jimmyref

It is amazing how tough it is to win a state baseball title. It is another example of a Louisville team saving a pitcher for the finals and not getting there. Zach Cox was waiting to pitch in the final but PRP got knocked out in the semifinals. St X throws their #3 with #2 available in the regional final last year against CAL. I know the thinking is that you will need 3 pitchers and throw the number 3 in the game one or game two but you have to get to the finals. Congrats to the Bullitt East team and coaches on a great year.

My thoughts after seeing the Colonels for 3 games in the LIT from an unbiased observer, Isler is a good player but Maile is a special talent that only comes along. I got a chance to meet Isler's family and they are super nice but if I am picking first in a fantasy draft, I go Maile IMVHO.

TK, Actually, there isn't much to talk about as an X fan in regards to football! I agree on the Rocks, most are nice, but some get the spirit of LSURock funneled through them. Actually, it wasn't the CSAA scheduler, it was higher than that, and let's not forget about those pesky referees! For those of us that have no interest in UK or Alabama, it will be great to go to Papa Johns on back to back nights. Just leave the car in your assigned spot as you get a ride home Friday night. Or sleep in the car and start the tailgate early. What's the earliest mass Saturday afternoon? 4:00 pm. I looked it up. Here is what I found. Holy Name ( the most conveinient) does not have a Saturday mass Our Mother of Sorrows ( off Eastern Parkway) has a 4:30 St Louis Bertrand (1104 6th street) has a 4:15 Saturday Mass, St Therese has a 4:00 but we are starting to get further away. I may have to stick to Sunday. Maybe we can get the Archbishop conduct a mass in the green lot at 3:00! I am sure it would be well attended. Seriously, it they rented the baseball field for a mass, I bet a bunch would attend. If they can have a mass at Yankee Stadium, Jim Patterson Stadium would work.

I gotta admit that the Tigers were helped by the 5-6 errors on defense and the multiple walks issued by the BE pitchers. But a win is a win. Reminder that fish is being served at the game tonight at St X.

IMVHO, need the pitching to come through. The speed on the base paths that worked at Freshmen and JV may not be as helpful as catchers and pitchers catch up. The hitting will be led by seniors Brutscher, Sweeney and Ferch. LIne up may be Grayson, Sweeney, Spalding, and Scheler in the outfield, Brutscher at 1B, Nunnulley at 2b, Ferch at short and Golemboski or Schmeing at 3b, Herbstreit has gotten much better at catcher. That is a lot of questions for hitting. If you hit .400 at the JV level, that doesn't always translate in a successful varsity hitting season. Starting pitching- Sweeney, Grayson, Septembre, Golemboski, Spauding, The first four started games last year with Golemboski matching Heath's star pitcher pitch for pitch in a thriller last year. First game - Tuesday night versus Butler.

The problem with making this call is kids do fall down without contact. So you have a kid by himself in possession of the ball falling down- easy call-Traveling Kid being fouled and falls down-easy call- foul. Except what if you are watching other players in your primary zone or get straightlined and blocked from seeing the foul. Then you see only the kid falling down. 2 kids going for a rebound or loose ball ( no displacement, not on floor ) -incidental contact, kid with ball falls down-??? You get booed whatever you call- either "he got hammered" before he/she fell if you call traveling or "that was a bail out call" if you call the foul on the incidental contact that caused the travel. So as a referee, you watch the whole play ( you wouldn't want to make a call based on just a portion of it) and did the incidental contact cause him to fall? Advantage/disadvantage. You make the decision. Finally a whistle- "that was a late whistle, ref" BOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Guys- I am simply pointing out that playing the tough schedule next year means that starters will play more than a half of football in many games. The more plays that the starters play, the more of a chance that a collision with a bigger faster athlete like the Elder athlete, or the Cincy St X athlete or the Manual athlete could result in more injuries. I am not talking luck- I am talking probabilities that Trinity will need more depth to get through the season. The conditioning and weight training from Coach Maddox has worked well in the past. The injuries to the linemen has occurred during the tougher part of the schedule in the past. If the schedule is tougher, then it would be reasonable to assume that the number of injuries will go up in 2009 and the back ups will be tested.

