Screw the Dome

[VerbumDei]

Time for my annual rant. Once again, two Polk County teams have to schlep up to Cedar Falls to play a football game that could easily be played in Des Moines. I know I am in the minority on this, but to have Centennial and Dowling travel to the Dome for a semi-final makes zero sense. This game could easily be played at Drake or East or Valley or even that bandbox behind the Ankeny Middle School, but its not even considered.

The sight lines in the Dome are awful (you cannot see the near sideline from any seat), and the parking is usually a grade A cluster. It MIGHT make sense to have the semis in the Dome if Dowling played IC West in one semi, and Centennial played CR Wash in the other, but the cartel in Boone won't do it and Lord knows why.
So bring it haters and tell me I'm all wet. But don't tell me it has to be this way because "high school players in Iowa dream about playing in the dome." If that's the case, they need better dreams.

Verbum Dei
AMDG

 

[PNation]

CR Prairie played IC West in the Baseball finals in Des Moines, did you hear any fans whine about that. There were 3 basketball games that featured exclusively east side teams. Des Moines already gets more state tournaments then any other place, and rightfully so because it is the state title, but they have also taken many away from other places that enjoyed the economic boost every year so that essentially the rich got richer. Not too mention it is an advantage for CIML teams. I am not too concerned about Dowling or Ankeny Centennial not being able to pay the fuel bill to get their teams up to the dome, and the same goes for their fans.

As for sight lines I really don't know what you are talking about I have always been able to see the near sideline at any playoff game or UNI game I have been at. I will agree with the parking, but not much different than any other major sporting event.

So stop your yearly belly aching and just enjoy the games

 

[VerbumDei]

The football semi-finals really do not compare to the basketball or baseball tournament where 8 teams from around the state come to Des Moines to play three games in 4 days. Of COURSE they have to come to one place. Baseball was in Marshalltown for years and frankly they can hold it in CR for all I care. But in Football its just ONE game, and most of those years its two teams from the Des Moines area that are literally located minutes apart. Your comparison is apples to oranges, but thanks for playing.

Verbum Dei

AMDG

 

[PNation]

Also most people from Ankeny Centennial will be coming from Cedar Rapids Friday so while CF isn't directly in between the two schools it would be an in between site.

 

[ISUChip]

While we're at it, let's just play all the semifinal games at neutral sites on Friday night:
Centennial vs Dowling at Drake
CR Wash vs IC West at Coe College
Glenwood vs Webster City at Carroll
Pella vs Xavier at Marshalltown
BHRV vs Dike-NH at Humboldt
Union vs Mount Vernon at Cedar Rapids (Kingston)
St. Albert vs Garrigan at Storm Lake
Saint Ansgar vs Gladbrook-Reinbeck at Waverly

And here's where it gets tricky, because unless you have portable goal posts, you need a field set up with 8-man dimensions...
Harris-LP vs Fremont-Mills at Glidden
Don Bosco vs Midland at Central City

Of course, you couldn't actually make any of these arrangements until you knew which teams advanced to the semifinals. Then you have to hope that the place you want to host is both available and willing to do so on short notice. And since every game is at the same time in a different location, there will be no television coverage or web streaming.

 

[matodd8032]

Time for my annual rant. Once again, two Polk County teams have to schlep up to Cedar Falls to play a football game that could easily be played in Des Moines. I know I am in the minority on this, but to have Centennial and Dowling travel to the Dome for a semi-final makes zero sense. This game could easily be played at Drake or East or Valley or even that bandbox behind the Ankeny Middle School, but its not even considered.

The sight lines in the Dome are awful (you cannot see the near sideline from any seat), and the parking is usually a grade A cluster. It MIGHT make sense to have the semis in the Dome if Dowling played IC West in one semi, and Centennial played CR Wash in the other, but the cartel in Boone won't do it and Lord knows why.
So bring it haters and tell me I'm all wet. But don't tell me it has to be this way because "high school players in Iowa dream about playing in the dome." If that's the case, they need better dreams.

Verbum Dei
AMDG

Your all wet. You sound like a crotchety old man that doesn't like to drive and has to be home before dark. Lol

 

[VerbumDei]

That's unfair. I have no problem driving after dark.

 

[matodd8032]

Just kidding! I personally think it's an exciting opportunity for the players. It also takes bad weather/field conditions out of the mix. I still remember playing in the dome for the Warriors 32 years ago. It was a great experience. I can tell you my son and his teammates are fired up about playing there tonight!

 

[VerbumDei]

No reason to find a nuetral site. The teams are seeded so just let the higher seed host. This isn't complicated.

 

[VerbumDei]

But I am crotchety.

