It's time to retire the district doubleheader

This summer marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Education Amendments of the Civil Rights Act and the landmark Title IX section that ensured gender equity.

The following year, MSHSAA held its first state championship in girls basketball.

Nearly a half century later there’s still remnants of gender inequity that plays out this time of year.

During the regular season — with a few exceptions — girls play on Mondays and Thursdays while boys play on Tuesdays and Fridays. When it comes to the postseason, starting with the district championship game, boys and girls playoff games are held on the same night.

From an organizing viewpoint it makes sense for MSHSAA to schedule playoff games for boys and girls together on the same day at the same location.

On the nights when the district championship is played, the doubleheader creates a weird moment when a girls team and their fans are celebrating while the boys teams wait to take the court and fans try to find seats.

It’s almost like a weird rock concert my dad once recalled attending where fans of the Beach Boys booed some young opening act name Billy Joel.

Sometimes it works out when only two schools are represented in both finals, but that’s not always the case.

MSHSAA has changed the schedule in recent years that alter the boys playing before the girls every other year in the sectional and quarterfinal playoffs. Those games, however, don’t crown a champion and there are no postgame ceremonies.

That’s not to say the state playoff schedule is perfect, especially starting this year with the two largest classes not having a sectional playoff and going a week between games.

As with any large organization that uses bylaws and voting as a means to make change, those changes can be slow and awkward.

MSHSAA’s first state championship in girls basketball was held at Lamkin Gymnasium at Northwest Missouri State University with a seating capacity of 2,500. The boys, meanwhile, played at the new Hearnes Center at the University of Missouri with 13,600 seats.

At that time there were three classes for boys (S, M and L) while Northeast Nodaway beat South Shelby 41-35 in the girls 1973 championship game.

Boys and girls held separate tournaments at different times, but that changed when the state finals were combined to be played in the same location.

By the third year, the girls state playoffs were split into two classes and in 1977 it grew to three. It was four by 1979 and expanded to five in 2003 along with the boys as schools added girls teams.

While this is the second year with six classes, this is the first time the number of districts in the largest two classes were cut in half.

In the MSHSAA basketball manual released prior to this season, the Basketball Advisory Committee, made up of coaches from around the state, recommended a change to the district tournament schedule.

The committee recommended that “in even years the girls district tournament (play) on Saturday, Tuesday and Friday; and the boys (play) … Monday, Thursday and Saturday with Wednesday as a make-up date and flip in odd years.”

MSHSAA, however, leaves the control and direction of the tournament to the host and the schools in each district.

Weather can be a factor, as was this the case this season and most years in the northern part of the state. But the regular season can end earlier with the opening rounds starting sooner.

This year, for example, there were up to four girls and four boys games played in the opening round on Saturday while the semifinals were different days.

With six classes and the playoffs split between small and large schools over different weeks, there’s too many games overlapping.

If the small schools play a sectional playoff on Wednesday, do the large schools need to also play a district semifinal that day? Instead of splitting up sectionals by class, can we do it by gender with two smallest classes at the same location and the largest class not at neutral sites?

Breaking up the district championship games — with the girls playing Thursday and boys Friday — and having a 7 p.m. tipoff puts them on equal footing. It may also allow more fans an opportunities to attend than the 6 p.m. tipoff and gets student-athletes home a little earlier — especially in far-flung districts.

The only downside is that fans will have to purchase two tickets instead of one to watch both finals.

Which makes me wonder what’s the reason the district doubleheader has lasted this long.