BigVMan23

Good for Zion...I have seen the young man play and he is very very good. As far as age goes, the poster that stated above that most kids are already 19 when they graduate high school...maybe in Germany and Sweden, I don't know, but HERE in the good ol' US of A, no. BY FAR the majority of kids in this country's high school system turn 18 at some point after their senior year starts. Some may have an early birthday and turn 18 sometime in August or September (a few even a little earlier), some might have a later birthday and turn 18 in April or May (like I did in April of my senior year), or maybe even walk across the stage still 17. I have a young man that plays basketball for me that won't turn 18 till late October after he graduates in 2019...he could actually be held back 2 years and still be eligible to play sports. He could have been an 8th grader this year in stead of a sophomore. Wow. At one time, it was somewhat unusual to have someone who had already turned 19 still in school, and those kids had usually (though not always) "failed" a grade somewhere along the line and had to repeat. Though in this day and age of hold backs and with kids turning 19 in their senior year more common, it's still largely in the minority and I would be very very surprised if it's more than 10%, and my guess is that number is probably a high estimate.

If the Jr.'s could have gotten just a couple of rebounds they win. Gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and putbacks. Even with that Taylor missed a very good look at the buzzer to tie it up.

Let me further refine my first post. I think summer ball CAN be very beneficial, if done the correct way. Just rolling the ball out and saying "ok lets play" while trying to accomplish something...no. Now, lets also be specific here, I'm referring to SCHOOL TEAM summer ball here. I think some of the above posts might be lumping in non-schoolteam AAU ball with this thread as well. Anyway, with drills, conditioning and purposeful practice, it's beneficial. I'm working with a group of just finished freshman and a couple of 8th graders, all from the same school, and we are playing weekend travel ball as a team. We did the same thing last year, and it was GREATLY beneficial for them. We drill, identify specific weaknesses and work on them, run through sets, and on weekends they get put in game situations and work on the things we identify. Now, we aren't in the gym every night, and we might get 5 tournaments in over the summer, so it's not a constant thing. It's not something that will "burn them out". And it's something they WANT to do.

So my bbq that I made for my friend went over like gangbusters. I have some wild caught salmon in the freezer I need to do something with. Anyone every smoked any grouper? I have never cooked it but might be getting some.

Anyone going? I will be there along with some other Anderson County people. Anderson's own Glen Drury is coaching the Jr's.

Smoked a 10-12 pound pork shoulder last night for a friend, she inquired about buying some bbq from me for her husband, who is a big fan of pulled pork. Because of a couple of reasons I did it for them for free. Took it off the smoker about 8:30 this morning and to her office about 10:00 and was met by several smiling faces. I think she is surprising her husband with it tonight so hopefully it will be a good night for both. This one smoked up a little quicker than recent shoulders have, glad I checked it when I did or I may have overcooked it. It was just as tender and juicy as it could be. I have taken to adding more rub and a little brown sugar on top of the shoulder about half way through the smoke, after I spritz it with apple juice. I'm liking the result.

Man, can't believe here at the start of the peak of smoking/grilling season, I had to go to the 3rd page to find this thread.:idunno: So, I smoked up about 15 pounds of pulled pork and donated it to the Anderson County baseball team to sell at concessions Monday night during the region tournament. Went over like gangbusters. Got a lot of accolades about how good it was...and gotta say, it was good. Also made up a bunch of my homemade Carolina style vinegar bbq sauce. Some really really liked it...some didn't. Vinegar sauce is definitely one of those things you either really like or really don't. I grew up with it and I like it...have several buddies here that I have made it for that really like it, and a few who don't. Been doing quite a bit of smoking the past few weekends...smoked some pork tenderloin and a bunch of chicken quarters last weekend. I wasn't real happy with the tenderloin (not a big fan of it personally anyway), but everyone else seemed to be and talked about how good it was. The chicken was really good, and I topped it off with a little bbq sauce at the end of the smoke...usually just leave it with the dry rub. Been experimenting with different wood mixes for smoking too. Got some pecan wood the other day for the first time. Been mixing and matching to get some different flavors...hickory, pecan, cherry, apple, peach, some mesquite but not much. Usually put 2 or 3 of these together in different combinations to see what I get.

I think it's quite a bit more beneficial than sprig football...and football guys will tell you how important/beneficial they think spring football is. As far as # of games, factor in that most games are running clocks, quite a bit of substituting is going on, some of those games are for the younger kids only who aren't playing as much in the other games anyway, and it's not as much as you think.

Sent it right after the game.:up: The AC coaches were...I'd say more than shocked that he didn't get the pill, to say the least.

Then as far as I'm concerned that's on AZ because there is no national rule that forbids middle school kids from playing most varsity sports...might be a national rule concerning football, lacrosse, sports like that, but I don't know for sure. As someone stated above, if one is good enough to play varsity and not just compete but actually excel as a middle schooler, more power to them and anything they do stats wise should be counted.

Nice post. Two evenly matched teams...AC made several horrible errors, 3-4 on just routine plays/fly balls, that lead to about 6 unearned runs for SK. And SK made 2 fantastic catches...possible home run robbing catch at the fence on a smoked line drive and a fully laid out diving catch by the right fielder, and both plays saved 3-4 runs from being scored. If AC just plays average defense, they win. If SK doesn't make two outstanding defensive plays that odds are the players wouldn't make most of the time, AC probably wins even with all the errors. Unfortunately for AC none of those things happened. The way it goes sometimes and SK advances. Congrats to them.

Thought process is EXACTLY the same though. If a pitch is 6 inches off the plate it's a ball...a player is 6 inches in front of the 3 point line it's a 2 pointer, by rule. So my question still stands, if one is ok is the other? And I get it, if an ump is in a 17-0 game in the second inning calling a game where one team is just gosh awful, the strike zone gets bigger to get that game over with. And most everyone probably agrees with that, even the losing coach. We all know that's going to happen. And it's also easier to get away with than my basketball example.

What?! Let me know when they start to talking 5th graders, then I'll get involved in the conversation.

Anderson County won 5 games last year...beat the defending champs and heavy region favorites South Oldham last night to get to finals. Though they won 20 games this year it's been a huge turnaround from last year and I think fit the Cinderella role.

Got ya. Any reason why that would be? That's crap in my opinion.

That was the word at the game last night...but I'm not an SO insider so I can't say for sure.

So then in basketball it's OK if an official calls a shot a 3 pointer if the shooter is 6 inches inside the 3 point line?

Well, their #1 didn't pitch last night when he could have and was going to pitch tonight in the finals was the word...so...if that's the case then by definition that's "throwing off" no matter how good the #2 pitcher might be. Now if he was banged up a little maybe they were hoping an extra day of rest would help and I'm sure they thought they could get by with it. Unfortunately for them they didn't. And had they won last night and big #22 pitched tonight, would that have meant the coaching staff cared less about him today than yesterday? Or are you saying he wasn't going to pitch tonight either? And, to be fair here and give the kid some credit...dude is a heck of a ball player and hit one of the longest home runs I have ever seen a high school player hit last night.

Curry also has several home runs she hit as an 8th grader for varsity not being counted in her total I'm hearing. Any reason why this would be?

Didn't see any of the basketball coaches come by.

Oh OK thought you were there. To bad you missed out on a treat, I smoked the pork and it came out delicious!

(8th region seml) AC down 8-1 at one point rally for the win. SO throw off to save #1 pitcher for region final and it backfires.

And you got your info where? AC 12-SO 10. Final

Hey 2tone, did you try a pulled pork sandwich at the region tournament yesterday?

Now it's a top 3? WHAT!? OK, once you get down to 22 or so in the top 25 coaching jobs in the state there are probably several schools you can lump in that range and all make a decent argument to be top 25, and 'Burg can probably be in that argument. But no way on earth is it top 10 and I just can't believe you just ranked it 3rd in the state. I get pulling for your school and all, but Cobra I think you might need to get out of Central City just a little bit.