Don't Let the Truth Get in the Way of the Facts...

Last Thursday, Barrington coach Ryan Stengren reached out to me about joining the 2010 Pepsi Showdown. It's something we've talked about the past two years actually.

Then I saw an email from Naperville Invite officials talking about date changes and expanding to include the Barrington Tournament in 2010, which is something Ryan and I spoke about last year. I gave a call to Ryan this morning to find out what was up, and he wasn't sure because he hadn't even spoke to them directly about it.

But somehow Naperville officials have gone public, trying to make people believe something is a done deal when it's not. What's even more interesting is that Naperville Invite officials are looking at moving the dates of the 2010 tournament. Those will conflict with the 2010 Pepsi Showdown, which had dates in place through 2012 for more than a month.

With five teams from the 2009 Barrington field - Lake Zurich, St. Viator, Libertyville, Glenbrook South and most likely Barrington - in the 2010 Pepsi Showdown mix already, it doesn't make sense to have the dates conflict so all teams have as many opportunities as possible.

It's good to see the "premier" tournament catching on, but the goal is to promote the sport - not compete. Because at the end of the day, there really is no competition.