If you follow this space – and I appreciate the number of you who do – then you know that I am not a big fan of the so-called Christmas Classics in a variety of sports.

These holiday games bring high school teams together over the Christmas break, a time generally reserved for family and friends. My primary concern with all this stuff, is the time they take away from the family unit.

Simply put, these days we seem to be losing the emotion and the fervor of the season, and we’re replacing those traditional values with games.

Let’s back up a bit.

Gone are the days of an earlier start to winter sports activities in high school. Back in the day – pre-1983 to be exact – winter sports activities at the high school level could commence officially on the first Monday in November. Athletic administrators are now forced to do some cram scheduling. The month that becomes the crowded one is January. Toss in exam week – which most high schools have – and you have a pretty hectic month, with or without the January thaw.

Christmas tournaments of any variety in any sport take time away from family. Oh, coaches and athletic directors will bemoan their fates relative to their necessity for these affairs for a variety of reasons, beginning with the ones about more playing time for end-of-bench players. That’s all well and good, except for one key variable: Time away from family.

No, I was never a proponent of the so-called Christmas Classics, and here’s why.

Educators – the people who run the schools, at least – witness daily the social ramifications of the declining family unit. Having said that, the question arises as to how to minimize time away from family, and what’s a good teacher or principal to do about all this Christmas-time playing stuff?

It’s simple, really. Ban them from your own program. Kids need a break from time to time, and there’s no better place to initiate one than in your own school.

Toss into that mix the national trend to minimize the spirit of the Christmas season by eliminating the words Merry Christmas from all advertising, store-front window dressings, and the like cuts to the heart of the real problem of all this stuff: Eliminating Christ from Christmas. Where’s the reverence that should be associated with this time of the year?

You’re correct if you answer: Why, it’s nonexistent in many corners.

Check store fronts while you’re finishing up your Christmas shopping.

Has the symbol of Christ’s birth in our country become a secular one, the decorated tree? Has the family gathering become a basketball or a hockey game? Will all this evolve into opening presents at half-time some night?

Food for thought, at least, as this sacred time of the year approaches.

The more we water down the message, schedule games, and cut into the holiday, we extend the danger of losing the spirit of the season by minimizing why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

Hey, athletic directors and coaches. Get together and minimize games this time of the year.

Take a step forward – a positive one, at that – and be the first kid on your block to refuse to compete during the holidays.

You’ll be recognized for more than just a nice looking Christmas tie.

BDN columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net