 

[GoBigD6788]

BUT THEY DREAM OF PLAYING ON A GREEN RUG LAID OVER CONCRETE!

 

[woodsiding]

I personally hope you don't have to drive back up next week. GO ANKENY!

 

[matodd8032]

I still think your kind of missing the whole point. Should we not have state volleyball in Cedar Rapids or state basketball in Des Moines? There is a substantial economic benefit to the communities which is a whole other subject.

 

[GoBigD6788]

Any kind of economic benefit to Cedar Falls from having the high school football games held at the UNI-Dome would be negligible. The average attendance for 4A (which I'd guess has the largest attendance per class) can't be more than the average attendance for a UNI home game (12,525 for the 2016 season).

 

[matodd8032]

Tens of thousands of visitors visiting on two consecutive Fridays respresents a lot of $$$$ for the local economy in Cedar Falls.

 

[GoBigD6788]

"To warm up his audience, Beyers held a "pop" quiz. "I'm going to give you three different percentages for the economic impact of sports on the local economy, and you raise your hand for what you think is the right answer," he said.

"Ten percent." (A good number of hands rise.) "One percent." (A majority of hands are held high.) "One-tenth of one percent." (Hardly a hand in the air.)

"The correct answer is 1/10th of one percent, and even that is probably overstating it," Beyers told the crowd."

https://www.washington.edu/alumni/columns/june97/game1.html

 

[DarkThunder#61]

The correct answer is they will keep the semifinals and finals in the Dome.

 

[GatorBait1988]

Move the games to Saturday and allow the higher seeded team to host. The only game that should be at a neutral site should be the State Championship. Iowa's playoff seeding system is a joke anyway, they should adopt a new system which incorporates wins (beating a higher classified team rewards you more points), losses (losing to a higher classified team earns you more points), and then rider points (rewarding you for playing high quality teams).

Win against a 4A team: 26 points
Win against a 3A team: 24 points
Win against a 2A team: 22 points
Win against a 1A team: 20 points
Win against a A team: 18 points
Win against an 8man team: 16 points

Loss against a 4A team: 14 points
Loss against a 3A team: 12 points
Loss against a 2A team: 10 points
Loss against a 1A team: 8 points
Loss against a A team: 6 points
Loss against an 8man team: 4 points

Rider Points:
Teams are awarded two (2) points for each team they beat that wins. Example: You beat a team with 8 wins, your team is awarded 16 additional points.
Teams are awarded one (1) point for each team they lose to that wins. Example: You lose to a team with 8 wins, you are awarded 8 points.
Always rewards the team that plays the harder schedule.

Add all the points up and divide by the number of games played. This will reward teams that win AND play a tough schedule. Split the state in East and West. When the playoff is down to the Final Four, East #1 will play West #2 and West #1 will play East #2. We can finally get away from having certain teams in the State Championship based off of geographic location.

This will never happen, but it's nice for discussion.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Interesting. Just for grins I ran the 3A semifinalists through your system.

At the end of the regular season, Pella would have had 296 points, Xavier 290, Webster City 270 and Glenwood 255. For semifinal seeding, your West/East way would have been exactly the same as seeding by points:

Glenwood (341) vs Pella (376)
Webster City (350) vs Xavier (366)
​

(I think I did all the math right, anyway.)

 

[Run&Blade]

Move it and risk weather. I would rather see two teams play their game in perfect conditions. Could easily be 25 degrees and windy with wet snow.

 

[DSMan]

I didn' t follow football back then but weren't there a lot of bad circumstances when the semis were played outside? Didn't Ankeny-SCW in 1997 (ironically the last semi played outdoors) have pretty shitty game conditions?

 

[GatorBait1988]

I would even concede my request to only have one game at a neutral site. Iowa needs a huge overhaul in their current system for playoffs. How does a team like Pella, who is on a 40 game win streak, have to travel to Assumption in 2015(Assumption had 2 losses at the time of the game) and Solon this year (Solon had 1 loss at the time of the game) based on....the alphabet!? Is this real life!?

 

[GatorBait1988]

Interesting. Just for grins I ran the 3A semifinalists through your system.

At the end of the regular season, Pella would have had 296 points, Xavier 290, Webster City 270 and Glenwood 255. For semifinal seeding, your West/East way would have been exactly the same as seeding by points:

Glenwood (341) vs Pella (376)
Webster City (350) vs Xavier (366)
​

(I think I did all the math right, anyway.)

The point system ends at the conclusion of the regular season. You no longer receive the point totals throughout the playoffs.

 

[DarkThunder#61]

My suggestion?


Do nothing.

 

[GatorBait1988]

One of the criteria that decides home field advantage is based on the alphabet. Let's keep it. LOL