ft bronc

Here's a statement about baseball in FT: the discussion surrounding the spring break rule in this & the 9th Region thread has been the most passionate exchange of posts related to Highlands Baseball on this message board EVER (ever = as far back as I can remember).

St. Henry has adequate parking, but there's a little walk to the diamond. More than enough seating (& it's old Riverfront seats to boot). From the AA Hwy: take 275 West to 71/75 South, You'll barely get on 71/75 South and take first exit (I believe it's 184B) Turn right onto Donaldson Rd Travel a mile or so on Donaldson & St. Henry will be on your right. Actual address is 3755 Scheben Drive, Erlanger, KY.

But tell us ABC2, how do you really feel about the spring break rule? Cut Jeremy some slack. The guy has done more for the baseball program since he took over 2 seasons ago than had been done for decades. Sounds like the rule didn't work out for your son, but all rules can have unforeseen consequences, no matter how well intended & how good they are for the long run health of a program - both of which I believe to be the case with this rule. My son has missed out on seeing his aging grandmother for two years now to stay in town for baseball. Life is a series of decisions. You make the best choices you can based on your priorities & then live with the consequences. As Oprah likes to say - "you can have it all, just not at the same time." And that is the last time I'll ever quote Oprah.

Whole field is turf, and it does seem to get pretty good use. Besides the high school stuff, I know it's been used quite a bit by at least one fall league.

100% sure I meant Highland Park. 99% sure senility is setting in.

I've only seen PRP in pics, but I agree - seems like a good compromise on cost vs. usability. Any idea on what the total costs were for PRP? Done that way, actual square footage of artificial turf seems like it would be less than a football field.

I don't want to get this thread off topic, but is anyone in NKY working towards an artificial surface for their baseball field? I'm sure we all prefer to play & even watch baseball on nice grass fields, but given the weather around here in both spring & summer, an artificial surface would allow an ENORMOUS increase in field time & a significant drop in canceled games.

St. Henry's stadium is beautiful. Cov Cath has made some very nice improvements to their complex. I assume remodel of the first base dugout/announcer booth is next? Had never been to Scott until last year, but looks like they're doing a nice job with theirs also. Tower Park is a much nicer place to both play & watch a game today than it was 3 years ago. Meinken is an embarressment - no other way to put it. I like the setting at Moerscher (sp?), but the shifting ground down by the river seems to be giving them trouble.

I agree it would be nice, but this state just doesn't have a true football school. UK will always be a basketball school playing football, and L-ville is really not that far behind. If you're a top football player, you gotta go where football is #1 - or at least tied for #1.

Ditto on what everyone else has said. I've lived in a few different metro areas now, and Ryan's coverage of NKY high school sports has been first class. Best of luck to Ryan. There’s no doubt the “new media” has played a role in the demise of local newspapers and their coverage of local sports, but so far the “new media” hasn’t actually replaced what the local papers provided. Blogs like this are great, but they don’t provide “coverage” per se. One newspaper gave me information on virtually all the local sports I was interested in. To get the same on the web, I’ve got to visit many different sites, and then still run some searches for what I haven’t yet found. There must be something better still to come. What will it be?

Why not? I'm a Highlands guy & a big fan of Pat, but I see no reason Pike can't play D1 QB assuming he continues to develop at the rate he has. I won't get into the attitude thing because that's been over-done on here already. I'm sure he could play TE, but watching him throw he sure looks D1 to me. The throw he made on the run to the corner of the far end zone in the regular season game was as good a throw from a hs QB I've ever seen.

Well said. My point was more about the situation where the kid or his parents orchestrate a big event as opposed to the local TV station requesting a move to during the school day to accommodate their schedule. IMO, there is a difference between these two scenarios. One is driven by outside forces and the other is self-promotion.

And this may be the silliest thing I've ever heard. What's probably the most common complaint about sports today? Without a doubt, it's got to be the constant "look at me, look at me" attitude of the modern athlete. Fans, sportswriters and coaches alike all bemoan the lack of focus on "team" displayed by so many pro, college and now high school athletes. And what are these high school kids saying with over-the-top, during-the-school-day announcement parties? Yep, they're saying "look at me, look at me, look at me!" Yes, it's an important day for these kids, but like they say - act like you've been there before. Many more important days are still to come.

The 49ers in their Bill Walsh/Joe Montana hey day had one of the smallest offensive lines in the NFL. Trends always go full circle in football, and the day of the gargantuan offensive linemen will not be with us forever.

Can you say, Tim Tebow? I do agree though that Pike has a very nice throwing motion at this point.

I agree on the bolded part. He did a nice job on D, but really looks like an O lineman to me. The kid who could see some time on the D line is Hope. Tall & lanky - a little Fred Dryer-ish - was a real force from the D tackle spot this year. And of course there's the younger True - another one who did a nice job on D but looks an awful lot like an O tackle to me.

The really funny thing is that the frosh were so good, people actually thought it was possible you might NOT be joking!

Awesome. Thanks for the correction - I was confusing with Harlan. 4A playoffs should be fun next year!

Solid post. The only thing I would add is that against Ryle, although they don't pass often, Highlands still had to respect the possibility they would. If JC could throw the ball consistently even a little bit, it would force teams to respect that & not stack the box so often against the run. A good passing game is not just about speed - a long game maybe, but short to mid is about route running, timing & accuracy (IMO). Please don't think I'm harping on your program. The two playoff games at your place the past few years have been some of my favorite, and I was bummed to hear we're in different classes next year. The atmosphere in Paintsville is awesome, to say nothing of the football! :thumb:

Why not work on the pass routes also? :confused: JC was an excellent team again this year, but their lack of ability to strike quickly with the passing game doomed them. Harlan was similar. I have a ton of respect for the JC program, but how long do you stick with a philosophy that appears only good enough to get you to number 2?

Maybe the L-ville publics should take a look at Cinci Colerain & see what they're doing. They've been successfully competing with the Cincinnati GCL schools for quite a while now & there doesn't seem to be any end in sight. Demographics are also similar to many of the Jefferson Cty publics. They must be doing something right.

The line of thinking for this team is completely different from the philosophy used in the Ft. Thomas Jr. League. I thought I read somewhere recently on BGP that a league had started in the Ryle area using the obviously successful formula from the FTJL? Or am I thinking of Campbell County? :confused: It's great that Ryle now has one dedicated jr team playing, but that's a max of 22 kids starting each week who are destined to fill out the roster of a 6A school. The FTJL has 4 8th grade teams playing each week. That's a max of 88 kids starting each week, all to fill out the roster of a 3A school.

Are you sure they beat Highlands last year?

Maybe, maybe not. Ryle needs to clearly and honestly establish what the performance gaps are between themselves and Trinity/X, and make a realistic plan to address each one. Just doing more of the same may happen to address all the gaps, but my guess is most likely it doesn't. I think it's great that Ryle has been benchmarking themselves off Highlands, but it's not HHS they need to beat for a championship. "Realistic" is key here also. The solution for Trinity/X in many cases won't be the best solution for Ryle.

I don't have a strong opinion of the kid one way or the other, but I will say this - his conduct in the two games against Highlands this year was much, much improved from what it was last year. I had a pretty good view for both games this season, and he was all business as far as I could see.