JoeFan

Hmmm...Barrow, Alaska or Cawood? No offense to the fine folks on our southern boarder, but its a hard call. To get to Barrow, we could bus to Lexington, charter to Cincinnati, fly commercial to Spokan or Portland, charter to Fairbanks, then take a fleet of brush planes to a landing strip near Barrow, then sled dogs the rest of the way. To get to Cawood, we have to take a yellow dog over Pine Mountain. I say its too close to call.

I agree with your point about baseball. Parents often complain that they do not have enough summer time free to plan vacations. But Kentucky is not a very good baseball state because we simply do not play enough games or have a long enough season. I was trying to come up with some way to ease the heat problem while addressing parent complaints. Fall/winter practice for baseball sounds reasonable to me. Of course, you are going to have kids who are participating in other sports, but the same is true of football, where some of our kids miss spring practice for baseball or track. I don't think three weeks instead of two would create a problem as far as acclimation, so long as coaches don't go nuts right off the bat when they start back. I've seen some kids gain thirty pounds over the two weeks off. I don't think an extra week would have made it much worse. Most kids know what's comming when they get back and run on their own, at least a little. The biggest thing is to adjust practice to the tempreture. If its 90 and 80% humidity, as it is most of July and Aug. in E KY, you just have to work around it. Mornings are great. In the p.m. if you are going to practice, figure on 3 hrs instead of 2 and take extra water breaks. Also, stressing to the kids that it is extremely important to hydrate before practice is essential. If practice is at 6, they need to spend the hours from 2 - 5 sucking down some high quality H20.

Here's my "For What its Worth" plan. 3 week dead period ending the first Monday after the weekend following July 4. This gives families ample time for vacations and gives the kids a chance to decompress a little. The first week following should be conditioning only. The second week should be limited in time (2 hrs per day), in helmets only. The biggest problems come when you start practicing in shoulder pads in the heat of the day. Two weeks to get ready for this should help, if used correctly. I know this is pretty close to what we have now, but a few extra days to spread the preparation time out in July should make a difference. Also, not to blame anyone, but a lot can be avoided by practicing in the a.m., before the heat and humidity skyrocket. The earlier the better.

Thanks GoldenEagle. I think we lose site of what we are supposed to be teaching kids through sports sometimes.

I love this kind of thread. IMO success should be measured by consistantly living up to the potential of the kids you have. Some years you may be a bit down. Some years you may be loaded. If you have 5 D1 prospects and a couple of other all-staters you should win a championship. But a team with 30 players and only minimal talent that makes the play-offs and competes in every game is just as successful in my book. The lessons in football should be about striving to succeed. That doesn't mean you accept less than winning from your kids. Otherwise everyone should just get a participation trophy and go home. But, at the end of the day, if you can say you got as much out of your kids as they had to give, both they and you can find something to take pride in.

Has this been confirmed? Its about time. If so, good luck to coach Branham and the Bobcats.

The problem is that there is no way to rule on this kind of conduct, either objectively or subjectively. Let the future sort it out. You reap what you sow.

I don't think the refs should make a value judgment about who played better. Just let them play for an hour or so and give both teams a certificate of participation.

What a great idea for a web-cast. I want Watusi to hold the hat while Guru draws and I think Leatherneck should be the independant auditor.

I'm not going to get sucked into the public/private debate because that shouldn't be the issue. The problem is that the rule is now unworkable. The rule is: YOU CAN'T TRANSFER..........but if a.........b.................c..........or d.then the KHSAA can waive the rule. One of the exceptions is for a change of residence. Great. But then the change of residence can't be for primarily athletic reasons. This is so convuluted that it can't be applied equitably. Transferees to private school always have the justification that I want to go to private school. Why shouldn't a kid from North Hardin be able to simply say, for example, "I want to go to Male". If that kid happens to be 6'2" and run a 4.45 and hits like a Mack truck, so what. But he still has to apply for a waiver and hope the powers that be will believe his parents (or the aunt, cousin, older brother or distant acquaintance who has obtained his custody) wanted to move to Jefferson County to be closer to the river and not so he can play ball. There have been so many notable transfers of high profile athletes to private schools that never get a second look from the KHSAA that it has to anger the public school people when they get called on the carpet over a transfer and then someone alleges they recruited him. Eliminate the problem. Recruit all you want. Everybody. Let coaches make in home visits. Let them bring kids in for campus visits - they can take them to the local Sonic. But either let everyone transfer without penalty or let no one. If everyone, without exception had to sit out a year, there would be much less contraversy. Trinity and X aren't going to notice a kid until after is 10th grade year. If they want to wait until he is a Senior for him to play again, fine.

No words go together like "blind" and "KHSAA". If they had been trying to do it they would have had a #1 playing a #16 and there were only 8. Therefore, in the absence of other evidence, I have to conclude it was legit. It is just dumb, however, to conduct a blind draw in secret. No matter what the outcome, someone is going to feel it was a set-up. There was no way the KHSAA could come out looking good.

Thanks Hatz, I think that is a good object lesson.

