A Class Act? Time to End the Insanity All Right

Recently this article was included on the front page of the local news, here is the link to it http://newsandtribune.com/local/x977546566/MORRIS-A-class-act?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook . While reading the article I couldn't believe that someone still doesn't understand the idea behind class sports, I mean, I understand why someone by be against it, but, well...I thought about writing a letter to the editor, but I chose to put my rebuttal here.

By CHRIS MORRIS Chris.Morris@newsandtribune.com

NEW ALBANY — I hope the state Democrats hiding in Illinois are coming up with a plan to reorganize the Indiana High School Athletic Association basketball tournament. I hope they are doing something productive other than playing video games or throwing darts at photos of Gov. Mitch Daniels.

All kidding aside, if there was ever a chance to gain momentum for the one class tournament format to return to the Hoosier state, it’s now. Gas prices are soaring, attendance at tournament games continues to dwindle and 80 percent of the school corporations in the state are going bankrupt. It would be cheaper for athletic departments to return to local sectionals instead of making teams travel for an hour or more three and four times a week. But the biggest reason to return to the old format is that class basketball does not work (False, just not the way you want it to work). Our once great basketball tournament has been watered down to the point where even the heartiest of fans lose interest. (That is truly unfortunate because the people you will be talking most about the 4A crowd, the tournament is not watered down now as it was in 1 class and the smaller classes are supporting the tournament as they always have.) We have given the class tournament more than a decade to prove otherwise, plenty of time to realize it’s never going to be a hit with the paying public.

Why, might you ask?

Let’s look at what this tournament has forced New Albany High School players, coaches and fans to do in less than two weeks. Last week, New Albany had to make three trips to Seymour including on back-to-back nights. Three trips ... the good news is the Bulldogs won the sectional. (During the one class era smaller schools traveled three nights a week to play and watch driving almost 45 minutes in some places, but they went and the bad news...they often didn't win the sectional.)

Saturday morning, New Albany will once again travel to Seymour for regional play. Four times to Seymour in less than two weeks.

Now granted, Seymour is only an hour from New Albany, so it’s not that big of a deal, right? (No, not a big deal, most schools would love to travel an hour to experience success. We would go anywhere, anytime to advance.)

Well, for a lot of people it is a big deal. New Albany played a 6 p.m. sectional game on Tuesday and Friday nights. How many people can, or want, to leave work at 5 p.m., fight Interstate 65 traffic to try and get to the game for the tipoff? (It is once a year or 3 times a year depending...if they are not willing to do what it takes, are they "true fans"? During the one class era big schools got to host sectional, so I know 14 years of travel is unfortunate to the previous 80+ years of walking to the gym.)

New Albany has great fans and many folks made the decision to drive to Seymour for the games. But it is so unfair to not only the players, but to the fans. Sectionals were designed to bring neighboring communities together which adds to rivalries (Really? I wonder what Henryville, Silver Creek and Charlestown had in common with Southwestern Hanover and Madison when in the Madison sectional. Sectionals were designed for the bigger schools to have easier opportunities to advance). Why should New Albany and Jeffersonville travel an hour to play one another in a tournament opener? They shouldn’t. The game should be played at Jeff or New Albany ... depending on which school is the host site. (That was a great sectional wasn't it? NA and Jeff in the same sectional, but the last 10-15 years they BOTH hosted a sectional, well actually NA and FC would alternate going to Jeff, but I think NA and Jeff eventually ended up in opposite sectionals all the time...so much for one of the greatest community rivalry.)

In many cases, the class system has taken sectionals out of neighboring schools, so obviously, attendance has taken a hit.

I consider myself a fan, but there is no way I could tell you the last four Class 1A, 2A, 3A or even 4A state champs. It’s crazy. Four state champions? Why stop there? Let’s go to eight or 10 classes so everyone gets to take home a medal. (Class basketball is not about giving out more trophies it is, to me, about giving every single team a belief that they can have some success every single year in the tournament. Not every decade or 20 years, but every year. This past year my team won 5 games and we believed that if we played well, we could make a run. It is really hard to explain to them that they can beat New Albany or Jeffersonville this year or any year. You might get that one time every 30 years when you have the best team you ever had and that big school is down and then it becomes now or never...that's terrible).

