I knew before I was close to the football field two weeks ago it was not going to be pretty.
Sloppy, in fact, but even worse. The mud was everywhere. There was just a sliver of somewhat dry ground between where the team and coaches stand during the game.
Otherwise, it was a mud pit at the Gold Bowl and ahead was the biggest playoff game in many years for the Mariposa County High School football team .
Don’t get me wrong, the fact they were even able to play a game on the field was a minor miracle. Maybe a major miracle.
It was obvious many people worked many hours to get the field so the game could be played. A photo from a few hours earlier showed just how much water had been on the field during one of those atmospheric rivers that tend to hang over California.
I don’t know how they got it ready to go, but they did and as Mariposa County High School Coach Chase Pometta said, both teams had equal opportunities to slip and slide.
Yet that does not mean it should be that way.
In fact, in many ways, it was an embarrassment to Mariposa County as a whole.
Anyone who has traveled around this region has seen the stadiums where teams play. Many are pristine with proper facilities for everyone. And the water runs off during a storm.
At the Gold Bowl at the fairgrounds, teams are relegated to stay outside even during halftime. Even the referees have to remain outside, but at least they are under a roof.
I’m sure there are some visiting fans who wonder how all of this came about. Why is the local high school football team — in a sports crazy county like Mariposa — playing in what is nothing more than second-class accommodations?
This is a central question that has been asked for decades around these parts.
Yes, at one time, there was an effort to fund a stadium. But that really went nowhere because of some egomaniacs involved. Eventually, some improvements were made to the softball field and there are commemorative bricks.
Just up the hill from there is the practice football field as well as the baseball field. The baseball field is fairly nice and the practice football field has been improved. But it’s the practice field. And the cinder track dates back decades and is not good enough to use for competitions.
That alone is ridiculous as our track team has to travel for every meet. It’s so unfair to the many parents and fans who have to work for a living and find it hard to travel to facilities around the Central Valley to watch the athletes.
All of this begs a simple question: Why?
Having lived here just 10 years, which does not even qualify me to coming close to being “from here,” I’m sure the reasons are varied and many.
Many will say the quality facilities, even in places like Planada, are because of the “farming money.” What they are saying is the farmers, over the years, have paid enough property taxes on vast amounts of land to fund nice schools and accompanying facilities.
It is hard to argue that point. There is no doubt the “fruits and nuts” the region is famous for having helped ensure top-notch educational and sports facilities in many places around this region.
But there is a big factor that is not being said and that is Mariposa County has something no other county in the world possesses — Yosemite National Park.
What, you say, does that have to do with anything?
In my opinion, everything.
The millions of dollars that come to Mariposa County are real. People come here and spend their money to enjoy one of the finest national parks on the planet.
We know for a fact it is what funds the county government. Without that park, this county would have hardly anything but few services and high taxes.
Others argue that because the school district relies on property taxes, the sheer fact we don’t have the farmland like our neighbors is why money has not been available to construct quality schools and facilities.
That may be true, as well.
But where I think it has gone sideways over the years is the fact the county and school have never combined forces and attempted to come up with facilities that benefit both. There’s little secret that some within the county frown upon the school district and its reliance on property taxes.
Well, that’s the way of the world when it comes to school funding.
In my mind, I wonder how much money directly tied to Yosemite has been squandered by the county over the years. Have we utilized that funding correctly?
It would seem to me that years, no decades, ago, some local folks should have gotten together to see if there was a way to divert some of that Yosemite money, be it transient occupancy taxes or whatever, and find a way to build a first-class sports complex.
You can simply look at places like Merced and many others where quality facilities have been built and are utilized by local governments and the school districts.
School sports teams play at the facilities and there are also other leagues who utilize the places to host large events which draw people from all around the state and even the western region.
That’s called economic development.
Here, we struggle to even get a field ready for a football game. And everyone knows that varsity football in Mariposa should not be played at the fairgrounds. Again, I tip my hat to the fairgrounds for making this possible, but it shouldn’t have to be this way.
A combined effort to have a stadium, baseball/softball/soccer complex, indoor pool, tennis courts and much more would do so much for the economic picture of this county.
So many times, people say we need to diversify the economy and not rely on tourism for everything. Well, maybe so, but I have always felt we should take advantage of tourism.
In fact, we could grow our tourism by having a first-class sports destination (that includes Yosemite next door), where people would come from hundreds of miles away and spend their money locally while the kids play ball.
Anyone who has traveled anywhere always encounters those youth sports team gobbling up the free breakfast at the local hotel as you wait 30 minutes in the waffle line. Why can’t that be us?
This issue really came to light, or dark, during the playoff football game. I think it’s time everyone decides to get serious about seeing if something can be done.
Maybe there’s a way to charge some sort of extra fee at Yosemite to build a pool of money. It would then take cooperation by everyone involved to work together for the betterment of our facilities.
There are youth groups, adult league, school programs, county programs and more that would benefit.
But more importantly, the citizens of Mariposa County would gain the most with another source of revenue.
And nobody would be slinging mud during an important game.
Greg Little is editor of the Mariposa Gazette and can be reached at greg@mariposagazette.com
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