If I was king of the world ...

If you were king of the Mahoning Valley for one day, what decisions would you make?
If it were me, the first thing I'd do -- assuming I couldn't consolidate most of the school districts in the three area counties -- is realign all the area conferences into one super mega-conference.
I'd call it the Metro Conference, but then, considering how provincial we are around here, that name probably wouldn't be accepted.
Left to the real people in charge, such a league would probably be the Northern Ohio Prep Experiment, or NOPE for short.
But, I remain undeterred.
The grand planput into action
Here's how it would work:
Every school in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties would be invited to join.
For this argument, I have already consolidated the Youngstown high schools from three to two, as is the plan for 2007-08.
The league would be separated into divisions based on enrollment, and each school would have the opportunity to move up to a higher division if it chose.
For instance, Cardinal Mooney and Ursuline would probably opt to play in the large school division.
The divisions for every sport might be different, based on boys and girls enrollments and how many schools offer a particular sport.
For instance, 44 schools would participate in football -- leaving two divisions of eight schools each and four divisions of seven schools.
There are 50 schools in boys and girls basketball, though, which would mean one division of eight schools and six divisions of seven schools.
For football, here'sthe rundown
Under this scenario, here's the big-school division for football -- Boardman, Fitch, Warren Harding, the new East, Chaney, Howland, Mooney and Ursuline.
Division II would consist of Canfield, East Liverpool, Niles, Poland, Beaver Local, Hubbard, West Branch and Salem.
Division III would be Lakeview, Liberty, Struthers, Champion, Girard, Brookfield and United.
Division IV would be Campbell Memorial, Newton Falls, East Palestine, Crestview, South Range, LaBrae and Warren JFK.
The Division V schools would be Lisbon, Springfield, Mineral Ridge, Mathews, Wellsville, Columbiana and Jackson-Milton.
In Division VI it would Leetonia, Southern, Western Reserve, McDonald, Lowellville, Sebring and Youngstown Christian.
Enough roomto play rivals
The schedule would include either six or seven league games and allow for schools to schedule "non-conference" games with teams in other divisions. For instance, South Range and Springfield would likely continue their rivalry.
The basketball and other sports would consist of double round-robin league schedules and still allow for schools to play several non-league games.
As Hannibal Smith's character on "The A-Team" liked to say, "I love it when a plan comes together."
Do I expect this idea to ever become reality? Honestly, no. There's far too many outside variables and factors that would prevent it.
For one, there are too many traditionalists -- not that they're a bad thing -- who would steadfastly want to maintain the traditional conference alignments.
(Although, in my defense, Howland was once a member of the Steel Valley Conference, and Mooney and Ursuline were once in the City Series.)
(And in Division II, six of the eight schools are current or future members of the Metro Athletic Conference, and West Branch was once in the old Mahoning Valley Conference.)
Some time ago, I suggested in this space that a league of the parochial schools in Mahoning, Trumbull, Stark and Summit counties would make for a nice, competitive organization ... which was met with, well, not the most polite responses.
So I can imagine what some of you are thinking.
But once in a while it is fun to dream.
Rob Todor is sports editor of The Vindicator. Write to him at todor@vindy.com.