Thursday, August 05, 2004
Scheduling Changes and Why They Aren't Bad
I missed it the first time around, but last month a columnist for the local Army paper wrote about the upcoming changes in scheduling for this year. With regards to the elimination of the men and womens' doubleheaders that were previously typical, he says:
"Who's going to suffer? The women, of course. Radio conflicts are certain to fall in favor of the men's games, leaving the women for small college stations, less-desirable taped-delayed action or off the air altogether. Sports editors – especially those who take into account attendance trends – who may have been inclined to accept a short women's story on doubleheader dates may take a pass and likely follow the men."
I think that's not the case. People don't want to sit through two basketball games in a row. Hell, I spend a lot of time on this blog, and even I don't want to watch a women's game after I've watched the men play. I don't mean to take anything from the women of the league, who play just as hard as the men, but women's hoops just isn't men's hoops. Official attendance might decrease for the women's games, but let's be honest: not that many people are sticking around for them in the first place during the doubleheaders.
The dumb part of this article though, comes in criticizing the tournament changes:
The league has also scrapped its time-honored format for the postseason tournament, sending one piece here and another there...
Time-honored??? They've had this format for what, three years?
The first- and second-place schools will each host four teams in mini-brackets, with the winners advancing to the title game at the site of the highest seed the following week. A powerhouse school like Holy Cross could end up hosting a men's and women's mini-bracket, or four schools could conceivably host, stretching thin the league's resources when it matters most. Worse yet, the public will have little time to decide, and host schools will have little time to prepare since history has shown most league races have not been decided until the final day of the season.
A tournament is supposed to bring together a league with its teams, its fans and the media. Now that the postseason will be scattered all over, the special playoff feel will be lost, as well.
Has this guy BEEN to the Show Place Arena? It's a horse barn in The Middle of Nowhere, Maryland, zip code 00000. The tournament was sparsely attended there year after year, with only psychopaths like me (and probably you if you're reading this) sticking around for most of the games. Having the tournament at the #1 and #2 seeds home courts makes the regular season much more important, since you're playing for home court advantage throughout the playoffs, instead of playing for home court advantage should you make the final game. Plus, it allows fans that aren't the kind of road warriors you or I might be to get involved in the games.
The only way the tournament system becomes a bad idea is if Colgate wins and I have to drive to (and stay in) Hamilton again. No man deserves that fate. @ 10:50 AM
I missed it the first time around, but last month a columnist for the local Army paper wrote about the upcoming changes in scheduling for this year. With regards to the elimination of the men and womens' doubleheaders that were previously typical, he says:
"Who's going to suffer? The women, of course. Radio conflicts are certain to fall in favor of the men's games, leaving the women for small college stations, less-desirable taped-delayed action or off the air altogether. Sports editors – especially those who take into account attendance trends – who may have been inclined to accept a short women's story on doubleheader dates may take a pass and likely follow the men."
I think that's not the case. People don't want to sit through two basketball games in a row. Hell, I spend a lot of time on this blog, and even I don't want to watch a women's game after I've watched the men play. I don't mean to take anything from the women of the league, who play just as hard as the men, but women's hoops just isn't men's hoops. Official attendance might decrease for the women's games, but let's be honest: not that many people are sticking around for them in the first place during the doubleheaders.
The dumb part of this article though, comes in criticizing the tournament changes:
The league has also scrapped its time-honored format for the postseason tournament, sending one piece here and another there...
Time-honored??? They've had this format for what, three years?
The first- and second-place schools will each host four teams in mini-brackets, with the winners advancing to the title game at the site of the highest seed the following week. A powerhouse school like Holy Cross could end up hosting a men's and women's mini-bracket, or four schools could conceivably host, stretching thin the league's resources when it matters most. Worse yet, the public will have little time to decide, and host schools will have little time to prepare since history has shown most league races have not been decided until the final day of the season.
A tournament is supposed to bring together a league with its teams, its fans and the media. Now that the postseason will be scattered all over, the special playoff feel will be lost, as well.
Has this guy BEEN to the Show Place Arena? It's a horse barn in The Middle of Nowhere, Maryland, zip code 00000. The tournament was sparsely attended there year after year, with only psychopaths like me (and probably you if you're reading this) sticking around for most of the games. Having the tournament at the #1 and #2 seeds home courts makes the regular season much more important, since you're playing for home court advantage throughout the playoffs, instead of playing for home court advantage should you make the final game. Plus, it allows fans that aren't the kind of road warriors you or I might be to get involved in the games.
The only way the tournament system becomes a bad idea is if Colgate wins and I have to drive to (and stay in) Hamilton again. No man deserves that fate. @ 10:50 AM
