CONSOLE THIS!

Is anyone ever consoled by winning the consolation bracket?

If you look up consolation in the thesaurus, you will quickly find words like comfort, solace, relief etc. Congratulations after playing one bad game and then winning three straight we will name you the winner, no not of the tournament, but of the Bracket of Solace. Consolation bracket, ever present in high school state championships has to be the stupidest thing in sports. Either send the losers home or give them a chance to come back, but don’t keep them playing for a place that no one can define.

Once a year, Idaho and countless other states dust off 90 year old brackets that look like this to inflict their archaic ways and foolish mistakes on future generations. 

Not only is this unfair to the team to go 3-1 in a tournament and get consoled for doing it, but it is incredibly unfair for the team that wins its first game and then goes home after the second. The consolation news for them is on the bus ride home they can listen to the team that they beat still playing. Does this make any sense to anyone? Especially in a varsity high school state championship this system is ludicrous. Young men and women should, at least by the age of 16-18, have learned how to deal with playing one game and going home. If this is too harsh then make the tournament double elimination and let the team that lost the first game as well as the team that won still have a chance at the championship.

The reason the double elimination tournament is frowned upon is the anti-climatic championship it presents with one team having to beat the other twice. Then follow what the pattern used by the most successful tournament in sports, NCAA Basketball, and do a single elimination tournament. Instead of inviting 8 teams to state tournaments bring 16. Not only will it double the revenue generated by the host city, but it will double the use of the popular cheer “We’re going to state, We’re going to state”. Priceless. Rather than having the 4th place or is it 5th place team (we may never know what place consolation truly is) being required to lose their first game, let’s console the teams on the way home with a trip to Wendy’s for a frosty and let the teams that need cheering and not consoling have the spotlight and the trophies.