kissinger

Yes, that is for another thread. And the evaluation of that decision probably should wait until there is more information available on why another site would even need to be considered.

I am told that is the exact schedule recommended by the Advisory COmmittee, except that the 6A game wasn't going to be set until U of L's basketball schedule was set. You think Central Avenue, Crittenden Drive and Floyd Street at fun right now with just high school games, add 18 to 20 thousand trying to get into Freedom Hall with a Louisville oriented crowd for the 6A game. So they shoudl avoid that conflict.

Normally, I just read what's on here and decide if I agree or disagree and espouse the virtues of freedom of press and the freedom of expression. But IMO, this is about the most self serving, selfish and uninformed post you have ever made. First of all, just who do you consider to be "the powers that be" as referred in the post? Is it the school coaches who serve on the Advisory Committee who voted 13-2 in November to recommend this new schedule based on what I have been told? Are you saying those "powers that be" somehow don't have football as their number one priority? Ever added up the state championship games on that committee? As I see its composition, it is extremely representative of the schools that have played in the finals, and this type of decision is one that they are tremendously informed on. Or are the "powers that be", the school superintendents who at this time are fighting with the legislature to overcome the $1000 a day disparity between per pupil spending in Kentucky and the national AVERAGE? Are they not supposed to be concerned when a NEW event (the necessary use of at least two days with a new school approved alignment, not an old event that is not changing from its current format and has been in the same basic format since 1932) threatens to eliminate a day of school? Are they not supposed to be concerned when the General Assembly just approved adding two days to the calendar and compensation for teachers and a new event threatens to take away a large group of their staff for one of those days? Or are the powers that be somehow the staff at the KHSAA, who has to be in the elements more than any single fan or certainly media or quasi-media type? Staff feelings haven't been expressed on this one in any account I have read, but I can't imagine them feeling like 3 games over two days being a positive thing if they were trying to do what was in their own best interest. If something was being done to be self-serving by the "powers that be" and the KHSAA staff was somehow espousing this view, wouldn't that be contradictory. Or are the "powers that be" the members of the Board of Control who have to sort out the wishes of groups of coaches, principals, administrators, superintendents, fans, media and try to do what's in the best interest of the organization? Especially when the opinions of all of those groups are certainly not united and often vary in the same building depending upon whom you talk to? Wasn't there even a poll question asked on this very web site that came back with a rather split decision? Nothing like another clear mandated opinion. So who are the "powers that be" that somehow miss the boat on this one or made a selfish decision or a decision that somehow benefits that group over others? That one will be an interesting answer for you to define and defend. And if you are going to make comparisions to other events, how about keeping fact and fiction straight. Your twelve day analogy, while being good on the melodrama side of things, includes six days of regular season tournament play (which is actually only three weekdays) in the All A classic, which is not a KHSAA event. While it sounds good to throw out that 12 day number, it is hardly factual. Before you make allegations of hypocrisy, you should have your story straight. Lastly, just where does the supposed clinic have anything to do with this discussion? That (the current KFCA clinic) effects the coaches only and certainly shouldn't factor into any discussion about game times. If game times were 2-2-2, the clinic would be Thursday a.m. through game time and Friday a.m. through game time. If games times were 3-3, the clinic will likely have to be Thursday. So where is the school day difference? Don't both result in the coach(es) missing Thursday if they go, and certainly they all don't go. Net result is that its a non factor and just not a part of anything I have read or seen on here or anywhere else. Maybe you and others didn't get their way on this one. Maybe I didn't get what I would have wanted either were I in a decision making mode with KHSAA. But that's no excuse in your position of influence with this site, to put out false and misleading statements simply to support your desires.

Poorly handled? Just what was poorly handled out of curiousity? I suppose you think that there should have been a tiebreaker in place or a spare copy of all trophies? Just wondering how it was poorly handled. It was the first final I ever went to and I just remember how the fans from one of the schools grossly overreacted and frankly acted like a bunch of fools when no one could have anticipate a tie game.

That's why they don't play them on paper. If Lafayette gets the chance, as someone else says, they can't lose. They aren't supposed to win, so losing the game isn't a problem. And besides, how many kids at that school (or any KHSAA school) get a chance to see a team like that, a facility like that, an ESPN game like that? I wouldn't blame their school if they jumped all over it. It would easily be worth any fundraising headache. I doubt that Santa Clara or Savannah State are very optimistic about their next basketball games either. But they will show up and play.

