Rodd's ramblings

How times have changed! The other day I attended a sports event and happened to spend much of the time talking to a couple of friends in the crowd. I use the term “crowd” loosely because it was more a small smattering of people than a crowd. One person I visited with remarked on how sad it is to go to high school games when the crowds are so small that it seems the only ones in the stands are moms, dads and other relatives of the kids on the court, ice, or whatever the venue may be.

I walked out of the gym into the cold December night and started thinking back to when I was a kid, attending a Cloquet home basketball game at the old middle school on Carlton Avenue. The gym was packed to the rafters. The north balcony, which had padded folding seats, was brimful of spectators, and the east balcony with the pullout bleachers was also overflowing with people. My dad and I sat right next to the court behind the scorers’ table and got an up-close view at some amazing athletes playing basketball. It’s a memory I still cherish to this day.

As I got to my car I started wondering what happened — where did all the people go? Is it a case of nobody caring anymore? Exactly what is the issue? It finally dawned on me that the issue is too many things going on and not enough people to go around, at least in some towns. In Cloquet, for example, there are many sports that either didn’t exist way back when, or existed in a totally different form.

If you take just Tuesday, Jan. 8, as an example, the sports offerings Cloquet fans could choose from were so numerous it could make your head spin. The CEC girls’ hockey team was home that night, the boys’ hockey team was at Duluth, the Cloquet boys’ basketball team played in Ashland, the Cloquet-Esko boys’ wrestling team was at Proctor, and the CEC Nordic ski team was at home at Pine Valley. That is six events in one day involving Cloquet athletes, counting the boys’ and girls’ Nordic ski teams separately. The lone Cloquet team that didn’t have a game was the girls’ basketball team, and I can guarantee they had a practice that afternoon after school.

In days gone by there was no wrestling team in Cloquet, and there were no girls’ sports at all. The Cloquet boys’ hockey team played outdoors until the mid-1970s at the Washington School hockey rink. Not many people braved the cold to stand in the snowbanks watching a hockey game. When you think of the addition of girls’ hockey and basketball, that alone divvies up the number of spectators.

Basically, it comes down to this: People still care about sports and are still attending events. In fact, I would be shocked if statistics didn’t show more people attending as a whole than before, but it doesn’t look that way because they are spread so thin. When I was a kid growing up, there were no girls’ sports, and, realistically, the only warm option was to go see boys’ basketball in Cloquet. Now, we have a beautiful Northwoods Credit Union arena where you can watch both boys’ and girls’ hockey in comfort. You can attend a wrestling match, or boys’ and girls’ basketball, at the middle school. Yes, there are still outdoor sports where you might get a bit chilly, but that certainly is an option as well.

Smaller schools do not have quite as big an issue because basketball is still the only game in town. You have your choice of going to a boys’ game or a girls’ basketball game, and many times some of the small schools will piggyback boys’ and girls’ games to save travel expenses, so you can go one night and watch two varsity games. Those small-town gyms are still packed on game night.

All this might make wonder where the cutoff point is for adding more sports at certain times of the year. Cloquet has nine winter sports listed on the Minnesota State High School League website, between boys’ and girls’ sports. Stop and think about how many immediate- and extended family members have an involvement with each of those nine sports, and how some may have multiple children or grandchildren involved in more than one winter sport. A family may have a daughter and son both playing hockey in the winter — and we wonder why there are not fans in the stands like in the “good old days”?

And when hockey players are at their own events, they can’t attend a basketball game, e.g., and watch their friends play. Again, we wonder why there are not as many people in the stands as way back when.

Another discussion that night stemmed from a question from the stands — Why isn’t the band here tonight? Again, stop and think — the kids who make up our band are also involved in sports themselves. Jimmy might play the trumpet and play basketball, Joanie may play the clarinet and hockey; Tom might be a tuba player who is wrestling. I think you can see the point.

Kids today are torn in so many directions and, in my opinion, most of the time in a good way. I am one of those people who believe the more alternatives a child has, the better. However, there is also a bit of a breaking point where there just aren’t enough bodies to go around, and I am beginning to wonder if we’re approaching that point, at least in Cloquet.

The great thing is that there really is no need to stay at home if you are bored and looking for something to do. Attend a game. Cheer your favorite team on. Enjoy some popcorn and pop, and the friendship of others. Let the kids know you care and get involved. We have great kids who spend a lot of time working at their school work and at their sports. Let’s get out and show them our support. Will we have massive crowds at all the games? No, but everybody at a game counts.

Who knows? Maybe you will find it enjoyable and make it a regular thing!

WKLK radio personality Kerry Rodd writes sports for the Pine Knot News and can often be found coaching softball when the weather gets warmer.