Thursday, October 21, 2010

Rivalry Needs Competition


Originally Posted Monday, October 19, 2009

    In my last couple of posts, I’ve complained a bit about what I see is the impending doom of the Paola/Osawatomie football game, a game which has been played continuously since 1920 and which has added to the rich history of the two communities. 
    The Tom-Tom game was played again last Friday night, and for the first time in a long time, it looked like the Trojans might have a chance against the Panthers. As it turned out, they didn’t, and once again the Trojan faithful left a game with the Panthers on the short end of the score.
    For the 92nd time the rivalry game was played, and as I have said before, it looks like the days of a Paola/Osawatomie football game are numbered. The Trojans want out, and for a long time, I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to kill a rivalry as old and storied as the Panthers and the Trojans.
    Well, I started looking at the scores of the game for the past few years and it became abundantly clear why the Osawatomie faithful want out of this game in the worst way!
It’s really quite simple, it takes competition to fuel a rivalry, and for the last 30 years, at least two generations of Trojan players and fans, there has been no competition.
    I looked at the last 30 years including Friday’s 54-6 thrashing of the previously unbeaten Trojans and the numbers are a stark indication of how far the Osawatomie football program has fallen since it’s glory year of 1973 when they brought home the Kansas State 3-A football championship.
    In that 30 year time period, the Trojans have won exactly seven times and five of those victories came in a seven year period from 1985 through 1991. Since a 20-6 victory in 1991, the Trojans have managed two, two point wins in 1997 and 2004. In fact, the 1991 victory was the only time in those seven wins that the Trojans were victorious by more than a touchdown. Five of the Trojans seven wins were by four points or less, so the record could have been a lot worse. The Trojans have one shut-out victory in the last 30 years, a nail biting 3-0 win in 1986, and had held the Panthers to one touchdown or less only one other time during that span.
    By contrast, the Panthers have posted five shutouts, and have held the Trojans to one touchdown or less twelve more times in the same time period.
    The Trojans average margin of victory in the seven games -- 22-17. The Panthers had a stretch between the 1991 loss and a 26-24 loss in 1997 where the Trojans scored a TOTAL of 20 points and were outscored 164-20.
    Ladies and gentlemen, I submit that I am wrong, as much as I hate to admit it, maybe this game should die, along with the rivalry. The rivalry is already dead, because there is no competition between the two teams. This year the Trojans are fielding their best team in many years and they just got it handed to them Friday night.
    It really pains me to say this too, because I played in the game when it was a rivalry, when it meant something, and it still makes me mad that in three years of varsity football, I NEVER beat the Trojans, in fact, in my entire football career at Paola High School, freshman, junior varsity and varsity, I NEVER beat the Trojans. But that was back when it was a game, a happening, it was the last game of the season for both teams, and you could make or break your season by a win or a loss. 
    It’s just not like that anymore. People don’t care as much, because there’s just not a much riding on the game anymore. To the Panthers, it’s just another game, another stepping stone on their way to a state championship dream. To the Trojans, it’s another loss, but at least with the current league alignment, the Trojans can celebrate an unbeaten Pioneer League Championship!

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