Tourney Home Court Controversy

[JCrow]

This happened in Massachusetts. I'm an Andover Fan....from all accounts it served to really inspire the Charlestown Team as they plastered Andover in the neutral gym. The "Old Coach" always says never give the other Team any Bulletin Board Material!

In the old days, MA played all their State Tourney Games in the old Boston Garden. That was great fun for a kid. In 1968, a YOUNG BABY-FACED Don Nelson took all the kids from my Team into the Celts locker room for a tour. I'll never forget it. I still think the world of Don Nelson. They stopped it as they had problems with teenage violence at the Garden. It's too bad.



Townies displaced from home court
By Zach Hosseini, Globe Correspondent | March 5, 2006

Monday's anticipated Division 1 North quarterfinal between Andover and Charlestown has been moved by the MIAA from the Townies' home floor to Madison Park, at the request of Andover.

Charlestown, seeded fourth in the North sectional, was slated to host the game against the fifth-seeded Golden Warriors. But concerns from the Andover administration over Charlestown's inability to accommodate the several hundred Golden Warrior fans expected to make the trip triggered the request to the MIAA.

The decision angered Charlestown coach Jack O'Brien, who accused the Andover administration of strong-arming the MIAA.

''The Andover people have complained, they flexed their muscles to move the game out of here," said O'Brien, who estimates Charlestown's gym capacity at 900. ''But the precedent has already been set. This is the way it's been played for years and now all of sudden, there's an exception for the people in Andover. This sets a real bad precedent for everybody."

Neither Andover coach Dave Fazio nor MIAA public relations representative Paul Wetzel could be reached for comment.

Rule 13 of the MIAA's basketball tournament guide states that the higher-seeded team has home-court advantage through the quarterfinals, except ''if, in the opinion of the seeding committee, the gymnasium or facilities of the team with the highest seed are not suitable, another site will be selected by the MIAA Staff Liaison and Tournament Director."

O'Brien, who sits on the seeding committee, said the suitability of Charlestown's facilities has never been questioned. According to O'Brien, there were no objections to Charlestown's facilities at the MIAA's tournament seeding meeting Feb. 24. The Townies hosted Lynn Classical Friday night in the first round without objection.

''Why was it good enough for Lynn Classical this year or Belmont last year? It's because Andover doesn't want to play here," said O'Brien. ''If the shoe was on the other foot, do you think that game would be moved out of Andover at our request? I don't think so. This is what you work hard for: home-court advantage. It's an injustice. Shame on Andover for trying to play politics. They're an affluent community trying to get their way."

[JRutledge]

Is not home court advantage more about how many fans are in attendance than necessarily where you play? I agree that some things would be nice if you play in your own gym, but I do not see the big deal. Maybe past experiences brought problems to light and the officials decided to make the change. What is the big deal with that?

Peace

[JCrow]

Apparently, Charelestown thought it was a big deal! Charlestown was once one of the poorer cities in the State....Andover is pretty wealthy - I think that had a lot to do with it.

[JRutledge]

Originally posted by JCrow
Apparently, Charelestown thought it was a big deal! Charlestown was once one of the poorer cities in the State....Andover is pretty wealthy - I think that had a lot to do with it.

Well that makes a little more sense to why this issue was raised in the first place (not that I agree that this is a big deal). It is probably less inflammatory because the coach did not say anything about race or class. Oh I forgot class issues can be brought up at any time. Sorry for the confusion.

Peace