Intramurals: field project up for bids, new football playoff format kicks off

Last week, the Student Activities Budget Committee approved $20,000 for repairs to the intramural fields.

Now, the project has received the final approval necessary to continue from Dr. Bruce Harshbarger, vice president of student affairs.

Bert Rosenberger, director of intramurals for GCSU, said he received an e-mail confirming the funds had been earmarked this past Monday.

“Now, we bid out the project to the lowest bidder,” Rosenberger said.

The project consists of scraping off the old dirt on each infield, and laying new dirt that will drain more efficiently, as well as laser-grading each one to ensure they are level. New equipment will also be purchased for better maintenance in the future.

New season, new playoffs

The potential for upsets in the flag football postseason is higher this year.

That’s because this season, every team advances from the regular season to the playoffs, increasing the number of chances for an upset in the postseason.

“I love the new format,” Joey Nipper said. “It gives everybody a chance; you never know what you’re going to get in a match-up, and some lower-seeded teams have already matched-up well with higher seeds.”

In the first round of the men’s B-league bracket, two teams in the top 10 have already been upset, and two others escaped the first round with 1-point victories.

“It adds excitement,” Chris Russell, intramurals program assistant, said. “Teams get better as the season progresses, so it gives every team a chance to put it all together for a postseason run.”

One team that benefitted, Boats and Hoes, upset the 10th-seeded squad to advance in the men’s B-league playoff bracket. But Beau Washburn, their team captain, had a different take on the new system.

“It almost makes the regular season feel like a pre-season, and I’m not a big fan,” Washburn said. “Our team didn’t play as seriously before playoffs, because we knew we would make it either way.”

Sportsmanship: More important than ever

Men’s C and Coed/Women’s B leagues must have at least a 3.8 sportsmanship to advance to playoffs. This year, only two out of six teams made it because they didn’t receive a high enough rating. In fact, only the first and last place teams qualified for what is now a one-game playoff to determine the champion.

“I don’t like the high level you need to advance,” Dylan Penick said. “If you receive one unsportsmanlike penalty, you’re done, and the rest of the season is worthless.”

Penick’s season ended when a teammate wrapped up an opposing player with the football while going for the flag, drawing the 15-yard penalty that automatically deducts one point from a team’s sportsmanship rating. The highest possible rating is a four.

Chris Russell, Intramural Program Assistant, said C-league is for teams that want to have a good time playing football, where winning and losing is not as big a deal.

“Simply put, it’s a non-competitive league. That’s why we expect better sportsmanship; if you want to be more competitive about it, then you need to play in a higher league.”

Russell also said referees were trained to be a bit more lenient with sportsmanship ratings for co-ed B, women’s B, and men’s C-league games, as all require a 3.8 average sportsmanship to advance into playoffs. In all, seven teams failed to maintain a high enough average among the three leagues.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 2 2009. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry