NastySlot
10-16-2008, 09:54 AM
READcomments
More stories
O'Connor volleyball stays on roll by sweeping past Clark
Clark's Tilghman small in stature, big on plays
E-N Game of the Week: 5A No. 1 Clark vs. No. 7 Warren
Buttons runner's talent rings true
Dave Campbell honors Cole
High school football, volleyball rankings (through Oct. 11)
High school rewind/fast forward: Oct. 14, 2008
Volleyball standings, stats (through Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008)
Coach's low-key ways work just fine for Clark
Save and share
RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | SAVE
Recommend 0 David Flores - Express-News In the old days, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, only district champions advanced to the Texas high school football playoffs.
Life was a lot less complicated then, really. If you didn’t win district, you stayed home.
There was a beautiful simplicity to it all.
That noted, I liked it when the University Interscholastic League voted in 1982 to add the runner-up from each district to the postseason mix. But I opposed the addition of third-place teams in 1990 and fourth-place finishers in 2006.
My opposition was based on my concern that third and fourth-place teams would dilute the playoffs, and that the expanded postseason field would diminish the value of a district championship.
While I don’t think there’s any doubt the playoffs are watered down, two San Antonio coaches whose teams clashed for a district championship last season say my worries that a district title would be given short shrift were unfounded.
“We always talk to our team about winning the district championship because there’s a pride, a sense of accomplishment, when you do that,” O’Connor coach Danny Padron said Wednesday.
Said Warren coach Bryan Dausin: “I think winning district is very important to these kids. The playoffs mean a lot but the goal each season is to win a district championship. When you do that, you have a lot of confidence going into the playoffs.”
O’Connor scored a late 2-point conversion to beat previously undefeated Warren 22-21 for the District 28-5A crown last year.
O’Connor was 7-2 overall and 7-0 and Warren was 9-0 and 7-0 heading into their showdown on the last Saturday of the regular season.
“Our kids were disappointed,” Dausin said. “There was an empty feeling, especially because they had played so hard. We had an opportunity to win district and we let it slip away. But that’s part of life. It’s going to happen. You just have to keep going.”
Of course, runner-up teams had no such margin for error before 1982. All they could do while their district champion advanced to the postseason was watch and think of what might have been.
While it was bitterly disappointing to be on a team that barely missed winning district, you learned an important life lesson as you tried to come to terms with a defeat that could haunt you for years.
You learned that life goes on and it’s just a game, after all. Nobody died. You learned to accept defeat while appreciating just having had the opportunity to play on a team that contended for a playoff spot.
I draw from personal experience here. Thirty-eight years ago, I was a sophomore on the Corpus Christi Miller junior varsity. The Buccaneers’ varsity was very good in 1970, and looked like a team with great playoff potential after shutting out its three nondistrict opponents.
After reaching the state semifinals in 1958, winning state in 1960 and advancing to the state finals in 1963, Miller still had one of the state’s best programs in 1970. To say there were high expectations among Bucs fans as the season unfolded would be an understatement.
But Miller didn’t even get out of its district that year, losing to rival Ray 14-6 on the last Saturday of the regular season.
Ray had one district loss and Miller was undefeated, so technically, the Texans and Bucs shared the league championship. But Ray advanced to the playoffs by virtue of its victory over Miller.
If I live to be 100, I’ll never forget the buildup for that game by the media. After all, the Bucs were 9-0 and ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll, and Ray was 8-1. Class 4A was the UIL’s largest classification in those days.
Tickets sold out in only a few hours and a crowd estimated at 20,000 — there was a paid attendance of 17,207 — jammed into venerable Buccaneer Stadium to watch the clash.
I had a vested interest in the outcome that went beyond being a Miller student and longtime fan. If the Bucs won, there was a good chance I would be among players from the JV and sophomore teams to be moved up to the varsity for the playoffs.
Well, I was on the basketball court, not the football field, the Monday following that memorable Miller-Ray game. I’ll never forget how quiet the campus was for at least a week. There was a pall that spilled over into the community.
But we learned from that bitter loss that not everybody gets a ribbon, no matter how good you are and how hard you work to achieve your goal.
These many years later, runner-up teams get a second chance. And so do teams that finish third and fourth in their district.
Does a district championship still matter? Bryan Dausin and Danny Padron say it does. I’m sure coaches and players across the state would say the same.
Still, there was a day when winning district was a team’s only ticket to the postseason. That’s why winner-take-all matchups such as Miller-Ray, Churchill-Lee and Holmes-Jay captured our imagination then and are memorable to this day.
I’ve often wondered how the 1970 Miller Bucs would have fared in the playoffs if they had gotten another chance.
