Basketball: Just desserts ...

This is the beginning of a big two-week stretch for a bona fide hoser hoops addict in Ontario.

The NCAA Tournament is a week and a half away. In CIS, the women's tournament is this weekend in Hamilton and the Carleton Ravens will host the men's championship next weekend.

Of course, a little farther down the pecking order, there's the Ontario high school championships, which tipped off today (current Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Devoe Joseph's old high school team, Pickering, was upset this afternoon at the quad-A championship).

Personally, it's impossible not to be seeking out scores for the Waterford Wolves at the single-A tourney, Ontario's smallest classification. Wolves coach Dan Avey was subject of a favourite column (reproduced below) back in the day on the old Simcoe Reformer sports beat. One of his teams was on the receiving end of an 100-33 loss against one of the big schools in the league. Dan high-roaded it afterward, and all these years later, here he is with a pretty good small-school team, which beat Cornwall Holy Trinity in their first game today.

It goes to show what goes around comes around, in a good way. Anyway, it's a story for the Reformer's current sports guys, Jacob Robinson and Jeff Dertinger, but it's nice to see Dan Avey get his reward for his commitment to youth.

February 13, 2006

SCS STANDS FOR STAY CLASSY, SABRES
PRINCIPAL, COACH REGRET 100-POINT BINGE AGAINST PORT DOVER

Normally, the coach of a 9-1 basketball team doesn't sound so frustrated.

As he politely gave his side of what happened in the first basketball game at the new Simcoe Composite School gymnasium last Tuesday, James Warman's voice carried the kind of edge that comes when you're defending the indefensible.

Warman says he would "gladly issue an apology" for letting his Simcoe Sabres junior boys team run up 100 points against Port Dover that day.

That's good to hear. There is no defence for what Simcoe did to an all-Grade 9 team that had just five players that day and didn't win a single game this season.

For the No. 1 Sabres fan, principal Bob Foster, seeing a team win 100-33 — the type of score that needs a 10-dollar adjective put in front of it — presents a real dilemma.

"We don't disrespect another school by apologizing for working hard," Foster said. "I know if I was on the wrong end of a high score, I would feel patronized if someone apologized to me for it.

"I know our school wishes every game was close. Five-point games are the best games. That's where everyone learns something."

It's hard to have that in a league that has AAA schools competing against single-A schools. Warman's team also had a two-week exam break followed by games against the two non-playoff teams before the playoffs.

"My whole thing was to keep my team motivated," Warman said. "I was trying to work in some new things we'll need for NSSAA (playoffs) or for a CWOSSA qualifier."

Lakers coach Dan Avey declined to comment. When I outlined Warman's predicament to Port Dover teacher and coach Derek McConnell, his comment was, "Well, too bad."

In McConnell's view, this was no ordinary one-sided wipeout. Not after the Sabres played full-court man-to-man defence throughout the second half in what Warman admitted was an effort to reach the 100-point plateau.

"I just don't think you do that at the expense of other kids," McConnell said, adding, "The coach (Avey) and the kids handled it well, but I don't want it to discourage them."

'GO FOR 100'

At halftime, Simcoe had allowed just five points and scored close to 50, but Warman wanted to keep his guys interested.

"When the guys decided to go for 100, I said, 'fine, if you think you can, go for it,'" Warman related. "I didn't think they could, but I offered them the challenge."

In hindsight: "It was maybe not the right call."

Veteran SCS coach Chris Harvey said after the game, he spoke with Warman - "we wanted to give him some options" - about how to handle a similar situation.

For instance, what about having the clock run the entire second half? Simcoe could have kept pressing, but would have fallen short of 100 points and there would have been no controversy.

"Running the clock would have been a good idea," Warman said.

Clearly, Warman realizes nothing good came out of this.

"He is a good young coach that ended up in a situation that neither team ended up benefiting from," Harvey said on Thursday.

That young coach is understandably feeling frustrated for catching flak. But there were drawbacks to thinking only of this week's playoffs.

"People are making a big deal of it and I didn't see it coming," he said. "It's become a big deal, and I'll gladly issue an apology."

Addressing the dilemma is better than apologizing. It appears SCS realizes what kind of message it sends when the first basketball game sees a team needlessly pounding on an overmatched team.

