[6/30/05]

The Natchez High baseball team scored 11 wins – mostly against cupcakes – last season. The team hasn’t won a division game since 2001 and is historically one of the worst teams in Class 5A.

But under a new playoff format, as ridiculous as the redistricting plan for Class 5A schools, the lowly Bulldogs will be a shoo-in for the playoffs.

Under the Mississippi High School Activities Association plan, which apparently has passed without anyone really knowing the logistics, three of four teams from each division will advance to the state playoffs.

So Natchez, which is matched up with division foes Forest Hill and doormats Jim Hill and Wingfield, could realistically get the top seed in the division. Meanwhile, the MHSAA shipped Warren Central and Vicksburg back to the North and aligned them with Madison Central and Greenville.

Vicksburg, WC and Madison have been staples in the state playoffs for the past decade and will benefit from the new three-team system. Without it, one would stay home while a team like Jim Hill, which would easily get beaten by Warren Central’s JV squad, will reap the benefits of the postseason.

Adding a third playoff team will mean 75 percent of the teams in Class 5A are deemed “playoff worthy.” If there are that many, why not include everyone. Why not ditch the regular season and go straight to the postseason?

The MHSAA could take the basketball model for baseball and have a weekend elimination division tournament with the top two teams advancing to the state playoffs. As it stands now, someone with an engineering degree will have to figure out a way to make two 12-team brackets to represent the North and South.

While the MHSAA is thriving to water down the playoffs as much as possible, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is trying to avoid it.

The MSHOF decided Tuesday to reduce the number of inductees from the eight to a maximum of five each year.

The decision drew mostly cheers, but a few jeers. On one hand, inducting eight a year could be perceived as watering down the Hall of Fame. On the other, cutting the number may cost some deserving athletes a shot at enshrinement.

The Hall of Fame also changed the voting criteria to include a nomination committee and a nomination process.

If the Hall of Fame made one mistake, it was attaching an arbitrary number to the selections. One year there could be eight or nine deserving athletes, some years as few as three.

Put deserving athletes in the Hall of Fame, but don’t diminish the accomplishments by loading down the hall with so many people that it turns into a Hall of Fame and a few good others.