AJC > Sports > Highschools > Blog > Archives > 2006 > February > 13 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USOnly one name is fitting: champs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You can call them Meadowcreek. Or, if you prefer to reflect poorly on your upbringing, you can call the Mustangs boys basketball team by less laudatory names.
But whatever you do, be sure to speak of their new label: champions. “This feels great — for the school,” Meadowcreek guard Chris Allen said Saturday while clutching the Region 8-AAAAA championship trophy close to his heart. “This helps us rise above all the names we get called.”
Yes, it certainly does.
So, while you’re at it, throw a bouquet in the Shiloh Lady Generals’ way. “Maybe now people will believe in us,” Courtney Strauthers said after Shiloh reigned as region queens. “Nobody believed in us but ourselves, our parents and a few fans. This means so much for Shiloh.”
For me, too.
Because that’s an allure of high school sports. Kids can redefine others’ perceptions by becoming winners. In effort, if not in deed.
It’s tournament time, again. And all NCAA March Madness has over high school’s February Fever is a snazzier nickname, and a few more digits on the game checks. But for sheer ecstasy, and yes, dismay, you can’t beat a state tournament. It doesn’t get more personal than this.
You see, the high school game is not about million-dollar free throws and billion-dollar TV contracts. You can’t price tag the state tournament experience. Not on your life.
That’s because it’s about the kid you’ve watched for years as she shot free throws well into the night in the driveway next door. Or even the too-short dude who would not give up, even after being cut in middle school.
Yes, it’s about being able to say you saw a one-in-a-million — a Louis Williams, a Dwight Howard or a Josh Smith — playing for kicks on the way to toiling for NBA bucks. But it’s more about the none-in-a-millions.
We’re talking about the ones whose playing days end when the wins do. Meadowcreek coach Billy Davis knows what I’m talking about.
“I told the kids: ‘Some of you will never play this game again. Make the most of it now.’”
Davis, in his first year with the Mustangs, has a couple of state titles to show for three decades of work. He wants his kids to know that sensation. “It’s a beautiful feeling,” Davis says.
Of course, when 320 teams begin play in the GHSA state tournament this weekend, only 10 will be standing as champions after duty is done.
Yet, each and every one can gain insight on its better self by giving a championship effort, in a sporting way. With that, each will establish wondrous memories which will last a lifetime — and beyond.
“This has been a year of firsts for Meadowcreek,” Davis says. “I tell them, ‘Every time you win, you’re making history. Your name will always be on the wall, and you’ll be able to tell your grandkids about that.’
“[But] we can’t keep celebrating and stop now. We have to get ready for state.” Me, too.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: J.C. Clemons
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By cpa
February 13, 2006 07:53 AM | Link to this
Congrats to Meadowcreek and Shiloh
But March madness and February whatever are not what they used to be w/ GHSA — they have turned BB from a tournament sport into a playoff sport w/ this ridiculous expanded format and the decentralization of the tourneys
Those of you who have followed hoops in this state know what I’m talking about. Remember how tense the Friday of the region tourney used to be because it was do or die — and some mighty good teams were gonna get left home
Remember how you would watch that other region (your first round matchup) and get all excited Friday night when you found out 4 upset 1?
Remember the beauty of watching the entire region tourney and the developing drama as upsets happened in the first round?
Well, that’s all a collective yawn know — one game and your in, even if you lose you last two. There is no pressure when you finally make it to the Region Final Four — everybody’s in.
And the state tourney is so “not prestigious” it is pitiful — playing state tourney games in HS gyms — how is that special enough to pay $7 for one game? And GHSA is so PR ignorant they don’t even have a program.
Andy Landers and Dennis Felton and Hewitt need to go practice at Cedar Shoals or Douglass for 3-4 days and give the big schools the chance to play in their gym — you would think the University president and administration would realize, as much as they moan and groan about minority recruitment, would welcome an opportunity to host the state tourneys w/ the demographic it would bring to their campus.
Their waiting until kids are 17 years old and already qualified to go to UGA to recruit them, and by then those kids can go 10 other places a heck of a lot more appealing. The folks they need to be recruiting are the 8-10 year olds and their parents.
And I’m not talking about BB players — I’m talking about marketing UGA and other university system institutions to a group who feels totally alienated from most of those colleges and universities.
You’d think a desperate as they are that they would give GHSA the venues rent free and consider the state tourney a huge marketing opportunity.
By A Caring and Supportive Mom
February 13, 2006 11:10 AM | Link to this
“You can call them Meadowcreek. Or, if you prefer to reflect poorly on your upbringing, you can call the Mustangs boys basketball team by less laudatory names.”
What a way to praise a group of high school boys! Why is the NEGATIVE always first for Meadowcreek High School? Or is this a rhetorical question? Will it ever change?
Why not just comment on the positive -
Meadowcreek High School Boys Are The Region 8-AAAAA CHAMPIONS!
There are lots of positives at Meadowcreek High School. You all should visit sometimes and maybe it will change your way of thinking!
As supporters of the MHS basketball program over the past five years, we knew that this year would be the year for Meadowcreek because there’s so much talent on the team (some of it even sitting on the bench). Most of the players have played together for a number of years and even some were players on the 9th grade regional championship team just a few years ago. So, this is not a great surprise. We knew it was coming! We are proud of them all, they are all winners! They just need to keep believing in themselves regardless of what anyone else says or thinks. But they must also remember, they are students before they are athletes - GRADES count!
We just ask, give us credit where credit is due. Thanks!
By Mustang Mom
February 13, 2006 08:44 PM | Link to this
“You can call them Meadowcreek. Or, if you prefer to reflect poorly on your upbringing, you can call the Mustangs boys basketball team by less laudatory names.�
Somewhere buried in these lines lies a compliment or does it? I am so proud of what our school has accomplished and I was thrilled to see positive press being given to it. Not only do I feel that your comment was unnecessary but it’s another reminder of how easy it is to be negative versus positive. It requires a little bite more effort to be the latter. Your comment is the equivalent to someone complimenting an obese person by saying that ‘you look good for a fat chick’. As African Americans we have always faced comments from those whose upbringing would choose to call us “less laudatory names” but we chosen not to be define by such. I am sadden not only by the choice of words but the effect that these words have on our children. These comments leave them feeling less proud of themselves and the efforts that they make at our school. I am disappointed that you found it necessary to start you article out as you did. What should have been an acknowledgment of a job well done has once again become a back handed method to demean our school.
By RG
February 14, 2006 08:29 AM | Link to this
Congratulations to the Meadowcreek basketball team. I’m sure that they worked hard to get to where they are now. Good job coach!
By Sophia
February 14, 2006 03:05 PM | Link to this
As an alum of Meadowcreek High School it feels so satisfying to finally have our share of attention in the newspaper for something positive instead of the usual negative banter that everyone likes to put upon us. This is the beginning of something good…I can feel it. Congrats to Chris Allen for his scholarship to Michigan State too. We’ll be watching for you on tv in a couple years. Congrats to Meadowcreek as well!!!