My Nuts and Bolts of the game segment on today's Randy Kennedy show is a subject I'm passionate about. We need to make sure teams from all parts of the state have an equal shot when it comes to winning state championships.
Mobile and Baldwin County sent six teams to Legacy Arena at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center for the high school basketball Final 4. Remember the name of that venue, because it’s the key to my point.
Two of our teams won. The girls from St. Luke’s beat Mars Hill Bible before losing in the state championship to Spring Garden.
Williamson beat Brooks and will play tonight for the Class 6A boys state champion against defending state champion Talladega.
The girls from McGill-Toolen as well as the boys from B.C. Rain, LeFlore and Fairhope all lost in the semifinals. The teams they lost to were from Spain Park, Bessemer, Fairfield and Mountain Brook.
All four of those opponents are from Jefferson County, the same Jefferson County that has its name as part of the venue for the Final 4.
Who know what the outcome would have been if these games had been played at, say, the Mitchell Center in Mobile. But anyone who has ever been to a basketball game knows that home-court advantage is a real thing.
It certainly was again this year for the opponents of our best high school basketball teams.