BluegrassFootballFan

Elkins early foul trouble handcuffed him the whole game, Tyler just never seemed to find his groove and Boyle still advanced. Mr. Jeremiah Bell came to play today. I was in a section close to a small group of Boyle fans who very obviously did not care for Bell at all, one guy in particular was just ripping on him every single time he touched the ball. But Bell was a beast today. In the first half he kept Boyle within shouting distance and kept the game from getting out of hand. He ran the point for all 32 minutes for a team that only committed 2 turnovers the entire game. His penetration was the ONLY offense Boyle could seem to muster for the first 27 minutes of the game. With about 2 minutes left, the fans next to us were still blasting the kid every time he touched the ball, my uncle who had driven in from Indiana, and who hadn't seen a Boyle game in years turned to me and said, "all that kid has done is put them in a position to win this game, for my money if it comes down to 1 possession for the win, I'm giving him the ball, telling him to take it to the rack, and I'll take my chances" 2 minutes later, as we watched my uncle become a prophet, the guys next to us finally ran out of negativity to shout at the kid.

What do you call it? You call it RENEWING the game with your longest and oldest border rival, in every sport. A rival that is coached by a former player who played at Boyle under Smith. You call it loyalty to tradition, Loyalty to Leffew, loyalty to the two communities that want the game. Pulaski County has had two outstanding seasons back to back, you should be proud. But calling out a team that's beaten you 329-70 in the 7 meetings since the current players have been alive as ducking you, is just a little off target.

re: Can the Royals beat Oklahoma? I don't know about all that, but I bet the Sooners don't want any part of The Maroons!!!!!!!

A couple of points. Toothpick, I love this stuff. I'm not trying to pick on you here, just playing devils advocate. First, you put Bardstown with Central Kentucky and Nelson County with Louisville. I would think those two would be in the same region. Second, when we talk about WKY or EKY, we are talking about HUGE geographic regions with MANY more schools than the other regions listed. I know you've kind of addressed this in saying that the regions really don't matter, as only a handful of teams are carrying the torch for an entire region. But if the region is big enough, then there is a greater pool from which to get that "handful of teams". WKY and EKY as defined by the majority of Kentuckians are both regions that encompass 35-40 counties. Put those two together and you've got nearly 80 of our 120 couties, and probably 130-140 of the 216 football playing schools Poor ol Lexington gets put in a class by itself. Up until 1992, Lexington had 4 schools that played football. There are now only 6 (7, but LCA which just started up and can't count toward this ten year comparison). Dunbar and Lex Cath are still in there infancies as schools but have fared pretty well. But how can you line up a "region" with only 6 schools competing in football (5 in the same class, and same region) and compare the title game appearances to a region with 70 schools that play football in 4 different classes. Of course the region with the 11 to 1 advantage in number of schools should be able to come up with a greater number of quality teams. Those regions have shools playing in all 4 classes, meaning they could concievably send 4 teams per year to the carpet (or more than that in Louisvilles case, there are schools playing in all 4 classes there, and as is evidenced by the last 3 state finals, Louisville has the good fortune of being the dividing line for the semi states, and can send more than one team to the finals in 4A. There could concievably be 5 Louisville schools playing in state title games in a single year.) That's not the case in Lexington. Even if every single public school in Lexington was top 25 in America, only ONE of them could make it to the carpet each year (Even if they were ranked number 1 and 2 in America, Henry Clay and Dunbar could not BOTH make it to the finals in the same year) -- that's a MAXIMUM of 10 appearances over the last ten years (they have 4, not too bad). That would leave one solitary school to choose from, Lexington Catholic, to represent all of the other 3 classes when doing a comparison like this. In my opinion, Lexington and Central Kentucky should probably be grouped into one category "Bluegrass Region". That would make it a region comparable to Louisville and NKY as far as number of schools in the region. Plus, it just makes sense, if Louisville is defined by Jefferson and it's outlying counities, then the same should probably hold true for Lex. Paris/Bourbon (10 miles), Danville/Boyle (35 miles) and Harrodsburg/Mercer (33 miles) are all closer to Lexington than Bardstown/Nelson is to Louisville (40 miles.) Also, as far as Ft. Knox, I'd definitely put them in the Louisville region, along with Bardstown/Nelson County and Bullitt East.

Down in the valley, this place can get pretty electric for a big game.