Foster knows that isn't the kind of image that truly reflects his school. SCS is in a privileged position these days, thanks to publicity generated by the new gym. It's kind of sad the junior team's 100-point binge came in the first basketball game there.

"For us, it's a learning experience as well," Foster said. "Since it happened, we've talked about it — what we do the future if that situation comes up again, what would we expect of the other team if we were on the other side. Hopefully we can go from there."

I'm told that last Tuesday, SCS fans applauded the Lakers' Cody Mummery for hitting a three-pointer right before the final buzzer that cut the margin of victory to a mere 67 points.

Clearly, SCS is showing a little remorse. As well it should.

The Castillo verdict: Don't press the panic button

There a couple ways to go with the story about "a major junior hockey player with an Ontario Hockey League team" (Toronto Star) being convicted of manslaughter in the death of 15-year-old Manny Castillo in a high school rugby game two years ago.

The first is to tell people not to panic about ramifications for collision sports. The fallout could be positive, if this leads to a more no-nonsense approach with regard to aggressive behaviour, without veering into nanny-state tactics or zero tolerance. Like Jason Whitlock says, "Social agenda does not trump truth." The second, since everyone has a little of the dirty gossip in her or him, is to wonder who is the hockey player; and wonder if hockey should get off scot-free in this since the killer presumably would have had to spend more time on the ice than on a rugby pitch to become a top-level player. (Wondering who it is not that important.)

Please keep in mind will have an impact in future cases, since Canadian jurisprudence is founded on the rule of precedent (which is why it's somewhat immaterial if the victim's parents did not wish to see the killer prosecuted; what if it happens again?). One practical application might be in terms of how much liability insurance cash-strapped schools have to carry in order to have a football, hockey or rugby team. As well, if this ruling had come 10 years ago, Todd Bertuzzi's fate could have been different:

" 'The force applied by the defendant was not within the rules of the game ...' the judge said. '... dangerous play inside or outside of the rules is not acceptable ... The defendant intentionally applied force that was outside the rules of the game or any standard by which the game is played. Manny did not explicitly consent to that force, and I am satisfied beyond any doubt that no such consent can be implied.' "

However, for our understanding here needs to be balance between realizing unchecked aggression which cost Castillo his life has no place in sports, but aggression will always have some place. Athletes need to go into a game realizing there are limits. It's not clear if Castillo's killer had listened to that lesson.

It is notable what the rugby coach at the victim's school, Lorne Park Secondary, said to The Star about how this should be handled:

"Coach Peter Mashinter said he could not support a review of contact sports in high school.

" 'It's all about preparation. You need the right people and experienced people,' he said. 'What happened (with Castillo) was an isolated incident. I don't think we need to drastically change things now.

" 'It's the coach's, players' and referee's responsibility to keep things in control. If you have a proper, disciplined team that plays the game the way it should be played, sure there will be injuries, but it will be played right.' "

That would be scoff-worthy if it was said by a hockey guy, complete with the usual word-vomit about "listen(ing) too much to outside influences when they don't know the spirit of the game, the culture of the game."

A honest, heartfelt belief is that people in football and rugby have been doing a good job with taking preventative measures. Football has cracked down on blows to the head, on dangerous tackling techniques that have caused paralysis or death (leading with the head).

As for rugby, Canada's men's national team coach, Kieran Crowley, was also quoted saying he couldn't recall an on-field fatality in his sport. It bears noting rugby, which sort of has that old-boys spirit about it yet has been much more welcoming to girls and women playing, is less imbued with the Domination Culture (hat tip: Chuck Klosterman) that imbues hockey and the Big 3 American team sports. There's more of an all-for-one spirit, a principle that you don't take advantage of a physically weaker or less experienced player. (One of the fascinating parts of rugby is that when the referee stops play, he or she will often explain to the players what they were doing incorrectly.)

The point is there will have to be some measures taken, but honestly, this was isolated. People are smart enough to realize Manny Castillo's death was somewhat isolated, and it's not cause for high schools to stop offering collision sports.

(As a sidebar, yes, one can wonder who is the player. The Globe & Mail story notes, "He has short blond hair." He is 18 years old, from Mississauga and would have started playing in the OHL after the assault occurred in 2007, since major junior teams typically bar players from taking part in other sports where they could incur an injury. That's as far as I'm willing to narrow it down.)

