Here in Colorado the Denver city schools suffer from many of the same issues that schools in Oakland experience. I will never forgot coaching against a DPS school in the first round of our state playoffs. Their squad had a total of 25 kids and I actually counted the number of people in their stands. 23, and that included the “band”. They had two or three kids that went on to play D1 ball, but the team was simply outmanned. With a few exceptions, football here isn’t nearly as big a deal as it is in the East Bay.

One clarification, the NCS doesn’t allow teams to petition up anymore. The reason De La Salle is a Division I school is because for all-boys (or all girls) schools, they double the enrollment. Since DLS’ enrollment is around 1,000, when you double it, it’s around 2,000 and makes them D-1. The deal with the OAL all competing in D-1 isn’t exactly teams choosing to petition up. It’s an agreement that all OAL schools will compete in Division I in state competition that has divisions (although not football) regardless of school size.

EBALFan: There are many advantages for the OAL to join the NCS. First and foremost, they would qualify more kids to events like state track.

While I am a huge proponent of increasing the numbers participating in state championships (more divisions, larger qualifying pool), I am also a believer in establishing qualifying times for measurable sports like track or swimming. I’m not sure I agree that this would be an “advantage.”

EBALFan: As for losing their automatic berth straight into NorCal in basketball, perhaps they would have a chance to get more than one school into the tournament.

I think this can be considered a good argument. That said, I agree with a later poster who said that the smaller OAL schools would probably want to compete in the highest division. Since NCS allows schools (like De La Salle) to petition up, I would imagine the smaller schools would do this.

EBALFan: As for NorCal golf, volleyball and state wrestling, it would improve the quality of the respective tournaments.

While your point is valid, I don’t see why the OAL would consider this an “advantage.” I agree with your point however, it would improve the overall quality of the tournament. But again, I don’t think you can argue this as an “advantage.”

EBALFan: As for football, no one outside of Oakland cares about the Silver Bowl. Playing for an NCS title would give the OAL kids an even greater chance for recognition, once again playing against schools of similar size.

You’ve contradicted yourself somewhat from an earlier point you made regarding Golf, Volleyball and Wrestling. You mentioned that OAL athletes were not particularly qualified in those sports. I think the same argument could be made about OAL Football over all. I can’t remember a time where the OAL produced the best team in the East Bay, let alone Northern California or the entire state. I’m not saying I disagree per se`; I just don’t think you can go one way for your argument and then turn around and argue the opposite.

Additional response to Jimmy Durkin:

JD: A big sticking point for those in Oakland who want to remain separate is that even though their athletes aren’t up to the same level as others in some state competition, it’s important for kids in the inner city to still have that opportunity. Maybe they don’t win much at state wrestling or golf, but they at least have the chance to experience it.

You mentioned that you don’t expect people who don’t experience OAL sports to get that because most people think only the best should be allowed to compete. I think your point is extremely valid. As I mentioned earlier, I am a huge proponent of California increasing the number of Divisions in order to level the playing field for all schools. One of the most important reasons in my argument is to increase the level of participation for the kids. The best teams/kids will still win; why not allow for more kids to participate?

JD: On the topic of no one outside of Oakland caring about the Silver Bowl (JD, I know these are not your words).

If you go back east, shoot, not even “east”, just hit Colorado; and mention the “Big Game”, hardly a soul will know you are talking about Cal/Stanford and fewer would care. The Silver Bowl is big BECAUSE it’s the OAL Crown. Frankly, infusing the NCS playoffs would take away from the Silver Bowl, and I’m not sure that’s a good thing.

JD: But the biggest point of all is that you say the OAL is not showing the ability to think outside the box. If the OAL joined NCS, the OAL would lose its “box,” so to speak. In a couple of years, it would cease to exist after NCS went through realignment. Smaller schools like Mack and Fremont would branch off into other leagues, other teams would come in, and 89 years of history would go down the drain.

Jimmy; big points here. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the OAL would lose its ability to govern itself. And you are right; ultimately, the OAL would fade away based on someone’s view of how leagues should be set up.

JD: As for what the actual benefits of the OAL joining NCS are (this is what the proponents I spoke to mention), they include: Better competition in sports such as soccer and cross country.

I think because as you mentioned, the OAL is looking to move its soccer season to the winter to at least open the door to more nonleague games, this really answers the OAL’s issue. Same should be done for X-Country or any other sport. Again, maybe not a benefit for the NCS, but that’s not what the point is for the OAL.

Bottom line, it seems that the pro arguments for the OAL to join the NCS are much more beneficial to the NCS than they would be to the OAL. In this case, I don’t think they needed to think outside the box.

I’ll have to look into that last OAL player drafted sometime. It’s crazy when you start looking through the California state player of the year list and see how many there have been from the OAL over the years. But it’s obviously been a while.

The other one who was an incredible youth baseball player was I’lario Vital. His last name was Baloney back then. Not sure whatever happened to I’lario, though. He was supposed to go to SJSU and last I heard he was at a JC, but then I lost track.

I can’t even remember the last OAL kid drafted straight out of HS. Maybe Jase Turner? I know J.R. Taylor was a Twins pick in 2000. That’d be an interesting research project.

Btw…check out this Yonus picture! I think he was about 8 or 9 here.