Were you there? There was one of the more funny stories ever surrounding the trophy presentation at the "tied" game. As I understand it, there was of course, a winner and runner-up trophy ready to present. Since they now needed to give two winner's trophies, it was decided that they would flip a coin. The winner got that trophy, the loser of the toss would have one ordered and sent to the school. So they flipped a coin and gave it to one of the teams. The other team's fans about broke out in a riot thinking that the state title was decided by a coin flip.

Sorry RP, not correct on this one. In college if it happened, the "fourth down fumble rule" as officials refer to it would mean that it comes back to Mercer County's point that they fumbled, and is now Russell's ball. The only person that recover a fourth down fumble in college and it not be returned to the spot is the fumbler. Russell doesn't get the benefit of the touchback. Apparently no old foagies (sp) on here, I haven't seen Dave Casper's name mentioned (who was the reason for the pro and college change for a play he made with the Oakland Raiders years ago in the playoffs) or at least I just missed seeing it.

Cold or no cold, June nor April is the time. THere just is too much competition for activities, players are NOT in playing shape and it just seems better served to be held in December. Only the die hard fans and friends and family generally attend anyway, no matter when it is. As it stands now, if I were a college coach, my prize recruit is not playing in this game and risk injury. Fulmer has as much as said this lately about Tennessee players. It's a great charity game, but let's don't make more out of it than it really is. Playing it in April would hurt baseball and track programs in many cases, and make kids make unnecessary choices about participating, IMO.

Just noticed an update on the KHSAA web site. There is a link to a site that is selling the game tapes!!

Biggest thing people don't do is double check the math. You should be able to add up every missed shot and have it equal the total number of rebounds. In some cases, I have seen where there were 8 to 10 more rebounds than there were shots missed. Some people give a rebound to a guy that tips the miss out away from the goal and another rebound to the guy that chases it down.

You get that point totally. Those people, for whatever reason, who had to stay for three games and now face the potential of doing it twice, well it is almost too much to ask. There are a myriad of things that make it better to have three days of two games, not the least of which is that the earliest game each day could start somewhere around 3:30 or 4:00 and at least allow fans to make it to most of both games. The 11:00 starts, which they are good when you have three games, are just not fan friendly. Someone actually suggested elsewhere, two games on Friday, and four on Saturday. I can only imagine how I might feel after being outside for four straight games instead of just three...

And if you are saying ratings aren't arbitrary themselves, we will just have to agree to disagree. That is even more arbitrary.

How is it abritrary when it is based on what we do on the field?

May want to review your maps. Bowling Green is much more central than you think and has some 2 1/2 hours left of Kentucky if you head west. If Etown is the geographic center of the state, and BG is exactly one hour from there, it's just about as close to the middle (in terms of proximity) as Louisville. Plus, the people in Bowling Green want events there and many in Louisville (especially the police for traffic control, etc.) seem to view events as an inconvenience. Murray might have been a better example to be coupled with Morehead.

Papa Johns was not built for multiple games, period. When U of L plays (at night, no business traffic on Floyd), traffic can be re-routed and controlled. But on Thursday afternoon this week, and all day Friday, students were coming and going (onto one of the largest parking lots for commuter parking), fans (who weren't all familiar with the smoothest way to enter the stadium) and then business traffic all came at once. Onto two small roads that have only one to two lanes each. Hopefully, when WKU is renovated, there will exist some options for the finals. Commonwealth is NOT an option, period. And might not be even with turf. Nothing like 4 to 6 thousand people in a 70000 seat stadium to feel just real "intimate". Would be like playing in a barn.

I called yesterday. What is left is near the ends of the sections (301-303, and 315-317). Remaining will be put on sale when box office is open at 6:30. B & w will be the only sections cleared between games on Friday (other than the usual PA announcements ASKING people to leave)

As I understand, Insight cable is back doing all four games after a one year hiatus

All games. Link to all KHSAA radio web casts There will also be stats linked at http://www.khsaa.org/football/

Heck, it doesn't matter who it is. They can't predict what it's going to do today and we are chattering about Friday. Gotta love it. Like someone said, take everything from a parka to a bathing suit and we'll be prepared.

Probably ought to check out the forecast in Louisville instead of Louisiana. High 48 with precip. As of now.

