Cleaning Up The Mess Fall Left Behind

We’re basically between sports seasons now and even though there isn’t a break between the fall and winter, this is a good time to clean off the desk.

How long has it been since area schools had such an unproductive football season? Odessa was the only team to make it to a state championship game.

Was it more disappointing because at least three area teams lost games in such heartbreaking fashion?

Will the Greater Spokane League ever learn to beat the Big Nine in football?

This year the No. 3 team out of the Big Nine made the state championship game. Last year it was the No. 2 team and the year before it was No. 1.

Gonzaga Prep’s 1986 title was the last for a AAA school east of the Cascades. The Big Nine’s last winner was Richland in 1981.

My theory is the GSL is too nice, too worried about image, too concerned, among other things, about what is running up the score and what isn’t.

GSL coaches bump into each other at JV games and on the golf course, Big Nine coaches live in different towns. The Big Nine is full of coaches who want to knock the snot out of the other guy because the closest foes are rivals, the farthest ones are strangers.

GSL coaches are trying to be the best in Spokane, quite an accomplishment. Not more than one game usually makes a Big Nine team the best in town. Then the focus shifts to being the best town. And when that’s over, it’s not too hard to work up a little enthusiasm to whip the big-city Spokane boys.

Try playing in Walla Walla or Wenatchee before a playoff trip to Albi Stadium, where the GSL representative will draw the same 2,000 fans who showed up the previous nine weeks, if the weather was good. After surviving the Moses Lake trip or Kamiakin hospitality, the GSL isn’t exactly a threat.

GSL coaches could help themselves if they could just figure out a way to help each other prepare when they step out of the league, especially in the playoffs.

Could boys basketball be going the same direction? To a certain degree, yes, but the biggest problem is Spokane parents aren’t producing tall kids.

A 6-foot-3 guard on the coast could be a post in the GSL. The GSL is a competitive league within itself, but until those posts can become guards, we’re not going to see the college prospects that helped build the league’s reputation in girls basketball.

One last football note - the referees association better do some serious soul-searching. More, and better, referees are needed. That can’t be accomplished until the refs have their own house in order.

Everyone knows referees have a thankless job, but if people take it on for the universal reasons they profess - to help kids and pay back the sport they love - they better remind themselves what those reasons were.

Every year it seems officiating deteriorates. Complaints from coaches seemed louder and more consistent as the consistency of officiating became more inconsistent.

The final enrollment counts are in and redistricting is about complete. Although not yet official, schools know enough to have participated in a scheduling meeting.

Congratulations to District 7 executive secretary Russ Brown and the administrators and coaches of District 7 for working through this.

Sometimes it seemed as if West Valley, the smallest surviving member of the Frontier League, was paddling along upstream. The whole process was made more difficult because Cheney and Clarkston spent more time fighting a system they couldn’t beat.

Of course they were frustrated by the way East Valley dragged its feet before deciding to stay 3A.

Considering EV expects to move up from 3A to 4A in two years, the decision to stay down was a disservice to the EV community as well as the GSL. Because it took EV so long to make a decision, it was a disservice to the other FL schools.

We may be the only one, but a combined 4-A/3-A league seemed very promising.

One plan, thrown together this fall, was rejected by GSL principals. That’s understandable, but a shame considering the decision to reclassify was made last spring and a thorough plan could have been put together by both sides.

Only 84 days until the State B tournament tips off in the Arena. , DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Dave Trimmer by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5501.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Dave Trimmer The Spokesman-Review