Yes, it’s only July and there is a lot of summer left in Minnesota. But before we know it, the state fair will be here and we’ll be on the doorstep of another prep sports year. As noted in the previous post, I attended a high school football team’s summer workout today and I might do the same on Friday before beginning a stretch of football-free vacation.

A website called PrepNation.com, whose national rankings land in my e-mailbox with regularity, is in the process of putting together state-by-state preseason football rankings. Here is PrepNation.com’s top five for our part of the world:

1. Wayzata
2. Cretin-Derham Hall
3. Eden Prairie
4. Blaine
5. Woodbury 

It’s become almost an annual ritual for those top three teams to be there when rankings come out. Blaine certainly had a great playoff run last fall and Woodbury has been on the rise, but I’m not completely sure if the Bengals and Royals will be worthy of top five status this fall.

So, the topic on the table is: Who should be ranked, and why, when the football season rolls around?

You have the floor …

Here’s what a member of the sporting press accomplished on a lovely morning in July …

5:15 a.m./ In a revolting development, alarm goes off

6:00 a.m./ Load wife, sister-in-law, mother-in-law and baggage in the car

6:30 a.m./ Deliver them to airport for flight to Phoenix and connector to Tucson to visit brother-in-law

6:40 a.m./ Bump into Mahtomedi football coach and nice guy Dave Muetzel, who’s flying off on vacation with his family

7:00 a.m./ In day’s second revolting development, dine on drive-through breakfast

7:30 a.m./ Arrive at a metro high school to observe summer football workout; chat with coaches, watch drills, enjoy the scene

8:45 a.m./ Arrive back home; walk the dog, hit the blog, begin formulation of nap strategy

Have a great day!

Sports Illustrated ranks Eden Prairie as the No. 9 high school sports program in the nation. HERE’S A LINK.

Let me take a wild guess and assume that a few folks might have opinions on this… 

Fallout from the placement of all four Classic Lake Conference schools into the Lake Conference continues today with word that Wayzata and Hopkins have filed appeals.

In its presentation to the placement committee last month, Wayzata had requested that it be placed into the Northwest Suburban. Hopkins said it would be satisfied with placement into the Lake or the Northwest Suburban. (Edina and Minnetonka both requested that they join the Lake.)

In reading the placement committee’s decisions for each school, one thing stands out. The dissolution of the Classic Lake began when the above four schools voted to toss Armstrong out; Armstrong was then accepted into the NW Suburban for 2010-11. The placement committee told the four schools the same thing: You clearly didn’t want to be in a conference with Armstrong, so we won’t put you into the NW Suburban.

A private hearing on the appeals will be heard Monday, and chances are almost nil that the committee’s decisions will be overturned. As someone who has been through this process in the past told me, these hearing are “a formality and an exercise in futility.”

Happy post-holiday wishes to everyone. Now it’s time to return to the grindstone and see what happens.

The Lake/Classic Lake conference mishmash appears to have settled down (at least for the holiday weekend), but I’ll be keeping an eye on that during the days to come. Another controversy is bubbling, and this one involves high school baseball.

I’m hearing that some baseball coaches are not too happy that the MSHSL is considering moving the season back a bit in the spring; it makes sense on a weather level, certainly. The unhappy coaches feel that their sport should be left alone, and hints are being dropped that baseball might be better off if it was not part of the MSHSL. 

Yes, you read that right. There is a suggestion on the table that baseball coaches should consider removing their sport from the auspices of the governing body for all high school sports in Minnesota. They are looking at the True Team track concept — which is administered by the track coaches association and is separate from the MSHSL — and wondering, “Can we do the same thing with baseball?”

Drastic? Certainly. Loopy? Maybe. I’ll keep an eye on this, too.

Have a great week.

John Millea is on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stribjohn