Too Many Playoffs At One Time

One of the busiest weekends in the sports world, the Vanier Cup, the Grey Cup, the Leafs and Raptors playing too, and we also have Ontario high school championships — not one, but eight.

Why organizers continue to schedule multiple playoffs for the same time baffles not just me, but apparently many of our readers too.

Going through my long list of emails on many topics, and even a few letters — people still write them — there are dejected folks or people with opinions. Some claim they have asked, not sure who, and don't get straight answers. Welcome to the real world. Frustrated, they give up and just don't go to school playoffs. Unfortunate, I think, for many.

Some might have an interest in watching a family member, a former school, friends or may just want to see something other than the pro stuff. Well, the provincial sports organization running the show of school sports hasn't made things easy.

Eight Ontario high school playoffs are taking place now, with all eight finals tomorrow — and spread out across the province. No one has been able to give me a good reason, excuses don't count, on why there can't be some flexibility, even a couple of days. I know exams don't start next week and, if there is concern on overlapping with Winter sports, well it's already happening.

There's some honesty in March, when playoffs, which used to be the night before the Spring break, got moved up a bit earlier. The reason: well, many coaches who are teachers, need to get a quick start to vacations during the March Break.

But now. Girls' basketball playoffs with quad-A in Hamilton, triple-A in London, double-A in Belleville, single-A in Cornwall. There's more. Boys' volleyball playofffs with quad-A in London, triple-A in Stratford, double-A in Sarnia and single-A in Bowmanville. Well, the folks in the London area lucked out.

If only to help promote school sports, something OFSAA should always be looking to improve on, then a good start is to either be flexible on dates or return to the format of one provincial final. Saves time and tax dollars too.

Since OFSAA strongly believes the recent all-day football event was a success, maybe it should be thinking about a similar initiative for other sports? Toronto, for example, certainly has enough locations — and stacking all the finals in one city is an idea.

They did it with football at the Rogers Centre, why not make friends with the Raptors, Basketball Canada and corporate sponsors and do it for that sport at the Air Canada Centre? Turn this in to a major event — and in one city.

Creative thinking, and maybe with a bit of common sense too.

Comments

[Cory]

You're absolutely right.
Eight playoffs on the same day is lunacy.

[DD]

OFSSAA thinks it's right and that's the sad thing about all this. They would be wise to spread it out and even over a few days to generate more interest.

[Former School Coach]

I know the people at OFSAA say they try hard and heard all the rhetoric.
The people doing all the work are teachers and coaches in local schools and they get very little recognition from OFSAA who always runs in and demands money from gate receipts and sticking their noses in presentations and pictures so they look important and can justify their jobs. I know because that was the case when I ran an OFSAA event.
That's why I coach at the club level now. We have problems too but don't have to deal with the politically correct garbage.
Can someone send OFSAA a 2010 calendar so they know when other events are taking place next year because it might help. I say, it might.

[Peel Fan]

Mr Grossman, you continually claim to be an advocate for student athletes and believe in their right to participate. (See the many posts criticizing schools and teachers when players are not given the chance to play.) However, you constantly ask why their are multiple provincial playoffs? I guess the ability of a reporter to cover these events and the miniscule number of people who might want to watch more than one championship in cities far apart is more important than the 500-700 students who would lose the opportunity to participate in a provincial championship if the numbers were culled from 4 levels to 1.

It seems to me that if multiple levels are good enough for the nation that does high school sports the best, even in states with far smaller populations than Ontario, then it's good enough for our high school championships.

[Josh]

It's coming folks. Be ready because some group of teachers and coaches will sit around having a few pops and dream up the next monumental thing.
I can hardly wait until some so-called expert or those people who make up the football committees thinking this is the NFL or CFL and come along and suggests that maybe we need to have Bowl games for grades 9, 10, 11 and 12.
The way schools and teams are going, they'll be lucky to have enough players. Look at some of these teams that had to use players on both defense and offense.
Whatever happened to one championship game?
It was good for so many years and when there were fans and cheerleaders. Now things are whacky.

[Mr. Martin]

If I want to go see an Ontario basketball playoff and also enjoy volleyball wanting to see one of those at the high schools then who the heck is anyone to tell me what I can or can not do.
Make things tempting for people to attend rather than force people like me to pick one over another.

[Silvano]

There aren't many media people who give a hoot about high school sports so when I read that David is raising a concern about so many games on one day I see his point.
I am told that reporters can only cover one game and the kind of media attention given to school sports for this one game is far greater than whether a few hundred families or fans drop around for just this day.
Think people. It doesn't cost anything.

[Doppler]

Some people seem to think that no matter what Grossman says, he's wrong. If he goes to one playoff, the others get their noses out of whack. I have never seen any big town paper cover eight Ontario championships on the same day. They all flock to the farm for a championship like the Metro Bowl but where are thay all year? I know Grossman and he's fair and believes in equity but he must be laughing at the stupidity of some people and he's also smart enough to ignore the loonies.

[Chuck]

Give me a break. Eight playoffs on the same day is a recipe for madness but what do you expect from OFSAA which is an organization in disarray but they're too naive to see it.

[Volleyball Fan]

Next year Peel will be hosting the Elite 80, all 4 of the volleyball OFSAA championships at the same time. Having just come back from Sarnia I have seen first hand how the small towns rally around this event...but from a logistics point of view I really hope next year works and is the model of the future.

[Jimmy]

A recipe for a migraine.
Eighty teams in Mississauga at the same time and I don't call Mississauga a small town.
Are the people organizing this missing something between their ears because while it might be in the same city, and that's a great deal better than what they had this year, it is strange with so much at the same time.

[Chuckster]

Thank you to VOLLEYBALL FAN for the information.
Some previous bloggers are right about the mentality of OFFSAA.
Why are they so secretive and keep quiet about these things thinking we will all find out some day.
They might have a multi-year plan of cities and information but the general public doesn't even know wher to find that stuff.

[FR]

It can be quite the challenge running to see our daughter playing basketball in Hamilton and then off to see a friend's son in London.
Organizers at OFSAA need to think this out much better.

[Peel Fan]

By my calculations, 8 championships @ 3 days each plus 5 bowl games = 29 days.
Please let us know which kids should lose up to a month of their already-short season so that all of the critics can see every minute of each event, something that no one would actually ever do, anyway.
I thought the athletes came first, not hypothetical spectators or the media.