On the Tribune's front page today, Chris Morris considers waning interest in high school basketball:
Clark, Floyd schools searching for more basketball fans.
So, where have all the fans gone?
Some say doing away with the one-class system took the excitement out of high school hoops. Others point to a loyal fan base which is dying off and no interest among current students.
The numbers back up all three reasons.
Elsewhere in Sunday's newspaper, a possible fourth reason surfaces in the form of this score from Saturday night's games:
Pioneers turn back the clock, 38-28.
The uniforms were from the 21st century, however the scoreboard looked like it was stuck in the 1930s Saturday night at Floyd Central.
At a five dollar admission price, that's precious little bang for the buck.
In my youth, did I really see Floyd Central's 1971 squad score 41 points in the 4th quarter of the regional final against 9th district congressman Baron Hill's Seymour Owls, or was it a dream?
In Morris's article, one interviewee ventured into the realm of brutal honesty while gauging the box office decline of local basketball.
(Floyd Central Athletic Director Bill) Pierce said other factors also come into play when trying to attract young and old fans. He said area teams just aren’t as good as they used to be.
“We may get an occasional big crowd if a good player comes in or if they want to see the new coach. I don’t think we’ll see consistent sellouts until another Damon Bailey (the state’s all-time leading scorer) comes along,” he said.
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3 comments:
The idiot-savant millionaires inhabiting NBA teams recently filed an unfair labor practice grievance against the league for changing the game ball. They're certainly not the only ones to have degraded the sport over the years, including the insidious profit-driven decision to implement class basketball, but, to the extent that baskeball is the religion of Hoosier masses, god is dead.
The Pacers, led by a "nobody ever said he was smart" hero by the name of Bird are currently positioning themselves to bring in the likes of Alan Iverson as the most visible public icon of the sport in a state once nationally identified as the Mecca of a well-practiced team effort.
But you and the AD are right. What warts and all used to serve a more important cultural purpose has been reduced to frivolous entertainment. A dozen high school kids simply can't compete on that level.
As a fairly recent transplant to the Sunny Side of the river, I recently caught my first Floyd Central HS girls b-ball game, and have to say, I enjoyed it immensely. With 3 kids heading through the Floyd Co. schools, I'm looking forward to attending many years of local games, boy & girls, of all different sports. The scoring might be low, but the energy and enthusiasm are high, which makes it much more enjoyable than watching some overpaid professionals calling it in....
Okay, okay - pile on; we were in Indy yesterday for the Pacers-Jazz game.
Actually, I'd never compare the two, although I'm prepared to argue (and have done so) that pro basketball is superior to college because it's missing the college game's intrinsic hypocrisy.
I actually played for Floyd Central, and my team wasn't very good in the context of the time. But we never scored as few as 28 points in a game.
Even if I got over my own mixed experience a very long time ago, something about FC's past decade of basketball futility strikes me as indicative. Of something. I'm just not sure what.
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