Basketball: ECISD fans forced to choose which crosstown game to watch

Tonight should be Odessa's first chance to showcase high school basketball this season.

Zakira Cage fighting to score inside against Deja McKnight. Jeserica Murray trying to drive past Cheyenne Swoops.

Tyrone Moorer staging a 3-point shooting contest against Dalen Brooks, Jeremy Flores and the rest of Odessa High's long-range bombers.

Those matchups are still set to take place. Both of the crosstown showdowns between Odessa High and Permian are set to tip off tonight.

Good luck catching both games, though.

To see both the girls and boys play tonight, an Odessa basketball fan has to pick from any of the following three choices:

>> 1. Watch the first half of one game, then break land speed records driving to the other side of town to catch the other game's second half.

>> 2. Pick one game. Pay somebody 20 bucks to videotape the other.

>> 3. Be a native of Krypton who is faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Forget the fact that the girls and boys have been playing basketball doubleheaders in Odessa for as long as anybody can remember.

That tradition has gone out the window. When Odessa High's boys are playing host to Permian at 7:30 tonight, the Odessa High girls will be playing at Permian at the same time.

And the worst part of it - the part that causes migraine headaches - is the fact that nobody seems to know how this happened.

"We wanted to go with the same-site, same-night format because we only need one administrator there," ECISD athletic coordinator Todd Vesely said. "But with the new district schedule, this is what was voted on."

In Vesely's defense, he wasn't present at the district scheduling meeting.

But this is where things get a little strange.

All three of the other District 2-5A cities with multiple high schools - Midland, Lubbock and Amarillo - are playing same-site, same-night doubleheaders this season for crosstown games.

District 2-5A originally scheduled every girls and boys game to be played at opposite venues. For those schools in the Panhandle, that schedule erased potential gym conflicts for sub-varsity games.

But somebody had a better idea for crosstown rivalry games. Play them as a twin killing.

"It just makes more sense to play doubleheaders for teams in the same city," Lubbock athletic director Gary Gaines said. "We went back and changed things to make that possible."

Great idea.

Except that Odessa never got the memo. When I talked to the city's four head basketball coaches today, not a soul had been told that the other cities are penciling in doubleheaders like a minor league baseball team after three weeks of rain.

"I wish we were playing a doubleheader," Permian girls coach Jennifer Shuttlesworth said. "We're dividing the fan support, and this is the game where we get the most fans."

Look, this is Odessa.

Basketball's fighting an uphill battle to get fans in the first place. Any chance to pack a Fieldhouse should get snapped up like a flat screen marked 90 percent off.

And basketball fans definitely can't blame the coaches.

All four would love the fan support. All four want the doubleheader.

"I don't know why we're not doing it," OHS girls coach Harry Masch said. "We don't get any input, at all, into that."

Maybe I just haven't dug enough, but I tried to find out what happened. For the most part, I heard crickets.

I couldn't even figure out who knows why the games have been split.

All I know is that it doesn't seem to make much sense.

"It doesn't make any sense at all," said OHS head boys coach James Johnson. "People want to play them both at the same place, but it was never pursued to get it done."

Good luck making it to both rivalry games tonight.

Under these circumstances, even the Man of Steel might miss a few plays.

DISTRICT 2-5A'S OTHER CROSSTOWN DUELS 

- DEC. 9 -

Lubbock High at Lubbock Monterey:

Girls, 6 p.m.; Boys, 7:30 p.m.

- JAN. 6 -

Amarillo Tascosa at Amarillo High:

Girls, 6 p.m.; Boys, 7:30 p.m.

Lubbock Monterey at Lubbock Coronado:

Girls, 6 p.m.; Boys, 7:30 p.m.

- JAN. 13  -

Midland Lee vs. Midland High at Midland College's Chaparral Center:

Girls, 6 p.m.; Boys, 7:30 p.m.

Lubbock High at Lubbock Coronado:

Girls, 6 p.m.; Boys, 7:30 p.m.

- FEB. 3 -

Amarillo High at  Amarillo Tascosa:

Girls, 6 p.m.; Boys, 7:30 p.m.

Lubbock Coronado at  Lubbock Monterey:

Girls, 6 p.m.; Boys, 7:30 p.m.

Note: First Midland High-Midland Lee and Lubbock High-Lubbock Coronado girls games were played before boys schedules started.