The Front Row with MARK NELKE May 29, 2011

This 'n that on a holiday weekend ...

The way the Idaho High School Activities Association seeds state tournaments has been covered here before.

But a loyal reader brought it up the other day, calling about the state baseball tournament - in particular the 5A tourney, in which Coeur d'Alene came in 23-1, lost a 4-3 heartbreaker the first night, then routed the next two foes to finish fourth.

Why didn't the Vikings, who came in with the best record in the tournament, get to open against the team with the worst record - in this case, Centennial, which was 14-12?

Though the IHSAA does not sponsor a state tournament, the group that does uses the same seeding that the state uses for the other tournaments it does sponsor.

The brackets are set up so, in almost all cases, a district/regional champ does not open against another district/regional champ at state - they'll play a second-place team or worse. In this case, Coeur d'Alene opened vs. the fifth-place team from the District 3 tournament (the district sent five teams to state) - which was Mountain View (17-9).

The top six teams in the 5A Southern Idaho Conference regular-season standings were Timberline, Eagle, Rocky Mountain, Capital, Mountain View and Centennial.

Timberline lost three times in its district tournament and failed to make it to state. Capital (20-5 heading into state) won the district tourney, with Rocky Mountain (19-6) second, Eagle (18-5) third, Centennial fourth and Mountain View fifth.

Capital drew Centennial in the first round. Eagle played District 5-6 champ Highland (19-5), and Rocky Mountain played Region 1 runner-up Lewiston (15-10) in its opener.

Unfortunately, baseball is probably the least-forgiving sport to play under a single-elimination format - all you need to do is run into a tough pitcher in the first round, and there goes your title hopes.

Every year it seems, there are cries to seed the state tournaments — much like the NCAA does. But unless you have a selection committee knowledgeable about each division — it would be strictly a guess. And you can’t just go by overall records — if that was the case, you could schedule your team into a top seed at state by beating up on weaker foes during the season.

Also, some districts have several good teams, others only one or two. So one team could fatten up on lesser competition, while another in a tougher league might take a few more losses during the season, but be more “battle-tested” by the state tournament. Eagle, which won the state 5A baseball title, was second in its conference and third in its district tournament, but first when it mattered most.

Mitch Santos, the former St. Maries High volleyball coach, has suggested a format in which a district was rewarded next year with a high seed if one of their teams won the state title this year. Same with the state runner-up — its district would get a high seed as well next year, only on the other side of the bracket.

In any event, I’m sure the debate will continue next year ... and the next year ... and the next year.

Another caller wondered why it was OK for the one receiver in arena football who gets a full run at the line of scrimmage to be WAY offside at the snap.

I told him it was probably an optical illusion, but a few days ago I asked one of the officials about it.

He said officials used to give the receiver some margin for error — they could be past the line of scrimmage at the snap, but as long as they hadn’t passed the back of the feet of the defensive lineman, they were OK. This year, the rule was changed where they have to be behind the line of scrimmage at the snap.

That would explain why, in the past, it seemed like they were way past the line of scrimmage at the snap.

Still, I’m waiting for the day a defender is waiting for that receiver with a Dick Butkus-style clothesline as he crosses the line of scrimmage. Sure, it might cost the defense a few yards, but that receiver might not approach the line of scrimmage so speedily next time.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at [email protected].