There Ya Go
Those cooky mad scientists at the Minnesota State High School League really did it this time. I have never hidden my disdain for some of the decisions made by the MSHSL, or how they oversee state tournaments, so I won’t pull any punches this week.
What is my latest gripe? Scheduling. Back in the day (last year), spring sports state tournament time was a relative breeze for us newspaper slaves. Baseball was June 13, 14 and 17. Softball was June 5-7. Track and field was June 6-8. And golf was June 11-12.
Notice anything? That’s right. One tournament ends, then another begins with hardly any overlapping. Slick. And it makes sense.
But my friends at the League figured that ideal schedule made life as editors and reporters just a bit too easy. So they changed it: This year, baseball was June 10-13. Softball was June 3-6. Track and field was June 10-12. And golf was June 10-11.
Notice anything different? Right again. Three of the tournaments coincided at some time. Three. And it all happened last week.
Does the MSHSL understand that we don’t have three or four reporters we can spread out? Do the powers that be realize that even if we did, it would be too expensive for us borderline-penniless small-town papers to pay and reimburse them all — hours, hotels, gas, etc.?
Oh, they know. They just don’t care.
Setting up the tournaments this way could be the difference — and it usually is — between being there and not covering one sport in person at all. What if our baseball team would’ve made it; they would’ve played last Wednesday morning, as those who golfed at state were on the links.
We don’t invest in state tournament coverage for our amusement, we do it for the kids, their parents, their families. And we’re committed.
Our only policy is we won’t go for just one person; we just can’t justify spending hundreds of dollars on one athlete. I wish that wasn’t the case, as all athletes deserve coverage, but we’re not exactly rolling in money and have to factor in our finances when it comes to deciding what to cover.
This year, we had four kids go to state — two tracksters and two golfers. They each competed last Tuesday at the same time about one-half hour from each other.
That meant we were down a person in the office for two days last week — Tara headed to state tourneys, while I stayed back to put the paper together and send our pages off to our printer. What made it even worse (and this is not the MSHSL’s problem) is that Wednesday is now our deadline day, when it used to be Tuesday.
I didn’t want to send Tara to these state tournaments because of her workload back at home. I had no doubt she would do just fine with photos, interviews and stories, but that’s not her job. We needed her here taking care of her business. Now, she’ll fall even father behind than she already was. Now, her stress level will go through the roof (like it hadn’t already).
And when her stress level goes up, so, too, does mine. Thankfully, Ben had the front office covered last Wednesday so I could focus on getting the paper done. We got our deadline extended and ended up getting everything covered and our pages out on time. That’s no easy task on a regular Wednesday, let alone one where one of us is gone all day.
I don’t know the rationale behind the MSHSL choosing to overlap sports, and frankly, I don’t care, but they deserve to walk the plank for this one. I could complain to them, but unless the Star Tribune or Pioneer Press raise a stink, nothing would happen anyway.
In the meantime, we can just hope that they realize changing the schedule was a big blunder. Add it to the list.
I don’t expect MSHSL officials to peel my grapes for me, but it would be nice if they considered small-town media members when making game-changing decisions. If they had asked me about rejiggering spring sport scheduling, I would’ve asked them if the system is broke. Because if it wasn’t, why try to fix it?
