Is it time to re-think how we offer spring sports for high school kids? We always expect to see "PPD" (for postponed) next to a few early-season games. It's a given that the weather will be an impediment. College teams deal with this by going south, a trip not only useful for getting some guaranteed games, but fun also.
Meanwhile back in Minnesota, we're past the climactic March Madness season of sports, and into the season of "snirt" for weather. As the snow recedes, it takes on the black color of dirt. And sports? The baseball and softball teams initially condition indoors. Then they tentatively approach the game schedule with knowledge it may be unpleasant and even impractical. "Impractical" describes the hand we're dealt for 2018.
Never have we seen such an example of how spring sports can simply be no-go.
I even heard a story once about how those southern college trips don't solve everything. The story was about U of M-Duluth baseball. After the usual southern U.S. swing, the team got back and found that the weather here was still so stubborn, they had to start getting in shape all over again.
Teams in the Twin Cities scramble to get games arranged in those few indoor places that can accommodate. Track and field has a better situation, as many of their early-season meets are arranged for fieldhouses to begin with.
I have always sensed a letdown with early-season baseball and softball even if the weather cooperates. We reach such a climax of enthusiasm as the winter season reaches its end. We have that "March Madness" name for it. People are really "into it" and seem to have their lives taken over for a time. I have felt that myself as a media person. Basketball and wrestling crown their champions amidst a sort of mania. Gymnasiums get filled. Once the dust settles we have the spring games that attract ragtag small turnouts of fans by comparison.
Adding to this anticlimax is weather that can be cold and uncomfortable. You know how the vicious springtime winds can be. Why do we arrange for such a thrilling, climactic air for the closing stages of winter, and then yawn as we try to roll out the spring season? This year the games have been wiped out by the weather. Can we really view the weather of '18 as an aberration? Or should we expect such a state of affairs?
Minnesota in early and mid-April is certainly no slam dunk for allowing outdoor sports, or for even taking a pleasant walk outside. This year we have just had a more extreme example. So how do we assess this situation where we cannot really fix the disrupted spring schedule? Special allowances are being made to squeeze in games. I suppose the new pitch count rule in baseball will protect pitchers. However, pitching staffs will be strained and some will be rocked because of lacking good enough depth.
How can we approach this problem in a pro-active way? This is not the first time I have written about this. So I'll repeat: might we consider a short season of gymnasium-based sports for early in spring? I think boys would have a blast playing volleyball. I have suggested before that maybe this could be done in a more informal, intramural type of way. Maybe it's time we take some of the serious edge off sports anyway. And let's not even get into whether football with its dangers should continue to be offered.
Maybe baseball should be a May through August proposition with one continuous program in effect, perhaps shared by the high schools and the American Legion. Softball could be arranged likewise. No longer would we see a row of "PPDs" next to games on a schedule. No longer would those ragtag early-season fans have to feel discomfort in the bleachers.
It's wishful thinking to try to schedule all those outdoor events. Maybe the downer of the 2018 spring will force some serious thinking on the matter. I'll repeat another nugget I've offered before, that track and field should be the only spring sport. Track and field could vie in those spacious fieldhouses for as much as half the season, escaping the weather. There is something for everyone in track and field. Everyone gets to compete. It's not like there's just nine players on the field as in baseball and softball. If track and field numbers are high, just arrange more "heats" for the runners. The kids can just line up for the field events.
No matter what your physique or physical size/attributes are, you can find a suitable event in track and field. Another argument for this is that we'd really know who the best athletes are. At present we can assume that many premier athletes are in baseball and softball.
But the High School League, I suspect, isn't likely to consider this idea. Money could be saved by condensing spring sports - no more situations with buses headed in all directions after school. The sports world has bigger issues on its plate like the storm of concern over football and whether our boys should keep playing it. It's an odd debate from the standpoint of listening to football's apologists and their illogic. So sad how football is so imbued in our culture. Many people are alarmed for no good reason at suggestions to rein in football. The science has become so clear.
But my God, retreating from football? Is it possible? Often these things take time, like stomping out smoking indoors. It made total sense years before the rules actually came into being. Football is following in those footsteps.
I wonder if our whole conception of high school sports will eventually change. I wonder if the serious edge of this competition, the "varsity" model, will give way to a more relaxed approach at some point. These kids are not gaining any lifelong skills. Oh, maybe in golf they might. But shall we weigh the intramural model more? Cut out all that transportation. Should we promote sheer fun more? Should we slap up some of those high school sports parents who get disproportionately excited? Should we simply "cool it?"
Are high school sports an outdated model for trying to keep high school kids involved or distracted, away from mischief? Kids are no longer so much at risk for getting bored. Kids should not go out for sports, especially football, because of peer pressure. The watchers of football are anticipating the inevitable: a district attorney somewhere in the U.S. who will charge the parents of a boy who gets seriously hurt in football. That could be a turning point.
Right now we have the pathetic issue of how to salvage high school spring sports in the 2018 spring. Remember, all these programs take money to support. And at present, no amount of adjusting is going to allow spring teams to have the normal enriching experience. Let's look at it from the standpoint of cost: that always works.
Addendum: Del Sarlette once suggested we have a "snirt festival" in Morris complete with a "snirt queen."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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