Okay, since you all love my insight so much and had to pull me in by using my name, thought I'd start this for the softball community. :ylsuper: Seems like there is still some unheard opinions that were taking over the other thread. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

 

As for the tournament, I think it's great for the kids and I do think it is very well ran. I have no problem with the tournament. I have said that on multiple occasions! I have the problem with the hypocritical arguments for what this tournament is or isn't.

 

So I took this from the other thread. Cru, you know you're my boy, but we'll have to agree to disagree here. My comments are below yours here.

 

 

"The NIT argument is apples to oranges. NIT is played after the regular season for teams that dont qualify/or are selected for the NCAA tourney.

 

The ALL A is a tournament in the middle of the year and participation is based on the population of the school. There is an ALL A Regional and the winners go to ALL A STATE. If you win this tourney you are considered the ALL A STATE Champion.

 

Im not sure why anyone would have a problem with this tourney. I dont see any argument that makes sense. All A is just a mid season tourney. Its not recognized by KHSAA as a state championship tourney since fastpitch is all one class (which is played at the end of the year...not the middle). If you win this tourney I dont understand why you wouldnt recognize this at your school as winning the ALL A State championship.

 

For those schools excluded from ALL A...if you are so worried about this tourney and how it is celebrated...then make your own BIG TIME LOOK AT US WE HAVE MORE STUDENTS ALL 6A STATE UNDISPUTED UNIFIED CHAMPIONSHIP. Set limits on who you include and have at it. Hang a banner if you win it."

 

First you say all this is is a mid-season tournament. Then you say the winner should be crowned All A state champions (which they do). If it's just a mid-season tournament, why the label of state champions??? Shouldn't they be crowned the winners of the All A Classic? If KHSAA doesn't recoginze this tournament, then how can they be a State Champion?? And then does that mean that KY has two state champions once it's all said and done? I don't get it. It's either a mid-season tournament or state championship. Not both. Because the arguments are much different, depending on which one it is.

 

Second, you reference starting our own and mention the 6A class. Well Conner, Highlands, Holmes, Scott, Cooper are not 6A schools. And I will ask the same question...did the All A teams go out and create this tournament for themselves or did someone do that for them. Everyone acts like they went out and did something about it, so "RCC, if you want it, make it happen". I say, you didn't, nor did anyone else playing in the A. Why should I have to. I want someone to create a second state championship opportunity for me too!

 

Now with that said, lets just say I did create a mid-size state championship. Then someone goes out and creates a large school state championship. What happens to the real state championship 5 years from now? It becomes irrelevant! No one cares about it anymore. Do you really think the KHSAA would let that happen??? So it's a nice thought to think it could be done, but it would never happen. In fact, if someone tried, it could potentially become the end of the All A. Think about it.

 

We continue to say it's for the small schools that deserve and opportunity. Let's do a raise of hands...who thought the winner of this tournament could have been any different? What about next year? And the year after that? Let see how good I am. I predict that either NCC or St Henry will the All A the next 5 years! I bet I'm right! You can predict that in just about every sport that has the All A. Don't tell me its an opportunity for the teams that can't compete. Heck, both St. Henry and NCC went to the region last year as the district winners! Highlands, Dixie, Boone were all runner ups. And Ryle didn't even make the district. So please tell me why St Henry and NCC need this additional opportunity?

 

Lastly, when was the last time a public school won anything All A in the ninth region? Just because you're small in numbers at a private school, doesn't mean you can't compete with larger schools. Smaller private schools compete with much larger schools all over the state. They don't need second opportunities to become state champions. There are 100's of school (regardless of size) that never get any opportunities at success either.

 

My thoughts, I'm done. Where are you Veritas???

Very confusing post...are some of those paragraphs copy and pasted from others?

 

Im not sure why anyone would have a problem with this tourney. I dont see any argument that makes sense. All A is just a mid season tourney. Its not recognized by KHSAA as a state championship tourney since fastpitch is all one class (which is played at the end of the year...not the middle). If you win this tourney I dont understand why you wouldnt recognize this at your school as winning the ALL A State championship.

This isn't how you feel now is it?

Very confusing post...are some of those paragraphs copy and pasted from others?

 

This isn't how you feel now is it?

 

Between the quotes is an exerpt taken from the St Henry/NCC thread. Sorry, I should have been more clear there. My response to that were below it.

