Local Rivalries Are Important
December 21, 2016 at 5:11 p.m.
By Roger Grossman-
The ladies played in Bourbon Tuesday night, with Warsaw winning 53-31. The boys game is slated for tonight.
These two schools playing draws an immediate reaction from most of you. It might be a dismissive reaction of “what’s the point of that? Warsaw will crush them.” It might be a disgusted reaction like “what is Warsaw doing playing Triton? Was Sidney playing someone else that night?” Or maybe it will foster a discussion about that sectional game back in the 1980s at Triton when … you get the point.
The truth is there are a lot of good reasons for Warsaw and Triton to play each other, and there are plenty of good reasons for them to play other area schools – and they are.
The best and most important reason is because fans just like the local matchups better than they do the ones involving teams from outside the region. Let’s take Warsaw and teams from The Region, for example. Playing Merrillville, Crown Point and Lake Central are good for the Tigers. It offers them a chance to play against teams that play a style they will run up against in the regional, and that experience is invaluable.
But those teams do not stir the Tiger fan base into a frenzy. What does that is playing local, non-conference games like Manchester, Whitko and Tippecanoe Valley – schools and communities that people here have a connection to.
There is a good chance you work with someone who lives in North Manchester or South Whitley or Mentone, or maybe you graduated from one of those schools. Those at-work rivalries have been doused some over time, but they are still there. You have to fan those flames to get them to burn bright again, and the only way to do that is to play each other.
Sure, it might lead to a few blowouts occasionally. But when those moments come along where the smaller school beats the bigger school – like Whitko did in November when they beat the Lady Tigers – it makes a lot of memories for them. That leads to the excuse the big schools give, “what good does it do us to play a small school? If we win, we were supposed to. If we lose, then it’s bad for us.’ Again, it’s a local game, with local interest from the media and fans, and that means entertainment. That means value. That means people will part with their hard-earned dollars to buy tickets to watch it.
Smack dab in the middle of the conversation has to be money. People are more likely to drive 20 miles to watch their team play than 40 or 50. Fans from the smaller towns like North Manchester and Whitko and Mentone and Akron are 100 times more likely to drive to the Tiger Den to watch a game than are the parents of team members from Gary, Fort Wayne or South Bend schools.
Bigger crowd, more attention, more buzz in the gym and the communities, which all leads to a better experience for the fan, which means there is a better chance that they will come back. It also means you get better coverage from your local media outlets, which puts the game in a prime spot in the newspaper and the first click on their website.
And for opposing schools, even with a decline in attendance, having Warsaw come to your gym is still a money-making proposition.
The weather also plays a factor. When it starts snowing at 4 p.m., a game has a better chance of getting played anyway if the schools are 20 miles apart compared to two hours driving one way.
I know sometimes it frustrates people, and I get why, but Warsaw/Triton is a matchup that needs to take place and needs to continue.
The ladies played in Bourbon Tuesday night, with Warsaw winning 53-31. The boys game is slated for tonight.
These two schools playing draws an immediate reaction from most of you. It might be a dismissive reaction of “what’s the point of that? Warsaw will crush them.” It might be a disgusted reaction like “what is Warsaw doing playing Triton? Was Sidney playing someone else that night?” Or maybe it will foster a discussion about that sectional game back in the 1980s at Triton when … you get the point.
The truth is there are a lot of good reasons for Warsaw and Triton to play each other, and there are plenty of good reasons for them to play other area schools – and they are.
The best and most important reason is because fans just like the local matchups better than they do the ones involving teams from outside the region. Let’s take Warsaw and teams from The Region, for example. Playing Merrillville, Crown Point and Lake Central are good for the Tigers. It offers them a chance to play against teams that play a style they will run up against in the regional, and that experience is invaluable.
But those teams do not stir the Tiger fan base into a frenzy. What does that is playing local, non-conference games like Manchester, Whitko and Tippecanoe Valley – schools and communities that people here have a connection to.
There is a good chance you work with someone who lives in North Manchester or South Whitley or Mentone, or maybe you graduated from one of those schools. Those at-work rivalries have been doused some over time, but they are still there. You have to fan those flames to get them to burn bright again, and the only way to do that is to play each other.
Sure, it might lead to a few blowouts occasionally. But when those moments come along where the smaller school beats the bigger school – like Whitko did in November when they beat the Lady Tigers – it makes a lot of memories for them. That leads to the excuse the big schools give, “what good does it do us to play a small school? If we win, we were supposed to. If we lose, then it’s bad for us.’ Again, it’s a local game, with local interest from the media and fans, and that means entertainment. That means value. That means people will part with their hard-earned dollars to buy tickets to watch it.
Smack dab in the middle of the conversation has to be money. People are more likely to drive 20 miles to watch their team play than 40 or 50. Fans from the smaller towns like North Manchester and Whitko and Mentone and Akron are 100 times more likely to drive to the Tiger Den to watch a game than are the parents of team members from Gary, Fort Wayne or South Bend schools.
Bigger crowd, more attention, more buzz in the gym and the communities, which all leads to a better experience for the fan, which means there is a better chance that they will come back. It also means you get better coverage from your local media outlets, which puts the game in a prime spot in the newspaper and the first click on their website.
And for opposing schools, even with a decline in attendance, having Warsaw come to your gym is still a money-making proposition.
The weather also plays a factor. When it starts snowing at 4 p.m., a game has a better chance of getting played anyway if the schools are 20 miles apart compared to two hours driving one way.
I know sometimes it frustrates people, and I get why, but Warsaw/Triton is a matchup that needs to take place and needs to continue.
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