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February 8, 2010

The 49th District will continue with blind draw

Les Dixon

Yep, it’s that time of the year folks.

It’s time for me to rant and rave just a little bit.

Of course, it’s about the blind draw situation in the 49th District and yes, it’s the same ole column from me for the fifth year in a row.

For you that don’t know, the 49th District is the only district that doesn’t seed in the 13th Region and that includes the sports of basketball, baseball and softball.

And to be honest, it’s a total joke.

So who’s to blame for the blind draw?

Well, it’s the smaller schools that don’t feel like they can compete against the bigger schools — in this case, it’s Red Bird, Jackson County and Oneida Baptist.

Of course, both Clay County and North Laurel get punished along with the rest of the 13th Region teams.

Thank goodness for both North Laurel and Clay County, the blind draw didn’t hurt either school this year.

This season, both North and Clay County drew away for the second straight season from each other in both the boys’ and girls’ brackets, but that’s not always been the case.

That’s right, there have been times in the past the two best teams in the district battled against each other to see who’s season would come to an end after one postseason game.

That was a shame and always will be.

Just imagine if both Clay and North Laurel on the girls’ side would have drawn each other this season.

That would have meant either Jackson County (6-8), Red Bird (3-7) or Oneida Baptist (0-10) would have advanced to the 13th Region Tournament.

Boy, some district champion would be salivating to get a chance to open the regional tournament with one of those teams as an opponent.

But like I said before, thank goodness the draw didn’t happen that way.

Three teams with a combined record of 9-25 SHOULD NOT have an easy road advancing to the regional tournament, while someone like North Laurel or Clay County would have to stay home.

I’ve heard the argument 100 million times the reason the schools vote to have a blind draw is to make sure their student-athletes get a fair shake.

That’s all good, but when you get into the real world, you’re going to face a lot of challenges head-on.

That’s life.

There is not going to be someone there to make sure you get a fair shake.

I could ramble on about this for days, but I won’t.

Maybe someday one of the three schools that keep voting for a blind draw will wake up and smell the coffee.

I seriously doubt it, though.

It took a region realignment for the 50th District to finally begin to seed in all sports. That’s probably what it will take again in the 49th District and it’s a shame.

I still remember what former Clay County Lady Tigers basketball coach Donnie Gray said a couple of years ago at a 49th District Tournament meeting.

“I’m embarrassed that we draw,” he said. “Look at all the tradition the 49th District has always had and now we go to a blind draw. I’m embarrassed.”

He shouldn’t be.

The people from Jackson County, Oneida Baptist and Red Bird that keep insisting on having a blind draw are the ones that should be embarrassed.

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