jpa2825

Very cool. Assume the Moeller kid at the beginning giving the scouting report on Raisor plays summer ball with him?

Even those teams that WANT to play 36 can rarely get that many in. Basically schedule a game every day and DHs on SAT and with weather you are lucky to get 36 played. 3-5 yrs. ago we had great weather and there were teams dumping games to avoid going over 36, but that was the very rare exception.

No doubt the Dirty Birds will have to manufacture runs rather than waiting for the 3R HR like last year. That said, in HS you can manufacture runs more easily than in college or MLB. Look at CCH in past years. Philosophy was often "bunt until the opponent shows they can defend it." Perfectly valid approach and one that was often successful. Baioni will have them ready to play sound fundamental baseball -- field, throw, move runners over, bunt, run the bases, throw strikes, etc. Team is made up of kids that have been successful at the Frosh and JV levels while those above them succeeded at the Varsity level. Should be interesting.

Not only legal, but often strategic. Some HS coaches teach the runner on 1B to take off on lift of front foot. They figure the odds of many HS teams executing a run down properly is pretty low so they are likely to score a run and fairly likely to not even give up an out if the P does the 3rd to 1st move. If P does go home, they're probably taking 2B without a throw for the same reason. At the very highest levels, this doesn't hold true but I've seen it a ton over the years.

Was it easy to do? I have had the compatible modem from Woot for months. Just afraid when I swap it out the whole internet system in our house is gonna fall apart and the wife is gonna blame me!!!

Used to be kids picked up equipment the day after both boys & girls were eliminated from hoops. I guess scheduling for a specific time after Spring Break allows for more certainty. I'm guessing kids that play both baseball and football will skip spring football since it will be right in the middle of their season. Also, lots of competition for roster spots & playing time -- in baseball, I mean!!! Oh my how times have changed!!!

6 on the floor - not an attempt by HC to get away with anything. Ref put the ball in play before anyone (other than HHS) was ready. HC was not pressing at the time which allowed HHS to run 10 seconds off the clock before anyone figured out the ball was in play and HC needed to foul. Definite lack of control of the game by the refs, but it very much worked to HHS's favor and HC did not get any benefit out of it. (It would have been different if all 6 HC defenders were in place and hawking the ball when it was put in play. Of course, in that situation they likely would have caught the 6 players on the floor.) As mentioned above, Adler on HC's PG in the 2nd half was a huge change. Length made the passing lanes more difficult for HC to get into their offense. On offense, HHS ball movement made HC defense work and it caught up to them. HHS would keep working the ball and eventually a slow-footed defender would get caught out of position and HHS would find the open hand. HHS outscored HC 19-6 in the final quarter.

I seem to recall in the old days (mid '80s) that the KHSAA training book suggested that if only 1 umpire was used, the proper placement was behind the P. Theory was that what you may have missed in balls & strikes was outweighed by having a much better angle on all of the other plays that might happen during a game. Tried it once when I got stuck doing a DH at Thomas More in JUL or AUG and my partner did not show up. Did it behind the plate for the 1st game and behind the P for the 2nd game. You'd be amazed at the guys who think THEY can call pitches from the mound, the IF and even the OF that complain that the ump standing right behind the mound cannot see well enough to call balls & strikes from there!

Where is the rule that if you pitch and then someone else pitches, you cannot return to pitch in the same inning? That's a new one on me. I think I recall Jesse Orosco playing some RF after retiring a LH hitter while a RH hitter was up with a LH hitter on deck. I'm sure the CF was shading his way.

Congrats to JB and his staff. A well deserved honor for a hard working coach and a really great guy! Fort Thomas Independent Schools

Have the 2 official "books" in each dugout compare and agree after every inning. Should not be off a pitch or more during any inning. If you don't check until the 7th when they are bumping up against the limit, you could easily have a 5-10 pitch difference -- legitimate OR contrived. I think this will put a premium on throwing strikes. Coaches who try to convince their bottom 1/2 or 1/3 of the lineup, who are often already overmatched, to "take as many pitches as possible to run up the opposing starter's PC should soon find fastballs right down the middle to challenge them. What would be the rules on coming in / out of the game? I could see some coaches trying to "game the system" by swapping stud P for "strike-throwing but not overwhelming stuff" for the same bottom 1/3 of the order in some matchups. If P can come swap back to the mound when the top of the order comes back around, you'll get more innings. This WOULD NOT be good for that stud P's arm.

Proud to have coached him in the FTJFL. Good kid. Amazing versatility with his blocks. Man up on the NG. 2nd level to get to the LB. Quick feet to get to the DT. Most importantly, he blocks to the "echo of the whistle."

But see Post #27. Saying PC wins 7 or 8 out of 10 seems to acknowledge the better team won.

