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South Padre Invitational proves worst of NCAA’s bunch

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Also by Dave McGrath:

by Dave McGrath

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

You can't ever truly appreciate the best of times without going through the worst of times. It's true. A pint of Guinness tastes that much better because I know the negative potential of what beer can taste like (Mountain Creek, I'm talking to you).

The same principle applies to everything. You need some bad with the good, just so that the appreciation is there.

John Travolta had "Battlefield Earth."

The James Bond series had "Octopussy."

Kevin Federline had Britney Spears — who railroaded the blossoming lyrical genie by having two of his kids and waiting until K-Fed exploded onto the music scene to drop him, and now lives off child support and alimony for the rest of her days.

But the point is that for everything, for every bit of awesomeness, there is a little bit of suckiness to balance it out.

For in-season NCAA Basketball tournaments, that blip on the crap-dar is the South Padre Invitational.

The Great Alaska Shootout, the Maui Invitational, the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and the preseason NIT are all examples of a great tradition in college basketball: the in-season tournament. It gives fans an early gauge of how good their team can be and helps prepare teams for what they are going to see in March, should they get that far.

However, the SPI is definitely the Mohawked black sheep of these tournaments. Everything about it was simply bizarre.

Let's start with the locale. South Padre Island is the most southeastern point of Texas, a tiny splinter of land surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico. It's more crowded over spring break than the spandex line at a professional wrestlers' convention and more deserted the rest of the year than the Mel Gibson fan club.

All the bars ID, but none of the liquor stores do; drinks twice the size of a Wando's Fishbowl are somehow appropriate for a party of two, and the police enforce drunken walking with more zeal than drunken driving. It's generally a pretty backward place, and the SPI provided further evidence as such.

The games were played in a convention center, which is understandable seeing as you wouldn't expect a 10,000-seat arena to exist on an island that has a permanent population relative to that of Antarctica. It's a good thing, too, since most of the 2,000 seats available were unoccupied.

The most popular place in the "arena" wasn't the court or the stands, but the hospitality room, which appeared to be decorated for an 8-year-old's birthday party, with shiny streamers and several plastic posters with basketballs and the phrase "THE PARTY IS HERE!" hung up around the room.

The room was apparently top-secret, as the official who informed the few media members of its existence did so in a very hushed, whispering tone, as if he were planning a prison break.

The "tournament" set-up was exactly that: a set-up. The four smaller schools involved — Southern, Eastern Tennessee State, Sam Houston State and Delaware State — all had to travel to the four bigger schools — Wisconsin, Auburn, Oklahoma State and Missouri State — for two road games in the first two rounds of the tournament, virtually eliminating any chance for an upset and setting up a sexier tourney final.

Making the schedule even more bizarre was the fact that the marquee games were scheduled at 11 a.m., while the less intriguing ETSU-Sam Houston State matchup was slated for primetime, with a 7 p.m. tip-off.

The "arena" brought in a deejay to provide music for interludes during the games. The song choice was questionable, with audio selections including "It's Raining Men."

You might've thought it was raining in the arena the way the court was slick, as the mop-up crew of three or four pre-teens with hotel room-sized towels were not NBA-caliber. As a result, the paint looked like a street corner layered in black ice, as unsuspecting player after player hit the deck after losing his footing. A dog with a rag tied to its tail probably could've been more effective.

The games themselves were actually rather entertaining, with most coming down to a couple of points. In fact, the championship game between Missouri State and Oklahoma State actually went into overtime.

However, you can bet the motivation for the players wasn't to bring home a big shiny SPI championship trophy, because there wasn't one to be found. For their effort, the Cowboys were rewarded with a framed aerial photograph of South Padre Island. It wasn't even as impressive as some of the posters you could buy on State Street. It probably took about five minutes and $12 to put together this championship trophy.

The Oklahoma State players must've realized it too, as they celebrated like they had won a free small orange juice at McDonald's in the Monopoly game and not a major tournament. The best moment of the trophy ceremony was watching an OSU player pester Missouri State's top gunner as the all-tournament team posed for a photograph.

The teams themselves took the tournament very seriously; so much so that one head coach could be found watching college football while his team was in its pregame shoot-around. Later on, he could be found complaining that his players weren't understanding what they were trying to do offensively. Go figure.

Maybe the world's weirdest tournament could be best summed up by the weary-eyed official who looked so fatigued that he appeared as if he'd just taken a couple trips through the spin cycle. This man who helped bring the SPI to life could only manage four words at the post-tournament party, minutes after the final game had ended.

"Thank God it's over."

Dave is a senior majoring in journalism and English. You can ask him about getting pulled over — twice — on South Padre Island over Thanksgiving weekend by contacting him at dmcgrath@badgerherald.com.

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Anonymous (November 30, 2006 @ 2:16pm):

As a training journalist, it is important for you to get your facts straight. You need to ask questions to get the right answers.

For example, spring break on South Padre Island is a popular time, especially for students from Wisconsin. However, it isn't even close to our busiest time of the year. We have twice as much business during the summer months as we do in March.

You also wondered why some of the games were on at early times, like the opening Wisconsin/Missouri State game. Have you ever been to a Badger football game that had it's time changed for television? We had national TV coverage of some of our games. When that happens, they dictate the schedule.

You also scoffed at our trophies. Tournament trophies are put on display. So, all of a sudden, in the midst of all the brass in the Wisconsin trophy case, there is a picture. You are drawn to it because it is different. We call that marketing...and it's a pretty good idea.

You also mentioned checking ID's and enforcing ordinances against public intoxication. We think that's a great idea, protecting our residents, visitors and those who get to spend some special one on one time with our police department.

The South Padre Island Invitational is two years old. We do not have the traditions yet of some of the tournaments you mentioned, but we already draw many quality teams and outstanding fans, like the ones from Wisconsin. We are proud of the fact that, traveling to our tournament versus, say one in Hawaii or Alaska, the participants can actually spend more time enjoying the destination and less time traveling. Is the Island slower in November than in March...most definitely. But it was still 82 degrees last week. November is a beautiful time to visit South Padre Island.

Without correct facts, there is no news, only gossip. If you want to be a gossip columnist, you've got a good start. If you want to be a serious journalist or columnist, at least get the facts straight.

Robert N. Pinkerton, Jr.
Mayor
South Padre Island, Texas

Anonymous (December 1, 2006 @ 12:47am):

Mr. Mayor,
Don't you realize this is a column? He has a right to have an opinion.

As for the trophies...yes, marketing is a good idea. But judging by the pictures, the marketing for these trophies was rather sub-par.

And sure, checking IDs is great. I think that's why Mr. McGrath said it was a joke that the liqour store didn't check them!

He's just saying it was a bit odd, nothing bad about it. Stop acting like you're walking into a situation wearing gasoline underwear.

Avid Herald reader,
Billy Billdings

Anonymous (December 5, 2006 @ 11:35am):

Dave,

I'm not responding anonymously, my name is Ben Miller an assistant coach at Missouri State. I recently saw your comments on the South Padre Tournament and would have to disagree. We obviously enjoyed getting a win vs a very good Badger team, but we also had a great tournament experience. I've been to Maui, NIT, and most of the other pre-season tournaments and I enjoyed our time in Padre more than any of them. Chris Spencer did a great job organizing the tourament and the local organizers were fantastic. The South Padre people bent over backwards to show us a good time. We truly appreciate guys like Hoosier (Shane Wilson), The Bear, Vern Lewis, Dr. Tony Flag, Greg Larson, & so many more who worked so hard to make it a great experience for all the teams. The accomodations & beach were great, the food & weather was outstanding, and the people were all so very friendly. We all look forward to going back to Padre the next chance we get!

Sincerely,

Ben Miller
Assistant Coach
Missouri State