Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw
I have several things running around in my head today, so I am going to fit them all into my space.
The thing that makes the high school postseason great is what makes it so difficult—when it’s over, it’s over.
The one-and-done approach works, and it works because the intensity and the pressure that is added by the thought that “this is the last game of our season if we don’t win” makes the moment you’re in more meaningful.
We should all understand that professional sports function better when they play in series. It makes sense on a lot of levels, mainly because they play so many games in the course of their season that only needing one to decide who advances would be unsatisfying.
Oh, and there’s so much more money in a series that goes seven games than a one-game event, right?
But high school’s postseasons are wonderful because no one knows when they will end for any one team or player. That’s true in all the IHSAA sports.
Now, in some sports, you don’t have to win your sectional to compete at the regional level. Team sports like cross country, for example, take the top so many teams to move on to the next round. Cross Country also has a component in its results that allows an excellent competitor on a bad team to advance alone if they achieve a certain standard.
But no matter, every time those kids put their feet in the starting blocks, every time they run out of the locker room to warm up, every time they climb onto the box at the edge of the pool—they all understand that it could be the last time.
It means the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows…in the same place and the exact same time.
America is so weird right now, and unfortunately, that weirdness got on a plane and flew to Italy for the Olympics.
Before most of the competitions really got going, American athletes took part in press conferences where a lot of them took turns taking shots at the country they represent.
That’s really unfortunate.
But the uncomfortable part of it is that the people who are complaining about how America looks to them are at the Olympics because they were trained in and financially supported by the United States of America.
They don’t get that, I know they don’t.
But the kicker to it is that “biting the hand that feeds you” is as American as apple pie.
It’s a bad look for those young people and a bad look for America, but it’s how it’s going.
That said, I will stop whatever I am doing over the next two weeks during Olympic coverage to watch medal ceremonies.
I enjoy watching people receive their medals and the pure and raw emotion that they share with all of us in the moment when all their hard work pays off.
Oh, and I have really enjoyed watching the winners’ faces while their national anthem is played. And that applies to the anthems of all nations.
Many of you were hoping I would write about Wawasee this week, and I am—but I’m not going where many of you were hoping I would go.
I would like to say something about the boys basketball coaching change that I am so happy that Wawasee has a man like Nate O’Connell to take over the program under the current circumstances.
Nate is a former Tiger basketball player who has been with Wawasee basketball since 2008.
He’s a man who knows the game of basketball.
He has dedicated his coaching life to the Warriors.
He’s a man who is loyal to Wawasee.
He’s a man who knows the kids on the team and knows the kids in the pipeline.
Most importantly, he’s a man of the highest character and integrity. He’s a man that people there can trust. He’s a man who knows what the most important things are, and he will focus on those things, on and off the court.
He’s a quiet, humble man who has never sought the spotlight, and he’s exactly what Wawasee needs right now.
And finally, can we get someone for the Super Bowl Halftime Show that is a little more centric to society?
Isn’t there an act or a group out there that would be more widely accepted than Bad Bunny?
I mean, a Spanish-language rapper is a pretty narrow target audience for an event that draws almost 130-million viewers, isn’t it?
This is a marketing choice by the NFL. What are they trying to tell us? I’m not sure myself, so I won’t speculate.
Let’s also understand that whoever performs next year will not make all 130-million people watching happy. Just like I know that what I write about won’t be interesting to every Times Union reader every week.
But let’s hope they find someone who makes more sense.
Ah…the lost art of common sense.
