By JASON KING
Leader sportswriter
We all remember former Indian-apolis Colts coach Jim Mora’s infamous post-game rant about making the playoffs, especially since it has now been so frequently rebroadcast in a beer commercial.
But Mora’s frustration that day in 2001 may be similar to that felt by the state’s 7A/6A football coaches as they try to wrap their heads around the Arkansas Activities Association’s new playoff ratings system.
The complexity of the system really hit home for me last week when media liaison Walter Woodie sent out standings with attached points ratings for each conference. Woodie ended his e-mail with a shout-out to the Van Buren High School computer business instructor for helping him set up the system.
No one is ever going to accuse me of being a genius, but this is lunacy. A system designed to level the field and ease travel burdens among the 7A and 6A teams has created even more headaches.
Each team in the top two classes receives 10 points for a conference victory, one point for every 7A school played, and another point for each opponent’s conference victory.
First, let’s look at allowing one point for opponents’ conference victories.
Cabot plays host to North Little Rock in a 7A/6A-Central game Friday. Each school will receive one point for every conference victory by fellow 7A/6A-Central members Bryant, Conway, Catholic and Central, plus Cabot gets a point for every North Little Rock conference victory and vice versa.
Obviously Cabot and North Little Rock will get the same amount of points for playing the other four 7A schools, but if Cabot wins three conference games and North Little Rock four, Cabot will take a one-point advantage in the opponents’ conference victories category by having a worse record.
Isn’t the entire point of the postseason to reward teams that have outperformed their conference rivals?
Many think West Memphis, of the 7A/6A-East, is delighted with the new system since the 7A Blue Devils have an easy go of it in a conference they have dominated and are almost guaranteed a championship and top playoff seed.
But if the Blue Devils are only receiving their standard 10 points for winning and getting no points for playing 6A teams andfellow conference members Searcy, Jonesboro, Marion, Mountain Home, Jacksonville and Parkview, that is a potential six-point swing against them.
I think.
Where’s that computer guy?
This system is so complicated, teams may have to start recruiting kids from the quiz-bowl program to help figure out their postseason status.
I see two potential outcomes within this system; 1) a team with a good record which has played well all season will sit at home in Week 11 because a lesser team accumulated more points, or, 2) The playoff brackets will fill up just as many anticipated they would without the power-rankings figures added in, meaning three months’ worth of tabulation and head-scratching will have added up to diddly-poo (another of Mr. Mora’s timeless gems.)
Either way, it’s not a good system.
Didn’t this whole situation start because of concerns some teams were traveling too far for road games? If that’s the case, why are the schedules the same for all of the 7A and 6A conferences?
Russellville and Van Buren are now reclassified as 6A schools, but they play in the same conference with 7A schools Cabot and North Little Rock while West Memphis and Little Rock Hall are now 7A, though they continue in the same conference with 6A teams Jacksonville, Parkview and the like.
So where’s the benefit?
For the sake of making things easier, I propose eight classifications. No, wait, let’s make it nine.
That way, we can still have an odd number of teams somewhere to make basketball, baseball and volleyball conferences look different from the football conferences.
We wouldn’t want to lose that, would we?
On second thought, let’s go for a nice, even 10 classifications, or in the spirit of Nigel Tufnel (for all you Spinal Tap fans), how about we go to 11?
The fact is, I don’t know the perfect solution, nor do I think anyone else does at this point. I do know that all this manipulation has taken away many great conference rivalries.
Yes, demographics change, and the Benton-Bryant and Cabot-Jacksonville battles may not be as close as they once were, but think about the possibilities of a conference that would feature Beebe, Lonoke, Vilonia, Greenbrier, Searcy, Bald Knob, Heber Springs and maybe Southside Batesville or England.
There are at least 15 ready-made rivalries right there in one conference, and the travel distances are not that extreme.
The point I’m trying to make is the AAA, in all its numbers-obsessing glory, has overlooked the simple concept of creativity.
Take those schools that have been traditionally competitive with each other, and gee, I don’t know, put them together in one conference.
You don’t need enrollment numbers and power rankings to back up a good game between two schools who don’t like each other much.
But for now, the next time someone asks you for thoughts on how the playoff hunt is shaping up, simply look at them and say:
“Playoffs? Don’t talk to me about playoffs. Playoffs? You kidding me?”
