Dear dimwit on the phone

[Mark2010]

One complication I haven't seen mentioned with the baseball, softball and lacrosse, and scheduling - if you get a rainy week, you really get effed. I think it was last year or the year before that there were so many rain makeups that the playoffs conflicted with senior graduation. The state association finally moved one final to a Sunday, IIRC, which was two days after graduation for one team.

One of our high schools made the state finals in baseball one year, and there was something like 10 days between Games 1 and 2.
It was supposed to be Friday-Monday-Tuesday best-of-three, IIRC. Game 1 goes off without a hitch. That Sunday, an assistant coach for one of the teams had a heart attack and died. They waited a couple days for the grieving and the funeral, then got one or two rainouts on top of it. The following weekend was both schools' graduation, so they waited a couple more days.
Most surreal playoff series I've ever covered.

Sounds like the 1989 World Series that was interrupted by an earthquake in San Francisco.

 

[spikechiquet]

Why do track nerds insist on calling high school track "Men's" and "Women's" track? It's "Boys'" and "Girls'"...why? Because the majority of the competitor are KIDS! I'm not calling a 15-year old pole vaulter a woman! She's a girl. A kid. End of story.

Sorry, rant over.

 

[Mark2010]

Agreed. I tend to make the transition when the athlete transitions to the college level.

 

[farmerjerome]

Today, I received not one but TWO calls from a girls soccer mom two counties over from us (about 45 miles away). Their team is supposed to be travelling to face our team in the quarterfinal round of the state playoffs Saturday. Problem is, visiting team has their prom Saturday. They tried to get the home school's coach, AD and principal to move the game to Friday (or at least early Saturday afternoon), but they wouldn't budge.

Soccer moms from two counties over are calling us asking us to write a story about it and how their girls' lives are being ruined (they've already bought dresses, this is an important moment in their lives, etc.). All this despite the fact that they have their own paper in that county.

While I feel bad for the girls, us writing a story isn't going to do anything to change the game time. Also, from a business standpoint, I'm not going to tick off the locals who actually subscribe to our paper at the request of people who live more than an hour away.

You could do something on it.

Just my opinion, but it's a real deck move by your home school. How hard is it to move the game time? Kids and parents put a lot of money into the prom and sometimes some of the stuff is scheduled pretty far in advanced.

I'm saying this and I got into a bitchfest with a coach in my area because of this issue. During a local tournament, one of the schools had an issue with their bus and they were late. It pushed back the start time of the whole tournament, so they couldn't comeplete it in time for one of the schools to get ready in time for their prom. It ended up being some bullshirt round-robin format, and because this asshole assistant coach saw me talking to another coach (their game ended earlier) and he ended up accusing me of being biased. Honestly, the prom team just didn't want to get their asses kicked by their rival on short notice. I know I really didn't explain that well, but it still pisses me off. Their AD later apologized.

Anyway.....prom is scheduled months in advance and sometimes districts and states can't get their shirt together until a couple of days ahead of time. Even up here, where football and basketball are king, you can't get a set in stone schedule for district finals if your life depended on it. I'm not talking about teams, I'm talking about time, date, place for each class. It's a nightmare.

 

[HanSenSE]

Waiting to see what happens with the Section softball title game scheduled for Wednesday, the same night as Grad Night for one of the schools. The other school doesn't have to worry about that, since they're a playoff noob and don't have seniors this year.

 

[Mark2010]

Bottom line, people are just going to have to decide what's most important to them and live accordingly. Prom or softball/soccer? Career or family? Business or something else?

We'd all like to have our cake and eat it, too. Life just ain't that way most of the time. I guess high school is as good of a time as any for that reality to set in.

 

[MonsterLobster]

Let's just avoid this debate all together by making prom a sanctioned competition.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Speaking of rescheduling and not getting it.

Rainouts this week left Friday as the only day for a makeup between the two best teams in the league.

Saturday not an option, because of prom, and Sunday not do-able, because the other school requires an all-night grad party. Pairings meeting is Monday.

Big Science class trip scheduled for today, but the softball players (six or seven) didn't want to go. Trip had been moved, then reinstated, and the coach walks in to find the principal trying to talk the girls into skipping the game.

Principal didn't understand why the team needed to play, since it had already clinched the league title.

Why didn't they just play on Saturday morning?

 

[ZummoSports]

Speaking of rescheduling and not getting it.

Rainouts this week left Friday as the only day for a makeup between the two best teams in the league.

Saturday not an option, because of prom, and Sunday not do-able, because the other school requires an all-night grad party. Pairings meeting is Monday.

Big Science class trip scheduled for today, but the softball players (six or seven) didn't want to go. Trip had been moved, then reinstated, and the coach walks in to find the principal trying to talk the girls into skipping the game.

Principal didn't understand why the team needed to play, since it had already clinched the league title.

This is why I know a few baseball and softball coaches who have described coaching in the spring as a "nightmare."

 

[Mark2010]

It's not just sports, teachers say the same thing.

After spring break, students go on cruise control. They've worked really hard for 6-7 months, the weather is warming up, the finish line is in sight. They want to hang out (go to the mall was the thing in my day, have no idea what it is now). They don't want to practice or even play, in many cases. Typical teenage thing it seems.

 

[spikechiquet]

It's not just sports, teachers say the same thing.

After spring break, students go on cruise control. They've worked really hard for 6-7 months, the weather is warming up, the finish line is in sight. They want to hang out (go to the mall was the thing in my day, have no idea what it is now). They don't want to practice or even play, in many cases. Typical teenage thing it seems.

sexting...duh

 

[flexmaster33]

Year-around school is the answer...why we don't do it is beyond me.
The loss of retention over the summer is ridiculous, and yes, after spring break kids shut it down. April and May in school are almost useless.