Under the Lights

There are a ton of very good teams out there that practice all week in shorts EVERY week. Especially at this time of year. Most colleges and professional teams rarely practice in full gear. Being a good tackler has zero to do with going in full gear. Cooper is by far the most improved team in Northern Kentucky this year. I'd expect them to continue to improve next year. Rome was not built in a day and sophomores do not win football games at the 6A level. If they do get "mixed in" that is usually not a good sign.

Congrats to Carroll Co., Walton still getting used to playing tough games and will continue to improve.

14 and 28 aren't near the ability of #1. Cooper has improved leaps and bounds from last year and should be commended for doing so. Without #1, and improved offensive line play, Cooper would be in the same boat there were last year. It can be a team effort and still hand the ball to one guy 30+ times a game. Just ask Boone Co., they've done it and won the district for several years running. #1 gives them the best chance to win, why wouldn't you put it in his hands that many times? They aren't far enough along as a program to do anything else. Patience.

Now I know that Owensboro didn't have a great regular season, but they did make it to the state finals. Nearly every team that made it to Applebee's had 2 first or second team guys. Apparently someone forgot to tell the 'Boro that they didn't have any all state talent, being as they beat all those that did. Seriously, one honorable mention for the state runner up?

:lol: I don't even know how to respond to that.......

Despite being forewarned I'll attempt to humor your responses. You keep using this word "accountability" as if umpires have no one to answer to. I ask you what would you have done? Kick them out for blowing a call or having a poor strike zone in a game? With that logic there would be nowhere near enough guys to cover all the games. The fact of the matter, whether you want to hear it or not is this: Really good umpires usually leave the HS ranks for college ball. Some stay for other reasons (family, etc.) and yes, some are not as consistent as we'd like. But the only other option is to play less games, surely your not advocating that? Understand that JV games are places for newer umpires to learn and yes, to make mistakes. Trust me, if they were good enough already they would be on the plate in a varsity game (in a V/JV DH) or doing higher levels of baseball. Some do just enough to get by and some work to improve themselves, just like the business world. There are plenty of people in the work force that don't get everything right in their job every day, yet you are not calling for their heads? Do you suggest firing new hires because they aren't as good at their job as someone who has been doing it for 5 years? Numbers are down all over, do something to boost the numbers and the quality will increase. Having someone ready to take games from you is usually a pretty good motivator for umpires to improve themselves.

Excellent points made across the board. And thanks for the heads up! :thumb:

But that's just it, fewer and fewer people WANT to umpire. Of those even fewer stick it out past the first few years (where they are learning and make mistakes and are berated by every parent/player/message board poster). I'll agree that far too many young umpires are rushed along due to the lack of experienced umpires. But make no mistake about it, if you are the only person in town who can fix watches then it is going to be very hard to tell you that if you don't do a good job we'll replace you with someone else. It's not like there are a bunch of eager applicants waiting to be called out on message boards and be publicly criminalized for every action they take. Sometimes the choice is between a guy calling a varsity game that maybe shouldn't be, or not playing the game at all. Even the pro's miss calls every now and again.

Understood, but the chances of the base umpire being able to see that from the 3rd base side of the infield aren't very good.

No one is beating down the door to become an umpire from my understanding. As a result the quality has gone down in some areas. As you stated, you have been around baseball for a long time, maybe you can offer up your services and become an umpire? Or perhaps petition your local schools to increase umpire fees to draw out more qualified candidates in and around your area? And actually calling the 1st baseman off the bag at first in that situation isn't really the base umpires call. :sssh:

NFHS Rule 8-2 Article 6k If a baserunning infraction is the third out, runs scored by the following runners would not count. With two outs, if the base missed was the first to which the batter or runner was FORCED to advance, no runs would score. 8-2 Article 6h Tag Ups - If a runner leaves a base too soon on a caught fly ball and returns in an attempt to retag, this is considered a time play and not a force out. If the appeal is the third out, all runs scored by runners in advance of the appealed runner and scored ahead of the legal appeal WOULD count. Hope that helps.

1. My instinct says legal, HR, but I'll be interested to read the ruling on this one. 2. Runner is safe unless it was judged he made an attempt towards second base. 3. No runs count 4. Umpire Obstruction? Place the runner on 3B? All I know is that the field umpire is going to hear it from somebody.....

I really don't see a dominant team out of any of these top 10/11. Sure, CovCath is without a doubt the favorite at this point, but it think it is worth noting that there isn't a ton of separation between 1 and 10. Certainly not as large of a gap as there has been in years past. Should be a good year for baseball in NKY.

I would agree that Cooperstown is truly a nice place to play a ballgame. The only other thing that I would add to this discussion of the greatest game is that there are far too many coaches who put their ego's first and not the kids. I've witnessed 9 yr olds berated for making an error, cursed and screamed at in front of God and everyone. I've witnessed a coach getting thrown out of a game because he swore that a tipped pitch that was caught by the catcher meant it was a foul ball and the runner should return to 1st!! This is slowly infiltrating HS baseball and it is a shame that it happens on any level. Though it is primarily a summer baseball problem, there are plenty of coaches at the HS level who may coach the game the way it should be played, but sure don't set a good example through their actions. Nothing like the subtle nuances of baseball to get me going and ready for summer.

Who threw for Apollo? I'd love to hear some details on this one, anyone?

You haven't been watching many of the lesser teams in HS games then. :lol:

How many college coaches do you see in the box or on the field during play? If you don't know when the snap will be, when do you know to move back? If the offense gives the impression of a snap do you move back? If not, then what if they do actually snap it, will coaches be flagged? If the coach is making pre snap adjustments and the offense goes with a hurry up quick snap will he be flagged? I guess my point is that you know and I know that this won't be an issue provided that this isn't a "letter of the law" enforcement. However, I'm concerned over the non uniform manner that this is likely to be applied from crew to crew. Hopefully good judgement will prevail all around.

I don't mind the rule, it has been a long time coming IMO. However, with more and more offenses going to the spread hurry up sets it could have some unforeseen complications. For example, how do the defensive coaches know when the ball will be snapped? Offenses have the luxury of changing plays, adjusting to defensive alignment presnap, etc., shouldn't the D be afforded the same opportunity? My hope is that this will be applied with some degree of wisdom. If the offense goes to a quick "snap" look and then stands up and looks to the sidelines, the defensive coaches should be allowed to re-enter the box. In addition, if the offense does "quick snap" there should not be a penalty on the defensive coaches. Any other way and IMO you are putting one side of the ball at a disadvantage. As far as the media, they don't exist without the game and get no consideration in my book. Surely we aren't considering changing how the game is coached/played so that they have a clear line of sight to take pictures? I always thought that was part of the "art" of being a photographer.

I have no doubts that there was much, much more that lead to Brossart being let go. I also think it is a bit naive to think that the W/L record had nothing to do with it. From all accounts Rodenberg was less than well received in the off the field department as well. However, I don't think anyone was ready to run him out of town. I understand CCH has had some degree of playoff success in the 2000s. But I think you'd agree that 3 somewhat successful seasons is sub par by CCH's standards.

Athough I apparently don't know anything about CCH or NKY football, these are my sentiments exactly. Facts are facts, and IMO CCH is nowhere near the level they were at in the late 80's and early 90's. Is CCH a good program? Absolutely. A perennial state contender? Not so much, they have a ways to go in that regard. IMO one major problem the new coach will face is a bit of unrealistic expectations. Don't get me wrong, it is a wonderful thing to expect a high level of achievement year in and year out. However, CCH is a difficult sell for many coaches to some degree, and it may take some time to rebuild after several years of turnover. I also don't think many would dispute that the talent level at CCH has dwindled somewhat. It is likely that CCH will struggle again next year with a coaching change and a brutal schedule. Hopefully all involved with the CCH program learn something from Coach Ray's first 6 years and they weather the storm, together.

I agree. And punttheball who said Brossart was taking over a CCH program that had a lot of success? Aside from the blip on the radar in the 2006 state champs, the overall record for the 2000's is right around .500. Add into that a murder's row of a schedule and you see the result....... I can only imagine what the records would look like for the early 2000's if they had played this years schedule. While I'm sure W's and L's weren't the sole reason for his dismissal, I think it is a reflection of our society today versus where we were 30 years ago. Just win baby.

I'm not saying it will or won't be, but if the past is any indicator it is pretty likely that Trinity gets close to 50 points. They have a pretty strong history against the NKY teams. Look at Boone from a year ago, by all accounts one of their better teams in recent memory. T still hung 56 on them, though Boone made a game of it early on. I'd love to see SK win, its a great story. But the track record speaks for itself, and until someone does something to change that it will continue to do so.

Did you have 40-50 point games in the playoffs? Or against most of the teams from KY that you played other than X? Just from watching the last decade or so unfold it seems like the public schools, both in Louisville and outside of it, have been increasingly less competitive with T and X. Usually there will be one school in KY, other than the opposite rival, that will be competitive. I guess my point was that, in the past, it wasn't entirely uncommon for a KY team to beat T or X. Teams even beat them in consecutive years. The one thing that sticks out to me is the disparity on the scoreborad in semifinal and finals games. I just don't remember it being like that in the 70's and early 80's (I am getting older though....).

I have heard this song and dance before I think. Great running back, all world, great defense, NKY team....... I have watched SK play, I have watched the Rocks play. While the Simpson kid is a great back, he will struggle to run the ball against the Rocks. He is only a junior in what was called a "down" year for NKY football at the beginning of the year. SK will need to throw the ball to keep the Rocks D honest, while maintaining a ball control type offense to limit the number of possessions for the Rocks O. If you don't think T can score 50 on SK I suggest you look at the scores from the last 8 years. They can, and they will. But this SK team will be back and will learn from this experience. T 56 SK 7

Just an observation, but I have read several posts that speak of the "lesser known" Louisville schools beating T and X in the past. Also, from my own experience, it seems like schools outside of Louisville had a decent measure of success as well in the past. Not necessarily winning, but certainly not getting blown out on a regular basis. My question is, what changed? Are you telling me that the teams of the past at X and T "didn't work as hard" or "weren't as committed" or "didn't pay attention to detail" as well as the present day teams? Why are very few (if any) teams from Louisville or anywhere else competitive with T and X today? Sure you have your Bush led Male team, or Manual's great year, or Dixie, but by and large very few teams have been in a competitive ballgame with these two squads in the past 10 or so years. Even fewer have been competitive consistently. As referenced by alums of the two schools, this has not always been the case. Even Male, once regarded as one of the "Big 3", has been a lesser version of itself in recent years. I have nay an axe to grind, but rather I marvel at what T and X have accomplished. I do believe that in the current system there is a distinct advantage to being a private school, but by no means is that the sole reason X and T have been successful. There is plenty of potential at either of these schools, but potential is just a ball on top of a hill.