The class system works in football because it takes more kids to field a team. There is no way a school with 200 boys can compete in football against a school with 1,000. (Hold on, if it is good enough for football it is good enough for basketball. It is about the quality of your quantity. You only need 11 players for football...yes more is a convenience, but why can't Union Dugger not compete in the same class as Penn? That is ridiculous, we know they cannot in football, why is it that much different in basketball...the answer it isn't.)

However, basketball only takes 10 players, or fewer. This YMCA Youth League mentality the IHSAA has shoved down our throats, where everyone has to be a winner, has ruined a great thing. The only difference between the two is that the IHSAA does keep score.

I applaud all the teams who have advanced on to the regional round. (Even though you have questioned the legitimacy of their tournament?) It’s a great accomplishment to win a title and to move on down the tourney trail. But, it just doesn’t have the same feeling as it once did. Not to the kids or coaches involved, but to the thousands of fans of high school basketball. And there is no way someone could convince me otherwise. (Well at least you have an open mind about this discussion. It is that kind of thinking that creates division with no compromise or progress)

Now it’s true I am a product of a large school. (I would have never guessed that.) However, my senior year, all I could do was shake my head as Chuck Franz single-handily knocked my team out of the tournament with his 50-point effort. And Clarksville is a much smaller school than New Albany. Looking back, I wish there had been class ball in 1979 so Mr. Franz could have played in some 2A tourney somewhere other than Johnson Arena in Jeffersonville. (It took a 50 point effert by Chuck Franz for Clarksville to have one of its few victories over New Albany in the sectional....you are making the arguement for class basketball now.)

It’s amazing what a group of people can do to something that is not broken. Maybe those who successfully changed the Indiana tournament can do the same for the NCAA tourney. We need a big school and a small school tournament, (We do HAVE that. D1, D2 and D3 tournies. I mean it's 5 on 5, Bellarmine should definitely be in the same tournament as North Carolina or Duke?) that way we will crown two (actually 3 is what we crown) NCAA champs and there would be no more March Madness. It would become bland, boring like many regular season games, and fans would simply tune it out ... just like they have at the high school level. (That is too bad because they are missing some great atmospheres at the smaller school levels)

I hope New Albany and Rock Creek, the two local teams left in the tournament, win Saturday. Those kids don’t care about class basketball, only whether they beat the guy in the other jersey. We should all applaud their accomplishments. (Even in an illegitimate tournament?)

Class basketball, unfortunately, is here to stay folks. And while I would love to see it go back to the way it was, when local sectionals and regionals were packed and the excitement level was off the charts, it’s not going to happen. To those who make the decisions, a class tourney is more fair to the smaller schools. But, I would think playing in front of 5,000 fans, against a bigger school with a chance to really make a name for yourself, would be more memorable. (Yes, some schools wait for that opportunity every 10-50 years) It might create real Hoosier Hysteria. (That the big schools got for over 80 years every year and small schools came, played, were defeated, and still came back to support the tournament unlike today's 4A crowds)

Maybe next year, New Albany and Floyd Central will be paired in the first round of the South Bend Sectional at 6 p.m. on a Wednesday night. Sound crazy? About as crazy as changing the single class basketball tournament, which was revered throughout the country, into four classes back in 1998. And look what that got us. (What it got us is a bunch of complaining from a majority of people that often do not follow the lower classes of basketball.)

To be fair, I think the class tournament is better, but could definitely be changed. I am a huge supporter of the Hickory Compromise. Let there be class tournaments until the Final 16 teams are left. Then take those 16 and play a Sweet 16 tournament. It allows for small schools to dream of perennial success and it allows for one state champion.

But the arguments of the writer of the article are the same ones that are paraded out every single year and often times more often because of a lack of success. I wonder what Mr. Morris do if New Albany actually didn't win more often than not?