April 6, 2006.

Vicksburg’s victory Tuesday night over Warren Central resulted in both teams having to travel in the first round of the state playoffs.

Traveling is nothing new, especially to the tradition-rich athletic programs of this county. Traveling to the same spot nearly 250 miles away to play each other is downright ridiculous.

We knew this could happen when the Mississippi High Schools Activities Association decided that 24 of 32 teams in the state’s largest classification should be invited to the state tournament.

With 12 teams in the North and 12 in the South, finding a way to have any tournament seemed difficult enough. So the hodgepodge plan was put into effect to take the second- and-third-place teams in one division, bus them far away and then make them play each other.

Since Warren County is the only school district, except the Jackson Public Schools and DeSoto County, that has more than one Class 5A school, the burden on this school district will be steep.

Warren Central and Vicksburg cannot ride the same bus for obvious reasons. They can’t share hotel rooms, which will also come out of the district’s coffers. I doubt they’ll be sharing sandwiches and chocolate milk at a group lunch.

So the district pays for two buses, fully loaded with diesel. It pays for hotel rooms for coaches and players. It pays for meals for at least a two-day stay in north Mississippi.

In addition, the winner of the Vicksburg-Warren Central game has to come back immediately and play Southaven, the division champion from that area. The way the Gators and Vikings have battled this season, can they find enough to play each other, then a top team?.

Doubtful.

The loser of the first game gets to go back to the hotel and rest. Quite a reward for a team that just suffered a first-round loss, isn’t it?.

The baseball postseason in this state is an absolute farce, put together will little forethought.

Want to include everyone? Well, go ahead, it’s only eight more teams. Take baseball the same route as high school basketball, with a twist or two.

Take the four teams in each of the state’s eight divisions and have a double-elimination division tournament. Seed all four teams based on records. The team left standing moves on to the state’s final eight – four in the North and four in the South. Then travel can be manageable.

In this year’s case, the tournament would be held at Madison Central – much more negotiable than Southaven. Vicksburg would play Warren Central in the first round regardless, just in Madison County instead of DeSoto.

But no, load up the astronomically priced diesel into the buses and take out a loan, because the screwup is costing this school district a lot of money.

Thank goodness the championship games will be played at pristine Trustmark Park in Pearl. It seems to be the only decision the MHSAA had a clue in making.