Sideline Smitty takes a seat

Volleyball wasn’t his favorite sport.

In fact, it probably wasn’t in his top ten.

But Sideline Smitty will be missed.

The Seattle Times’ Craig Smith wrote his final column this morning, tearing another huge hole in the increasingly tattered landscape of local print journalism. Smitty took a voluntary buyout, a euphemism for “we don’t pay you much, but we nonetheless can’t afford to keep you anymore.”

Like an episode of HBO’s The Wire come to life, the Seattle Times—and the citizens of the state of Washington—have just lost more than three decades of institutional memory. This is a very sad day for high school coaches who care about kids.

Why worry about institutional memory? Reporters who’ve been around the block are much quicker to spot insincerity, to detect patterns or deviations from the norm, to know whom to call when some really important story breaks. They are the worst enemies of those who push style over substance, who urge us not to pay attention to the man behind the curtain.

When I was a young reporter, it was the grizzled veterans who set me straight. Don McGaffin, Bob Simmons, Mike James, Phil Sturholm—each helped craft my writing and demanded I understand the crucial role of journalism in a free society. While younger reporters who hang on at depleted newspapers are unquestionably talented, their professional development will be significantly slowed by the absence of generous colleagues like Craig Smith.

I have always purchased a home subscription to both of Seattle’s daily newspapers, but most of my friends chose just one. One of my best friends always selected the Seattle Times over the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for one reason: the Times paid real attention to prep sports.

In this morning’s farewell column, Smitty hinted at a couple of the reasons why coverage of high school sports matters.
"As a sports writer," Smitty writes, "I have found prep sports to be fresher, more fun, often more interesting, and, in their own way, more important, than college or professional sports."

"I have found prep sports to be fresher, more fun, often more interesting, and, in their own way, more important, than college or professional sports."

"I remember what Washington State basketball coach Dick Bennett once said: 'High school coaches are most importatn because they can do the most good.'"
Unfortunately, they can also do the most bad.
In today's column, Smitty mentions the Chief Sealth basketball recruiting scandal, a cesspool of misplaced priorities which was exposed thanks only to the dogged commitment of Seattle Times investigative reporters Christine Willmsen and Michael Ko.
He goes on to acknowledge, however, that the problem continues today, and may even be more widespread. In retirement, he says, he’ll be bugged by “illegal high-school recruiting, the over-emphasis on specialization, delusional parents, many of them suffering from ‘achievement by proxy syndrome.'"
And, toward the end of the column, he mentions something which surely earned the applause of high school volleyball coaches across the state.
"I'd like to see the WIAA hire an investigator," he writes, "and he or she could start by cruising gyms in the fall to find illegal basketball practices."

“I'd like to see the WIAA hire an investigator, and he or she could start by cruising gyms in the fall to find illegal basketball practices.”

Rules are the spine of sports; when rules are not enforced, we are little more than jellyfish. Coaches understand that our students are learning more than proper passing, dribbling, blocking and bunting. They are watching how we adults cope with conflict and perform under pressure. They know when rules are being broken, and they look to us for guidance about how to react.

Quality high school coaches often feel alone when they see abuses around them. Quality journalists can do more good than they probably realize when they report facts, uncover contradictions and turn up the heat on indifferent administrators.

Like many sportswriters of his generation, Smitty was a bit slow to recognize the emergence of women’s athletics (although he was certainly nowhere near the worst offender,) and almost never mentioned volleyball in his annual June wrap of the year in prep sports. He was, however, a champion of underappreciated sports like wrestling and cross country, even if he did remain a little to enamored of football and basketball. Most of all, he wasn’t a cynic. He called ‘em like he saw ‘em, always leaving the impression he’d like to see more of ‘em if he could.

In retirement, we hope he has a chance to see more. In particular, we know he’d be welcome at volleyball matches everywhere.
Volleyball might even become his favorite sport. Or at least make his top ten.