It's tempting to think of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association as the local answer to the NCAA, stuck in the past and in the minutiae of enforcing the rules without a seeming concern for the kids who are affected by those rules.

It's a pleasure, then, to recommend the newly redesigned MPSSAA Web site, which not only is user-friendly and accessible with links and information, but is also quite vibrant and attractive, hardly what you'd expect from a 'just-the-facts, ma'am' organization.

By the way, Ned Sparks, executive director of the MPSSAA, wrote in following Tuesday's column regarding the increasing number of nationally televised high school football games.

Sparks shared that the MPSSAA requires broadcasters to adhere to a set of guidelines when broadcasting state playoff events, and that those guidelines have been distributed to local school systems "in the hope that they would use them in an effort to prevent exploitation of the students."

Sparks wrote that any rights fees that the MPSSAA collects for playoff broadcasts go to defray the cost of the event, with the biggest cost going for travel reimbursement.

Finally, the director wrote that state regulations bar students from missing class time to travel over 300 miles, from participating in an event that determines a national championship, and from playing with their team in any contest after the state tournament in their respective sport.