Gil Pound: Pound for Swing and a miss
May 21—I assume most everyone has heard the saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Well, for the second year in a row the Georgia Independent Athletic Association has attempted to cram four baseball state championship series into three days at one venue. And now for a second year in a row rain has spoiled those plans, causing an alternative site to have to be used.
This year's championships were at first all going to be held at Luther Williams Field in Macon. Mother Nature had other plans though, as some games wound up having to be played at Macon's Tattnall Square Academy.
The GIAA is the governing body for interscholastic athletics for many private high schools across the state. Members in this area include John Milledge Academy, Gatewood and John Hancock Academy. The league is in just its second year of trying to administer four state championships at once. In the past it has had three, and quite often only two classification titles to decide. Since those series are best-of-3, with four classes there's a potential of 12 games across three days.
This ain't your weekend travel ball tournament either. All games the last two years were originally slated to be played on one field.
When it comes to scheduling the baseball state finals, the GIAA is me attempting to play golf. I've tried the sport multiple times throughout my life, but never took a different approach. The result? My scores never improved. The sport soured for me and I actually sold off my clubs just a few months ago.
Chalk it up to bad luck with the weather if you like, but the reality is that trying to play a possible 12 games on one field in three days in late May is always going to be tough. This situation is different from the period when the league hosted only two or three state championships in the sport, so it's time to do things differently. Adding one day onto the schedule clearly is not enough. And changing the host site year after year isn't helping either.
I don't like taking shots at a person's or organization's decisions without offering a solution, so here's one: use multiple sites for the baseball state championships. That way when the inevitable rainout occurs, you lessen the chances that an entire day of play is lost for all four classifications. Not having every single game window already scheduled would also allow for teams to wait the rain out without having to bump a later matchup to a different day or field.
What do you say, GIAA? Lesson learned yet? Or will players, coaches, families and fans be here with bated breath again next year waiting for one of your change-of-venue social media announcements?