THS- Let me throw this out to you. I think the medical staff at Trinity needs to be credited too. Trinity has the secret formula since 2000 for playing tough games early, playing X in the last week of September, and then breezing through the district games and on to the playoffs virtually injury free. One concern is with the 2009 schedule being so tough, can the Rocks continue to escape injuries to their starting QB and RB come playoff time? The Rocks seem to have an uncanny knack for having everyone healthy at the right time- I don't remember a game that the starting QB or RB missed a playoff game. I know lb Weitlauf broke his ankle against Male 3 years ago but the only other injury I remember happened in the state final game with the result decided. With the Grinder schedule, I wonder if the health of the key personnel will continue. I know Cincinnati St X went downhill after Massa got hurt against Trinity last year.

Pitchers and catchers have reported! More baseball! More baseball! Sorry, this about football. What about when Grayson pitches too? Sweeney, Grayson, Spauding, Scheler, Hall. Pick three.

Mods, lets shut this down. There is no way that a state tournament ref or down to the first year grade school ref deserves to be degraded and criticized in a public forum like this. Just the fact that she has done a state tournament means somebody rated her very highly-higher than 98% of the refs in the state. Please stop berating hard working individuals!

I know at least one coach from St Patrick will be moving to St X in the fall. Yes he has a freshman son and he took the test at Trinity and played in the All-American bowl in San Antonio for 8th graders. He can use his Notre Dame experience to help out the line at Tiger Tech. It was a nice addition- incidently the kid changed his mind-not the parent.

Maybe some team, some year, will save the Trinity parents that awful annual expense!

WOW! Season: Aug 28 - at Lawrence North (Indianapolis Power) Sept 4 - duPont Manual 10-3 Last year Sept 11 - at Cincy Elder Ohio State Runner Up, returning starting QB, WR and 2 RB. QB and WR broke state championship record for yards and completions Sept 18 - at Cincy St. X- 2007 National Champion, 61 Returning Varsity with 10 kids weighing over 225 last year. 6 losses- 4 by 5 points or less including losing to eventual state champion St I by 3 in OT week 9. Sept 25 - Bowling Green 9-3 last year Oct 2 - St. X 12-1 Enuff said Oct 9 - Seneca Sleeper team as basketball players play more football-beat #1 seed Davies County in playoffs Oct 16 - Eastern 11-2 both losses to Trinity Oct 23 - at Ballard improving Oct 30 - Lex Cath 2007 state champion 2009 Opponents record= 84-39 in 2008 Losses to Trinity in 2008 = 7 Opponents winning percentage when not playing Trinity - 72%

The QB from St Patrick is going to Trinity-Travis Wright. He ate up the CSAA including St Gabriel in the Toy Bowl. He seems to be a perfect fit for Trinity's offense. Alan Jones Jr from St Martha RB/QB/DB is going to Trinity. I hope that all the lineman from St Patrick go to St X!

Forgot the link. http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20081130/SPT030101/811300415/

Here is the Cincinnati Enquirer article on what is returning. For the Trinity faithful, Elder's website is http://www.ehsports.com for everything you wanted to know about Elder. There is a Skyline Chili about 2 blocks from the school but all of the Elder faithful will be at Price Hill Chili further up Glenway Avenue. Elder returns 20 rushing touchdowns from last year's RBs.

New rules two years ago in federation rules.

Guys- I got no dog in this fight at all but I look at 21-8 last year and 10-3 this year so far and I find it hard to believe that a coach doesn't get more credit for the 3 out of every 4 wins that he gets. That is a along the lines of Rick Pitino's record. Lost faith? Manage egos- give me a break. Maybe somebody is in their ear telling them not to have faith-based on this thread, I see quite a few candidates. As to AAU ball, no defense, less refereeing, players running up and down the floor trying to impress the college coaches. Players trying to be the next And 1 player. No education requirements. Some players excel at the lack of discipline- some players transfer. My final point has to do with the comment "to get everybody going in the right direction." I strongly agree with any coach trying to do this. Coach John L Smith had his famous "boat speech" -either you're in the boat or out of the boat. Sounds like Boone Co. has a bunch of swimmers around the program from this vantage point. "It hasn't happened at Boone." Because they lost to Highlands? Every single comment that keeps telling them that keeps them further apart. I'd say get behind your coach now because you have a shot at winning this year.