I think the teams were told in their conference calls Monday that really, only the Brown and Williamson level will be aggressively monitored since those are reserved seats. Based on the forecast, if you are willing to tough it out, more power to you. Hey, you might get to do it for two whole days next year..

any non scoring kick

That could possibly be the most uninformed and short sighted post probably ever put on this web forum. Let's review just for a second, since so many people are so good at identifying problems, and no one has proposed a workable solution. All of this has to go into your thinking, unless of course you want to not let facts cloud your opinions (and those of others). One, football in Kentucky is one of the few sports with hard clad, written game contracts. Those game contracts are on two year cycles with sometimes substantial forfeit fees. The two schools when they merged from what I read, had 19 or 20 signed contracts with opponents. After reviewing the merger information, the local Boards of Education decided in the spring of 2006 to go ahead and make the move. Conduct their classes in whatever space they had until the new building is completed in a year or so. Bus kids all over town, back and forth, as needed, etc. The KHSAA football alignment expires in 2006, as do the current game contracts. The Principals, Athletic Directors and coaches had been given information that the KHSAA was studying class expansion and not to schedule for the 2007 season. That way, there would be a fresh look at the entire system. The current KHSAA classification system (that expires in 2006 according to their web site) is based on enrollment figures from 2003-2004 and 2002-2003 according to their web site. That is done in advance so that the classes can be established. Harrodsburg's 218 and Mercer's 655 would have been a total of 873. Yes, that is over the bounds set two years before that when the KHSAA (nor the Mercer Board) knew that a merger was coming. But their enrollment (as was every other KHSAA school) was taken based on the same set of data to fix those two years of competition. The point is that today's enrollment matters not one kid because no school is checked every year and automatically readjusted. There must be time for game arrangements, etc. And that few student's different with the class boundary is certainly no different than Danville having 50 more students than NCC this weekend, Bowling Green having nearly 100 more than Cov Cath (even when you double Cov Cath) or Ryle having 1500 kids in a game with a school with 1400 boys. Highlighting those differences, which are fractional when compared, just serves to make excuses. The KHSAA, when given the information, had only two choices in my opinion. Leave the Class 2A designation for Mercer County or move them to 3A for one year. The concept of allowing them to play regular season but not for district championship would have held court challenge about as long as it takes to hit enter on the computer. So they were going to compete, the question then becomes where. In 2A decision, as I read in one local newspaper, you "minimize" the damage to the majority of schools. Only the Class A schools were impacted in terms of game scheduling. And some were not able to find replacement games and Harrodsburg (paid by Mercer County) would have had to pay forfeit fees. Moving them to 3A would have then impacted a whole different group of schools for one year only (and a different MAJORITY as it was put), who had nothing to do with the problem and would have simply seen more of the aforementioned contract problems created. And without verification that their enrollment would even remain at the current level. Personally, I cannot help but think that both Danville and Burgin have benefited from a few families who didn't want their kids going to a mega size school, but preferred the smaller education setup like Harrodsburg had. Lastly, don't even begin to think that somehow a one year athletic opportunity had anything to do with the final decision and its timing. That is a slap in the face to all of the alumni of old Harrodsburg. For there are now divisions and disagreements in that community that may take years to dissolve. Arguments along race, income, religion and social status lines still occur relative to this merger and are to be expected as one entire group within a community feels a lost identity. So to blame the KHSAA for all of this seems to be very very uninformed. Given the very minimal options available, and past precedent, it was difficult for them to make any other decision. I know there are probably still old timers complaining about Scott County in the early 1970s whose football title should probably have an asterisk by it (according to some) because that was the one year wonder (actually two total) of the merger of Scott County and Georgetown. Lastly, on a purely football note, having watched all four games last year, the best team of all 8 was probably Russell, from a purely football standpoint. They lined up and beat the heck out of a very good opponent. And the same thing could happen Friday. And while it may seem like David and Goliath to some (as I am sure the old fox McGlone will tell his kids) and may be like Remember the Titans to others, for once, can we adults on here shut up and let these kids have the spotlight and glory without clouding it in advance with excuses?

Without a doubt. And though boys' basketball is by far their leading money generator, football is a close second, followed by girls basketball. Those three, and the outstanding fan support in all three, keep them afloat.

Touchback because no one possessed the ball in the field of play (prior to it crossing the goal line). It has nothing to do with anytime during the play, and all about anytime while in the field of play. Those definitions separate officials from fans. And both groups are wonderful.