I chose to do an opinion piece on private schools within Colorado high school sports. For years private school have reigned as king in Colorado, especially in our schools division, 3a. Schools like Faith Christian, Holy Family, Colorado Springs Christian, Denver Christian etc. These schools are primarily in our schools division, which brings some bad news for our athletes and something needs to be done about it.
Year in and year out our school goes up against a daunting task of taking down these private schools. It is just not fair that our small school has to go against these private schools who clearly have big school talent. What needs to be done is these private schools need to have their own division. It should be 1a, 2a, 3a, 4a, 5a and the private school division. This is the only clear solution to the problem we have on our hands. For some reason it seems to go in one ear and out the other when it comes to the CHASSA officials. Who knows why, maybe they are alumni of the schools, or their kids go to the school. They just seem to want the private schools to dominate our little school division.
Lets just take a look at our school for example. In 2004,2005, 2006 we could have had a back to back to back state championships, but guess who got in the way, the private school. Those three years were probably the best basketball teams Roaring Fork has ever had. In back to back years we lost in the state championship game to private schools. The year we finished third our only loss was to a private school. If it weren’t for those darned private schools Roaring Fork would have had a dynasty.
Now the tiff that most public schools have with private school is the fact that they can offer scholarships, like a college. They see an athlete and are able to offer them scholarship money to come play at their school. This wouldn’t be a terrible thing if they were located in a remote area but most schools are located with in the sprawling metropolis of Denver. This means they have thousands of kids to choose from. When were are stuck with what we get. When we get stuck with what is in our town. The fact that the private schools recruit ruins once in a generation teams, like our basketball teams those three year.
As you can see private schools surely ruin public schools chances at state titles. Every year private schools seem to dominate the 3a and it is wrong. It needs to be fixed. They need to have their own private school division, this would only be fair. The worst part about it is that all but about 3 private schools are in our division, so we seem to be the only conference that has to compete with the school. If they had their own division it would be a win win for everyone, a private school would still win a state championship every year and a public school would win a 3a state championship every year.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Movie Review Final Season
David Mickey Evans's The Final Season is by far the best sports movie ever made and an immaculate film based upon true events. It surpasses the likes of Friday Night Lights, Rocky, Invincible, and The Sandlot. Evans takes an other wise bland story, to the average person, and transforms it into a masterpiece. He stays true to the story, with minor tweaks here and there. All the major facts are spot on. Also he was able to film the movie in the actual location in which it all took place. This added authenticity to the movie.
The Final Season is a true story about a small town, population of 586, in Iowa that happens to have the a history of magnificent baseball teams with 18 state champion ships in 24 years. The movie follows the teams last season before they merge with another school district. The merge causes an uproar in this little Iowa town called Norway. The most successful coach in Iowa state history Coach Van Scoyoc found himself in a dilemma, stay as coach of the Norway or quit in protest to the merge. He quit, leading to the hiring of Kent Stock. The movie follows the team as they strive for the 19th and final state championship.
The film takes on an issue that seems to hit small towns hard. When schools merge and shift from one town to the other it kills the town. The towns economy goes down hill. It no longer has the luxury of having a school as a draw for future new comers. A town also loses its sense of pride. Most small towns back their high school one hundred percent and are proud of their school, but when that school leaves what is left?
The Final Season is the epitome of and inspirational sports movie. It has all the elements of a great sports story as well. A down trotted team, an underdog character, and the dream of the impossible. This movie has all that and more. This Norway team was expected to do absolutely nothing under the new head coach, and they turned the impossible into the possible. Part of the brilliance of the movie came with the made up character of Mitch Akers, who was a city slicker from Chicago who came to Norway against his will. Mitch who was a trouble maker was sent to Norway to clean up his act and live with his Grandparents. Mitch under the urging of his grandparents takes up baseball and seems to have a knack for it. Mitch, throughout the movie, transforms from a trouble maker to a classic Norway baseball player, a polite and well mannered young man. Not only was Mitch an underdog but the entire team was underdogs and that was the brilliance.
When my children ask me to show them what my favorite movie is, this will be the one. The movie not only entertains but has an important and pivotal message to all ages. That is to never give up and to continue to work hard for your goals. This is a message everyone should listen to. At the turn of the decade when a list of the top ten movies of the decade come out, The Final Season should be on that list if not right there at the top of it.
The Final Season is a true story about a small town, population of 586, in Iowa that happens to have the a history of magnificent baseball teams with 18 state champion ships in 24 years. The movie follows the teams last season before they merge with another school district. The merge causes an uproar in this little Iowa town called Norway. The most successful coach in Iowa state history Coach Van Scoyoc found himself in a dilemma, stay as coach of the Norway or quit in protest to the merge. He quit, leading to the hiring of Kent Stock. The movie follows the team as they strive for the 19th and final state championship.
The film takes on an issue that seems to hit small towns hard. When schools merge and shift from one town to the other it kills the town. The towns economy goes down hill. It no longer has the luxury of having a school as a draw for future new comers. A town also loses its sense of pride. Most small towns back their high school one hundred percent and are proud of their school, but when that school leaves what is left?
The Final Season is the epitome of and inspirational sports movie. It has all the elements of a great sports story as well. A down trotted team, an underdog character, and the dream of the impossible. This movie has all that and more. This Norway team was expected to do absolutely nothing under the new head coach, and they turned the impossible into the possible. Part of the brilliance of the movie came with the made up character of Mitch Akers, who was a city slicker from Chicago who came to Norway against his will. Mitch who was a trouble maker was sent to Norway to clean up his act and live with his Grandparents. Mitch under the urging of his grandparents takes up baseball and seems to have a knack for it. Mitch, throughout the movie, transforms from a trouble maker to a classic Norway baseball player, a polite and well mannered young man. Not only was Mitch an underdog but the entire team was underdogs and that was the brilliance.
When my children ask me to show them what my favorite movie is, this will be the one. The movie not only entertains but has an important and pivotal message to all ages. That is to never give up and to continue to work hard for your goals. This is a message everyone should listen to. At the turn of the decade when a list of the top ten movies of the decade come out, The Final Season should be on that list if not right there at the top of it.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
It’s official, the National Football League is the most popular sport in America. It has taken baseball’s position as America’s past time. There was once a time where baseball generated the most revenue of all sports in America. But now things are different, Football generates the most revenue. In the 2008 seasons for MLB, NBA, NHL, and the NFL all together they generated over 20 billion dollars just in that one season. Football reigned as the overall king racking in 7.58 billion dollars of revenue, with baseball coming in a distant second at 5.82 billion. The information and graph is provided by Forbes magazine, which is a reliable business magazine thus meaning the graph is accurate as well. The data of the graph is complete they have found the total revenue for the each of the four major sports. The only question I have is that, what would the revenues look like now that we are in a recession, still I am assuming they make an implausible amount. Doing an overall revenue graph would not make sense because baseball has been around much longer than all other sports so it would not be informative. The only thing that the graph helps one understand is something that is blatant, that football is king in America, no other sport get the participation numbers and no other sport gets the attention football does.
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