This Just In ...

Putting MPS basketball in perspective

Posted by Kevin Fischer on March 4, 2010

When fans of the Franklin boy’s basketball team travel to Milwaukee Hamilton this Saturday night to watch the Sabers take on the Wildcats in a WIAA regional final, they will be confronted inside the doors with what for many will be a brand new experience at a high school game: metal detectors.  The procedure, though far less of a hassle than airport security, is totally necessary.

During the early 1980’s, somehow a gun made its way into the Milwaukee Custer High School gym. It went off, causing chaos. Fortunately, no one was injured, but new safety measures and intensified security were implemented at Milwaukee Public School basketball and football games.

Fans who are accustomed to the most pleasant of atmospheres at an athletic event can find it a bit unnerving to walk into a high school gym only to be frisked.

Since the gun incident at Custer, several high profile incidents have given the impression that attending an MPS basketball game is like wandering into a war zone.

Last week, Milwaukee Washington star players Quevyn Winters were suspended for the tournament following an episode at Bradley Tech. After Tech beat Washington, a Washington player went after an official. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, “The referee filed a report on the matter with the WIAA. In it Deb Hauser, the WIAA’s associate director, said the official wrote that a punch was thrown at him and that an individual ‘launched at me again and struck me in the chest’.”

Such news reports can put a damper on ticket sales. However, since that gun turned up at Custer almost 30 years ago, there have been thousands and thousands of basketball games at various MPS sites all across the city. The number of problems that warrant screaming headlines has been miniscule. I work dozens of MPS games every year in several sports and quite honestly never worry even the slightest about my safety.

So Franklin fans, don’t think twice about an altercation breaking out this Saturday night at Hamilton. Worry instead about how the Sabers are going to find a way to advance against one of the best high school teams in the state.