the current recipe of abject failure. And it's not just football.

Ledyard High School football coach and athletic director Jim Buonocore got the daggers at last week's meeting when he declined moving his team from the Medium to the Large Division. It would have accommodated Woodstock Academy, which is refusing to play anywhere other than the Small Division, despite enrollment figures suggesting otherwise.

It happens throughout the league.

Why does New London boys' basketball play in the Medium and not the Large?

Why does Waterford softball play in the Medium and not the Large?

Why does Stonington girls' tennis play in the Small and not the Large?

Here's the answer: Because they can. Per league bylaws. And bylaws, for any legitimate league, should be sacrosanct. That's how they got to be bylaws. And if you don't like the bylaws, talk about changing them.

The problems come when rhetoric replaces requirement. There's too much noise in this league. Way too much. And it usually comes from coaches and athletic directors who really ought to examine their own lawns before commenting on someone else's landscaping.

And it's continually allowed to happen.

Because nobody - no athletic director, principal or superintendent - has the guts to tell his or her colleagues that rules are being broken every time the laundry lists are bellowed.

Want Ledyard to play football in the Large Division? Create strength-based divisions. Call officials from other conferences in Connecticut and adopt parameters similar to theirs.

Or accept that enrollment-based divisions aren't perfect and live with the consequences.

We've read in recent days that St. Bernard/Norwich Tech, for instance, may leave the ECC in football for the Constitution State Conference, which houses the state's other technical schools. Could be the best fit. If the Saints leave, the ECC is left with 14 football schools, creating a two-division split with seven teams apiece.

Still, the problem festers. How to determine which teams belong where? Enrollment would create more melodrama and ultimatums. So again, I ask: Are league officials going to allow it? Or are they going to rewrite and reinforce bylaws that offer little to no room for dissent?

I'm tired of listening to it. I'm tired of opt-outs. I'm tired of woe-is-us. I'm tired of ducking good competition. I'm tired of ultimatums. I mean, the idea of Woodstock and St. Bernard making demands is like Luxembourg and Liechtenstein trying to run the United Nations.

Mostly, though, I'm tired of the institutional inconsistency that allows for such public dysfunction.

I'm not saying we all have to hold hands and sing spirituals. But can somebody out there grow a backbone and take the lead on this?

Program strength or enrollment.

Pick one.

And shut up.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius