Change is hard.

It's easier - safer - to do what you did last year, and the year before, and the year before.

It's easier to order the same thing off the menu every time - no surprises.

That said, I think the Greater Spokane League will soon find, at least in football, that change is good.

Their neighbors in the Inland Empire League can attest to that.

KUDOS TO the GSL for deciding last week to not have everybody play everybody else in football, and crown separate champions in their six-team 4A league and four-team 3A league - opening up their schedule to allow for some nonleague games.

The move, naturally, was met by some consternation by some "traditionalists" who feared the league might be losing its innocence by its teams venturing outside the city.

Relax.

Years ago, the 5A and 4A IEL schools all tried to play each other in football. It worked back then, because there wasn't a whole lot of disparity between the two divisions.

Then, the gap between the 5As and 4As got bigger. Some games were still competitive, but many were not.

So Lakeland decided it wasn't going to play all the 5A schools, and became a 4A independent for a year, which ultimately led to the division into a four-team 5A IEL (with Coeur d'Alene, Lake City, Post Falls and Lewiston) and a three-team 4A IEL (with Lakeland, Sandpoint and Moscow).

LAKELAND WAS chastised at the time, but as it turned out, it might have been the best thing for the league. The 4As, in particular, were able to schedule teams more their size.

It made it harder for the 5As to find games but once they did, in most cases they turned out to be better matchups than the games between 5A and 4A IEL teams would have been.

Think Coeur d'Alene vs. Skyline ... vs. Bothell ... vs. Highland.

Think Lake City vs. Eastside Catholic, and Lake City and Post Falls against anyone from the Tri-Cities.

Only problem was, several of those games were hundreds of miles away, so only a few diehards were able to enjoy them.

Enter the GSL.

For years, the league has played a mostly-inclusive schedule, save for perhaps a crossover game with the Big 9.

That made it easy for scheduling and travel - the longest "road" trip was perhaps Ferris on the South Hill all the way to Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane (11 miles), or Mead trekking through Bigelow Gulch all the way out to Central Valley (18 miles).

That always brings a chuckle to the IEL teams, whose road trips are actually road trips to Lewiston, to the Boise area, to the Tri-Cities, to western Washington, to eastern Idaho.

And, as the IEL can attest, what good are one-sided games, even for convenience sake? No one benefits from a running clock - except perhaps for sportswriters on deadline, who can get cracking on their stories a few minutes earlier.

I can't believe the 3A GSL teams that are getting pummeled by the 4A schools enjoy that, any more than the 4As who have to ease off the gas a bit out of respect for their 3A brethren. Not all the 4A/3A matchups are mismatches, but some are. Eliminate those.

That's where the IEL comes to the rescue.

The IEL - particularly the 5A teams - needs football games, preferably closer to home. And I can't believe the better GSL teams wouldn't rather play a good IEL team than beat up on a lesser GSL foe - even if it means filling up the gas tank a little more for those "lengthy" trips to Coeur d'Alene, or Lake City, or Post Falls.

AS A fan, who wouldn't get excited about watching Coeur d'Alene vs. Ferris, or Coeur d'Alene vs. Central Valley, or Lake City vs. CV, or Lake City vs. Lewis and Clark, or Post Falls vs. University? And on Wednesday, Lake City said it will play host to Shadle Park and record-setting quarterback Brett Rypien, in its fourth game of the season - after playing host to Rocky Mountain and Lewis and Clark, and traveling to CV.

And on years when the IEL team is the visiting teams, I imagine its fans can survive making a "road" trip to the Spokane valley, or to Albi.

If the GSL chooses to stay with a seven-game league schedule, the 4A GSL schools have the nearby 5A IEL teams who would be glad to help them fill their two remaining nonleague games in future seasons.

The 3A GSL teams can also book matchups with the 4A IEL schools. Lakeland's football schedule was already completed by the time the GSL news came down last week, but the Hawks said they might be interested in playing the smaller GSL schools in the future.

The IEL teams have already said that, despite the increased travel, those nonleague games they have had to find in recent years have made them more battle-tested for the playoffs. Playing good IEL teams has got to help the GSL as well when their teams get to the playoffs.

And it's not like the GSL has never ventured outside the box in football scheduling. It's been years since the two leagues met on the gridiron, but within the past decade or so, Lake City has played Central Valley, Mead, University and Lewis and Clark, and Coeur d'Alene has played Mead and Shadle Park.

Hmmm ... teams win ... fans win ... what's not to like?

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached by phone at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.