Big Media has eroded
local sports. These days, if an event isn’t shown on ESPN or a national
broadcast network — if people aren’t talking about it on The Jim Rome Show — it’s widely considered minor league,
unimportant nationally and locally.

Many Rochesterians
let national media coverage determine how they feel about this city. I’m guilty
of that myself. We relegate Rochester to minor-league status based on the rest
of the country not caring about what goes on here in sports. And we’re conditioned
to think the sports here are unimportant or just not any good.

So we dream of
national attention: “If we only could only get Major League Soccer here, or
another Oak Hill PGA event, or if Annika Sorenstam would just play the Wegmans
Rochester LPGA, or if we could just get a Division I sports program, THEN we’d
finally be on the map.”

But why keep trying
to impress the rest of the country? A major-league city is homogenized like a
Big Mac. And there’s no prestige in looking the same as everyone else.

Here in Rochester,
we’re as unique as a white hot. We should celebrate what makes us different
from other US cities. In fact, we should just tell the outside world to talk to
the hand.

Of course, I’m still
a proponent of RIT transitioning its sports program to Division I. I can only
have people talking to my hand for so long before my arm gets tired.

From Tuesday through Saturday at St. John Fisher, SUNY Geneseo, and RIT, the JPMorgan
Chase Scholarship Tournament hits the courts. The 39-year-old tournament, which
invites eight men’s and eight women’s area teams, is the United States’
longest-operating and largest in-season NCAA Division III basketball
competition.

It would be nice if
the tournament returned to downtown, where the War Memorial used to host it
more than 20 years ago. But when attendance dwindled, tournament directors
moved it to the local college campuses.

The games, of course,
draw students and alumni from the local schools, but they don’t seem to
register with general local sports fans.

I tuned in to sports
talk radio Monday morning and all I heard was how disgusted people were when
Vikings receiver Randy Moss pretended to moon Packers fans after scoring a
touchdown on Sunday. I opened up the newspaper to find out the JPMorgan Chase
tournament seedings, and there was just a blurb, underneath this massive story
about how two Rochester teams, Indianapolis and Denver, played each other in an
AFC Wild Card game, and Indianapolis won.

Sure, when there’s a
fight between Nazareth and St. John Fisher fans people will talk about local
college basketball. When there’s compelling competition, without scandalous
headlines, interest subsides.

But it shouldn’t.
Here’s why you should go to the JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament:

According to the
latest national statistics, top-seeded St. John Fisher is 10-0, and D3hoops.com
— the most comprehensive Division III men’s poll — ranks it the nation’s
18th best team. The Cardinals rank 17th in scoring, averaging 86.7 points per
game, and are the nation’s fifth best team in scoring margin, beating opponents
by a 20.3 points-per-game average. The team is hitting 50.6 percent of its
field goals, which ranks eighth in the nation.

Second-seeded University
of Rochester (9-2) has the nation’s 12th-best D-III defense, giving up just
60.3 points. Though unranked, Rochester was a preseason No. 5 in the national
poll, and there’s a possibility it can meet Fisher in the finals. That would be
a mouth-watering match-up of good defense vs. good offense, and a rematch of
last year’s championship, which the Yellowjackets won.

Rochester 6’6″ senior
forward Seth Hauben (Newton, Massachusetts), considered by some the area’s top
local player, is the nation’s fourth-best D-III rebounder, averaging 12.6
rebounds. He is also 37th in scoring, averaging 20.4 points. On Wednesday,
Rochester opens at Geneseo (1-7), which features 6’3″ senior guard Joe Zera
(Buffalo/Canisius High School) — the nation’s 11th-best scorer, averaging
23.7 points.

Fourth-seeded
Brockport (5-3) hosts fifth-seeded Nazareth (4-6) at Fisher. The Golden Eagles
play an up-tempo style and were the nation’s 18th-best scoring team, averaging
86.6 points. Brockport 6’3″ junior guard Ben Bellucci (Syracuse) ranks as the
nation’s 13th best scorer, averaging 23 points. Nazareth is 31st nationally
with a 48.7 field-goal percentage and 6’8″ senior center Ryan Shipley
(Macedon/Palmyra Macedon High School) ranked 50th nationally with a 59.4
field-goal percentage. Nazareth won the JPMorgan Chase title in 2003.

I pick Rochester to
defend its title because it plays tougher competition. So go watch. Otherwise,
talk to my hand.

39th Annual Men’s JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament. Quarterfinals, Wednesday, January 12: (5) Nazareth vs. (4)
Brockport, 6:15 p.m. at Fisher; (6) Roberts Wesleyan vs. (3) RIT, 6:15 at
Geneseo; (7) Geneseo vs. (2) Rochester, 8:15 at Geneseo; (8) Keuka vs. (1) St.
John Fisher, 8:15 p.m. at Fisher. Semifinals, Friday, January 14, at RIT:
Nazareth/Brockport vs. Keuka/Fisher, 6:15 p.m.; Roberts Wesleyan/RIT vs.
Geneseo/Rochester, 8:15 p.m. Finals, Saturday, January 15, at RIT, 8 p.m.

This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2005.