This Week in HS Sports - December 8, 2009

There apparently was a city championship on Saturday...but which city?

When UT wins (lucky) and the Houston Texans lose (dumb), I get cranky about the least little thing.  So, here goes...

Did you know a city championship game was played on Saturday?

At least one person thinks so and said so in a broadcast, notwithstanding that there hasn’t been anything remotely close to a city championship since the days before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. People should be offended, if for no other reason, calling a game ‘The City Championship’ hearkens back to the days of segregation and overt racism.

But, beyond that, when a game that is played between a team from Katy and a team from League City is implied to be the Houston ‘city championship’, those fans should feel justified in boycotting such ignorance of our local geography, too.

So apparently, there was a city championship on Saturday. But which city? Houston? That also leads to the question: can you have a ‘city championship’ without a team from that city in the game?

The Katy Tigers and the Clear Springs Chargers met Saturday in the Class 5A Region III Division 2 championship game, which Katy won 38-21. Region III encompasses so much more than the Houston city limits that it seems almost unthinkable that one person would insult the great football that is played in the entire region by boiling down the Region III championship game to a ‘city championship’.

People who live, vote, pay taxes and build their lives in the communities of Katy and League City (both incorporated entities with elected officials and municipal services that are completely independent of the city of Houston) should be more than a little irritated by someone who chooses to demean their football team’s accomplishments by claiming they are playing for the Houston City Championship.

What if West Brook had made the regional final? What if the Ball Tors were playing? Would a team from Beaumont or Galveston play for the championship of Houston?  In one small mind, the answer would be 'yes'.

I listen to a lot of high school sports, either online or on the radio. Not only our LSN broadcasts, but those from around the Houston area, as well as the state of Texas. I do it because I really love the games, the enthusiasm that they create and the lessons of the goodness of teamwork that is learned from these events.

And in listening to these broadcasts, what I have generally found to be true is this: the broadcasters who cover these games--whether they are polished veterans or raw novices--usually genuinely love the games they are covering. And that makes the profiteering vultures with self-serving agendas easy to spot. You know them: they don't bother to learn players' or coaches' names properly, everything they relate in-game turns into a personal anecdote that centers around themselves and their attention to detail is very lax.

I think calling a regional championship game, or a state quarterfinal, a 'city championship' falls into the latter category.

Okay, okay…in the grand scheme of things, this isn’t the biggest catastrophe or the greatest injustice in the world today.  My overly-emotional reaction is most likely too extreme.  Blame it on UT and the Texans.

But, if you’re going to cover a sport, at least show a little respect for it.

 Previous stories : August 15, 2009  August 20, 2009  August 26, 2009  August 31, 2009
                                September 8, 2009  September 16, 2009  September 18, 2009  September 25, 2009
                        September 28, 2009  October 5, 2009  October 7, 2009  October 15, 2009
                        October 19, 2009  October 23, 2009  October 25, 2009  November 2, 2009
                        November 9, 2009  November 11, 2009  November 18, 2009  November 25, 2009
                        December 5, 2009