A couple of more pet peeves and maybe I’ve mentioned them before and maybe not:
There are fans and some coaches who don’t like byes and that is hard to believe.
You do realize that when you have a bye you have already won that game, right?
You do realize that you have one less game to win en route to a championship,right?
You do realize that it is one less game where there is a possibility of an injury, right? I’ll grant you that an injury could happen in practice, but you know what I mean.
You do realize of course that if you do lose a game after a bye, you can always use the excuse that your team was rusty or wasn’t sharp after the lay off. You know you would use that as an excuse. It has been used as an excuse as long as I can remember.
In high school basketball the championship games and semi’s are played at the Barre Auditorium or the UVM Patrick Gym.
In high school hockey the championship games are played at the UVM Gutterson Fieldhouse. That’s where the players aspire to play since they were in pre-school. It’s special!
So why do so many fans say that when two local teams like West Rutland and MSJ, just a few miles apart, play in a semi-final or championship game against each other they suggest they play some place locally like Castleton instead? Because the players don’t want to that’s why! Ask any player where they would want to play a championship game and I bet 100% would say at Barre or UVM! To those who say why not play a few miles away instead of 66 miles away….I say HOGWASH!!!
Speaking of the Barre Auditorium and the Patrick Gym…. Either West Rutland or MSJ will be playing in the Division 4 girls basketball state championship game and Fair Haven will be in the Division 2 girls basketball state championship game on Tuesday March 13th and WSYB AM 1380 and 100.1 FM will be there to broadcast both games. I expect Rutland High to be playing in the Division 1 boys basketball semi-final game the same night, but of course WSYB will not be able to be there too. WSYB will be broadcasting all the state championship games involving local teams.