http://www.thenewsdispatch.com/articles/20...79437970972.txt
QUOTE
A needed rivalry
By Drew White
Unwritten No More
Published: Monday, July 9, 2012 7:19 PM CDT
The first column I ever wrote for The News-Dispatch had to do with rivalry.
It came on the heels of a Cubs-Sox series that I covered just prior to the All-Star Break in 1999.
What spurred me to write about rivalry was the fact that despite the fact that both the North Siders and the South Siders that season were horrible — the two teams were collectively 21-and-a-half games out of first place at the break — the atmosphere at New Comiskey Park was festive and tense.
Among the highlights — or lowlights, depending on how you look at it — of the Sunday evening game was a fight in the stands that literally spilled onto the field of play and briefly halted the game.
The two combatants, one clad in White Sox garb and the other having just shed his Cubs jersey so not to get it dirty, were hauled off by security relatively quickly. As it turns out, it was just one of many scuffles that occurred in the stands that night.
I bring attention to the altercations not to condone the actions, but to illustrate just how passionate the rivalry — as beer-induced as the fights may have been — really was.
There’s really nothing like a pair of teams that don’t really like each other all that much for no reason other than the fact that they are considered rivals.
Previously mentioned fistfights aside, rivalries can be quite healthy.
For many years, I believe the Elston-Rogers rivalry kept the community’s competitive spirit alive.
Red Devils disliked Raiders and Raiders disliked Red Devils. That’s the way we all liked it.
It didn’t necessarily matter how good one of the school’s teams was in a particular year, when the two schools got together there were bragging rights on the line and it was anybody’s game.
The crosstown aspect of Elston-Rogers made it a pretty low-maintenance rivalry. The kids shared a hometown and typically they had played along side and against each other for years.
La Porte has become Michigan City’s primary rival in the post-consolidation era, but I’ve still yet to feel as though the rivalry is as embraced as that which existed between Elston and Rogers.
There is one rivalry, however, that needs to be in place, but is slowly falling by the wayside — the rivalry between Michigan City and Marquette.
I’m not going to mention the “C” word that rhymes with “glass” like some would expect about now. The size of the two schools means absolutely nothing to me.
Because of enrollment, Marquette can’t compete in every sport that Michigan City does. There’s not enough kids to support swimming, gymnastics, and wrestling.
In addition, the Blazers haven’t competed in track or cross country due to lack of participation in recent years.
In the sports the two schools commonly compete, slowly but surely, the meetings between the two schools in various sports have ceased.
The best example of what the rivalry should be between the two schools has been in boys soccer.
Last season’s meeting was cut short due to a scary incident involving a concussion sustained by Marquette junior goalkeeper Patrick Roder — an injury he has fully recovered from.
Prior to the suspension of play, a large Marquette fan base combined with Michigan City’s Senior Night made for an electric atmosphere.
The two schools are not scheduled to play this fall in boys soccer.
Last season’s baseball game had to be cancelled because of a scheduling conflict.
There will still be a few meetings in various sports, but those meetings are becoming fewer and fewer.
The large school mentality has had a lot to do with the diminishing matchups. That mentality says that the small high school can’t compete with the school several times its size.
The big guys believe there is nothing to gain and everything to lose.
You win — you’re supposed to. You lose — you’re Goliath and just lost to David.
As a product of Michigan City High School, I fail to see it as superior to Marquette. That said, I fail to see it as inferior, either.
I’ve heard from both sides, trying to tell me why one is better than the other. Be it athletically or academically or otherwise, someone always has to be better.
What we fail to recognize is that most of the kids that attend each high school grew up in the same community as each other and in many cases played in the same youth sports programs.
I’ve analyzed Michigan City’s athletic shortcomings in many columns, but Marquette is five years removed from a sectional championship that doesn’t involve a volleyball. There have been several Greater South Shore Conference championships and the boys basketball team was a few seconds away from a sectional title this year, but it has been two years since the Blazers hoisted a wooden state of Indiana trophy.
Marquette needs the opportunity to play larger schools and Michigan City needs the stress of being Goliath.
We’re fighting amongst ourselves when we could be working together for the betterment of both schools and their student-athletes.
A good start to helping one another is to play one another.
