The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Friday night's all right
Jerry Hinnen
PUBLISHED: January 24, 2008
When the Michigan High School Athletic Association was forced to move girls' basketball from the fall season to the winter, there was some question from those involved with the girls' game (and the MHSAA) if the switch might shine less attention on the girls since they now had to share their basketball season with the boys.
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It was worth discussing, but I didn't expect it be an issue for two reasons:
•With both teams in-season, it becomes pretty obvious if the girls aren't getting equal treatment as the guys from media, school, fans, etc.
•The move away from fall means that the girls can now hoop it up on Friday nights, always the No. 1 prime time scheduling spot of the week for high school sports, a spot traditionally occupied by some sport involving a pointy ball and helmets in the fall, of course.
Friday night hoops always has been one of the most fun traditions on the sports calendar and I've been happy to find it's alive and kicking in Saline and Milan.
Why is it so great, you ask? And what might be done to make it even better?
So glad you asked. Here's a series of "Thumps Ups" and a few "Thumbs Downs" on the local basketball experience:
Thumbs up: The "squeak." Is there any single sound in sports as welcome and immediately recognizable as basketball sneakers on the hardwood? (Maybe the "crack of the bat," though of course everywhere but the majors these days it's the "ping of the bat.") I don't think so. Between that and "string music," not sure any sport is quite as easy on the ears as hoops.
Thumbs up: "The Final Countdown." It used to be just another cheesy '80s hair-metal tune, but I fell in love with the song when it became the theme for the magician G.O.B. Bluth on the stunningly hilarious TV show "Arrested Development" and have been delighted to hear it in both local gyms; it's been used as entrance music for Milan's boys and the Saline pep band does an awesome version.
Thumbs down: Ear-shattering pre-game music. I'm not one of these Grumpy McGrumpersons who dislikes the hip-hop that plays over the team's warm-ups and refers to it as "the rap music" (that "Heart of a Champion" song that samples the old NBA on NBC theme is sweet, actually). But there has been a couple of times the volume dial has been accidentally bumped up to 11 and left alone for a few minutes (I assume whoever's in charge got busy, which happens, but still) while I tried to hear myself think. A sound system's like Spiderman: it has great power, but also requires great responsibility.
Thumbs up: Students getting into it. Whether it's dressing up (kudos to the Saline diehard with the knee-high bumblebee-stripe socks ... ) or rooting for the team ( ... the drawn-out "oooooohhhhhhh" for the duration of a defensive possession is always a winner in my book ... ) or just acting goofy ( ... Milan guy waving the pom-poms a few nights back), students who approach hoops with the intensity it deserves are always a big part of what makes a basketball atmosphere work.
Thumbs up: Cheerleaders doing backflips all the way across the court. Athletic feats I'll only be able to do in my dreams or when they invent customizable DNA aren't limited to the players, as it turns out.
Thumbs down: absence of the "what-what-what" cheer. I'm not actually making suggestions as to what cheers our local cheerleaders should and shouldn't use. That cheer, though -- "We got spirit! Yeah, yeah, we got spirit!" repeated three times, followed by "Yeah, yeah, we got What? What? What? What? What-what-what-what-what!" as you sort of rock your torso in a circle on each "what" with your fists on your hips — was my favorite from the pep rallies of my formative years and I miss it. That's all.
Thumbs up: the basketball. Oh yeah, this. As much as I like everything else, the best reason to come to Friday night hoops is always that there's going to be hoops to be played.
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