State Tournaments: Building a Community
How many of you have ever noticed that new stadiums financed by taxpayers are often named after products or corporations? In my opinion the time is coming where we will refer to teams as the Nike Yankees or the Templeton Financial Red Sox. Sports are now becoming so commericialized that we tend to think of this idea as a crazy notion. I would have thought this a few years ago had I not watched the most recent Olympics or heard the commotion about baseball players wearing logos on their jerseys. If you enjoy the direction this is going than please do not tarnish the games played by high school athletes.
High school athletes are now being faced with user fees to play sports. Communities facing budget cuts have now resorted to selling Pepsi or Coke products to produce scoreboards or other basic equipment for students. ESPN has now decided to broadcast games of prominent high school players. Advertisers see a market for this and programming must be finding a market otherwise they would not televise this. Some schools are finding a hard time turning this down. Free publicity in an era of school choice, money for the athletic programs, and a chance for the individual athlete to be seen by prospective colleges.
I have just come back from a high school girls basketball tournament game and it made me think about why I love high school sports (especially State tournaments). It is an opportunity for members of the community to show school spirit and celebrate high school students accomplishments. Very few will get an opportunity to play at the college level and a very small select group will play at the professional level. Yet what these students will remember are the memories with teammates and moments of personal satisfaction that Herb Brooks once referred to as "relentless team pursuit of the unknown".
There are a few choices on my social calendar: tickets to an NBA game, tickets to a Division III college game, or a high school girls basketball game between two rival schools with a chance of making it to the State tournament. It is a no brainer!! As a famous commercial put it: #3.00 cost of admission, $0.75 popcorn, $4.00 gas. A chance to see two crosstown rivals put it on the line with one team's season ending....priceless!!!
High school athletes are now being faced with user fees to play sports. Communities facing budget cuts have now resorted to selling Pepsi or Coke products to produce scoreboards or other basic equipment for students. ESPN has now decided to broadcast games of prominent high school players. Advertisers see a market for this and programming must be finding a market otherwise they would not televise this. Some schools are finding a hard time turning this down. Free publicity in an era of school choice, money for the athletic programs, and a chance for the individual athlete to be seen by prospective colleges.
I have just come back from a high school girls basketball tournament game and it made me think about why I love high school sports (especially State tournaments). It is an opportunity for members of the community to show school spirit and celebrate high school students accomplishments. Very few will get an opportunity to play at the college level and a very small select group will play at the professional level. Yet what these students will remember are the memories with teammates and moments of personal satisfaction that Herb Brooks once referred to as "relentless team pursuit of the unknown".
There are a few choices on my social calendar: tickets to an NBA game, tickets to a Division III college game, or a high school girls basketball game between two rival schools with a chance of making it to the State tournament. It is a no brainer!! As a famous commercial put it: #3.00 cost of admission, $0.75 popcorn, $4.00 gas. A chance to see two crosstown rivals put it on the line with one team's season ending....priceless!!!
posted by Stew On The Go | 2:23 PM
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