I, you, and thousands who cared saw the latest vestige of high school basketball…deserving of some criticism, but fixable if we would listen to those who aren’t trying to profit from its reformation.
“I read you guys on the internet,” said a reader from Allen County Saturday at UD Arena.
“I like you guys…tell it like it is. You tell the truth.”
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Tell it like it is?
Isn’t that why people hate Fox News?
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Imagine Stephen Colbert writing high school sports. If seven divisions is good, why not nine?
Wouldn’t kids grow up to be more competitive…if we just kept handing out $5 medals on 50-cent ribbons?
And yet, when someone writes about what he saw in the boys state tournament over the weekend (in this case, Jeff Gilbert) – questioning why basketball is now officiated like Roller Derby – the $5 dollar medal people come out of the woodwork to defend what no one watching from the stands (and many of the players) understands?
No longer is contact in basketball a foul. Basketball now is a contact sport. If you want skill and finesse you’re old, or you may have dementia.
“It’s the way modern basketball is supposed to be played,” they huff.
I ask, “You mean like the Big Ten?”
You can lose your head shooting a layup, but the moving screen is a capital offense.
A snarky emailer wrote Sunday: “I’m surprised you guys cover bowling. It’s pretty violent when ball meets pins.”
Love the snark!
The other side was heard from, as well. One who shared his opinion was a reader from Champaign County…a basketball man who told Frank Shannon, Dave Zeller and Wayne Embry stories (from Tecumseh High School)…who came down to the floor Saturday to introduce himself – to say this about “new and improved basketball.”
“Why are there only 28 teams this good in a state with 88 counties?” he asked, during halftime of the Delphos-Kalida game.
“And why is it so freakin’ rough? I’m waiting for someone to really get hurt.”
You have to understand that you’re going to get hit…but you have to play through the contact. And it may not be a foul, just physical.
I didn’t mention to him how St. Henry’s Molly Wendel was injured on a hard foul (but a clean play) during the girls tournament and missed the championship game the next day.
And any social media criticism of Gilbert for mentioning the officiating in his game story on Marion Local and Berlin Hiland on Sunday has to be taken with a grain of salt…when the people in the game itself mannequin so hard to defend the NCAA, the OHSAA, and the NFHS position on physical play.
The same coaches, by the way – Marion Local and Berlin Hiland – who were both up in arms during the game and drew meaningless bench warnings from the officials.
How many times do you hear during an NCAA broadcast: “You understand that you’re going to get hit. You just have to deal with it and play through the contact.”
Which used to be a foul.
On my computer Sunday morning, this email received from Doug Blankenship, in Scioto County.
“People hate the officiating, and yet the PSAs (Public Service Announcements) about becoming an official? Make extra money, get some exercise, and do it for the kids. Is this not the equivalent of seven divisions of officials? Are we asking people with no experience in handling objections, or with no competitive experience, to become the future of officiating?”
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People commented on the ‘Euro-step’, aka traveling, that jumped out at them during both the NCAA tourney and the high school Finals.
“It’s OK to hop, skip, and jump to the basket? Isn’t that textbook traveling?”
Another wrote: “This comes from the college game, which we love, but it’s hard to watch anymore.”
One more: “I don’t care if Cam Elwer does do it, it’s still traveling. Blow the whistle and stop it.”
Opinion: We’d be better, honestly, with AI officiating.
Now coaches would object to that because their default is to have a relationship whereby they can talk with officials and plant a seed – aka, baiting. But that’s old school, too. We’re better now. We’ve got the ‘Euro-step’.
Create a software that identifies traveling, player control fouls, getting mugged with the full-court press, arm bars, hand-checking, etc., and let some computer with a quicker-than-human mind make the decision about who’s disadvantaged, and who’s not. Then yell at…who? It’s what they’ve done in major league baseball!
And let’s not leave out the tired lament of ‘consistency.’ Why was it a foul yesterday, and not today?
Well to that end, the semi-final game Friday at the Nutter Center officiated by Dan Holland, John Siler, and Andre Bumpus did stand out because the three of them called fouls, and called them early. They happened to be the same crew who worked the Tri-Village-Marion Local game in the regional finals. And again, they called early fouls – legitimate fouls – and placed players and coaches in a position of having to adjust to the officiating…instead of the officials having to adjust to the players.
What a concept, eh?
Can you remember basketball when this was a foul? Now…it’s called ‘physical’!
People know…they remember…when the game was predicated on skill and shooting.
They went to see Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Pete Maravich, Jordan and Bird shoot the ball – not Dennis Rodman in a dress and Bill Laimbeer goon it up for television.
You don’t see shooters like that in high school basketball, anymore – with the exception of Cam Elwer – because no one works as hard at it as Elwer. They do body art, instead.
Or…’Euro-step.’
So, if you think I’m senile…if you hate me for writing what everyone else is thinking…pretend I’m Fox News. I’ll be your Jesse Watters because people who watch no longer recognize basketball.
Except, in the case of those few experienced enough to remember when the game was about skill – when kids could shoot a left-handed layup.
When two hands on a ball-handler…and reaching in from behind was a foul.
And the person in row five, who loves, but never played the game, is able to spot the difference.
Don’t you love the irony?
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