Don't get me started on consolidation. I just go through ranting about the anti blow-out rule. However, as Guru proposed it, it would always be the smallest 16 teams and the largest 16, in A and AAAAAA respectively. The rest would be divided equally. Eventually, consolidation might make so many classes unworkable, but I'm certain before that happens our society will have imploded upon itself from the horrors of consolidation and anarchy will reign. I hear the next plan is to have only one high school in the state, Kentucky Central High, located in Larue or Marion county.

Good. I have more time to rant about this now. First let me say:madman: :madman: :mad: :fight: :fight: :fight: :madman: .....:irked: Now, that's out of the way and I can unclench my teeth a bit, what are we trying to teach kids? "Don't give your best effort"? Its alright if you don't want to work hard and get better because you can't lose by too much"? Someone tell me what the point of this is. I'm no fan of running up the score for the sake of doing so, but if a lesser team can't compete and keep it respectible, so be it. I've found that if one team runs the score up on another team that is trying to build a program the right way, the table will turn over time. Let history sort that out. As for the kids, what hurts worse, a 40 point loss or a 2 point loss? Losing is losing. I've been on the down side of some blow outs. I've even been angry when I felt the other team was throwing it up just to run it up. However, I would have been utterly embarrassed for the other coach to have his team take a knee in the third quarter to keep from getting a penalty or suspension. That looks awful for the losing team. For the same reason I hate the running clock. I'd rather have my team play the full game and try to do something positive in the second half so they can built on it. This mentality that the "powers that be" have to take care of the underdogs is destroying our culture. Want to know why Johnny can't read? Its because many school districts refuse require teachers to give work the grade it merits. Failure is suposed to be painful. That is how we learn. Let the game be decided on the field in accordance with the rules of competition.

I can't say what I really think of this for risk of being bannished. I hope the brains of the KHSAA don't see this.

Just a rumor. I heard that there were a significant number of applications, including several from out of state and that these had been in for some time, but no action yet. If I was a BL parent, I'd be at the school one day and the BOE the next with a protest sign. Who are they going to get at this late date and what are they going to be able to do between now and the first game. I honestly believe they simply want to kill the program.

I don't disagree with anything Woody said, but I do have a slightly different take on it. I love football, but if it weren't for the kids I'd do something else on friday nights. I feel like you have to be personally invested in the players -not whether they perform just as you instructed them, but in whether they are becoming quality people. I'm as competitive as they come, but at the end of the day, its their team, not yours. When you're my age and realize that they are never going to let you throw another block, that gets easier. I guess what I'm trying to say is - derive your satisfaction as a coach in the long-term success of the players you coach rather than the result each week. Remember they are kids. Coach long enough and you will have a situation where a crucial game was lost because one of them was love sick, or mad at his parents or teammates, or, regretably, hung over. Nevertheless, if you can look back and say you had a positive impact in the life of that young man and he is now a quality person, what can be more sastisfying than that. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck. :thumb: OBTW, I love the wishbone too, but you can do a little more out of an I/Power I package. Just my $ .02.

I too would like to see more emphasis on developing local talent at Pikeville College. There is a wonderful opportunity there. To be fair, they have provided a chance for some mountain players and I have high hopes for the future. Right now the problem seems to be that the coaches they have brought in look at Pikeville only as a stepping stone to another job. Without meaning any disrespect to any former coach at the school, I still believe they should look to someone with some local roots. Coach Gilliam from Morehead would have been a great choice and would have been there for the long haul.

OK, you guys are causing me to lose count!:irked:

OK, I give up since we've beat this horse to death. Maybe my problem is that all my games have been called by the crew in the video. I don't think they knew it was a kick and that guy was just down there because he was going to get a hot dog.

Look I understand there are judgment errors. The only ones I get a little teed off about are the ones where somebody is out of position to make the call because they are watching the ball. (Fortunately that doesn't happen often). I hate replay. It breaks up the game and they still don't get 100% of them right. I'm just saying that if you are building a new facility why not get the longer ones. Oh, and I'd support higher game fees, if you'd support higher coaching stipends.

I was afraid you got hitched and the wife wouldn't let you stay up past your bedtime. That's my problem.:irked:

Look guys, I've had more than one ref tell me they had a problem on a close call, once because of sun, once because the goal post swayed, and once because the ball went just inside or partially over the upright. My comment wasn't a slam on refs. My point was simply that most of the questions would be eliminated. I've spent a lot of time on the sidelines and I know its the worst position on the field to judge a fieldgoal. That's not the point. However, if your point is that the officials are perfect in calling fieldgoals, me thinks thou doth protest too much.

113 Where are all the guys who sat up until 12:01 a.m. to be the first to post last year. Did everyone get therapy?:jump:

In high school few kicks will be above the newer posts. That's the only point. It illiminates some of the judgment calls. There is no perfect angle for the officials. Anyone who has ever seen one official sneak an embarrassed look at the other before signaling knows that sometimes under the post is not perfect either. There will always be judgement errors, its just that this is one that would be easy to limit. As to the cost, I don't think anyone should be forced to put the new posts in place. Simply make a rule that for new construction higher posts must be used.