The two-minute drill version of the Connecticut High School Football Scheduling Alliance’s recent proposal about potential changes coming for the way games are scheduled:

Start future seasons earlier with a nine-game schedule played in a school’s playoff division, determined by enrollment and other empirical data: records, playoff appearances, roster numbers and starters/returning lettermen. The proposal also suggests ending football on Thanksgiving Day and instead playing rivalry games Columbus Day weekend, using Thanksgiving weekend to play state championship games and finish the season earlier.

“This proposal addresses a variety of topics that will benefit high school football in this state,” alliance member and Southern Connecticut Conference commissioner Al Carbone said last week. “We also know with any type of change, there will be discussion about what's truly important in the eyes of the various stakeholders, whether it's the leagues, teams, coaches or student-athletes. And we appreciate the opportunity to work collaboratively to move it forward.”

Work collaboratively.

Ha. Good luck with that, Al.

Already, before any chance at discussion, we’ve been treated to an alarming number of grievances, gripes and grumbles from whiny coaches across the state. Collaboration? Cooperation? Try condemnation. Real open-minded fraternity we have here.

The proposal merits discussion for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the attempt to schedule like-sized and like-minded programs. No longer would schools be forced into noncompetitive conference games solely based on geography.

Ah, but instead of entertaining this as a good faith effort to generate productive discussion, we get this:

“Play your Thanksgiving rival on Columbus Day? That’s like saying you’ll get some of your gifts for Christmas at Easter,” Ansonia coach Tom Brockett told GameTimeCT. Several of Brockett’s brethren have expressed other versions of moral outrage.

Note to Mr. Brockett: Get off the cross. We need the wood. And the next time we’d like to hear from you is when you and your league (the Naugatuck Valley League) join the alliance and actually play somebody.

And to the rest of the coaches acting like Carbone, Jim Buonocore and the rest of the alliance members are popping wheelies on your front lawns: Your arrogance, much like a Ford Expedition, should be admired for its size.

This just in: There are — gasp — other high school sports in Connecticut to consider than football. They really do play basketball in the winter. They wrestle, too. And the absurd length of the football season, whose championship games go well into December, have imperiled basketball and wrestling rosters for years now. It’s not fair. It’s got to stop. The alliance’s proposal would make that happen — as well as providing football a fairer baseline. Sorry if that runs afoul of your traditions, but pretending your brand of suffering is worse than the wrestling coach without half his team when the season starts is the height of hubris.

To wit: What becomes of wrestlers and basketball players who are still playing football into the second week of December? Winter sports practices begin weeks earlier. How is it reasonable to conclude that a football player will be ready for the wrestling mat two days after the season?

Is that not inherently unfair to the wrestling coach, whose team won’t be whole, and to the teammates, who might be missing a valuable team member? Is that not inherently unfair to the basketball coach, too? And lest you think football is the golden goose, remember that the CIAC makes significantly more money from the 17,000 basketball fans for the finals at Mohegan Sun than the friends and relatives for the football finals at Rentschler Field.

Two years ago, Killingly wrestling coach Rich Bowen asked a favor of Norwich Free Academy: postpone the season opening meet to a later date because he didn't have enough wrestlers to begin the season. Several of his best wrestlers had just played in the state high school football championship game four days earlier. Not enough Killingly wrestlers had enough practice time to prepare for the season.

"They could end the football season earlier," Bowen said. "I'm all for us having a successful football season. The kids come to us with toughness. But you'd think they would do more to make everything compatible. It's not fair to the kids. It's not fair to all the winter sports. I've got kids here — I have no idea how they wrestle. It takes two to three weeks just to get the basics down. When football runs this late, they're that much farther behind."

Former Ledyard coach (and multiple time state champion) Steve Bilheimer on the subject a few years ago: “In my opinion, it takes at least 2-3 weeks for a high school wrestler to get in good enough shape to sustain their maximum capacity during wrestling competition. Football shape is different from wrestling shape. It's not better or worse, the two sports have different types of demands on the body.

“If I had the power to change rules and schedules, I would figure out a way to either end football playoffs earlier or start winter sports later so winter sports had more time to prepare. It would give athletes more time to heal from football and prepare for their next sport.”

But then, if you listen to some football folks in this state, Thanksgiving football is one of the Beatitudes. They'll yell "tradition!" louder than Tevye did in "Fiddler on the Roof." And sorry, but there are 20 “Thanksgiving” games that will be played on either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of Thanksgiving week in 2023. The “tradition” appears ready for retirement.

I’m sure there are plenty of coaches who support the proposal. Or at least are willing to discuss it as adults should. Seems the only ones we’re hearing from are the martyrs. Wouldn’t want their one-sided bellyaching to cloud the narrative.

The alliance has a chance to solve a number of lingering issues in state high school sports. Sorry if that steps on your “tradition.” Some things are actually more important.

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro