BFritz

lol. You just stated what we've all known for so many years but people like @RCC9 deny, and that's that so many kids go to Highlands strictly for football, and you went even as far as to say that families move to Ft Thomas to do it. Some kids may go strictly for the atmosphere and academics, but I've known so many kids that have come from schools with "horrible academic programs" but come out ahead and are very successful in life. It comes down to an individual's motivation or a family's motivation to push an individual.

Were you one of the many people that posted that I should go to a psychiatrist for help or have all of my friends and family get together to discuss how to better live my life? If not, then no response expected :thumb: I am wondering where all of the people who posted that I should get help are because I seriously was angry. I'm not talking about the person who told me that I shouldn't say it because I'm not that disrespectful, but I am referring to everyone else who claimed I needed help. You rock for having that attitude! I love making comments that make people feel so awkward that they'd rather be anywhere else in the world! (Another disclaimer is I typically only do that when people treat me like a charity case or like I'm too stupid to understand what they're saying.) I do say (type) that quote a lot in my presentations (I think a news channel even quoted me on it once): "Life is what you make it...... happiness is what you make it." Keep on keeping on!

There was pages of people telling me how I should get help, but now nobody has anything to say?!

Coach Cal looked like he had the life drained from him in the first half and looked like he had already given up.

Xavier battled back after being down early, but both teams got sloppy down the stretch. Either team could have just taken the game at the end. X turned it over too much at the end. Can't turn the ball over at the end of the game and it seemed like X did that 6 or 7 times just in the final minute. Didn't look like they were ready for pressure on the big stage. Coach Mack's team did what they needed to do, though :thumb: Should have put in Leighton Schrand! Big win!

A thread created solely to take a shot at me and to mock my thread. So cute and so mature, but I'll bite :thumb: I think part of it was Highlands being so dominant and consistent, which, when you have a nationally ranked program in your area that you have to play in the second round of the playoffs at the latest, it's tough to get to the regional title game. (I realize that they didn't lose to Highlands every year in the playoffs, which other parts of my post could play a part in.) I think the other big part was just that we didn't have the right coach in there that had the win-first attitude. Don't get me wrong because I think that the attitude was always "let's go play hard and give it our all," but now the attitude is "we are going to go win," thanks to Eddie. I think that the attitude trickled down to the players, but now players like AJ that have been starting for years also have the attitude of "this game is ours." Again, I don't know that for sure, but, when I was in school (before and after the wreck), it was always "we WILL win," even when we were facing the nationally ranked Highlands team in 98 with Smith and Lorenzen. All of those reasons also bring with it intensity and desire to be on the field, along with the win-first attitude, which I think is returning. :laugh:

Fine. Let's meet so you can describe everything about Highlands' football that you couldn't post on here like this message board is meant for. You say that you can't see expressions, reactions, instant responses on here, but isn't it like that with EVERYTHING posted on here? Why is discussing Highlands' football different? No matter, though, because we'll meet. The Wings and Rings in the Crestview Hills Town Center is an easy place for me to roll to, so let me know when and we'll do it. :thumb:

People didn't give one complete answer. Some people said feeder and other people gave different ideas. I'd be happy to accept some logical explanation and not just "a down year or two but everything is fine in Fort Thomas," because that doesn't seem to fit. I didn't start this thread to stir the pot, I started this thread because Highlands is and always has been CovCath's biggest rival, and also because Highlands fans were so die-hard about drilling into the ground "Highlands reloads, they don't rebuild," and everything else about how great the feeder program was and how dominant Highlands always is, so I was wondering what changed. Furthermore, it's high school football in Northern Kentucky, which is always a blast to talk about and Highlands has always been the cream of the crop up here (and in all of Kentucky). The feeder program quit developing kids? Don't need to work miracles, but developing kids starting in grade school had them at least able to play football at an average level, and then the Highlands' program helped develop them more and also made it easy because a pass-first system is hard to stop when you have a bunch of fresh receivers that spread the defense out and just run routes. That's tough for colleges and even the NFL to stop when it's run properly, even without superstar receivers. Is their talent at quarterback down? Receivers are a dime a dozen, especially with a feeder program like Highlands has because they've all played. That could be an explanation, and I'm not saying they need an All-American, but just someone that can deliver the ball. So they're playing basketball and baseball instead of football? Seems to me like they would have always chosen football back in years past. I know it can't be pointed to ONE thing, but I was looking for a collection of answers that made sense. I thought maybe it was as simple as Dale was really that good of a coach, but it doesn't seem like many people think that's the reason. You also act like "one losing season" is that much out of the norm when they would beat every team they played, especially in Northern Kentucky, by 60 and would only lose one game a year for the longest time and it was always to some out-of-state powerhouse. Downfall is not dominating football in 5a (and all of KY outside of a few big 6a schools) anymore. Downfall is not blowing every team out by 50+ like they used to. Downfall is not winning state every year. Might be more that I think of later, but that's a good start.

LOVE it! Great young man leading the Colonels! Even if he gets a big D1 (or even a small D1 because, let's face it, D1 is D1!) offer? Figured he might take time off to hit the gym and/or work on throwing, drop backs, etc.. Then again, he might need a break from football and to enjoy his senior season of basketball before spending four or five years in college football.

You've done nothing but skate around the answers in this thread, except for maybe one or two general posts at the start of the thread. It's not that I don't "like" the answers, it's that they haven't made sense and they've gone against everything that the Highlands' crowd bragged about for so many years as for all the reasons of success. People have offered vague possibilities, but none have really offered any full explanation or have provided a logical explanation. And if you've answered them in other threads, what good does that do in this thread? Why wouldn't you just answer it here. I thought the closing enrollment happened years ago, though, and didn't seem to have any effect when Dale was here. It's also surprising that, even with closing enrollment borders, there would be a drop-off in talent because of the feeder system where kids are learning to play football in the Highlands' style with other kids that they'll play with through high school. I thought BW was an outside hire, which makes the drop even more surprising because you'd think things wouldn't change much at all in the way things were done (practices, conditioning, offseason, pre-game, etc.). How many threads in this forum ask multiple questions and have civil people that answer them? Strongside had no problem doing it above. I did only ask a few in the original post and actually I don't believe I've asked many more. Don't tell me to bullet the questions like you're better than me. Don't be a child. Answer the questions. How many times do I have to explain this?! It's a message board! It's for discussing things like the things I'm asking! It's for everyone! Not just me! So, no, I didn't weasel out, I'm being an adult about this and just trying to start a conversation. Why is that so hard for you? I'd be more than happy to believe it if it made any sense! You can't just say "everything is the same" when everything clearly isn' the same! I'm impossible for searching for answers and not just accepting "it's this because I say it is" from you. Typical.

Why has depth dropped-off? Just not strong classes or feeder program faltering or what? Does the defense not having that attitude reflect the players more or BW more? They never seemed to need much defense because the offense scored so much. He offered something real. Take notes.

Maybe you missed the part where I said "only sarcastic replies have been given." Why are you do afraid to answer if nothing it's so easy? Once again, this is a message board, which discussing these topics is exactly what it is for. Stop dancing around the topic and discuss. We can meet for drinks after you do. By the way, why do you only do that with this topic? Some people have given BW needing to get used to it as a reason, and Cowboy gave the no star QB as a reason, and a few people have given talent falling off (which then I'd ask how that happened when everyone boasts about the feeder system and also how Highlands two-platooned and was at least 3 quality players deep at each position), maybe a few other opinions, which I've been reading and trying to put them all together, which is why I started the thread. Your reasoning was "no downfall, just two off years." I really don't know, which is probably why I started the thread. No elite quarterback could make sense, but you don't really need an elite QB in Highlands' system, just someone who can throw decently (so it seems). Also, why would you need players going both ways? That lends some weight to maybe the talent drop-off theory, but I find that hard to believe when the feeder system has been praised and they have had so much depth in the past. Other schools improving really doesn't make much sense because they've always dominated even the best of teams. So I'm not sure, which, once again, is why I started the thread. Earlier. This forum is for discussing Highlands' football, but we're only allowed to discuss it when they're good? They are CovCath's biggest rival, so obviously their football program has an impact on my interests. I have no clue, which, as you'll see below, is one reason why I started the thread. Not sure. That's another reason why I asked. Not only back to state titles, but will they ever get back to blowing teams out in one-loss seasons? I don't know anything about it, but people always pointed to that as a reason for Highlands' success, so is that a (or the) reason for Highlands' struggles? I think other teams might have improved, but Highlands was always a well-oiled machine and they would have improved while other teams were improving, so I'm not sure. Do you think other teams have? Are you saying Highlands is no longer in a class by themselves?

Once again, no they haven't. Not in this thread. One or two people have said that BW needs time to get make his mark, but things were already established, so I don't see that as much of a reasoning. Most people have just offered sarcastic comments or just posted things to avoid the question altogether. Why wouldn't I want to hear real answers to a question I asked?

Once again, so I asked questions, which no one has been able to answer besides with sarcasm, so doesn't that make them ignorant, too? At least I'm trying to become more knowledgable about the situation. By the way, quick question for mods: I was suspended a long time ago because someone posted that I knew nothing about drinking and driving, which I responded was an ignorant comment, but that's legal for people to do now?

Like I said, is this not what the message board is for? To discuss things like this? Why would you not do it on here? You said you get the benefit of body language and immediate answers, reactions, etc., but isn't it like that with every debate on here? So I was ignorant of the situation, so I asked questions, and that's bad? Isn't that how you cure ignorance? Please explain that to me.

You disagree with that? That's an objective view. Go back and look through all the posts through the years. EVEN IN THIS THREAD, people are calling me a jealous hater for posting things that were objective that they couldn't answer, from the first post on, so that's not hating, that's looking at the situation as-is.

You know what's hilarious? You can't point to ONE thing I've posted in this thread that wasn't objective and that makes me a hater. Once again, I didn't even bring up CovCath, but you're a hater and ran out of things to post that have any real merit (which nothing you posted really did in the first place), so you just attack with empty rhetoric.

When have I made any personal attacks? You just made several. The irony is unbelievable.

lol! It's only high school football, so why are all of you getting upset and up-in-arms when I asked a few simple questions! It's also hilarious how Highlands fans are always so boastful and proud like high school football is the world and they're above everyone else when Highlands is dominating, but, once Highlands isn't dominating everyone, it's "just high school football"! :laugh: :lol2:

And yet YOU STILL can't offer any reasonable answer. Do you realize that a message board is for debates? Not just "it doesn't matter what it looks like, it just will be because it always was"? Even if that was a valid answer, things have changed, like Dale leaving.

How can you make that determination when he hasn't even tried to offer me ONE answer besides for "nothing is wrong, just an off year," when the Highlands' faithful have always preached about the feeder program and how they reload, not rebuild. Again, you go from a nationally ranked program that blows teams out, to a 5-5 team and then a 3-7 team and it's just two off years?

How could it NOT be a big deal? A program that has blown out Kentucky teams for 25 years, has been nationally ranked many times, and is #2 in the country in wins suddenly can't even put together a winning season and you think it's NOT a big deal?!

That's what this message board is for. If you had anything worthwhile to debate, you'd do it here instead of saying "let's meet in person" when you know I won't because, once again, why would I when that's what this message board is for?

lol....... what have I posted that has lacked in class? Because I ask question about your almighty Highlands? Correct me if I'm wrong, but there have been many personal attacks in this thread, none of which were made by me, but many were made about me, YET I'M THE ONE WHO LACKS CLASS? Please explain that one to me.

That's what I've been looking for an is the whole point of this entire thread. You're just now figuring that out?! Also, asking questions about the almighty Highlands program is causing issues?! That's one of those things that tells you everything you need to know about Highlands' fans. Again, we're not talking about CovCath! lol...... keep fishing! When have you seen this before? When has a team gone 5-5 in the regular season and then 3-7 the next regular season? This is hilarious! You know when you can tell when someone has nothing of value to debate? When they post with exaggerations like exclamation marks and hahaha when they've posted things that just dance in a circle or draw attention off of the point of the thread, like your last paragraph, which I already pointed out that there was no reason to post about CCH in this Highlands thread, but you chose to do it again. HILARIOUS!