Related:
Teen guilty in rugby death (Bob Mitchell, Toronto Star)
Teen rugby player guilty in game death; Judge rules ‘playing field is not a criminal law-free zone' (Globe & Mail)

Phantom Power: Sometimes in February

A jaded journo should not feel tears stirring afterwriting a headline; you're supposed to be cool and detached.

Still, there they were yesterday, after typing in, "Long live the Boys in Red: Bathurst ballers triumph over tragedy" for a a small item in today's Ottawa Sun, right below the SUNshine Girl. Apologies in advance for getting caught up in a story about perfect strangers.

The thread which runs through the story about the Bathurst Phantoms is knowing that in every small community in Canada, there's a group of boys who live to have their fingertips caress the pebbled surface of a basketball. There's no one catch-all explanation, just like there isn't for why kids in the suburbs listen to L'il Wayne. Give them a ball, a basket, enough room to manoeuvre, and they're happy, whether it is playing one-on-one in the driveway, two-on-two or three-on-three at the small court with 8-foot-high goals behind the public school.

The victory belongs to a team, a town and the Boys In Red, of course. The Bathurst Phantoms should know that there is a lot "there but for the grace of" to go with their victory. You know most of the details about the Phantoms, whose team name, randomly enough, is derived from a local legend that you can see a sailing ship in the waters north of Bathurst. Similarly, one suspects that after yesterday, the Boys In Red will live forever.

One can only assume to know what it's like to have a basketball jones in Bathurst. The just-the-facts is that the Phantoms, led by Bradd Arseneau (pictured), a survivor of the crash which took seven of his teammates and a teacher 13 months ago, Elizabeth Lord, won the New Brunwick AA championship yesterday. Arseneau, who scored 25 points in yesterday's final while wearing the No. 7 of his late teammate, Nathan Cleland, suffered four broken ribs and a bruised lung in the crash, and his mom, Lucy O'Neil-Arseneau called him the "lucky one," which only hints at the horror.

Words fail at imagining what it must have been like, so it was no shock that Bradd Arseneau "declined interview requests" after the game. It's a failure of conventional journalism that anyone would even think he would take questions. It was way too heavy for an 18-year-old.

The bond you get playing basketball can be unlike no other in any team sport, not better, just unique. Bathurst had that ruptured, and yesterday completed some healing.

Bathurst High has about 700 students. That means fully 1% of its student body was lost, in one weekend. This also comes in the shadow of great stress for the community. On Friday, the day before the championship game, a mining company which is a major local employer was in court to obtain creditor protection. Within the next two weeks, the owner of the local major junior hockey team, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, will probably file papers to relocate the team.

No game can transcend all of that, but the Bathurst boys touched the hearts of people who might never visit their town. It's part and parcel with having grown up, in the country, as they say, and having played basketball avidly, if not athletically, as a teen.

There is some major memory burn of how back in 1994, '95, '96, when the temperatures rose, we didn't despair that we would be unable to play pond hockey. A winter thaw was an opportunity for my friend and teammate, Wegs, to get on the horn and get some guys together to play on an outdoor court in Bath, Ontario, behind the elementary school that I went to for junior kindergarten.

Wegs,would carry a push broom from his house to sweep the court clear of slush and gravel. It would be January, in Canada, four guys playing an endless game of 2-on-2. Once in a while, you'd have 5-on-5, but the court was really too small. You would start out wearing your tearaway track pants, a thick sweatshirt, toque and gloves. As you got moving and started to heat up, you would shed a couple layers.

We were not good at the game; Wegs was the sixth man for the Ernestown Eagles and we did make it to OFSAA, somewhat by guile by mostly by Smart (Rob had transferred from Napanee to Ernestown, starting the chain reaction that found its way to the Carleton Ravens a few years later). It was was a misnomer to say I was the 10th man, since if we had had a 53-man roster, I would have been 53rd.

Nevertheless, looking back it felt pretty Canadian to be out there, blind to the time of year and you ran up and down the court, jockeying for rebounding position, reaching out for a rebound, throwing in the little half-assed runner that I had developed to compensate for being too slow and lead-footed to get to the rim, even in a pick-up game. Like a one-time Ernestown student named Gord Downie later sang, "You're never more hot then / when you've got something on."

