Carbondale Holiday Tournament Closing Its Doors

Mods, move this if you want. Gotta lash out a little bit to make me feel better. 🤣 

The Carbondale Holiday Tournament is ending after 56 years. No 2021 tournament this winter. 

Read Hefferman's tweet on it. He's missing a big point - well, THE point - here: It's not as simple as "no one" wants to play "at the Banterra Center" in "the Carbondale Holiday Tournament." Too many local tournaments have been started in recent years, taking area teams away from the CHT. Pinckneyville used to bring their whole town to the CHT, then started their own tournament and took their good friends at DuQuoin with them. Sure, you can find teams that want to play in the CHT - the problem is not that NO ONE wants to play, it's that NO LOCAL teams are available to play. Teams from Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, and Kentucky won't fill the seats, especially in 2021, regardless of how much individual and/or collective talent they may showcase. 

And then Carbondale Community High School has to rent out Banterra Center.  The price tag is not pocket change. This is overlooked every year, even by those that should be "in the know." How are they going to pay for 3 days of Banterra Center with no butts in seats? Sponsors? Well yes, but you need to keep everyone happy as those have been fading as well. For example, the Bank of Carbondale was a loyal headline sponsor for decades...then scaled back and the Orthopedic Center was the headliner.

I attended the CHT for almost 20 years. Two older relatives went all 56 years. My goodness, the talent and teams I/we/they have seen! Within our inner circle, the rumors of the CHT's demise began in 2008. The individual talent level of that tournament was unmatched - Anthony Booker (SIU), Torres Roundtree (SIU), Carl Richard (InSU), DJ Richardson (UofI), and many more - mercy! But it didn't draw *** because Marion, Trico, and Herrin were pretty much the only locals. I remember walking around the top bowl (in the old Arena) during that year's championship game and saying my goodbyes - it's unbelievable, and I'm also thankful, that it lasted another 11 seasons! Every year the rumor would start, "this is it" "I don't see how this can continue" etc ...and then someone would hear through the grapevine that they were planning on another year. We limped another 11 years out of it, but it was so sad to see the interest just cripple.

It's just the way of the world now - everyone wants to make their own money that's counted in their own AD's office in their own gym in their own hometown. And from a fans perspective, there are way too many options available now. I'm not anything special for attending every game for 20 years - that was the norm decades ago! People from all over spent all day at a basketball tournament simply because it was fun! Times a changin', eh?   

Thank you for reading my rant on today's "me/us first" society that so happens to also have the attention span of a moth. 🤣