Again, there are two sides to this coin. On one hand, the IHSA ate quite a bit of flak last spring for dragging out the eventual announcement to cancel spring sports. It waited almost six weeks from the time Gov. Pritzker shut down public schools in mid-March before pulling the plug on sports like baseball, softball, track and field, girls soccer and boys tennis.

Some would have preferred the IHSA make the inevitable decision quicker, but a part of me couldn’t blame Anderson for hoping almost against hope that some kind of spring sports season could be played. It’s the same part of me that really thinks the IHSA should have played spring sports this fall to pay them back for missing last spring.

On the other hand, a touch of caution is understandable here. It’s possible that the IHSA might have felt it was indecisive and wanted to make a quick decision. Perhaps it wanted to make plans now so that it could have time to amend them later if needed.

And there will no doubt be people who will demand they amend those plans. A state series that is really just one series — a regional to be played between Oct. 19-25, and most of them will likely take place on the 24th, a Saturday — can’t be called a series.

It’s more like an event, maybe a bit bigger than most of the contests taking place over the next couple of months, but it’s still not going to move many needles. For fierce competitors, it’s going to be a bit like sitting down at 17th Street, enjoying the appetizer and then being asked to leave before you get to dig into some ribs or brisket.