Varsity Kansas - The Blog

*The Greater Wichita Athletic League Catchitkansas.com Basketball Classic is just too long of a name for me. I’m sticking with Hoopfest, which is what it was called in my day.

….Anyway

Have you ever accomplished something extremely meaningless, yet were quite proud of yourself anyway? Welcome to my world about five minutes ago. I’m using a computer given to me by The Eagle, one in which I’m not too familiar with. When I turned it on, the screen was practically pitch black. OK, that’s an exaggeration. I could see what was on the monitor, just not well enough for my liking.

If you know me, you know this could have ruined my entire evening. I go into mini-panic mode anytime something isn’t exactly the way I want it. But I managed to find the button that adjusts brightness, which isn’t as easy as it sounds, and now I am absolutely perfect.

As Brent Musberger might say, and I’m using a little bit of dramatic lisence here, I’m coming to you live from Hoopfest*, the City League’s two-day, eight-game showcase of all its boys and girls basketball teams. Except for South. Unfortunately for the Titans, the CL is a nine-team league, and they were left out this year. I vote for adding a 10th team to the City League, just for Hoopfest*, and my vote goes to Andover Central. Just because, as we all know, I’m obsessed with that school.

I have no problem with Hoopfest*, and I feel that it is a positive thing for City League athletics. But if you’re trying to showcase your top teams and best possible matchups, South has to be included and there has to be at least one marquee girls game. This year’s event has neither. In my opinion, the dream lineup would be this:

Kapaun Mount Carmel vs. Bishop Carroll — I’ll sacrifice seeing the Heights and Carroll girls meet for this traditional rivalry played on a bigger stage. They met recently and both games were decent.

South vs. Heights — Another good girls matchup — they met in the first game of the season with Heights hanging on for a close win. The boys matchup should be good, too, though the Falcons had a fairly easy time with South on opening night.

Northwest vs. North — A geographical rivarly and one of the league’s most tradition-rich schools against its newest.

East vs. Southeast — The marquee game in the City League and the one that saves this year’s Hoopfest* from having basically no attractive matchups.

I don’t mean to sound like a complainer here, I just think we could do better. I realize this event was organized quickly and was done primarily to get the Southeast-East game to a larger venue, but if Hoopfest* was scheduled before the season each year, the league could set aside the best matchups well in advance. Instead, we get one potential game of the year and seven games that probably won’t come close to matching it.

But I’ll be here for all of both days, and will try to blog as frequently as possible. In the opening game of Hoopfest*, the Southeast girls are beginning to run away against East, with a 29-12 lead in the second quarter. The Buffaloes have already attempted 19 free throws, while East has yet to get to the line.

After this, Bishop Carroll and North play a boys-girls doubleheader. Tomorrow, Kapaun-Northwest and Heights-West play boys and girls games before the game everybody wants to see, the boys matchup between Southeast and East. The Blue Aces girls, by the way, just took their first free throw.

It could be a long couple of days. But for now, I’m just glad I can see my screen.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 4th, 2008 at 6:14 p.m. and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.