That was my hoops experience. It never left. The burn always flares in late February when high school and collegiate are down to the one-and-done, balls this close to the bandsaw portion of the season, which is probably a confession on my part that I'm pretty immature. Everyone's trying not to go home. It doesn't define you as a person, not by a long shot,

There has been some sniping about the fact Bathurst, a Triple-A team, was allowed to drop down a division for this season (their opponent for the final, Campobello Island, is Single-A), or why this story should get such play in the media. Well, Bathurst's win, which did so much for them, brought home what it was like to have basketball on the brain, as a Canadian. It's not our place to suggest it, but one hopes they get a tribute to herald their accomplishment. A pregame tribute at the next Raptors home game would hit the spot.

Related:
Basketball team 'did the impossible'; Tragic accident constant shadow (Richard Foot, Canwest News Service)

About that coach who got fired for winning

The first instinct was to steer clear of the story about the Texas high school basketball coach, Micah Grimes, who was canned in the wake his team winning a game 100-0 (and he being none too repentant about it).

It's bad blog form to rubberneck at "the flavor of the day for network newscasts who would flit to the next human interest saga soon enough," (editorial, Dallas Morning News). The media does not care about the eight young women on The Dallas Academy who were skunked a hundred to nothing. Be that as it may, Christopher Sells at HoopsVibe also says a life lesson was lost as the opportunist reached out to embrace the losing team.

"... accepting all of the pity coming its way is teaching the team the wrong sort of lesson. People will be better than you at some things. It’s a fact of life. Learning how to deal with that is important. Learning how to look someone in the eye and congratulate them on being superior to you is a hard thing to do, but these girls did it. But now, the better team is supposed to hand them a victory because they were too much better? Bad form, in my eyes."

The media also seemed blinkered to an important bit of subtext — the "school choice" debate that has raged in the U.S. for the last two decades. It's somewhat responsible for what happened.

In the great state of Texas and elsewhere, there are politicians and parents who believe in school vouchers — i.e., using public money to pay private school tuition. There are so many in Texas that they have their own high school athletic association, which both of these schools play in. Critics, who, yes, are disposed of a left-of-centre sensibility, say it hurts the public schools' ability to do a decent job.

In other words, a student attending such schools is gets a leg up at getting into a good university and a better shot at a good life, while those left in the public system suffer as a direct result. In other words, some have unfair advantage, yet it's a basketball coach who gets nuked.

It's just such a double standard with sports. No one squawks when the gifted-and-talent magnet high school cleans up at the science fair, or the math contest.

A one-time associate met it head-on when he coached a high school hockey team several years ago. The principal was hectoring him about why he gave more ice time to the more talented players and being obsessed with winning. He shot back, "Fine, let's have the kids in basic classes go in the science fair." He never heard about it again.

One-sided losses happen in high school sports, where a team's strength is pretty much predicated on the size of the school and nature of its demographics. It's happened at least once in my experience, and it's important to have sympathy for the coaches who are just trying to get their players to use the skills they've developed. Here's a case in point from one of my earlier newspaper gigs:

Feb. 13, 2006
SCS STANDS FOR STAY CLASSY, SABRES
PRINCIPAL, COACH REGRET 100-POINT BINGE AGAINST PORT DOVER

Normally, the coach of a 9-1 basketball team doesn't sound so frustrated.

But as he politely gave his side of what happened in the first basketball game at the new Simcoe Composite School gymnasium last Tuesday, James Warman's voice carried the kind of edge that comes when you're defending the indefensible.

Warman says he would "gladly issue an apology" for letting his Simcoe Sabres junior boys team run up 100 points against Port Dover that day.

That's good to hear. There is no defence for what Simcoe did to an all-Grade 9 team that had just five players that day and didn't win a single game this season.

For the No. 1 Sabres fan, principal Bob Foster, seeing a team win 100-33 — the type of score that needs a 10-dollar adjective put in front of it — presents a real dilemma.

"We don't disrespect another school by apologizing for working hard," Foster said. "I know if I was on the wrong end of a high score, I would feel patronized if someone apologized to me for it.

"I know our school wishes every game was close. Five-point games are the best games. That's where everyone learns something."

