North and South Unite?

3 September 2006

greatlakeshoops.com

For fans of Mid-Michigan sports there has been a problem looming on the horizon for some time now; it's a problem of definition. The Big Nine conference, defined, should be a conference of nine teams; however, this is no longer the case. With last season’s abrupt defection of Clio to the Metro League and this season’s defections of Swartz Creek and Owosso to the Metro and CAAC, respectively, there are only six remaining Big Nine schools. The last time I checked six does not equal nine. To make matters worse, Kearsley has also applied for acceptance to the Metro League and may end up following both Clio and Swartz Creek to less competitive pastures. A simple solution in the past for defections was to simply replace the school like, for example, when Beecher was replaced by Owosso a few years back. Replacing three and possibly four schools, however, is an entirely different story. It is a sad reality for fans of the near defunct Big Nine conference: local class A or B schools are not going to spontaneously appear to keep the conference viable.

Conferences for the purpose of sports are great. They allow for teams to play each other, for the most part, without the requirement of long road trips. Usually teams within a particular conference are within an hour of each other. Conferences are great for fans and athletes alike. Additionally, conference play cannot help but create great rivalries. These rivalry games are treasured by communities of fans and give bragging rights for a year to the victors. Finally, they offer a championship to play for. Most schools do not have a chance of winning a state title, but they may have a shot at winning their conference.

Schools remaining in the Big Nine need to figure out a way to achieve these goals.

Many ideas have been put forth like, for example, splitting off and joining different conferences like the Metro, SVL and OAA. While that idea seems like the inevitable outcome it would not meet some of the conference criteria. Distance would become an issue, particularly for the schools that were to join the SVL and OAA. Also, many time tested rivalries would be killed in this process.

Another possibility is for these teams to go independent as Beecher did several years ago. But because independent schools have to develop their own schedule, they often have to play teams that are way out of their area. It’s also hard to maintain past rivalries; and, of course, there is no conference title to play for.

An additional solution suggested is to just maintain the status quo with the five Big Nine schools. This meets all the requirements, but would either leave these teams with the possibility of playing each other more than they already do or would reduce them to the scheduling nightmares of an independent. Neither is ideal.

The final conclusion would see the remaining teams linking up with one already healthy conference. However, few conferences would be capable of taking on five teams piecemeal without causing some major restructuring. And which conference could do this and maintain the aforesaid criteria?

I would submit that the best applicant is the Saginaw Valley league. The Valley at present consists of eleven teams; three in Flint, three in Saginaw, two in Midland, two in Bay City and one in Mount Pleasant. The SVL is one of the most revered conferences in the state and, additionally, those remaining Big Nine schools have similar status as well. The remnants of the Big Nine and the SVL in terms of competition are equally yoked and have a history of playing each other throughout the season because of their close proximities. To further deal with the problems that may come from travel, like Davison versus Mount Pleasant, a North/South division should be created. The North would be made of current SVL schools from Saginaw, Midland, Bay City and Mount Pleasant, while the South would be made of the remaining Flint City schools and the Big Nine holdovers. There would be eight schools per sub-conference. Distance is satisfied, rivalries are maintained and a conference title may get even more interesting. It is is a long shot, albeit a very logical one.

What we would have, then, would be the finest high school conference in the state of Michigan and one of the best in the Midwest.

Few will be more disappointed than I when the Big Nine is officially no more. I have treasured my memories of rivalry games and gloated over its successes in basketball, football, soccer, wrestling, track, golf, et cetera. But the clock is ticking and eventually the conference will be taken off of its life support. The key to life is to change while retaining that which is proven good. When the Big Nine dies, let’s keep these schools together. What do you say, SVL?

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