March Madness

The Temple Owls men's basketball team dumped the St. Joseph's Hawks by a score of 79-65 on Thursday, advancing Temple into the Atlantic Ten tournament semi-finals. The Archbishop Carroll Patriots boys basketball team overcame the Neumann-Goretti Saints in a 70-65 classic to advance into the PIAA Class AAA state semi-finals. These two results knocked my college and high school alma maters out of their respective tournaments and ended their seasons, but were just the beginnings of 'March Madness', the most fun and entertaining time of the year for true basketball fans. The conference and NCAA tournament championship tournaments in college basketball and the state championship tournaments in high school basketball which each take place this month are far more dramatic and entertaining than anything that the NBA can usually come up with in their pro playoffs that begin in May. In fact, the NCAA tournament draws the attention of even the casual sports fan both in watching the games and in following the progression of the 'bracket pools' that dominate many office conversations. The college teams are completing their respective conference championships this weekend, and these smaller tournaments will themselves determine many of the teams that will advance to the 'Big Dance' of the NCAA tournament. Tomorrow afternoon the NCAA, college sports governing body, will announce the field of 65 men's basketball teams that will compete for what is arguably college sports biggest prize. Over the next three weeks those teams will battle one another in a single-elimination tournament that will lead to the crowning of this year's men's collegiate basketball champions. At the same time the employees of many businesses and many groups of friends will copy the NCAA tournament bracket from the internet or from newspapers and will predict the outcome in a 'pool' format that has become a grand tradition of its own. They will find their efforts particularly difficult this year because there are a dozen or more colleges whose teams can claim to be legitimate title contenders. Beyond the top ten or fifteen teams in the national rankings it would surprise few prognosticators if a 'dark-horse' team takes a run at the championship this year. While my own St. Joe's Hawks will not be making the tournament this time around, both Villanova and Temple should receive calls to the dance when the opening matchups are announced tomorrow. At the high school level here in Pennsylvania, the top teams from around the state will be vying over the next week for the state title in four different divisions of play that are based on school sizes. This is the first season that teams from the Philadelphia Catholic League are involved in those state playoffs, meaning that now all of the major high school basketball powers around the state are officially competing against one another in a tournament format for a championship. My own alma mater of Neumann-Goretti was the top-ranked boys team in the state, the 14th-ranked team in the entire nation, and the favorite to win the AAA level title. But the loss to Catholic League rival Carroll in yesterday's state quarter-final game marked the Patriots first win over the Saints since 2001 and ended N-G's season. With just three losses all season, Carroll is now a legitimate threat to win the AAA title. There are also a handful of other local high school teams still alive in the state tourney in both the boys and girls competitions across all four levels. Spring is a great time for sports fans of every ilk, and amateur basketball's 'March Madness' may be the best of them all, a true slam dunk.

JaJa Beats the Merion Girls

This 'equality' thing has simply gone too far. Let's face reality: men and women, boys and girls, are different than one another. Sure, we are all human beings. But one is male, and one is female. We were created differently by God, and sexual organs were not the only difference. Men are generally bigger, faster, stronger than women. Not always, of course, but in general and in the vast majority of instances.

In school athletics there have always been boys sports and girls sports, and athlets should stay playing within their sexes. Could you imagine allowing, for instance, Koby Bryant to play on Lower Merion's girls basketball team when he was a student at the school? Simply stated, Lower Merion would be unbeatable. Also, Bryant would be taking a roster spot from some girl who would have made the team were it not for his becoming a ridiculous interloper.

A similar bastardization of 'Title IX' played out this past Saturday in Whitehall, Pennsylvania as Wyoming Seminary defeated Merion Mercy in the PIAA Class AA field hockey championship by a 3-2 score. A junior at WS, JaJa Kentwell, scored two goals to provide the margin of victory. Kentwell had missed WS' semi-final victory while away in Germany, playing for the U.S. indoor team, but made sure to come back for this state title match.

Kentwell was playing for the U.S. Men's indoor team, that is. Kentwell is a boy playing with the Wyoming Seminary girls team.

After WS won the game, Kentwell, the only boy on the field, was asked how he felt. "It's hard to describe", he said. Let me describe it for you then, JaJa. You just beat a girls team. Congratulations, pal. Hope that you're proud, big guy.

This is not meant to be a knock against women athletes in any way, especially Merion Mercy's team in particular. The fact is, Merion Mercy was the best girl's field hockey team on the field. Unfortunately, the other team was co-ed and used not only a boy, but a world-class boy who plays for his country. WS should be ashamed, but they probably aren't. There is, of course, a rule that allows for such things. That rule is a joke.

Merion Mercy should be congratulated for putting up such a good fight and making the final result close. Their girls outscored the WS girls by 2-1. But WS ultimately won the championship, thanks to their world-class boy player. Congratulations, Wyoming Seminary. Don't forget to thank the boy who just won your 'girls' (sic) championship.