ANNUAL GRIPES

Let's start with a zing at the MIAA for some of the Springfield woes.

While they tend to look elsewhere when things go wrong, the simple truth is the MIAA's biggest foe is itself. Perhaps if it spent less time trying to create ways to make things more difficult for others and focus on the basics, people would leave with a better taste in their mouthes.

Start with the video of an MIAA official chasing down a Cambridge player for the game ball at the end of the Div. 1 final, certainly not a good look at all for the Franklin-based organization. Then, to make matters worse, head coach Lance Dottin was instead handed a championship ball which happened to be a women's basketball.

Are we really asking too much to give a championship team a game ball? The value of the ball is somewhere in the neighborhood of $50-55, though more than one source insists the balls are not paid for.

Then we had the epic fire alarm going off in the fourth quarter of the Div. 1 state girls basketball final between Braintree and Springfield Central. Many stood around not knowing which end was up, resulting in a long delay.

To close it up, apparently the MIAA folks who worked at Springfield College didn't get the memo about the media actually needing to talk to coaches and players following the game. Reporters were led to a room following the Arlington Catholic-Medfield final, only to find out that the schools were not informed.

Had it not been for the actions of one reporter, who figured something was up after waiting 15 minutes with no coaches in sight and took it upon himself to chase down the Medfield team that was headed for the bus, there would have been no post-game interviews. Comedy Central is calling.

Given the fact that this year's state final games were as anti-climatic as possible — none of them being decided by less than 13 points — maybe it's time to start looking at some solutions. Arlington boys coach John Bowler came up with one plan, an idea which virtually every coach I sent it to agreed with wholeheartedly. In the Bowler Plan, teams get to the sectional semifinals, then those 16 teams are re-seeded to avoid playing others in their section. He advocates doubleheaders at four venues with the winners advancing to eventually play in a Final Four.

For instance, the top-seeded team in North would face No. 4 West and No. 2 South would face No. 3 Central. A second doubleheader would pit No. 2 Central and No. 3 South along with No. 1 West and No. 4 North.

Taking it a step further, with a look at the bottom bracket, the No. 1 South/No. 4 Central winner would square off against No. 2 North/No. 3 West, while the winners of No. 2 West/No. 3 North and No. 1 Central/No. 4 South would meet in the fourth quarterfinal.

It would certainly create excitement and do a better job of getting the best teams into the semifinals and finals. Then again, it makes sense, so it has little chance of flying.

Another thing that needs to be looked at is the way the tournament is seeded. Right now, teams are seeded strictly on won-loss percentage, which can penalize schools which play a tougher schedule. It might be a good time to at least look at some sort of power seeding, which would eliminate potential championship contests being played in an early round. Look no further than Div. 1 South girls, where the top two teams in Eastern Mass. (Braintree and Bishop Feehan) met in a sectional quarterfinal.