The recent release of the Cats Pause, with its very limited write-ups, made me think about how thankful I am that I grew up when the Cats Pause reviews were written by local beat writers who knew the Regional teams and were paid to cover them full-time. This led me to think about a few other things from the past that I am thankful I was a part of, but may now be gone forever...

Saturday Morning Film Trades - I can remember being a 21 year old new coach and feeling as though my head coach had handed me the most important assignment of my life when he sent me to places like the Cromwell Overpass, or the McDonalds in Munfordville, or the Senora Truck Stop with two VHS tapes and a roster and stern instructions not to hand that roster over if they gave me one that didn't have the starters marked. I met a lot of great coaches on those Saturday film trades, and for a young coach, I felt like I was really doing something. I think we lost a little something when we stopped doing that. We gained a lot of time and saved gas, but we lost a little too. 

When Coaches Could Speak like Coaches Free of Worry - I played at the very end of the times when my coaches spoke to you without having to muzzle themselves... I had coaches who were like big brothers, coaches who were like a dad, and I had a legendary Head Coach whom I was fortunate enough to play for, who was like the grandfather I never had - someone I never wanted to disappoint. Those men said hard things to me, used hard words, and were not shy about making sure that the whole world of our team knew that I was the problem. But those words and times changed me and made me a better man. We still have that to some degree, but it is somehow different these days.

There was a Line - When I played, there was a line. You were at the back of that line as a Freshman, and you didn't question that. You began to claw your way forward as you grew older, and as a Senior, it was awesome to be at the front of the line. As a coach, when you came in, if you were in your 20s, you were at the back of the line. Coordinators were people to be followed and emulated. Head Coaches were almost mythical creatures. There was a pecking order, and the passage of time and the slow accents made you really appreciate each step. 

Two-a-Days - Just kidding, I hated these as a player and as a coach... ?

I'd be curious to know what others remember that were fond parts of their football experiences that nowadays seem to be gone. 

In our area, when the KY Advocate would come out late on Saturday night. It was like Sports Illustrated for HS football. The pictures & articles were over the top. Bill Vaught, Larry Vaught, Marty Warren & others made it special. Danville, Boyle, Harrodsburg, Mercer, Lincoln, Garrard & Casey all had exceptional coverage. Was a great time and nothing like it these days. 

I could add a bunch more and may down the road, but this one sticks out. 

15 minutes ago, ChiefSmoke said:

In our area, when the KY Advocate would come out late on Saturday night. It was like Sports Illustrated for HS football. The pictures & articles were over the top. Bill Vaught, Larry Vaught, Marty Warren & others made it special. Danville, Boyle, Harrodsburg, Mercer, Lincoln, Garrard & Casey all had exceptional coverage. Was a great time and nothing like it these days. 

I could add a bunch more and may down the road, but this one sticks out. 

In a similar lane, the ICN6 team previews that were done on local cable in the NKY area by Don Weber were great. You felt like an NFL star getting interviewed by him. His weekly highlights were great too. 

1 hour ago, ChiefSmoke said:

In our area, when the KY Advocate would come out late on Saturday night. It was like Sports Illustrated for HS football. The pictures & articles were over the top. Bill Vaught, Larry Vaught, Marty Warren & others made it special. Danville, Boyle, Harrodsburg, Mercer, Lincoln, Garrard & Casey all had exceptional coverage. Was a great time and nothing like it these days. 

I could add a bunch more and may down the road, but this one sticks out. 

"Vaught's Views" by Larry and Bill Vaught.  Larry's predictions in the Thursday Paper.  Marty Warren, Richard Glasscock all helping to cover games for the paper so on Sunday, there was a write-up by someone about your game.  

20 minutes ago, Hatz said:

"Vaught's Views" by Larry and Bill Vaught.  Larry's predictions in the Thursday Paper.  Marty Warren, Richard Glasscock all helping to cover games for the paper so on Sunday, there was a write-up by someone about your game.  

2 hours ago, ChiefSmoke said:

In our area, when the KY Advocate would come out late on Saturday night. It was like Sports Illustrated for HS football. The pictures & articles were over the top. Bill Vaught, Larry Vaught, Marty Warren & others made it special. Danville, Boyle, Harrodsburg, Mercer, Lincoln, Garrard & Casey all had exceptional coverage. Was a great time and nothing like it these days. 

I could add a bunch more and may down the road, but this one sticks out. 

Nobody did it better than the Advocate. Bill & Larry Vaught, Marty Warren, Mike Marsee, Josh Cook, Jill Erwin, Hal Morris, Nancy Leedy. What a roster of writers. They typically had four or five writers and it was always fun to guess which one would be at which game. If Larry came and you weren't playing Danville or Boyle, you knew it was a big deal! Usually, due to manpower, one game wouldn't get covered but they would still manage to get a 5-7 paragraph write-up based on a couple of phone conversations with coaches.

When I was in high school I did a work study program with them. It was fascinating to experience it during the glory years and very sad to see the collapse of regional newspapers and their coverage. Kids today think a highlight on social media is cool; my mom still has all kinds of newspaper clippings of things my sister and I accomplished. Personally, I think that will last much longer!

