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Sidelines Kalani Simpson |
Who is the D-II
classification really for?SO we've had another classified state high school championship and the question asks itself: Is Division II a good thing?
After last weekend's softball tournament, I don't know if you could find anybody who would argue it.
The big schools, the traditional powers, still got to duke it out. The smaller schools got trophies, too. Lanai got to go to a game on a plane, got to play in a tournament having slept in a bed. Parents everywhere had a great time.
The game I saw -- Lanai-Honokaa -- was like the old Coke ad campaign. It was the Real Thing. It was special. Not close. Not even a good game. But special.
This is what Division II should be about.
Two small schools. Two neighbor island schools.
The kind of atmosphere where a fan can yell out, during an injury timeout: "What? Hemo skin? Everybody hemo skin!"
And everybody in the stadium knew what he was talking about.
It was just ... nice.
Now, I am still not convinced that softball is a sport that cries out for a Division II state championship. The game I saw featured 14 errors.
And you always wonder about any state championship in which your runner-up ends the year with a .500 record and your champion entered the tournament at 8-7.
But after all the smiles and the tears and the leis and the hugs this weekend I don't think there are any nonbelievers left.
Still, I have a concern. I think Division II is a great thing. But I think it matters where you draw the borders. I think the line should be a lot lower than it is. I think most, if not almost all, of Oahu's schools should stay out of Division II.
Now, that's probably not going to happen, as the Oahu schools have a lot of votes and I have, um, zero.
But look at this softball Division II semifinal: Kalaheo vs. Lanai. Kalaheo has about 1,000 students. Lanai doesn't have that many on the whole island (more than 300 short, in fact), from kindergarten on up.
And high school, straight up? Kalaheo's high school enrollment is about six times Lanai's high school enrollment.
That is an extreme example. But a good one.
One thousand students is not a small school.
And while we're arguing what does or does not make a small school, girls-only and boys-only institutions should double their numbers to reflect the fact that everyone else can only turn to half their enrollment for girls' or boys' gender-specific sports.
I love Division II. You can't beat what we saw this weekend. Having more students experience a good thing is, in fact, a good thing. They should be able to celebrate, too.
But we still have to decide who this is for. Why are we doing this?
Is classification really for the small schools?
Or does this just give Oahu schools that have slipped from the pack a chance to win titles?
Does it award mid-majorness?
Is that even a word?
You know where I stand. Lanai-Honokaa is the real thing.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com
