We have a television in the front office on campus.  Most of the time it is tuned into a news station or displays a slideshow with campus announcements.  Once in awhile, we'll flip it to a sports channel at night for a little variety.  Yesterday was different though, we had it tuned into one of the local stations to check out the first round action at the North Dakota Class B Girls Basketball Tournament.

All four first round games were televised, so the coverage stretched into the night.  One of my co-workers from Minnesota was asking about what schools were playing and about the difference between Class A and Class B in North Dakota.  I was more than happy to talk about it.  There is a certain sense of pride that comes with having grown up in a small town in North Dakota.  Bitter rivalries that existed one day, melt away the next when you start talking about being a Class B kid. 

There are 120+ teams in North Dakota that are considered Class B for girls basketball and other sports.  Many of these teams are actually co-ops between a collection of small schools.  I remember at one time while I was in high school, we were Divide County-Wildrose-Alamo and played against teams like Westhope-Souris-Newberg and De Lacs - Burlington.  Some of the football teams we played against were Parshall-Plaza-North Shore, Trenton-Trinity Christian, Hatton-Finley-Sharon, and the perennial powerhouse was New England-Regent.   My favorite was A-E-E-M-O, which rolls off the tongue a bit easier than saying Adams-Edimore-Edingburg-Milton-Osnabrock.  It didn't matter to us that Wildrose co-oped with Ray in football and Tioga in track, when they were a part of our girls basketball team, they were family.

In a town like mine, having a good team to cheer for is huge for the community.  In the '80s, we were a basketball power that cheered on teams coached by hall of famer, Barry Haggin.  In the late '90s and into the 2000s, we have had the good fortune of making the 9-man football playoffs year after year.  When the teams are doing well, the town comes together.  School colors turn up every where.  I remember when they painted the watertower maroon and gray, likely a  risdual effect of the '98 State Champion football team.  We were fortunate as a community.  Of those 120+ teams, only 8 can make it to a state tournament each year.  If a school like Dickinson Trinity or Bottineau or New Town makes a run of 2 or 3 state tournaments in a row, that means a lot of schools have to miss out on the chance of lifetime to compete for a state title.  I can remember missing out on a trip to state a few times because our girls couldn't quite get past Watford City and their phenom point guard Molly Anderson. 

So I watched with interest yesterday as the games played out.  Divide County did not make it this year, but it still is important for me to watch. You cheer on the underdogs and hope that the team from your region represents you well.  But in the end, you celebrate along with the champion and swell up with small town pride. Unless of course the winner is Dickinson Trinity... or Minot Ryan... or Fargo Oak Grove.... haha.  Enjoy the tournaments!