Monday Mailbag: baseball, NBA and more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

This week’s Monday Mailbag includes questions about Legion and ACME baseball, NBA super teams, high school officiating and tournament sites.

Q: Is Legion baseball hurting ACME baseball? Name withheld upon request

A: It may be having an effect, but I’m not sure if I’d say Legion ball is hurting ACME baseball.

I’ve noticed there are some athletes playing both, which could leave a roster short on some days, but it’s probably too early to say if it’s having an adverse effect.

Q: Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are joining the Brooklyn Nets. Isn’t it time the NBA did something about “super teams?” Name withheld upon request

A: I don’t know if you can put the Nets in the super team category now, but I understand what you’re saying.

As long as the NBA has the current free agent and salary cap setup, probably not. I’m not a fan of super teams. Some people think it’s good for the game but I’m not one of them. How is it good for the game? No one has actually ever explained that line of thinking.

As far as Durant and Irving – Durant is going to miss a sizable chunk, if not all of next season with an Achilles injury and Irving can’t seem to stay healthy. Plus, as it turns out, it’s looking more and more like Irving isn’t exactly fun to be around for two long. He wore out his welcome in Boston pretty quickly.

Q: Two part question – how much are high school officials paid in each sport, and how bad is the shortage of officials in high school sports? Name withheld upon request

A: If I’m not mistaken, I believe high school football officials make somewhere between $75 and $100 per game.

I turned to Lincolnview Athletic Director Greg Leeth to get an idea of what officials in other sports make and this was his answer:

“Lincolnview paid officials for all junior high sports $50 last season, but we will increase volleyball and basketball to $60 in ’19-’20. Last year we paid freshman and JV basketball officials $45 but will increase that to $50.”

“Varsity officials for all but volleyball got $65 last year and will increase to $70 for all but softball. High school volleyball is paid $75 for junior varsity and varsity.”

“We pay our wrestling invitational officials $210.”

That gives you a rough idea of how much officials are paid in this part of the state.

For more on the shortage of officials, I reached out to OHSAA Director of Communications Tim Stried and he responded with this:

“We have a shortage of officials in most of our sports, but especially soccer, volleyball and track. Many parts of the state are seeing sub-varsity games getting cancelled due to no officials available.”

“The OHSAA has ramped up our public awareness of this situation and dozens of schools have responded by offering officiating courses within their school. We are happy to report that we will see a slight uptick in the number of officials for the 2019-20 school year but we have a long way to go before we are back at the numbers we had 10 years ago.”

Q: I’m still wondering why the Baseball State Tournament wasn’t played in Columbus. If Huntington Park wasn’t available, why not play at Bill Davis Stadium at Ohio State? Name withheld upon request

A: Huntington Park truly wasn’t available the weekend of the state tournament. As for Bill Davis Stadium, either it wasn’t available, or for whatever reason, Ohio State wasn’t willing or able to host, due to availiblity of the stadium. It’s as simple as that.

You have to realize that a lot of sites make sense in tournament play, but not all of those sites are going to open their doors to do it. It takes a lot of time, effort and money.

If you have a question for the next Monday Mailbag, simply email it to sports@thevwindependent.com.