The Stigma of Losing           

By Jared Field

Friday, May 5, 2006

greatlakeshoops.com

Being dressed to the sixes just doesn't have much of a ring to it.

But, that is what the Big Nine has come to after losing Clio, Swartz Creek and most recently, Owosso, to other area conferences.  These schools made these decisions for many reasons, but most often their representatives have cited competition as the main reason. 

Over the past decade, the aforementioned three schools have not been able to compete at a high level in the Big Nine in sports like football and basketball--the two majors of high school sports. 

Part of the reason for the top-heavy competitive structure of the Big Nine is enrollment.  In other words, there are the "haves" and the "have nots."  Schools like Grand Blanc, Carman-Ainsworth and Davison have much larger enrollments than schools like Swartz Creek and Kearsley.  In fact, Grand Blanc's enrollment is fully twice as large as Kearsley's.  Considering this monumental disparity in raw numbers, it is no wonder that Kearsley's petition to join the Metro League is pending.

But, there's more to the story.

Some of these schools, Clio and Swartz Creek for example, just simply have bad sports programs.  This is not to say that they've never been good, just that they haven't been good in a long time.  There could be many reasons for this ranging from poor administration to budget constraints; or, it could be the often overlooked stigma of losing.

High school sports have regressed over the years to the point at which winning, or so it seems, has become the unifying motivation of players, parents and administrators.  This is reflected in the ever-increasing movement of talented players from the "have nots" to the "haves."  This is particularly troubling because part of the greatness of sports is tied up in upward mobility.  If schools decide that there is little opportunity for accession in their respective conferences, they will simply leave.

Losing begets losing.

Take Carman-Ainsworth, for example.  Here we have a school with a winning tradition in basketball and football--especially over the last decade.  Carman-Ainsworth, amongst other schools, has become a magnet for talented athletes who want to get more exposure and, potentially, win.  Consider that arguably Swartz Creek's two best athletes over the past six or seven years have transferred to Carman-Ainsworth for their senior seasons--Brent Rogers and Chad Dixon.  In Dixon's case, his exit left Swartz Creek without its longtime starting quarterback and best basketball player.  I can only assume that this type of volatility can have an affect on entire sports programs.  I know what kind of affect one player, Dixon, had on Carman-Ainsworth's football and basketball programs a couple years ago.  (Oh, and Carman-Ainsworth also has Swartz Creek's former basketball coach, Rory Mattar.) 

Think for a moment about the reverse affect. 

To the victors go the spoils.

If Swartz Creek had a tradition of winning in basketball and football over the past decade, they would be one of the schools receiving an influx of a talented athletes.  As it is, they remain on the business end of the stream of transfers.  Changing conferences may, however, change things for Swartz Creek.  I believe they will be very successful in the Metro League and could, very quickly, become one of the "haves."

A school like Flint Powers, another one of these "haves", is hated by nearly every other school in the Flint-area.  This has a great deal to do with the popular sentiment that exists in our community that they recruit athletes--for lack of a better term.  But, in truth, Powers doesn't need to recruit.  The best players go to Powers, often driving long distances, because they want to win.  This is problematic because building a program takes consistency.  It becomes very difficult to build programs around players that can, and often do, leave for greener pastures. 

In truth, it is rather unfortunate that it has come to this.  A once proud conference of ten teams could soon become a withering conference of five.  An economist might say that this is simply the invisible hand of the market at work and schools are, naturally, putting themselves in a better position to be both successful on the field and financially solvent.  That being said, however, I am not of the opinion that high school sports should be seen in this light.  Winning is a good thing, but not at any cost. 

As it is, the current climate of high school sports is siding with concentration at the expense of parity.  This, perhaps more than anything else, has led to the decline of the Big Nine.