It's hard to have that in a league that has AAA schools competing against single-A schools (Ontario's smallest classification). Warman's team also had a two-week exam break followed by games against the two non-playoff teams before the playoffs.

"My whole thing was to keep my team motivated," Warman said. "I was trying to work in some new things we'll need for NSSAA (playoffs) or for a CWOSSA (regional) qualifier."

Lakers coach Dan Avey declined to comment. When I outlined Warman's predicament to Port Dover teacher and coach Derek McConnell, his comment was, "Well, too bad."

In McConnell's view, this was no ordinary one-sided wipeout. Not after the Sabres played full-court man-to-man defence throughout the second half in what Warman admitted was an effort to reach the 100-point plateau.

"I just don't think you do that at the expense of other kids," McConnell said, adding, "The coach (Avey) and the kids handled it well, but I don't want it to discourage them."

At halftime, Simcoe had allowed just five points and scored close to 50, but Warman wanted to keep his guys interested.

"When the guys decided to go for 100, I said, 'fine, if you think you can, go for it,'" Warman related. "I didn't think they could, but I offered them the challenge."

In hindsight: "It was maybe not the right call."

Veteran SCS coach Chris Harvey said after the game, he spoke with Warman - "we wanted to give him some options" - about how to handle a similar situation.

For instance, what about having the clock run the entire second half? Simcoe could have kept pressing, but would have fallen short of 100 points and there would have been no controversy.

"Running the clock would have been a good idea," Warman said.

Clearly, Warman realizes nothing good came out of this.

"He is a good young coach that ended up in a situation that neither team ended up benefiting from," Harvey said on Thursday.

That young coach is understandably feeling frustrated for catching flack. But there were drawbacks to thinking only of this week's playoffs.

People are making a big deal of it and I didn't see it coming," Warman said. "It's become a big deal, and I'll gladly issue an apology."

Addressing the dilemma is better than apologizing. It appears SCS realizes what kind of message it sends when the first basketball game sees a team needlessly pounding on an overmatched team.

Foster knows that isn't the kind of image that truly reflects his school. SCS is in a privileged position these days, thanks to publicity generated by the new gym. It's kind of sad the junior team's 100-point binge came in the first basketball game there.

"For us, it's a learning experience as well," Foster said. "Since it happened, we've talked about it — what we do the future if that situation comes up again, what would we expect of the other team if we were on the other side. Hopefully we can go from there."

I'm told that last Tuesday, SCS fans applauded the Lakers' Cody Mummery for hitting a three-pointer right before the final buzzer that cut the margin of victory to a mere 67 points.

Clearly, SCS is showing a little remorse. As well it should.

The point is these mismatches have become a fact of life in high school athletics in North America. No one is more frustrated by it than coaches. The media missed the point on this as they rushed to make an example out of Micah Grimes and give a show of false compassion for the losing side.

Related:
100-0 (Christopher Sells, HoopsVibe)

Stratagems: Not punting the football

Someone else is using math to ruin sports.

Gregg Easterbrook at ESPN.com has often Don't Punt proselytizers who have produced analyses saying that punting the ball away on fourth down is a poor percentage play. The pointyheads have evidently got to a high school coach in Little Rock, Arkansas, named Kevin Kelley. His team, the Pulaski Bruins, won the state championship without punting all season.

The numbers say that Kelley is right to go for it on every fourth down and, according to the Rivals High article, go for an onside kick on about 75% of the team's kickoffs.

If Pulaski converts on fourth down, it creates a momentum change similar to a turnover. Other high school coaches have told Kelley they would rather see his team punt.

The Bruins even avoid punting when the defense has stopped them inside their own 10-yard line.

"You can just tell people are in the stands thinking, 'You're an idiot,' " Kelley said.

... If Pulaski has a fourth-and-8 at its own 5-yard line, Kelley said his explosive offense likely will convert a first down at least 50 percent of the time. If it fails to convert, statistical data from the college level shows that an opponent acquiring the ball inside the 10-yard line scores a touchdown 90 percent of the time. If Pulaski punts away (i.e., a 40-yard punt with a 10-yard return) the other team will start with the ball on the 38-yard line and score a touchdown 77 percent of the time. The difference is only 13 percent.

