By Steve Krause
You’ve undoubtedly heard of the term “gerrymander” that describes bizarrely-drawn House and Senate districts, generally constructed to benefit political parties or demographics.
The term came to use thanks to an effort by Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry, who redistricted the cities and towns on the North Shore of Boston in 1812 in an effort to keep his Democrat-Republican party in control of the Bay State legislature. When one of his redrawn districts was said to resemble a salamander, the Boston Gazette coined the term “gerrymander” to describe it.
Coincidentally, the gerrymandered district in question included Lynn, Marblehead, Salem and Danvers — cities and towns that comprise five of the teams in the Northeastern Conference (Swampscott was then a part of Lynn, so make that six).
I thought of this after writing a column for Friday’s paper in which I detailed the Northeastern Conference football configuration for 2016, which has English, Classical, Marblehead, Peabody, Beverly and Danvers in the North; and Winthrop, Swampscott, Gloucester, Salem, Saugus and Revere in the South.
For those well-versed in North Shore geography, this presents a few obvious logistical problems. By whose orientation is Gloucester — which sits squarely on Cape Ann and is the northernmost community in the conference — a “South” team? And since Salem is north of Lynn and Marblehead, how are the Witches in the South?
The divisions were created, and are adjusted periodically, in hopes of assuring competitive balance. This is a polite way of saying that certain schools in the league, Saugus being among them, weren’t at all keen on playing teams such as Beverly, Gloucester, Classical and English, so they could get physically beaten by them. Saugus eventually went independent in football, and then joined the Cape Ann League in all sports, figuring its teams would fare better (they didn’t).
The dichotomy between large and small was growing annually, and results — with some notable exceptions (Winthrop in 2006 especially) — were starting to bear that out. As a result, and particularly after Revere and Peabody joined the league, the league was split, at first by student population, as is the case in most of these large/small divisions. Eventually, it was split based on power, with results from the previous three seasons taken into account. Subsequent adjustments were made based on them.
Over the last decade, the league has seen several configurations, not just in football but in all sports, with configurations within divisions ever-changing. Football has seen the most change. For two years, the Northeastern Conference combined forces with the Cape Ann League to make up a multi-tiered conference that included North Andover and Masconomet in the upper division with the larger NEC schools.
Then, four years ago, the state’s principals decided on the new playoff format we’re using now, which everybody seems to hate, but not enough to change. Thus, the two league reverted back to their original configurations and divided up by the pre-2012 criteria. And here we are, back to this geography-challenged football gerrymandering, and with Saugus back in the mix.
If dividing them up as North/South is geographically incorrect, so, too, then calling them Large/Small is also not entirely accurate. By no stretch of the imagination, for example, is Salem a smaller school than Marblehead, nor is Danvers a bigger school than Revere or Gloucester. The truth of the matter is that the schools are grouped by their relative success over the last several years. Marblehead, under coach Jim Rudloff, has been among the top teams in the area after years of foundering. Danvers has seen a resurgence under coach Shawn Theriault while Gloucester, once the gold standard in the NEC, has gone through some tough seasons. The league’s officials have made every effort, based on records, to make the leagues balanced and competitive. And under this new system, winning the league championship is no longer the only criterion for making the playoffs. Eight teams in each of the state’s eight divisions are ranked and seeded.
So while the effort is there, and the reasoning is laudable, the league needs to rethink what to call these divisions, because right now, they defy common sense. Other leagues, most notably the Bay State League, have solved this problem by naming the divisions after coaches or athletic officials. I would strongly suggest the Northeastern Conference should do the same.
“Bondelevitch” and “Adamopoulos” divisions, anyone?