This Week In High School Sports: 2/19/21
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 19, 2021
This week's edition celebrates two new members of the 1,000-point basketball scorers club and provides a glance at the skiing postseason as it races toward its conclusion.
The 5-minute program each week includes feature stories from around the state from the MHSAA’s Second Half or network affiliates, along with "Be The Referee," a 60-second look at the fine art of officiating.
Listen to this week's show by Clicking Here.
Past editions
Feb. 12: Scholar-Athlete Awards, Winter contact sports return - Listen
Jan. 29: 11-Player Football Finals in review - Listen
Jan. 22: 8-Player Football, Girls Volleyball, Girls Swimming & Diving Finals in review - Listen
Jan. 15: Game-winning kicks, playing for mom - Listen
Jan. 8: Fall sports return, sacrificing for sportsmanship - Listen
Nov. 13: Cross Country champions, Soccer Finals in review, official selection - Listen
Nov. 6: University Liggett's William Cooksey, boys tennis four-time individual champions - Listen
Oct. 30: Upper Peninsula Cross Country Finals in review - Listen
Oct. 23: Lower Peninsula Girls Golf, Boys Tennis Finals in review - Listen
Oct. 16: Byron Center volleyball, girls golf aces - Listen
Oct. 9: Grand Rapids Union football, first 2020-21 champions - Listen
Oct. 2: East Lansing football, late Port Huron sportswriter Jim Whymer - Listen
Sept. 25: Sturgis football, soccer official Alexus Little - Listen
Sept. 18: COVID-19 review, this year's broadcast opportunities - Listen
Lack of Officials Sounds Warning Again
September 21, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Officials prefer to stay out of the spotlight, but the avocation is at the center of important discussion again as something seemingly inevitable has taken place in the southeastern Lower Peninsula – recently scheduled football games had to be moved because of a lack of officials.
The Hillsdale Daily News’ James Gensterblum tackled the topic in a recent column – and we couldn’t have said it better ourselves:
“This crisis has been a long time coming, and we have no one but ourselves to blame. Fan behavior has never been perfect at high school sporting events, but in the last decade it’s hit an all-time low, and I could find numerous examples across the country to back up this assertion.
… Over the years, I’ve seen opinion pieces to parents appealing to their humanity and civility in order to get them to treat referees better. I’ve seen shame, I’ve seen bargaining, all sorts of rhetorical tactics, all of which seem to have failed. So let me try something a little different. Let me appeal to your love of sports and your investment in their continued survival.”
Check out Gensterblum’s work in its entirety at the Hillsdale Daily News.