Sports nuts have to be loving life right now. With football, baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer, volleyball, swimming and tennis being played on some level, be it professional, collegiate or high school, there’s something for everybody during late October and early November.
I’m pumped because the high school football playoffs have begun. Sure, I enjoy watching the cream of the crop fight it out for a championship, but I have an ulterior motive too. Playoff football for me means high school and college basketball are just that much closer.
But with the football playoffs came a great debate. I was in Seattle last week as a guest at a taping of the WIAA’s weekly radio program that is broadcast on FoxSports radio 850. The topic was the football playoffs and the question came up about the process used by each district to determine what teams get into the state’s 16-team bracket.
All present tended to agree that a team that wins their league or division should be in the field. In the WesCo, winning a nine or 10-team division does not get a team in. The number-one team must play a preliminary round game to qualify. The general consensus was that a team that wins such a large division should be rewarded for that.
In some of the other sports, girl’s soccer for instance, the team’s that win each division’s regular season title are in the state tournament. The second through fourth-place finishers play for the remaining berth.
Basketball on the horizon
In two weeks practice begins for high school hoops. The college guys have already started their practice sessions. I got a sneak preview last weekend when I attended a controlled scrimmage at Western Washington University.
The Vikings went to the Division-2 Final Four last year and graduated only one player from that squad. They play an exhibition game at the University of Washington next Thursday night, November 8, at 7:00 p.m. For those who may have the “basketball jones”, this is a chance to get a hoops fix before the regular college season opens in two weeks.
Locally, the Wildcats will have a different looking schedule than in years past with the new WesCo North alignment. The North should be a very tough division with regular opponents Snohomish, Marysville-Pilchuck and Cascade all returning solid teams.
Among the schools that moved up to Class 4A, Stanwood returns the core of their state tournament team from a year ago while defending 3A state champion Mount Vernon will be down from their norm, but still are not to be taken lightly.
Football field tragedy
A young football player from Eastern Washington, freshman John Quaresma, died from head injuries he received in a game the last Thursday. Quaresma hit the leg of an opponent with his head during the course of a play. He came off the field complaining of dizziness and was taken to St. Mary’s Medical Center almost immediately. The young player spent four and a half days in intensive care before passing away Tuesday morning.Whenever something like this happens, and unfortunately it happens several times each season, the safety of equipment normally is brought into question.
The staff at Walla Walla reported that their helmets are inspected each year and meet WIAA specifications. But Walla Walla goes one step beyond to ensure their athletes are protected. Their helmets were sent to the Riddell Helmet Company for inspection and passed all tests.
It appears that Quaresma hit just right, causing his brain to bleed. Sad as it is, it demonstrates just how fragile life can be and that sometimes young, healthy, energetic people suffer tragically while playing a boy’s game.
