I could care less if we get one single state tournament in Sioux Falls. I don’t have kids, and I don’t like sports. I think the only reason sports should exist in public school is for exercise and recreation. Public schools focus should be EDUCATION! But look at our city and how much money we blow on recreation, so it should be no surprise we really want tournaments in Sioux Falls;
“Boy, for the sheer numbers, we seem to be excluded so, I hate that. We’re the big gorilla at the other end of the state,” Todd Thoelke said.
Sioux Falls, despite accounting for 20 percent of the state’s students, hasn’t had a member voted in since the mid 1990s. Thoelke, a Sioux Falls School Board member, was hoping to end the drought. However, he wasn’t elected to the board.
“I think we need to have our voice heard and to continually be shunned, it’s a little frustrating. But you know, the state voted and the tally was in and I was, once again, not elected,” Thoelke said.
Why has Sioux Falls had a 14 year drought on the Athletic Board? Protectionism is probably one reason, the smaller cities want to protect their territories. Could it also be because their is a hate and jealously towards Sioux Falls? I have often said, if I didn’t live in Sioux Falls, I wouldn’t live in the state. The small-minds in other parts of the state are reality. I think they believe if they allow someone from Sioux Falls on the board, we may suck up all of the tournaments. I doubt that one representative would have that much power, especially a rubber stamper from our school board.
Not sure why we are being snubbed, but I have a feeling, it has a lot to do with mis-trust of our Super and Mayor. And if that is the case, I would have to agree with the skepticism.
I believe the reason the smaller cities are fighting to get tourneys is that it is a major event to showcase their community, local college or university but especially they are a big boost to their economies.
Otherwise it’s pretty hard for those smaller cities to compete against Sioux Falls being the largest city in regards to shopping, events, medical services and other things a metro area can offer.
This isn’t a new trend (ie since Huether).
Small minds fear change.
When it comes to the state tournaments I think the smaller class tournaments should be left in the smaller size cities. Heavens Sioux Falls doesn’t need everything. Maybe not everybody wants to come to Sioux Falls for a tournament and I don’t think it is because of hate/jealousy as much as the fact that not everybody is in love with larger cities. I moved to Sioux Falls in 1997 and I can’t say that I love the place, and it gets to be less all the time when I see the money being spent on entertainment. The reason I moved to town is because I have a daughter living here and as I got older I wanted to make things easier for her if I ended up in a hospital, instead of when my mother was terminally ill and I lived 150 miles away, with a car that got 10 miles to the gallon on the highway, plus I was attending a tech. school. Every Friday I would get a call Mother has taken a turn for the worse and if that didn’t get to me, our Dad would call “if you want to see your mother alive one last time you better come.” The funny part was when I got up there she wasn’t any worse off than she had been the previous week.
Veiled threats like those from Dana Dykhouse stating unless all tournaments are held at the event center, 1st Premier will pull funding, don’t help Sioux Falls either. While everyone in SF bends over for Sanford and premier, I’m glad the rest of the state doesn’t.
Mr. E, I believe that people just hate the traffic in Sioux Falls and the yuppity attitude of some citizens. You fellows are all hillbillies compared to Minneapolis and they point and laugh at you so it is mostly relative.
Also, the western half of the state is just better.
Mr. E, you are still a very young man and you should have some kids soon so you can visit other towns and round your mind a bit. 🙂
The “outstate” hatred/resentment/jealousy toward “the big city” goes all the way back to territorial days. It’s nothing new, AND it’s not unique to SD. The same phenomena exists in New York, Illinois, Minnesota, etc. etc.
I’d rather have smaller city/town take turns; be nice to let them have a bit of economy boost once in a while. Sioux Falls and Rapid City won’t be butthurt economically if high school tournaments are not held at either places.
While I think Sioux Falls should be represented on the board (can you imagine MLB not including the Yankees), I understand why they don’t just bow down to us here in the mean old city. Why shouldn’t Aberdeen, Watertown, Rapid, Pierre, and others desire tournaments? They have as much right as we do.
It simply is more costly to attend tournaments in Sioux Falls and Rapid City.
West river is democracy. Sioux Falls is cleptocracy. It’s reason enough for us to be shunned. However, Huether is building lots of indoor sports temples and we’ll corner the market on large domino tumbling displays. YouTube here we come.
dj, I was going to put that in my comment too, but I figured it would get poo-pooed.