All-in format has parents up in arms

[statrat]

In regards to the Oregon all-in, I've drilled it into my readers that the "play-in" rounds are not state playoffs. The OSAA does not recognize them as such. So I've called them Regional play-ins (For the first round at some classifcations) and regional playoffs for the second round. That didn't stop one local high school from saying their football team made it to the second round of the state playoffs in the game program. Sigh.

 

[JBHawkEye]

Iowa expanded its football playoffs from 16 teams in each class to 32. Which means a.) in Class 4A, the biggest class, 32 of the 48 teams make the playoffs and b.) if you're the lower-seeded team, your first-round game is likely a 2 1/2-hour/3-hour drive.

We had five teams make it to the playoffs this season. Under the old system, we would have had two.

For the first round, we only had three writers available to cover games. One game involved the big local school (in the playoffs with a 4-5 record and playing a game 2 1/2 hours away that started at 8:45 p.m.), so we did that. Two teams were at home, so we did those games. The two that we didn't cover were playing three hours away. Both coaches understood we couldn't be there, and both made sure to call us, even though they lost. Surprisingly, we got no complaints.

 

[Ace]

In our state, in every sport except football, every team makes the district tournament. I've honestly seen basketball teams with an 0-24 record "make the tournament."

In Indiana, the 0-24 team could get a first-round bye while two teams ranked No. 1 and 2 in the state have to play in the first game.

 

[rtse11]

1. Parents are customers, even the moronic ones.

True, but if you have limited resources, and you have to choose between covering a playoff game between a 10-0 team and 9-1 team, or one between a 6-4 team and a 1-9 team, and a parent of the 1-9 team can't understand why you didn't send a staff reporter to his/her game, there's little hope for the sanity of said parent.

Why? Because they don't see things as we do? Of course they're going to advocate on behalf of their kid. It's what parents do. That doesn't make them right, of course, but it doesn't make them crazy either. It's an occupational hazard -- thousands of readers have hundreds of dogs in the fight, and dozens of them make noise about it. Their job is to push for the things they're interested in or want most, and ours is to weigh everyone's concerns and come up with the best solution. It doesn't make them bad people for doing it, so long as they're being polite. If they're not, the issue becomes behavior.

I think we're making the same argument, but coming from different directions.
No one ever - OK, rarely — calls to say thanks for covering our 9-1 football team. It's the mom (who's never met me or spoken to me before) who writes an email to my bosses complaining that we're ignoring her son's 1-7 team because she's heard our kids graduated from that school's rival and we're biased against them, that gets me fired up.
You wanna call me and ask why your school's game wasn't covered? No problem. You wanna start yelling into the phone as soon as I answer calling me an asshole and worse. fork you (which I can't say, of course.)

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

I've heard other states have already adopted this format, but Oregon just went to a "play-in" round at the end of the regular season allowing every team a chance at the state playoff bracket, which is already flooded with 2/3 of the state qualifying for the postseason.

Now, I'm getting irate parents calling me wondering how we could miss their team's "playoff" game.

Really? If you just went 1-8 you have no business being anywhere near the bracket...I'm insisting on referencing these games at "play-in" qualifiers, but to parents these are can't miss "big-game" showdowns. Ughh.

Last weekend is typically our busiest of the year with soccer and volleyball playoffs coinciding along with state cross country and the first round of football. I end up hitting five events Saturday, then wake up Monday morning to hear about an irate "cancel my subscription" volleyball parent who has called the publisher and my editor. I try to explain the decision process for our weekend coverage and get called "lazy and disinterested".

The team in question here finished third in a six-team league (read middle of the pack). The state's governing body hands out so many trophies anymore it's silly. And winning state means you were the best out of about 40 schools — it's so watered down.

Don't know about lazy, but they got the disinterested part right.

Based on your logic, a team can still win the state championship if it loses this first playoff game.

 

[Pilot]

2. Almost all of us started as prep writers at small papers, performing myriad tasks we deemed beneath us. You do your job, do it well and hope somebody notices the talent, the hustle, the teamwork, the right attitude and maybe you move up.

We all started at the New York Times, actually. (Cross-thread, or something.)

 

[Stitch]

The arrogance on here is stunning, though not entirely surprising.
If the state calls it a playoff game, you must too.
If it's a milestone, recognize it as such. Your "take" on their accomplishment is immaterial.
If I were your editor, we'd be having a serious talk about professionalism right about now.
Two parting thoughts and I'll leave you to continue bitching about the world:
1. Parents are customers, even the moronic ones.
2. Almost all of us started as prep writers at small papers, performing myriad tasks we deemed beneath us. You do your job, do it well and hope somebody notices the talent, the hustle, the teamwork, the right attitude and maybe you move up.

A customer is never always right.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

EVERYBODY GETS ICE CREAM!!!

 

[murphyc]

Flex, I feel your pain since I'm also in Oregon. One of our local teams legitimately made playoffs for the first time in 14 years. Not play-in, playoffs. This everybody in system is ridiculous and, like making schools teach to the standardized test, is spreading. A few years ago in Iowa I covered a girls basketball "playoff" game. The local team won 76-4, playing JV kids for three quarters. That just makes a farce of early round "playoff" games.
I was happy when I moved to Oregon and discovered the state didn't have such nonsense. And now the state does indeed give ribbons to everyone.
Does anyone know how many states are sticking with the old-school you-have-to-actually-qualify-for-playoffs system?

 

[2underpar]

just a question: did you make arrangements with the coach/stat guy/anybody to have them call in results from the 1-9 team? We cover 30 schools in our circulation area, and we make it a point to have someone call us with the results and pertinent information when they play out of area.

 

[JakeandElwood]

Flex, I feel your pain since I'm also in Oregon. One of our local teams legitimately made playoffs for the first time in 14 years. Not play-in, playoffs. This everybody in system is ridiculous and, like making schools teach to the standardized test, is spreading. A few years ago in Iowa I covered a girls basketball "playoff" game. The local team won 76-4, playing JV kids for three quarters. That just makes a farce of early round "playoff" games.
I was happy when I moved to Oregon and discovered the state didn't have such nonsense. And now the state does indeed give ribbons to everyone.
Does anyone know how many states are sticking with the old-school you-have-to-actually-qualify-for-playoffs system?

In Illinois you have to be 5-4 (it's technically possible for a 4-5 to make it if there aren't enough teams above .500 but I can't remember that happening).

 

[HanSenSE]

just a question: did you make arrangements with the coach/stat guy/anybody to have them call in results from the 1-9 team? We cover 30 schools in our circulation area, and we make it a point to have someone call us with the results and pertinent information when they play out of area.

The onnnnnnly way to fly, ladies and gentlemen of SportsJournalists.com. You can only stretch you and your staff so thin, even though I try my darndest to get bodies on the road during the playoffs. Even with your trustiest callers/e-mailers, do check in. We had four games going on simultaneously on Wednesday and we staffed two. I sent an e-mail to one letting them know we wouldn't be going out of town for an 8-9 game, but didn't bother with the fourth, since she calls in even when they get slapped silly ... except this time.