That’s what makes sports fun, I guess. They give us something to talk about for years.
dflores@express-news.net
More stories
O'Connor volleyball stays on roll by sweeping past Clark
Clark's Tilghman small in stature, big on plays
E-N Game of the Week: 5A No. 1 Clark vs. No. 7 Warren
Buttons runner's talent rings true
Dave Campbell honors Cole
High school football, volleyball rankings (through Oct. 11)
High school rewind/fast forward: Oct. 14, 2008
Volleyball standings, stats (through Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008)
Coach's low-key ways work just fine for Clark
Save and share
RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | SAVE
Recommend 0 David Flores - Express-News In the old days, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, only district champions advanced to the Texas high school football playoffs.
Life was a lot less complicated then, really. If you didn’t win district, you stayed home.
There was a beautiful simplicity to it all.
That noted, I liked it when the University Interscholastic League voted in 1982 to add the runner-up from each district to the postseason mix. But I opposed the addition of third-place teams in 1990 and fourth-place finishers in 2006.
My opposition was based on my concern that third and fourth-place teams would dilute the playoffs, and that the expanded postseason field would diminish the value of a district championship.
While I don’t think there’s any doubt the playoffs are watered down, two San Antonio coaches whose teams clashed for a district championship last season say my worries that a district title would be given short shrift were unfounded.
“We always talk to our team about winning the district championship because there’s a pride, a sense of accomplishment, when you do that,” O’Connor coach Danny Padron said Wednesday.
Said Warren coach Bryan Dausin: “I think winning district is very important to these kids. The playoffs mean a lot but the goal each season is to win a district championship. When you do that, you have a lot of confidence going into the playoffs.”
O’Connor scored a late 2-point conversion to beat previously undefeated Warren 22-21 for the District 28-5A crown last year.
O’Connor was 7-2 overall and 7-0 and Warren was 9-0 and 7-0 heading into their showdown on the last Saturday of the regular season.
“Our kids were disappointed,” Dausin said. “There was an empty feeling, especially because they had played so hard. We had an opportunity to win district and we let it slip away. But that’s part of life. It’s going to happen. You just have to keep going.”
Of course, runner-up teams had no such margin for error before 1982. All they could do while their district champion advanced to the postseason was watch and think of what might have been.
While it was bitterly disappointing to be on a team that barely missed winning district, you learned an important life lesson as you tried to come to terms with a defeat that could haunt you for years.
You learned that life goes on and it’s just a game, after all. Nobody died. You learned to accept defeat while appreciating just having had the opportunity to play on a team that contended for a playoff spot.
I draw from personal experience here. Thirty-eight years ago, I was a sophomore on the Corpus Christi Miller junior varsity. The Buccaneers’ varsity was very good in 1970, and looked like a team with great playoff potential after shutting out its three nondistrict opponents.
After reaching the state semifinals in 1958, winning state in 1960 and advancing to the state finals in 1963, Miller still had one of the state’s best programs in 1970. To say there were high expectations among Bucs fans as the season unfolded would be an understatement.
But Miller didn’t even get out of its district that year, losing to rival Ray 14-6 on the last Saturday of the regular season.
Ray had one district loss and Miller was undefeated, so technically, the Texans and Bucs shared the league championship. But Ray advanced to the playoffs by virtue of its victory over Miller.
If I live to be 100, I’ll never forget the buildup for that game by the media. After all, the Bucs were 9-0 and ranked No. 7 in the Associated Press Class 4A state poll, and Ray was 8-1. Class 4A was the UIL’s largest classification in those days.
Tickets sold out in only a few hours and a crowd estimated at 20,000 — there was a paid attendance of 17,207 — jammed into venerable Buccaneer Stadium to watch the clash.
I had a vested interest in the outcome that went beyond being a Miller student and longtime fan. If the Bucs won, there was a good chance I would be among players from the JV and sophomore teams to be moved up to the varsity for the playoffs.
Well, I was on the basketball court, not the football field, the Monday following that memorable Miller-Ray game. I’ll never forget how quiet the campus was for at least a week. There was a pall that spilled over into the community.
But we learned from that bitter loss that not everybody gets a ribbon, no matter how good you are and how hard you work to achieve your goal.
These many years later, runner-up teams get a second chance. And so do teams that finish third and fourth in their district.
Does a district championship still matter? Bryan Dausin and Danny Padron say it does. I’m sure coaches and players across the state would say the same.
Still, there was a day when winning district was a team’s only ticket to the postseason. That’s why winner-take-all matchups such as Miller-Ray, Churchill-Lee and Holmes-Jay captured our imagination then and are memorable to this day.
I’ve often wondered how the 1970 Miller Bucs would have fared in the playoffs if they had gotten another chance.
That’s what makes sports fun, I guess. They give us something to talk about for years.
dflores@express-news.net