2 hours ago, AC Slater said:

In a similar lane, the ICN6 team previews that were done on local cable in the NKY area by Don Weber were great. You felt like an NFL star getting interviewed by him. His weekly highlights were great too. 

Don Weber did so much for NKY sports, especially football. His yearly previews were pretty darn thorough, the game highlights done well, and of course who could forget the "Hits Like a Train" segment every week. You're correct in saying you felt like a NFL star when he wanted to interview you. On the print side the KY Post dominated the prep coverage, it was far and away superior to the Enquirer. We'd almost fist fight each other once we got home from practice on Thursday to read the previews of Friday nights games. 

When I was in school NewCath put together a fall sports media guide, but it was very football heavy. One side had the whole team picture and the other side was senior football players. Inside was every bit of information of team history, guys that played in colleg and NFL and guys currently playing college. I use to pour over all the numbers. It was a great thing, but eventually they started to even out the coverage amongst all fall sports teams.

3 minutes ago, Breds82 said:

Don Weber did so much for NKY sports, especially football. His yearly previews were pretty darn thorough, the game highlights done well, and of course who could forget the "Hits Like a Train" segment every week. You're correct in saying you felt like a NFL star when he wanted to interview you. On the print side the KY Post dominated the prep coverage, it was far and away superior to the Enquirer. We'd almost fist fight each other once we got home from practice on Thursday to read the previews of Friday nights games. 

The Post work was done largely by Dan Weber back in my day and he was very good at his craft.  You also had the weekly WHKK radio game of the week with Hardy Tribble and Dale McMillan.  Boy were they top notch and unbiased.

The Glasgow Daily Times did a thing every year where they would add like an extra 7 or 8 page section called the high school football preview. It would always come out the Sunday before the season started. I loved it and when I got older started dating a girl that worked for the paper and she would sneak me one early which was great. Then a few years back after over 100 years the paper closed its doors I thought that was pretty sad.

Practicing on grass and the smell of grass. With turf fields everywhere that is dwindling. I still to this day get a whiff of grass and instantly reminds me of football practice.

Speaking from when I was a kid in the late 80's and 90's before the internet age.

I couldn't wait to get the newspaper(s) every day during football season.

Between Saturday and Sunday you could piece together a scoreboard.

You had the Cantrall Ratings in the LHL and the AP Poll. Mike Fields always was talking football and doing a great job of giving people love across the State and not just in his backyard.

 

WYMT still does a good job but back in those days it just hit differently. Sports Overtime could not be missed! Then when you got the random full game broadcast on top of it! Brian Milam was a legend. I remember as a kid seeing guys with the long neck extender or the guys playing in cut off shirts  or taped up facemasks and thinking they must be good to pull those looks off! HAHA

Another core memory as a kid would be listening to the radio coming back from an away game and catching the end of a game between two teams you never followed because they were running late. The best was early in the season when it would be a late starting bowl game. Even the radio broadcasts were different. I vaguely remember Allen Central and Paintsville games where the cheerleaders were louder than the play by play guy and you could hear every momma in the fans lighting up the ref over calls or yelling at their own coaches LOL.

 

The rankings are the one that hurts the most these days. The RPI is a flawed system, the AP Poll still exists but it is a mockery, and there isn't any more surprises. I remember seeing teams like Ryle enter the Top 10 or receiving votes and having no clue where that school even was. That or seeing Caldwell County and pulling out the ole Rand McNally road atlas to see where Caldwell County even was. I felt like the BGP rankings have always been the best around because they actually had people who cared to take it serious and learn about teams around the state.

4 hours ago, ChiefSmoke said:

In our area, when the KY Advocate would come out late on Saturday night. It was like Sports Illustrated for HS football. The pictures & articles were over the top. Bill Vaught, Larry Vaught, Marty Warren & others made it special. Danville, Boyle, Harrodsburg, Mercer, Lincoln, Garrard & Casey all had exceptional coverage. Was a great time and nothing like it these days. 

I could add a bunch more and may down the road, but this one sticks out. 

I loved the preseason issue that the Advocate put out that showcased each team.  I still have the one from 1992 when Chuck Smith was on the cover as the new head coach for Boyle County.  The Wednesday issues included area stat leaders, which was a big deal for the local players to see how they measured up with the local competition.   Wednesday and Thursday issues also included articles about the upcoming Friday night matchups, then Sunday morning papers had all the Friday night results.   

There was also the PAC jamboree scrimmage each year.  Usually, 6 to 8 teams would show up at one location to play a game like scrimmage for 2 quarters.  That was always a great start to the season. 

Rec Bowl in Mt. Sterling to kickoff week #1 in the season.  4 Teams, little schools  like Ed Miracle’s Lynch Bulldogs (Joe Washington), Madison Model, Pineville and big schools like Madisonville (Alfred Collin’s), and Ft. Thomas Highlands.  Fantastic 2 game bowl atmosphere with all coaches in attendance walking to a local doc’s backyard for a cookout.  As a really young coach this was an annual kickoff to the season with always two great games.