Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
How far have I been pushed? I’m defending the New Mexico Activities Association.
Yes, I’m siding with the state’s governing body for high school activities, the same one I’ve derisively nicknamed “Nothing Matters After Albuquerque.”
Yes, the one that will next year put Portales in a district with Hope Christian and Moriarty and Clovis with four Albuquerque teams and Santa Fe High. Yes, the one that placed Clovis in a three-team district, then annually punished the Wildcats on playoff seeding because they played in a three-team district. Yes, the one whose deadline-busting seeding selection shows are the fifth chapter in my upcoming novel, “God, I Hate the NMAA.”
Full disclosure No. 1: I wrote two stories this fall for the NMAA’s Student Spotlight section. I was compensated for both, and had my supervisor’s approval, provided no company time was used.
Full disclosure No. 2: Though I hate the NMAA as a whole, I like all of the NMAA staff I’ve met individually. Special recognition goes to Associate Director Dusty Young, who works with me despite my abrasive questions.
“Why did you kill the Clovis-Hobbs basketball rivalry?” “Isn’t it competitive imbalance that Clovis will travel 2,100 miles for district basketball games next year, while Albuquerque High will travel 71?”
Young has been nothing but respectful while defending positions I’d call indefensible.
Full disclosure No. 3: God, I hate the NMAA. But this weekend, it was unfairly attacked.
An annual debate is how the NMAA awards football playoff home games. The first two rounds go to higher seeds, while semifinal and state games are based on playoff histories. If I hosted you the last time we played in a semifinal or title game, you host this time and vice versa.
The process put undefeated and top-seeded Portales on the road Saturday, and the Rams lost at fourth-seeded Robertson.
Following the heated matchup — the NMAA is investigating a post-game scuffle between the teams — fans of Portales (and some staffers of Portales schools) protested in the game’s aftermath. Why weren’t the top-seeded Rams hosting a lower-seeded team it defeated in the regular season? Rigged, they screamed; Portales had earned homefield.
The real answer: 2006. Robertson was the defending 3A champion that year, and the No. 1 seed. Still, the Cardinals boarded a bus to face the No. 7 seed in the championship game.
It sounds rigged that 11-1 Robertson wasn’t hosting the lower-seeded 7-5 team it beat in the regular season. Robertson, which could have argued it earned homefield, still took care of business, winning 28-6 over ... the Portales Rams.
Two years later, the Rams made another title game run. They finished as the District 4-3A runner-up, and received the third seed for a 7-3 season. The top seed was 4-3A champion Lovington, which defeated Portales in the regular season.
But Lovington didn’t get the homefield it could argue it earned. That’s because Portales won the coin flip — an NMAA standard when the teams share no playoff history. It sounds rigged that the top-seeded Wildcats weren’t hosting a lower seed they’d already beaten. Portales, which didn’t travel at all that postseason and hadn’t played a road game in six weeks, blew out Lovington 48-10.
And if Portales had beaten Robertson and set up a 12-0 vs. 12-0 matchup against Hatch Valley, who it’s never faced in the postseason? The coin flip no longer exists, and the highest seed hosts instead. That would have made it four straight championship games at home for Portales dating back to 2002, without having to sweat out another coin toss.
Does Lovington, given a home game under the current rule, win the 2008 title? I doubt it, but I also doubt Portales wins so easily.
Using playoff histories might be a terrible system, but it’s the same terrible system for everybody. After a full decade of watching the system handsomely reward Portales, it’s hard to channel outrage when the system benefits somebody else.
So consider yourself defended, NMAA. I’m going to go take a shower now.
Kevin Wilson is a deputy editor for Clovis Media, Inc. He can be reached at 575-763-3431, ext. 318, or by email: [email protected]