Nurturing the rivalry might just be a step in helping the community come together.
By Drew White
Unwritten No More
Published: Monday, July 9, 2012 7:19 PM CDT
The first column I ever wrote for The News-Dispatch had to do with rivalry.
It came on the heels of a Cubs-Sox series that I covered just prior to the All-Star Break in 1999.
What spurred me to write about rivalry was the fact that despite the fact that both the North Siders and the South Siders that season were horrible — the two teams were collectively 21-and-a-half games out of first place at the break — the atmosphere at New Comiskey Park was festive and tense.
Among the highlights — or lowlights, depending on how you look at it — of the Sunday evening game was a fight in the stands that literally spilled onto the field of play and briefly halted the game.
The two combatants, one clad in White Sox garb and the other having just shed his Cubs jersey so not to get it dirty, were hauled off by security relatively quickly. As it turns out, it was just one of many scuffles that occurred in the stands that night.
I bring attention to the altercations not to condone the actions, but to illustrate just how passionate the rivalry — as beer-induced as the fights may have been — really was.
There’s really nothing like a pair of teams that don’t really like each other all that much for no reason other than the fact that they are considered rivals.
Previously mentioned fistfights aside, rivalries can be quite healthy.
For many years, I believe the Elston-Rogers rivalry kept the community’s competitive spirit alive.
Red Devils disliked Raiders and Raiders disliked Red Devils. That’s the way we all liked it.
It didn’t necessarily matter how good one of the school’s teams was in a particular year, when the two schools got together there were bragging rights on the line and it was anybody’s game.
The crosstown aspect of Elston-Rogers made it a pretty low-maintenance rivalry. The kids shared a hometown and typically they had played along side and against each other for years.
La Porte has become Michigan City’s primary rival in the post-consolidation era, but I’ve still yet to feel as though the rivalry is as embraced as that which existed between Elston and Rogers.
There is one rivalry, however, that needs to be in place, but is slowly falling by the wayside — the rivalry between Michigan City and Marquette.
I’m not going to mention the “C” word that rhymes with “glass” like some would expect about now. The size of the two schools means absolutely nothing to me.
Because of enrollment, Marquette can’t compete in every sport that Michigan City does. There’s not enough kids to support swimming, gymnastics, and wrestling.
In addition, the Blazers haven’t competed in track or cross country due to lack of participation in recent years.
In the sports the two schools commonly compete, slowly but surely, the meetings between the two schools in various sports have ceased.
The best example of what the rivalry should be between the two schools has been in boys soccer.
Last season’s meeting was cut short due to a scary incident involving a concussion sustained by Marquette junior goalkeeper Patrick Roder — an injury he has fully recovered from.
Prior to the suspension of play, a large Marquette fan base combined with Michigan City’s Senior Night made for an electric atmosphere.
The two schools are not scheduled to play this fall in boys soccer.
Last season’s baseball game had to be cancelled because of a scheduling conflict.
There will still be a few meetings in various sports, but those meetings are becoming fewer and fewer.
The large school mentality has had a lot to do with the diminishing matchups. That mentality says that the small high school can’t compete with the school several times its size.
The big guys believe there is nothing to gain and everything to lose.
You win — you’re supposed to. You lose — you’re Goliath and just lost to David.
As a product of Michigan City High School, I fail to see it as superior to Marquette. That said, I fail to see it as inferior, either.
I’ve heard from both sides, trying to tell me why one is better than the other. Be it athletically or academically or otherwise, someone always has to be better.
What we fail to recognize is that most of the kids that attend each high school grew up in the same community as each other and in many cases played in the same youth sports programs.
I’ve analyzed Michigan City’s athletic shortcomings in many columns, but Marquette is five years removed from a sectional championship that doesn’t involve a volleyball. There have been several Greater South Shore Conference championships and the boys basketball team was a few seconds away from a sectional title this year, but it has been two years since the Blazers hoisted a wooden state of Indiana trophy.
Marquette needs the opportunity to play larger schools and Michigan City needs the stress of being Goliath.
We’re fighting amongst ourselves when we could be working together for the betterment of both schools and their student-athletes.
A good start to helping one another is to play one another.
Nurturing the rivalry might just be a step in helping the community come together.