Here is the post that I initially posed in the NCC v St. Henry thread.

 

Congrats NCC! Good luck! With regard to the All A, I have question. This will anger my friends who are All A advocates, but such is life. What's the big deal about winning an All A championship in any sport? Isn't the goal to win a regular KHSAA Championship? It's my understanding that the All A was initiated so that small schools could compete for a so-called state championship in a sport that they normally could not win on a state wide level. Now that there are several small schools/teams that can compete with the larger schools on a state wide level, hasn't the All A outlived its usefulness? It seems to me that the All A is like the NIT in college basketball.

Oh, and by the way, just for the record, I attended a very small Northern Kentucky school that hasn't had as much success as many of the other Northern Kentucky All A schools.

I like it . I agree with the all A challenge as it is . Having said that I dont know the specifics of how dominate any certain small school is . What I dont like too much is opening it up to AA sized schools . I'm pretty certain Russell from the 16th plays in the A challenge ( pardon me if I'm mistaken) but I dont see them as small at all. It is what it is -- the SMALL school state champ , nothing more , nothing less .

Keyword is some. Most small schools can't compete with the big schools over a large amount of time. They might be able to put together a small cycle where they can compete and win, but not year in and year out.

For the love of God, I can't believe this issue has moved to the softball forum.........wait a minute, yes I can. :ohbrother::lol2:

 

I'm going to make sure RCC9 get's one of the All "A" Regional Champ T-shirts the NewCath girls are getting. :lol2:

For the love of God, I can't believe this issue has moved to the softball forum.........wait a minute, yes I can. :ohbrother::lol2:

 

I'm going to make sure RCC9 get's one of the All "A" Regional Champ T-shirts the NewCath girls are getting. :lol2:

 

Holy cow! Wait a minute. I thought this was just one big tournament...you know a classic...an invitational...an in-season tournament. You mean you get rewards for winning segments of this tournament? I've played in a lot of tournaments and don't remember getting any rewards for getting to a certain point in a tournament. Most of the tournaments I played in reward the winner at the end. This opens up a whole new can of worms!

Keyword is some. Most small schools can't compete with the big schools over a large amount of time. They might be able to put together a small cycle where they can compete and win, but not year in and year out.

 

But the "some" dominate this tournament anyway. The same ones that can't compete at the other levels usually can't compete with the winners of these tournaments either. And the winners of these tournaments can compete just as well as anyone else year in and year out. There are MANY much larger schools that don't have half the success as some of these smaller schools. We act like just because a small school gets beat by a larger school that it's because they are a larger school. There are many large schools that consistently get beat by the same large schools that you think the small schools get beat by. So they can't compete either. If it were truly for the small schools that can't compete, you wouldn't have the same teams winning it every year.

 

Can someone answer this? In the 9th region, what schools was this tournament good for this year? We say it's for the small schools to have a chance to compete. Tell me what schools in the 9th region benefitted from this tournament?

It's a mid season tournament, not recognized by the KHSAA, but definitely recognized by the smaller schools in Kentucky. It obviously means more to the All A schools than the larger schools and they carry a passion for it.

 

There are a number of other tournaments available that any size schools can compete in around the state that are quality tournaments.

 

I like the All A only because it classifies who can participate. At the end of the day, there is only 1 KHSAA state champion in the official books, but I have no problem with any All A school hanging a banner or being proud of winning their respective division.

 

If softball were classified like football, with 6 classes, the All A would go away, but since basketball and football are a single class they keep the tournament. Just so happens that in NKY a couple of the All A schools are competitive at both the A level and the unclassified level. Good for them.

 

Good luck to NCC at the All A State. I hope you win the whole thing because the girls will remember that forever, and if they happen to win the KHSAA State Tournament, then good for them again. Winning is why we play the games. I say create as many tournament opportunities as we can so everyone can potentially win. We develop better athletes and young people with opportunities to win and lose….bring 'em all on.

But the "some" dominate this tournament anyway. The same ones that can't compete at the other levels usually can't compete with the winners of these tournaments either. And the winners of these tournaments can compete just as well as anyone else year in and year out. There are MANY much larger schools that don't have half the success as some of these smaller schools. We act like just because a small school gets beat by a larger school that it's because they are a larger school. There are many large schools that consistently get beat by the same large schools that you think the small schools get beat by. So they can't compete either. If it were truly for the small schools that can't compete, you wouldn't have the same teams winning it every year.