Another point that should be made. HHS needed to vary the snap count & cadence in the 2nd half. Once PC stacked the box and dared HHS to throw the ball, #8 and #44 were coming "downhill" on every play with a running start. Never changed the snap count or cadence to slow that down or draw a penalty for a much needed free 5 yds. In the past, HHS's very strong offense & 2-platoon system made running the hurry up offense work to their advantage. Either they moved the chains and drove the ball down the field while wearing the defense out OR they struck quickly and demoralized the defense. When your offense is not so potent, the hurry up has the opposite effect, particularly when playing with a lead. You run NO clock, you frustrate your offensive players who feel they have hardly played and you put your defenders back out there tired and frustrated because they barely had a chance to get a drink. I realize the coaches want the offensive players "on attack" and when you slow that down, you can lose momentum from how they are used to playing (much like the old 4 corners in basketball). However, that is coaching. You need to make sure your team is comfortable playing both ways. When the difference is 25 seconds between snapping as soon as it is set ready for play and just before a delay penalty is called, you can really shorten the game. Also, if you can do it successfully, a 5 or 6 minute drive can really get a defense to hang their head because they feel the game slipping away from them.

For those that don't care for Rio Grande and can't go to Anita's any longer, Cancun presents an alternative. Some coupons are available in the mailers if you want a lower cost way to give it a chance.

A key play was Birds' failure to score a TD after PC fumbled on on 4th down on their 1st drive of the 2nd half. Birds had 1st & 5 on about the 15 and ended up having to kick a FG. TD would have put them up 35-14. 31-14 was still 3 possessions, but it was all downhill after that. Another was failure of Birds to move the ball after PC onside kick was recovered by the Birds. Got to make them pay for that. A couple of first downs gets Daugherty in FG range and keeps momentum going. Not sure if Daugherty running was a sideline call, an option given to Daugherty if it was there OR a sideline call. 3rd & 6 was a stretch and gave PC the effect of actually recovering the onside kick. PC was better than the Birds at many positions. If they played 10 times, PC probably wins 7 or 8 times. Birds forced them into some turnovers and held them in some critical points. Eventually, talent won out over 4 qtrs. Very nice job by the Birds pulling together and performing well in their division. Really showed that they accomplished some goals after being "under fire" early in the season.

Appeared he was really frustrated at how slowly the white hat was setting the ball for play. That is a style thing. 90% of the time, nobody notices, particularly when HHS is on offense. However, when the offense is running clock, it comes up. White hat was definitely deliberate about it. It was a good 2 or 3 counts before he whistled the ball ready for play after it was spotted. That is when the 25 second play clock starts, so the longer it takes him, the more time can be run.

Daugherty misses 57 yd FGat end of 1st half. Birds dropped a long on on 1st down. Would have put ball at 10 or so.

Wow. Didn't know I had it so good. Went to school when Garnis Martin (271) was around his prime (didn't play). Son played under Dale Mueller (250-36 -- ridiculous). Pretty rarified air.

This would be a concern in other years. Since HHS plays at home until they lose, grass surfaces in 2015 are a moot issue.

Substantively, whether you agree or disagree Clyde is right. This is settled law for some time. A football coach at a public school holds too much authority to avoid coercing / compelling / influencing behavior. As such, his decision to pray in a public manner at a school event exposes the school to potential liability under an establishment clause claim. Procedurally, he did it. He was told to stop it. He stopped it. He got hooked up with the Liberty Center group in TX and "decided" to either "follow his sincerely held religious beliefs that he could no longer suppress" OR "provoke the school into disciplining him" to grab some headlines for the traditionally oppressed group of Christians in America. Much like Kim Davis, he controlled whether he got suspended. He should not now complain about being suspended. If he wants to work to amend the Constitution or to overturn the looooong line of cases which rule that his actions are prohibited, more power to him. I think those are both very tall mountains to climb, but he is more than welcome to try. Just abide by the law while you are doing it. Interestingly, I am guessing there is a significantly overlapping venn diagram of those people who post "This coach is being denied his religious freedom of expression" and "the SC student wouldn't have gotten tossed around if she had simply complied with 1 of the 3 authority figures that told her to stop disrupting class." Hypocrisy? Who would have guessed?

I assume this was meant sarcastically? If not, we have different definitions of voluntary. I include "highly coercive" outside the definition of voluntary.

My guess is he is your HHS Varsity K for the next 3 yrs. if he stays healthy & focuses on his talent. Follow in the footsteps of Daugherty.

Roughly speaking, I think depends on whether your "home district" agrees to hand over your state $. If yes, it used to be about $2,500. If not, TBirds is right. Used to be about $5k. I always thought it was funny that if your "home district" doesn't hand over your state $, they don't get to keep it. Frankfort keeps it and neither school gets it. Presumably schools that don't hand over the state $ don't want to make it more attractive to their students to go to HHS by letting them pay a lower tuition.

Never. HHS is a baseball school.