Danke, Grazie, Merci and Gracias.
Or in plain English, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,
San Benito for
”
The Drive
”
that culminated in a CCS Large School football championship.
Danke, Grazie, Merci and Gracias.
Or in plain English, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, San Benito for “The Drive” that culminated in a CCS Large School football championship.
Had the ‘Balers not driven the length of the field in the game’s final minute of the game and scored in the waning seconds, the CCS Championship game would have ended in a tie.
That’s right – A TIE!
In the words of John McEnroe “You cannot be serious!”
You play an entire season to get to the championship game. And then there can be co-champions. After all of the years I’ve spent covering high school sports I really thought that I had heard it all but boy, was I wrong. When the Public Address Announcer told the crowd after Oak Grove’s game-tying touchdown that there would be an on-field ceremony to award the trophies immediately following the game he followed that up by saying that if the game ended in a tie there would be co-champions.
At that point I honestly thought I was hearing things.
I stormed up and down the sidelines asking anybody that would listen for confirmation. And over and over again I got the same response. “Yeah, that’s true, it’s the way it’s always been.”
What! Why? This isn’t hockey, it’s football. Oh, check that, even hockey doesn’t end in a tie anymore.
Whoever thought up this rule must be related to the same engineering geniuses that conjured up the BCS formula. I called the CCS office at 4pm on Friday afternoon and have yet to hear back. I don’t actually blame them for not returning my call, I’d hate to be the poor soul responsible for having to explain this one.
After the game I asked ‘Balers head coach Chris Cameron how he would have felt if the game had ended in a tie and he said, “I would have felt like we lost. After losing a 21-7 lead to end with a tie would have left us with an empty feeling.”
Of course it would be empty.
It’s like ordering a hot fudge sunday and only getting vanilla ice cream because they’ve run out of the hot fudge.
Cameron said that a few years ago when the ‘Balers were in the title game he went for the two-point conversion on the game’s final play because if he had kicked the extra point the championship game would have ended in a tie.
“I wasn’t going home with a tie in the title game,” Cameron said. “We failed on the two-point conversion and lost but there was no way I was settling for a tie.”
Of course not. And why should he? And major kudos to Chris Cameron for that call.
Why does the CCS even put coaches in that position. We will play one hundred innings in a baseball game to settle the outcome. Well, unless your commissioner is Bud Selig and it’s the All-Star Game. But other than that.
I’m not sure what the CCS reasoning is on this one but it really doesn’t matter – it stinks. It’s plain and simply stupid and more importantly, completely unfair to the teams and their fans who have worked so hard to get to the title game.
Let’s leave ties where they belong, around our necks and get them out of our championship games. Maybe that’s the problem right there. It might be executive “tie-wearing” suits, in what they feel is their infinite wisdom, making this decision. Let’s get real fans of the game in places that matter. Coaches, parents, players and fans alike, scream from the rooftops on this one. It ridiculous. Write, call and or email CCS. Maybe if we bombard them they’ll change it. This one is way broke and needs serious fixing. Buy some hot fudge, already and make a real Sunday.
A tie in the championship game. Yuck, that’s about as satisfying as kissing your sister.
