Ah, nothing like a discussion about who gets what State Championship games to liven up the boards before they die off for the offseason. Nothing like having 3 different posts of folks saying basically the same thing
I have chosen to respond to this post, but my points will be addressing various discussion points from across all 3 threads.
Full disclosure: I live in a metro area. I have not been picked to work a state championship game. Why does my chapter hate me!
There are a myriads of reasons that certain Chapters/Crews get games when others seem to get shut out. I will list them in no particular order.
1) Perception: There is a perception among the coaches that the bigger chapters have the "best" crews and call the "biggest" games. This seems to get "validated" as we get deeper into the playoffs were the smaller chapters seem to get less games as we go along. Once you get to the state championship game, coaches perceive that the only larger chapters can provide a crew that can appropriately handle the game.
2) The "bigness" of the game itself: For the coaches/players - this is their biggest game of the year. They try to reduce the amount things they have to worry about so they go with officials from bigger chapters because of the above stated perception. The last thing they want to chance is getting a "rogue" crew.
3) Teams represented. As we get deeper into the playoffs, the teams that remain tend to be from bigger areas at the higher classifications. At the lower classifications, they have started to move to crews from the larger metro areas because of the perception of the bigness of the game. So now these smaller schools become more familiar and more comfortable with crews from the larger areas.
4) Coaches talk. Coaches talk. They start asking who is good and they are asking what chapters are good and what guys are good from those chapters. They trust each other, so when a lower classification coach make ask his friend who is a coordinator at a higher classification, they get the chapters those guys are familiar with.
Taking all of these items, each one is known to be a "truth" but each on is nebulous in and of itself. I highly doubt the R's calling coaches saying "pick me, pick me" (although I am sure that does happen, I dont think it happens for State Championship games).
There are two separate "issues" at discussion here. First is why do small chapters get shut out. Second is why does it seem to be the same crews getting these games.
Why is it the same crew (specifically speaking of the Tyler crew)? Because they are a known quantity. I believe they were specifically requested (is that correct)? The coaches know what they get with this crew. Not that they are the best, but just that there is some consistency. That plays to #2 above. One less thing the coaches have to worry about. This goes for all coaches, which is why the feel "comfortable" using the bigger chapters and why the smaller ones get shut out.
Why do the smaller chapters get shut out from teams used to using smaller chapters during the regular season? Now that one, is a mystery to me. I mean, from 2A to 4A, there are 11 of 12 schools (I think, might be 10 of 12) that do NOT use the big chapters for their regular season. Yet in the post season, they use other chapters instead of their home chapters. Certainly one of these crews could have been selected. Is that the coaches fault? Why wouldnt it be? So, this one, i dont know. But the lower classification games would seem where the smaller chapters would get their shot because of familiarity of the coaches with smaller chapters. That they chose not to go that route, seems odd. Or not.
So, in order to "fix" it ALL of the above has to be taken into consideration. I think there is just too much inertia unless someone passes a law. And I think we can agree that when govt gets involved, things get messed up even more.
Remember, the trees were all kept equal by hatchet, ax and saw.
