Dominance

Boring.

It's the kind of problem that's good. The Iowa City West boy's basketball team defeated Xavier the other night and, despite the typo (as of 2/5/2015, "DiLeo is the team’s leading 3-point shooter, as he demonstrated by popping in three treys with in a 2:25 stretch of the third quarter Tuesday."), it summarizes the problem nicely: "The Trojans are vying for their fourth-straight Class 4A state-title, a feat no team has pulled off. They are 91-3 since the start of that run."

There's a feeling in the air and it's not excitement. It's the same type of feeling that was in the air when the kids were at Iowa City Regina and we'd go to a football game. Both the Regina football team and the West boy's basketball team step into competition with the expectation of their fans that they will win.

A quick side note regarding Iowa City football, in general. Per an Iowa City Press-Citizen article, the Iowa City West football program is seeking a new head coach. I wonder which other local high school coach in Iowa City would be interested in taking that job. Maybe someone who has led a fantastic program at a small Catholic school and feels the need to advance to a bigger playing field. Hmmm.

Back to the West high school boy's basketball season, I think that because there is no doubt in anyone's mind, there's the potential for an outcome that is not expected. While most people familiar with the area would possibly state that West will dominate and easily win, I think that at any point in time, the wheels can come off the train. I will go out on a limb and say, well, the West boy's team could lose. When crosstown rival Iowa City High comes to West for a doubleheader of the boys / girls on Friday, February 13th, there's no pep band scheduled to play. A crosstown rival comes into your gym and you don't have the pep band to help make your  gym that much more intimidating? Really? Would you not feel the need to make a home gym more intimidating if you thought there was a chance that you could lose? No pep band = no chance on losing seems to be the message.

Despite talent, despite hard work during practice, despite all the other factors that go into preparing for an athletic competition, the way that the actual game / competition will end is never a given. Case in point, the men's basketball team from Wichita State, who were riding a long win streak, came into Cedar Falls to play UNI and got stomped by 20ish points. Did anyone predict that? Of course not. Thus, my mind has already wondered if West is now a Wichita State and City is now a UNI.

Whenever kids and athletics comes up, I use the analogy of a funnel. When you're young, it used to be that you could play any sport you wanted in some recreational league. When I was young, kids played every sport - baseball, basketball, football, track -  because they didn't have to specialize. Everyone played. Then, in junior high, the funnel narrows and those kids that aren't the best athletes or those kids that aren't going to work hard at their sport don't go out. Then, in high school, the funnel narrows yet again. 

And while I mentioned Regina, I just have to mention one little tidbit. Years ago, when Alex attended school there, a group of boys thought they were the best basketball players in the world. They assembled a basketball team and actually pillaged the team I was helping to coach and took two of our best players. There were ill feelings - very non-Catholic - between those boys and the boys on the basketball team that Alex played on. Those boys on the other team walked around in elementary school like they were the chosen ones to play varsity basketball for Regina in high school. The other day, the boy's team played Cascade at Regina. Cascade walked into the Regina gym and defeated Regina. Regina has had an impressive year, but by being defeated, it showed they are "just" high school basketball players and that, as I mentioned above, the outcome of a game is never known until the game is played and the athletes compete. Perhaps another reason the 2/13/15 City v. West contest shouldn't be an assumed victory.

My point is that these boys who thought they were king of the world, who thought their feces didn't have an odor, that acted as if they were the chosen ones. Reality paints a different picture. According to the player statistics in the newspaper, none of them are playing. Regina played 6 kids in the game against Cascade and none of them were these kids that thought they were so special. My intention is not to gloat about how these kids aren't playing as much as they thought they should. Rather, my intention is to rededicate myself to the idea that just because you repeat something or just because every one you speak to tells you the same statements does NOT mean it is true. The way these kids walked around sickened me. Sometimes, it felt like a flashback to my own days as an elementary student when the "cool" kids walked around like they were totally awesome at basketball. When those kids got to junior high, not all of them were playing on the A team and by the time those kids got to high school, I can't think of a one of them that played on the varsity team. Sure, some did time on the junior varsity, but they weren't the kings of the world.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel this way only at Regina. The same bullshit happened at North Central, where Alex went to junior high. There were a bunch of kids who walked around like they were already chosen to play varsity for West. As the article about the West varsity boy's team mentions, there is only one senior on the team. Think about that. When that senior was a sophomore, was he the only one on the team? Of course not. The funnel tightened for the rest of his teammates until they decided to not continue playing for their high school basketball team. And looking ahead to next year, this all means that of the 15 current members of the West varsity team, 14 of them will return, including 4 of the 5 starters. What does that mean for the 15 kids on the sophomore team who are looking ahead to their junior and senior year? Some of those 15 kids were the ones walking around North Central as though their destiny was a given. Alex went out for the freshman basketball team at Iowa City West, but did not go out this year. Other kids that were on his freshman basketball team didn't go out either. The 30 kids that played basketball as freshmen has now become a single team of 15 kids. The current West sophomore boy's basketball team also includes two freshmen so that means, more or less, that two of the 30 kids that played last year are not playing as much as this year.

I don't know what the future holds for all of these kids. I can say that nothing - NOTHING - in this world is a given in athletics. EVER.