If there's one thing that's been proven so far this year in the high school softball season, it's that it has been out with the old and in with the new.
Throughout this decade, teams such as Troy, Warren Regina, Lakeland, Trenton and Portage Northern have been fixtures in the state rankings.
Well, taking a look at this weekend's rankings, only Lakeland among those school is ranked at No. 10 in Division 1. Instead, you have teams like Okemos (No. 1 in Division 1), Alpena (No. 2 in Division 1), Taylor Kennedy (No. 8 in Division 1) and Niles (No. 1 in Division 2) ranked at or near the top of the polls.
It's certainly a strange sight, but we'll see if some semblance of normalcy returns in the last month of the season.
— Now that we're into May, we can officially begin the countdown to the start of the state playoffs for spring teams (yes, already). Postseason play opens up in less than four weeks, with the annual "Super Preps" day slated for May 31. On that day, the district semifinals and finals for baseball and softball, the district finals for girls soccer, and the state tournaments for girls tennis, boys golf and track and field will take place. It's easily the busiest preps day of the year.

Not that Kosmo is much of a high school baseball expert, but rumor has it that Birmingham Detroit Country Day head coach Frank Orlando has won over 700 games and the 1995 Class B state championship.
The K-Man can't imagine there are many coaches in many sports with those credentials, and he can't imagine there are many coaches with those credentials who now don't have a home field to play on.
Kosmo has been told that about a month ago, Country Day started construction on a new middle school gym. That's great. It should be a nice addition to an already beautiful campus.
The only problem is that tore up the baseball field so they could build the gym there, the same one where so many great Country Day baseball players have played on since Orlando took over in 1981.
Given that, Kosmo has this message for Country Day administors: Get Orlando a new field as soon as possible. No team should have to play all road games, particularly in baseball, where there's no bigger advantage to being the home team.
Progress is good, but not at the expense of making life more difficult for a group of players in what is becoming a rising sport again among youth.
With all Mr. Orlando has done for your school on the field and in girls basketball, you owe it to him to make sure there's a new field in place by next year.
Otherwise, all the progress made with the construction of a new gym will be a wash with all it's taking away.

Kosmo was somewhat sad to hear the other day that longtime boys basketball coach Bill Norton won't be brought back to Birmingham Groves. The Falcons struggled with a young team this past season, but Norton was hoping the payoff was going to come next season. Still, it sadly is the nature of the beast and here's hoping it works out for both parties. Regardless, there aren't too many coaches out there with the knowledge of the game Norton has. He's most noted for leading Birmingham Brother Rice to a state title in the 1970's.
— Even though the weather is just starting to get warm, Lake Orion's baseball team is wasting no time getting its offense heated up this season. Through their first six games, the state champion Dragons had scored a whopping 80 runs. Talk about "Murderers Row."
— It's still early, but it already has to be a strange feeling for Novi's girls soccer team. After barely losing the last three years en route to three straight Division 1 state titles, the Wildcats have already dropped two games this year, one to Grosse Pointe North and one to rival Northville.

Just when Kosmo thought bankruptcy filings were reserved for airlines, mortage companies and auto suppliers, along comes the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
The K-Man would love to know in the history of high school athletics if a state organization has ever filed for bankruptcy.
Of course, all this is due to the fact the MHSAA was ordered to pay $7 million in legal fees after the 10-year gender-equity lawsuit that resulted in this past year's season switch.
No, it's not a good thing that the MHSAA is broke and have to pay the price for extending a lawsuit they knew they weren't going to win.
But ultimately, Kosmo isn't sure what effect this will have on high school sports in general.
Sure, maybe some things will be cut and initiatives slowed, but is high school sports just going to stop?
Are they just going to not have football or basketball seasons? It's doubtful. High school sports should still go on, although it's unfortunate the MHSAA is in it's predicament.
Unfortunately, they knew the risks going in with all their appeals, and shouldn't have acted so surprise the gauntlet game down like it did.

What a great day to live in a cave. The sun is out and it's nearly 70 degrees. How did Kosmo ever survive the winter.
Anyway, it's been a few weeks since Kosmo last posted, but he has seen his spies do a terrific job putting out spring season previews.
Glancing at this week's schedule, Kosmo wants to give a message out to the fine students at Rochester Adams High School: Go support your baseball team on Wednesday.
Barring rain, the temperatures are supposed to be decent, so go out and watch your Adams team take on defending state champion Lake Orion.
Regular season games don't mean that much in the grand scheme of things, but these are two of the area's best and they figure to put on a show at your own school.
The OP will be there, so you can read about it regardless, but go anyway to not only support your team, but see two good baseball teams go at it.
It could be the first of three meetings this season between the teams. Not only will they meet at Lake Orion in May, but they could meet in the district round of the state tournament.