 

Can someone answer this? In the 9th region, what school was this tournament good for this year? We say it's for the small schools to have a chance to compete. Tell me what schools this was good for.

 

Every team that got to compete, it was good for. If you didn't win, then you have something to work toward next year, if you were competitive, then you built on what you had and if you won, you get to advance….just like any other tournament.

Every team that got to compete, it was good for. If you didn't win, then you have something to work toward next year, if you were competitive, then you built on what you had and if you won, you get to advance….just like any other tournament.

 

Okay, what schools got to compete? Every game was pretty much a blowout except the St Henry/HC game. So St. Henry, HC and NCC competed. HMMM...the three private schools. And I have a feeling that the only reason the St. Henry side of the bracket was even as close as it was is because St Henry's number one pitcher has been playing hurt all year. My guess is, if she's healthy, then that side could have been as much of a blowout as the other side and the final probably would have been a better game. NCC won every game up to the finals in a run rule. So how did any of the other teams benefit. It will be exaclty the same next year and the year after that and the year after that...and so on and so on. Just like the past X amount of years. Bellevue, Dayton, Ludlow, Newport, Lloyd, Villa, Cov Latin, Heritage and most years HC are not going to win this as long as NCC and St, Henry are around. Other than playing the actual game (which they could have scheduled with anyone), it did nothing for those other schools. Again, it's good for one or two teams in the region. The same two teams it's good for every year. Do you really think the true small schools really look forward to this tournament. They just get run ruled by the same teams that run rule them otherwise. You know, the small school that can't compete with the others. The small school that has won their district the last 7 out of 8 years or something like that. In the 9th, this tournament is good for maybe 3 teams and those are the teams that defend it all the time. I can name about 10 teams that haven't won the the 9th region in the last 10 years. Schools of all sizes. And the winner and runner up of this tournament every year can compete with any of those schools on a nightly basis. They also have just as much chance to compete with the frontrunners of the region as anyone else...every year. So they dominate the A and are as competitive as 95% of the teams in the 9th every year...please tell me why those teams NEED this tournament?

 

So if you're from St Henry and NCC...what do you say to the group of people that defend this tournament by saying it's for the schools that can't otherwise compete? Is that what you believe? Can you compete in your region as well as 95% of the other teams in your region? Heck, you both went into last year's region as 1 seeds and you both have much larger schools in your district.

It's a mid season tournament, not recognized by the KHSAA, but definitely recognized by the smaller schools in Kentucky. It obviously means more to the All A schools than the larger schools and they carry a passion for it.

 

There are a number of other tournaments available that any size schools can compete in around the state that are quality tournaments.

 

I like the All A only because it classifies who can participate. At the end of the day, there is only 1 KHSAA state champion in the official books, but I have no problem with any All A school hanging a banner or being proud of winning their respective division.

If softball were classified like football, with 6 classes, the All A would go away, but since basketball and football are a single class they keep the tournament. Just so happens that in NKY a couple of the All A schools are competitive at both the A level and the unclassified level. Good for them.

 

Good luck to NCC at the All A State. I hope you win the whole thing because the girls will remember that forever, and if they happen to win the KHSAA State Tournament, then good for them again. Winning is why we play the games. I say create as many tournament opportunities as we can so everyone can potentially win. We develop better athletes and young people with opportunities to win and lose….bring 'em all on.

 

So I assume you are a proponent to changing to classes? My point is, either do or don't. Yes, winning is fun and creates memories, but we are segmenting a small group that has an opportunity to create those memories and many others don't. There are plenty of other schools that don't get a chance to create those memories. Why do we segment out the small schools only? If we really believe that we need to create more memories, then classification it is! And i'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is doing it for some and not others just to keep small schools from complaining.

There are plenty of other schools that are segmented out because there are lots of other tournaments in the state. Bourbon Co. has a nice tournament every year, for example, but it's just a tournament. Just because they call themselves the ALL A state champions does not mean they are KHSAA state champions. Nobody is getting confused by this distinction. It just means they won that tournament.

 

With that being said, congratulations to the Lady Breds on their 9th region championship! I know you will represent us well.