Has the high school football season started yet?

(Joking, joking).

Or maybe not. Because I can't recall a season here in our corner of the world ever generating less interest than this one. Public address announcers can all but begin games with, "good afternoon, lady and gentleman ... "

Part of the reason: Nature sure can be a mother sometimes. The whole EEE consternation has mostly denied us the concept of Friday Night Lights. This week, finally, we resume our regularly scheduled schedule.

And — get this — teams from the Eastern Connecticut Conference actually get to play each other this weekend. No, really. East Lyme plays New London and NFA plays Fitch, among others. No more traveling downstate to play schools that attract an absorbing "who?" from us cattle around here who simply want to watch local rivalries.

And this is where ECC officials need to tweak the league's participation in the Connecticut Football Alliance, a scheduling syndicate among the ECC, Southern Connecticut Conference, Fairfield Country Interscholastic Athletic Conference, South-West Conference and Central Connecticut Conference. Schools from the five leagues play each other now to offer more competitive balance and help leagues complete schedules. It's a good idea. To a point.

This is not to suggest leaving the alliance. But can we partake of the green can (decaf) next year? Halloween, 2019, will have passed and NFA, for example, will have played one school from the ECC to date: East Lyme. New London will have played one school from the ECC to date: Ledyard. East Lyme: one as well (NFA). Here is my reaction to that: boooooooooo.

NFA's schedule thus far: Xavier, Glastonbury, Shelton, East Lyme, West Haven, Fairfield Prep. OK. So I get most people around here think that because NFA has more than 2,000 kids, it ought to be playing the Jets. But that schedule isn't merely too difficult, but offers virtually no local frame of reference for the first two months of the season. NFA coach Jason Bakoulis, down to his third quarterback, has done a brilliant coaching job just getting his team to 3-3.

New London has played New Canaan, Xavier, Ledyard, Harding and Bassick. The bleachers don't always reflect it, but the Whalers draw the most interest around here. But who honestly wants to watch the kids play for two months against schools with which they have zero history? Who wants to drive to Bridgeport on a Friday afternoon? Heck, I drove to Shelton for the NFA game a few weeks ago and can tell you there's one experience I'd prefer never to repeat.

The scheduling alliance has its perks, beginning with good competition. It gives large ECC schools teams to play, all while allowing small ECC schools/struggling programs the chance to play more schools their own size. I get it. But we've reached the point of absurdity. NFA, New London, East Lyme and Fitch don't get the same experience as other schools in the conference. And it's killing the product.

The bleachers at Saturday's Fitch game against Notre Dame of West Haven told the story. I've seen more people at Walmart on a Tuesday night. Sad. Diehards understand that Notre Dame is a brand name. But the regular Joes and Janes who fill the stands found no drama there and spent Saturday afternoon elsewhere.

So I'm wondering if next season, schools such as Waterford and Bacon Academy, who have shown some promise this year, accept the challenge of adding one more team from Division I. I'm wondering if there are potentially more cooperatives in the region to add some depth to depleted rosters, one day making more programs ready to play bigger schools.

I get the idea that high school football doesn't exist to entertain me. But the larger point is that even without the EEE hysteria, this season still would have less juice than Rentschler Field. It doesn't have to be like this.

Meanwhile, we can enjoy this Friday night when teams with which we're actually familiar get to play each other. Novel concept.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro