leatherneck

Last time it came up when I was involved, the Big East would not allow UL to commit the stadium that weekend. Ilwas the Big East still l laying this past weelend?

Congrats to the Collins players and coaches. You guys played/coached one heck of a game and certainly deserved the win. Well done. Congrats to the Birds for another great season. If the coaches and players can look themselves in the mirror and say that they did everything within their power to make the team as good as possible, it was a successful year. That is all this fan can ask of them.

BF, I understand that the extra 1 and 1/2 hours each way is more of an issue for you than it is for the typical fan. So if it causes you to pass on going to the game, that makes sense to me. I know you would be there if you could. But for others, if they aren't going because it is a drudge, I ask them to consider all the hours these young men have put into our community's football team, starting with weights and conditioning back in last December; the very hot practices during the summer; and continuing to the point where we are now. Talk about a drudge. That makes the extra distance to BG seem extremely minor, at least to me. We are going to the game to support the young men who have had the commitment and discipline to be able to wear the word "Highlands" across their chest. Nothing more; nothing less. If it turns out to be a blow out, making the game less enjoyable from a fan's perspective, I still want to be there showing my support for the players, particularly the seniors whom have given so much to my community's team over the last 4 years, and the coaches whom have given so much of their lives to make the dreams of so many kids come true. And if per chance it is a close game, I will want to be there even more showing my support and encouragement. I think I owe that to the players and coaches for all that they have done for my community's football team.

Henry and I will be there. It doesn't matter who they play. But to be fair, with the sons all grown, it's much easier for us to make the trip. Then again, if our sons were younger, they'd be screaming from the top of their lungs if we weren't taking them to the game. PS: we are certainly not bored with winning. It's kind of like age to bourbon. A little is good, a decent amount is great; and a whole lot is blooming fantastic.

The same reaction I've had to every other post in this thread and all the other threads pertaining to the "what team is the best in Ky" urination competition.

What the hell, I'll throw my equally meaningless opinion out there: Highlands is the best team in the state.

Was the area these guys were in "off limits" and posted as such? Was there a sign telling visitors not to disturb the rocks? If not, I have serious doubts as to whether the charges stick. If I'm camping in a national or state forest and I break branches off of dead fall for my camp fire or I push down a dead tree to use to build a lean to, how is that any different than what these guys did (assuming they weren't in an area they weren't supposed to be and assuming there is no signage telling them not to disturb the rocks. I watched the video but haven't read the articles; hence my assumptions)?

I'd have taken the pornography approach: I don't know how to define what is a better program but I know it when I see it.

Edited to delete comment

Charleston is an absolutely great town. If I ever moved from N. Ky., it would have to be at the top of the list. While on active duty, Henry and I spent a lot of time in Charleston. A fellow Marine officer and great friend came from an old, old Charleston family. He was a SOB (which is a good thing in Charleston). Because of him, we got to see a side of Charleston and the surrounding low country that very, very few outsiders ever get to experience. It was flat out cool.

I saw Dave come over at half time of the Campbell County game and give a tender kiss to a lady in a wheel chair, which I assumed was his wife. Prayers and thoughts Dave. I hope the Good Lord can find some way to help ease the pain of you and your children.

Isn't this somewhat of an acknowledgment that the SS system isn't working; or isn't working to the extent it was expected to work? Seems so to me. The creation of the SS system was a big step towards the creation of the "nanny state". In the simplest of terms, it said in essence: "you aren't smart enough or disciplined enough to save for your retirement so we, the federal govt, are going to force you to do it. And we are going to force you to do it with us!" Unfortunately, like most Ponzi schemes, it fails to work as promised. Just think what your 401K would look like if you had been able to put all the money you contributed to SS into your 401K. As Martha says, that would be a good thing. If the justification for Obamacare is the "success" of SS, we have a problem.

Henry and I took in this game, as Highlands had a bye and we have friends coaching at both schools. My observations: -neither team had what I'd call a huge turnout of fans for such an important game. The Camels had a better turnout, then again, it was a home game so I'd expect that. -although Dixie lost, I thought they had the better defense and offense. Dixie's O really shot itself in the foot over and over again with drive stopping penalties. The bad shotgun snap on the third down before the punt that the Mathews (?) kid returned for a touchdown hurt Dixie big time. If I recall properly, it was third and manageable. With the bad snap, Dixie had to punt real deep in its own territory. The punt had no hang time and the returners didn't have much of a chance to get into the coverage lanes. Mathews did make one heck of a return though. Kid is quick and elusive. Played a pretty nice game at safety too. I saw him come up a couple of times and fight off blockers to make tackles. -the Camels won the game because they didn't make stupid penalties over and over again. Well done. -while the Camel D played pretty well; the Dixie D played exceptionally well. I really like Avery Wood; he's a tough son of a gun, but the Dixie D did an exceptionally good job stopping him or at a minimum, really limiting his effectiveness. Dixie's D flew to the ball. The DC for Dixie, Kevin Eickmann, is doing a fantastic job at Dixie. -Dixie's QB impressed me too. Really nice ball player. -my first time in the new Camel facility. Very nice. -ran into some other Highlands fans taking in the game as well as some "county folks" that I don't see all to often. -just a nice evening all the way around.

Never bring a whistle to a gun fight.

They receive some coaching at the FTJFL level, but if you think you can really teach good O line technique in a couple of hours a night, several nights a week from August to October I think you are wrong. And I coached O linemen in the FTJFL for years. Heck, I often had kids playing the O line that became DBs, RBs, etc. at the frosh and varsity level years later. You did the best you could with what you had. At the 3/4 level, you hoped you could get them out of the huddle and up to the line of scrimmage in the right spot. At the 5/6 level, you hoped for a little more. At the 7/8 level you could hope for even more but still, with kids practicing positions on both sides of the ball over a very limited amount of time, you didn't and shouldn't expect great or even good technique. At the frosh level, they get better coaching, but even then there is no way they've learned and developed the techniques that they'd need to be good o linemen. I've yet to see a frosh O linemen anywhere, including both of my sons that went on to be all state, have good technique. Plus when you are small, you've not even begun to develop the strength and endurance necessary to effectively block kids bigger than you. Don't believe the stuff you hear and read about Highlands frosh teams being ready for action because of the league. It's not true. If anything, the way the league is ran with the kids broken up amongst the teams and not having played together before their frosh year, makes the frosh year even harder to be successful. The primary goal of the league is and should be to make sure the kids have fun playing football so they keep playing football. If you can teach them a little, that's great, but the high school coaches will teach them what they need to know when they become high school players.

To the best of my knowledge, there is no big problem going on with the frosh. Just a less talented (at this point) group of kids. To me anyway, success at the frosh level doesn't mean much. Never has, which is why I've never been wrapped up the way some have in Ws and Ls at the frosh level. It generally indicates what team has some really athletic skilled players. What you see out of the linemen is not much. If you have some big O linemen that can lean on people and at least get in the way of the D and you have athletic skilled players, you win. It's that simple. You don't see good technique out of frosh O linemen (or at least I haven't, from any frosh team of any school). Line play at the frosh level is just brute play. In years past, Highlands has had the big, pudgy frosh O linemen needed for that style of play. After a couple of years in the system, they became the smaller, quick, agile O linemen Highlands is known for. But this year's frosh O line at Highlands is small; much smaller than the frosh O line I'm used to seeing. For that to work at the frosh level, they'd have to have the technique and coaching that takes a couple of years to teach. And of course, they haven't received that yet. Result: a less than successful O at the frosh level at Highlands this year. I've only been able to see one frosh game this year. But while the frosh O line didn't block well at all in that game, I liked what I saw. I have a feeling that, if those kids buy into the off season programs and listen to Coach Turner, by the time those kids become juniors some of them will become very good Highlands O linemen. This class is going to be just fine; more than just fine actually, by the time they are juniors and seniors.

I still want someone to convince me how a handshake (or more appropriately a handtap quickly made while passing down the line) teaches sportsmanship. Will that little handtap somehow miraculously convert a bad sport into a good sport? I appreciate the "symbolism" to the handtap line, but I really don't think it instills good sportsmanship. It does allow the coach to tell his players "get out there and show some sportsmanship" but he can just as easily make that message part of his pre-game speech: "go out there and play hard, play with class and don't embarrass yourself, me, your school and your parents by playing dirty" (and I'm sure many coaches do just that). And when a coach has a player that plays dirty, sitting his butt on the sidelines for the rest of the game and running his butt the following week in practice will do a whole lot more to curb the bad behavior than some quick handtap after the game. A parent sitting down with his or her son after the game and expressing their extreme disappointment to the kid about his dirty play will do a lot more to correct the dirty play than some quick handtap. Parents not acting like idiots and screaming at the refs and opposing coaches and players during the game will do much more than a handtap. Coaches not yelling at the refs or exchanging words with the opposing coaches after the game will do much more than the handtap. People like seeing the handshake lines because it makes them feel good; it makes them feel that all the players are good sports and play with class it's political correctness warmth and fuzziness. It does not instill sportsmanship however. Parents instill good sportsmanship; coaches reinforce it by commending good sportsmanship and penalizing bad sportsmanship.

And Damon isn't known for making great decisions in the General Assembly. I like Damon but..... Buckethead, as Hoover is called by family and friends, is a friend of mine. We were fraternity brothers at Centre. I am a political supporter of Jeff. Great guy. But he's wrong here.

I've always kind of liked that play; whether it's ran inside or outside. It was a play that opposing coaches and players knew was coming, but couldn't stop it. On the referenced video, the left guard pulled and blocked the defensive end; left tackle pulled and sealed the LBer. TD Highlands. Thanks for the link Fishhead. Brought back good memories.

I think the refs have always been instructed to "high tail" it out of there right after the game. The officials authority on the game ends as soon as the game ends. It's been that way for some time. There is no reason whatsover for a ref to linger around afterwards. If they do, it becomes a breeding ground for some jackwagon fan or parent upset with the referring to start some trouble with the refs.

Obviously there are some problems with sportsmanship or else the handshake would not have ended for the reason that it did. But if you think for a single moment that forcing a kid to shake an opponent's hand will somehow teach or instill sportsmanship, I think you are mistaken. At best, a large, large majority of the time the players walk quickly through the line, say a meaningless and hollow "good game" and then run to their sideline. As PP92 mentioned, helping an opponent up says a lot more to me than the handshake afterwards. Not trashtalking or showboating during a game says a lot more to me than the handshake afterwards. Not cussing or arguing with the refs during the game says a lot more to me than the handshake afterwards. Handing the ball to the ref after a score says a lot more to me than the handshake afterwards.

Is a handshake afterwards really needed to demonstrate sportsmanship between competitors? Shouldn't that have been done during the game? Frankly, I could give a hoot less if they continue to shake hands or they don't continue to shake hands after a game. A dirty player that shook hands after a game was still a dirty player. And a clean player was going to still be a clean player regardless of whether he shook hands afterwards. Or stated differently: players have the entire game to demonstrate sportsmanship. A handshake afterwards really doesn't mean much.

That explains it. I thought Moe was taking pictures?

An interesting point made in one of the articles. The D leader in the House is given "credit" for keeping "discipline" with the D members of the House, with no D's willing to step up and help Boehner find enough support on the D side for an alternative (thus Boehner not needing the votes of the 50 or 60 Rs taking the hard stand). Is that another way of saying the D leader is exercising so much pressure on D members that they won't vote the way they feel? If not, why the mention of discipline? Is that an example of the Ds being more interested in seeing the Rs implode in the House than doing what is best for the country? Help me out in seeing this for what it is. I hear what you are saying when you think a bill would pass with the support of the Ds, but based on what I read in the article, I'm not so sure that is the case. It seems to me like the Ds are enjoying the situation way too much.

2008 Highlands was pretty much two platooning, but 2009 was the first year you saw full two platooning on the field for Highlands (most of the players practiced on both sides of the ball, but only played on one side of the ball during games. With the limited exception of Austin Collinsworth who played a little bit both ways at the beginning of the season). That was a darn good football team that was incredibly deep with talent everywhere. When Bardo was lost as a QB in the 5th game, Towles came in and did a decent job. He didn't have to do much, but what they asked him to do, he did well. When Collinsworth was lost for 5 games, Tyler Fennell came in and did an outstanding job as the main RB. When we had an olinemen or a dlinemen miss a game, we had so much depth that the next guy up came in and the team didn't miss a beat. Highlands had a really strong senior class supplemented by some really strong juniors. But Highlands was light years ahead of where Boone County is at this point when it comes to depth so it was much, much easier for Highlands to go to the two platoon system than it is for Boone, particularly when the injuries come into play. What the Boone coach is doing may be tough on the seniors, but if they give it their all, they will be able to sleep well at night knowing that they were part of the team that laid the foundation for what I think will be a lot of success at Boone in the future.