Thursday, April 19, 2007
Daily Pooch Punt: 4/19/2007
When it comes to Group A basketball, it might just be easier for the always innovative (sarcasm) Virginia High School League to give every school a state-title ring, and then take it away as they lose.
What? You call that watering down the championship pool?
How dare you? Because we can’t let kids go home with hurt feelings, can we? And everybody is a champ in our book, right? (Way to go, sport.)
The VHSL’s May 2007 agenda includes an item that will split Group A — in basketball only — and award four state titles for what is appearing more and more to be the Podunk division of the state’s sports. That’s right folks, they’re just going to split Group A into Division 1 (smaller schools) and Division 2 (the bigger ones) similar to football divisions (but those splits are, thankfully, across the board).
Sorry folks, but the staff of the VHSL recommended approval and, by all accounts, it will be voted in at the May 2 Executive Committee meeting. On May 2, that noise you’ll hear when this is voted through will be me dusting off the asterisk key on my computer. (Because every two years, they’ll realign this asinine idea, treating borderline schools like ping-pong balls ala Central-Woodstock.)
Why do this to Group A? Will the Shenandoah District be split? Sure, the district competition will still be fun, but how excited are you going to get when Buffalo Gap and Wilson Memorial square with the Green Hornets in Division 2 and the Bison in Division 1?
Yeah, I thought so.
And another thing: Doesn’t this make the obvious solution to all the VHSL’s problems pretty obvious? GO QUAD-A. That’s right, dump the six football titles (which is borderline ludicrous) and award four. That’s your only loss if the VHSL is worried about losing money. (Gee, wonder if they are?)
You’ll be gaining two titles the rest of the way across the board. Plus, when you win a state title in Group AA football, you’ll know for sure that you’re the best team in Group AA, not the best team in Division 3 of Group AA. (I could go on and on and on.)
So, how should they do it?: No simple answer on that one. Put the metro schools in Group AAAA (Tidewater, Richmond, Roanoke, NoVa, maybe Lynchburg), dump the smaller city schools into AAA (Harrisonburg, Staunton, Martinsville, Winchester, Waynesboro and so on) then you use AA and A to split up what used to be Group A.
Sure: But that’s going to take some major realignment. Oh, and ruining natural rivalries is absolutely nothing new to the VHSL. (See circa 2000 when Frederick County’s Sherando was Group AAA and traveling to Culpeper and Liberty-Bealton to play games.)
Oh and here’s your first asterisk - *