Anyone who has covered high school football, speaking from experience, has probably wondered why the stronger teams don't call for onside kicks at least half the time, aside from situations where the outcome is not in doubt. The up men on the return team often have little experience handling the ball. The sight of the ball coming toward them when it's not expected can cause a young athlete to panic.

In a general sense, these are fun ideas to play around with on a Sunday morning before settling in for a NFL Sunday. It comes back to a key principle of being a sports fan that some sports geeks can forget. When a crucial situation comes up, don't think of it in terms of of what a certain coach or team might do, suggest what they should try. You'll live longer.

This is apropos since Denver and San Diego play tonight for the AFC West title – someone has to win it, and laying aside what you might think of Ray Lewis or Bill Belichick, you should be annoyed that an 8-8 team might go into the playoffs ahead of the 10-6 Baltimore Ravens or New England Patriots. In those teams' first meeting this season, as you know, Denver beat San Diego 39-38 after passing up a sure extra point to go for a 2-point conversion in the final minutes.

Right before that play, a newsroom colleague said, "They should go for two." Someone pointed out, "They never do that in the NFL," and he replied, "So what? I want to see them go for two, they should go for two. Don't tell me what you think the coaches will do, tell me what you think they should do." Weak, OK-you-win reply: "Go for two, then."

In that spirit, teams should punt less. Kicking the ball away when the other team knows a punt is coming often does seem like a give-up play. Now there are numbers that confirm as much.

Obviously, field goals are another kind of apple. That involves putting points on the scoreboard. Media types who have roasted the New England Patriots' Bill Belichick and USC's Pete Carroll for ill-fated fourth-down gambles in big games had a point. Going for it on fourth-and-13 in the Super Bowl when your offensive line is being owned will always be dumb.

The quick kick on third down, where the quarterback lines up in the shotgun formation, inches back a few steps and boots the ball away, is also separate.

A fourth-down punt only seems worth it when the punter has a chance to pin a team inside its own 10-yard line. There was a perfect example Saturday of where Don't Punt might have helped a team. The Wisconsin Badgers were down by only four points late in the first half in their Champs Sports Bowl capitulation against Florida State, facing fourth-and-2 on their own 15-yard line. They punted. About 40 seconds later, Florida State scored a touchdown to open a double-digit lead and went on to win 42-13.

It might have ended up that way anyhow (big, slow Big Ten team vs. a big, swift southern team, don't you know). It didn't have to, though.

Keeping the offense on the field on fourth down allows for more creative play-calling. Third-and-long does not have to be a passing down. The Little Rock school can run the ball, throw a screen pass or use any number of formations. Defenses do not know whether to use a nickel or dime defense. And Pulaski's offense has less pressure on third down.

On the previous play, the Badgers faced third-and-6. In their minds, they had one chance to get six yards, not two, so they lined up in a formation that screamed Obvious Passing Situation. Wisconsin is famous for its power running game, but Florida State knew it could sell out for a pass. The Wisconsin receiver caught a short pass and was quickly dropped two yards short of the first down, boom went the punt and soon enough, the rout was on.

It's always enjoyable to think about unorthodox strategies. The Don't Punt strategy seems like a winner. It will not appear in the NFL any time soon, but anything that requires more brainwork for the players and more excitement for fans should be welcome, even the bastards have to resort to introducing empirical evidence.

Related:
Arkansas coach punts traditional game plan (Jeff Merotin, Rivals High; via JonahKeri.com)

Kids Do The Darndest Things!

Well this looks oddly familiar, does it not? In a Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic Athletic Association (HWCAA) Football semi-final game at Ivor Wynne Stadium this past weekend, the St. Jean de Brebeuf Braves were down 15-10 with only 2 seconds remaining in the game. Trailing the Cardinal Newman Cardinals, apparently the Brebeuf players actually talked about this one in the huddle before the play! While trying their best to imitate Trinity University, a homemade video captured the play that these players will likely never stop talking about for the rest of their lives!

Brebeuf head coach Steve Alfano was still hyperventilating after.

"I don't really want to see that one again, because that was just too much," he joked as he regained his composure. "It was at least six touches of the ball, maybe more.

"You want to get the ball into the hands of your skills players, just not usually all of them on one play."

Longest Yard: Brebuf Braves big play against Cardinal Newman
Brebuf's "Hook and Ladder" one for YouTube