The Butterfly - or Gator - Effect
So, Goose Creek is back out of the playoffs and it is truly an
unfortunate thing for those kids on that Gator team. I feel bad for
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Coach Chuck Reedy, who is a personal friend of mine. I feel bad for the
parents of the players on that team. And I understand that the player
in question was not an "impact" player and that he had no bearing on
the games he played in. But I cannot accept the arguement "think about
the other players on Goose Creek's team that didn't do anything." I can
not accept that without also thinking about the rest of the people who
"didn't do anything" that were impacted by this.
I'm not going to go into great depth on this, but I wanted to point out
a few things that NO ONE seems to be thinking about here.
First of all, the players on Conway did nothing either, but they were
impacted by having to face Goose Creek in their first game; the players
on Bluffton did nothing wrong, either, but they, too, have been
impacted by this. What about Ft Dorchester? "Why do you bring up the
Patriots, JB?" you ask. Well, IF Goose Creek is found out earlier and
forfiets those five games, Fort Dorchester is in the playoffs. Their
kids didn't do anything to deserve not going to the playoffs, either.
What about Stratford? If Fort Dorchester gets into the playoffs,
Stratford drops down to othe Division II bracket instead of
losing to Gaffney in the second round of Division I bracket. Their kids
didn't do anything to be seeded incorrectly. What about Boiling
Springs, Spring Valley, Spartanburg, Ridgeview, and Hillcrest? What
about Dorman? They would have had Boiling Springs in round one instead
of Stratford. Spring Valley would have travelled to Wando instead of
having to face Byrnes in round one. Spartanburg would have seen Byrnes
in round one; Ridgeview would have seen Summerville instead of their
own Region champion Irmo who had already seend the Blazers once;
Hillcrest would have played Irmo instead of NO. 2 seed Dutch Fork in
round one. What about the kids on all of these teams? They did nothing
wrong either. What about all of the kids on the teams in the Division
II bracket? EVERY team and game would have been affected in that
bracket by the No. 1 team being out and everyone moving up, and
including Stratford among that group. None of the players on those
sixteen teams did anything wrong, either.
So, before you start to change your mind about this decision on the
Goose Creek situation, remember, there are a lot more players affected
by this situation than just the "rest of the Gator team" that didn't do
anything wrong. There are a LOT of kids and coaches out there who did
nothing wrong but have been impacted by this.
To the Gators and Coach Reedy, my heart hurts for you in your
situation. But it also hurts for the other kids around the state who
also did nothing wrong.