The anti-sports crowd, normally hitting that unfortunate exacta of being loud and wrong at the same time, blather on about "too much emphasis" placed on sports these days.

Except that who knew the sports-are-evil crowd had an ally in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference?

The CIAC, which exists to govern high school sports in our state, has taken the concept of "too much emphasis" on sports to dizzying levels this summer. Not in the way you might think, however.

Let's begin with a premise on which we should all agree: All programs offered on school grounds are there to further the educational process. Otherwise, schools wouldn't have them. And so basketball, biology and band, much like football, philosophy and French, all occupy space under the same umbrella.

This summer, however, football and basketball (among other athletic endeavors) have been hip-checked into the wilderness, where hailstones have fallen on them.

It's all because the CIAC issued a missive during the school year suggesting that potential violations would trail high school coaches who partake in out-of-season, sports-specific instruction. The rules have always been there, yet rarely enforced. They're being enforced this year. Example: CIAC assistant executive director Steve Wysowski recently attended a summer passing league event at New London High School, where the kids play every Tuesday, to monitor the proceedings.

Coaches, per the rule, are able to work with their players through strength and conditioning only. They may attend summer league events and speak to their kids before and after the games. But there is to be no instruction that, for lack of a better term, would be construed as Xs and Os.

This is truly "an unfair emphasis" on sports. Seems that out-of-season instruction applies to sports only. And not any of the other endeavors under the proverbial umbrella.

Montville High School social studies teacher – and football coach – Tanner Grove explained it this way earlier in the summer:

"It's like taking your kid to get extra help in algebra in the summer but you can't have the algebra teacher do it. It's got to be the lunch lady. The algebra teacher can't do it because that would be cheating. Because when those kids take tests later, their scores might be better as a result of cheating. No one in their right mind would think that. But we do it in sports because we don't want to create an unequal playing field."

Grove shoots, Grove scores. Let us count the ways.

If you, the math teacher, want to help your students score better on those hallowed standardized tests, you could gather the troops all summer and offer all the extra help the kids could stand. Perfectly permissible. And by the time test day arrived, the kids would do better, scores would increase and the school system would be this shining beacon to all the other school systems across America.

That's not an unequal playing field.

If you, the band teacher, wanted to better your odds of winning the fall band competition, you could practice with the kids until it comes out of your brass. Sound the trumpets. Literally. And when you win the band competition, you could point to all the hard work during the summer.

That's not an unequal playing field.

But if you, the coach, wanted to attend a summer league football or basketball game – while someone else is coaching it, mind you – and merely offer a suggestion or two about technique or strategy in the middle of the game, you are violating CIAC bylaws.

Can someone tell me the difference, without drowning in rhetoric or semantics?

I've been to many summer league events in various sports. The coaches – at least around here – aren't trying to control every play. In the past, they've offered occasional advice, if for no other reason than so bad habits don't fester. Coaches can't do that ... but teachers and band directors can?

Hello?

Is this thing on?

I'm not naïve enough to believe that some coaches wouldn't cheat. And for that, the CIAC should rely on its membership to turn in the perpetrators. Because the overwhelming majority of coaches would keep both feet in bounds.

Again, it's all supposed to be under the same umbrella. And yet the rules for athletics are more stringent, punitive and, alas, unfair.

The CIAC has done some good work in recent years. Its championship events are better than ever. Technology is better than ever. And the CIAC is not a nameless, faceless bureaucracy. The CIAC is its member schools. Translation: educators. They need to talk about this double standard. That meets no educational standards at all.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro.

Twitter: @BCgenius