"Call it both ways" is a phrase one of our former assigners highlighted as a automatic T and we were taught to assess it immediately. agree or disagree- it insinuates that the ref is calling it "one way" and thus cheating. Automatic t for players coaches and bench personnel. One specific case that happened in Louisville was the referee was working a JV/varsity doubleheader at a small private school. The assistant coach got out of hand and was assessed a second technical and asked to leave the gym. He refused to leave and went to the stage at one end of the floor and sat with his legs overhanging. This was unacceptable to the referee because he was 10 feet behind the basket and 3 feet behind the referee when the game resumed. No policeman was present since they have to be present for the varsity game-not the JV. The coach went to the head coach and asked for game management. The head JV coached replied" that would be Coach X who is now sitting on the stage. " Okay, is there a principal here? "Coach X is the principal". The referee basically had to threaten to call the game to get the coach to vacate the gym. Coach X agreed to and the JV game continued. It was interesting when Coach X came out for the varsity game. KHSAA rules states that a coach must sit out the next game at that level so Coach X sat out the next JV game but not the varsity game. We all remember that rule now. By the way, guess who had to pay the referees after the game. you betcha- Coach X! We have had cheerleaders sue referees for pushing them back off the floor during play, policemen run on the floor to confront referees at the end of games, fans being escorted out of the gym and entire gyms cleared before play resumed. Out of bounds behavior must be addressed immediately or else the snowball starts and grows. Players pick up on it, coaches pick up on it and the game deterioates quickly. I won't comment on a specific play because I wasn't there but a great mechanic is to call a brief conference on a dead ball with your partner with your back to the crowd. The partner Tries to see and locate the fan. If the fan is continuing to be obnoxious, now you have two witnesses and you've given the fan the opportunity to calm down without stopping the game or bringing attention to yourself or him. 99% of the time, get the ball back in play quickly and move on. There is that 1% that will do something to cause us to get game management and have him removed. Never never never will I address a fan-It would take a continuous verbal attack to go to that extreme. So let's say I heard someone say "You're a cheater" everytime I run up and down the floor. I use the mechanic with my partner and he locates the offender. He would of probably say something like " dude, its a kid in a wheelchair but do what you have to do." If the kid is continually screaming-then get game management and have the partner toss him. If not, Cooler heads would prevail and I would probably put the ball in quickly. I am not condoning or debating what happened at that gym- I don't know what happened or what was said. But I do know that all referees want a fair game on both sides.

Let me interject and not discuss this particular play but tell me what you do with the following? A______ yells out within hearing distance of both benches and players that "ref, you're a cheater" Complete the blank with the following player assistant coach head coach Principal Cheerleader Policeman providing security to the officials Handicapped kid in wheelchair I would like to hear your response before I give mine to see if we are on the same page.

No wonder Trinity won't play them!:laugh:

He has come a long way from Eastside Drive and winning the 7 year old flag championship game at Hikes Point, from catching and playing shortstop at St Matthews All Stars, from Shelbyville Road to Poplar Level to Shelbyville Road to Poplar Level, now he has found a home in Lexington. We've all been blessed watching him throughout the years developing over the years into a fine outstanding young man. If he has time, tell him to stop over the other school in Lexington to check out some baseball. Best of luck and for a small bit, I may cheer a little for Kentucky.

What motivation does Trinity and St Xavier have to change the system? Trinity wins football almost every year and X wins alot of the other sports. As long as they keep handing out trophies, and this year 5 of the 6 winners repeated, then Trinity and other others will keep on doing what their doing. How about someone stepping up? In their defense, is that what you measure a school by? Let me tell you an observation from this week. The 2 main feeder schools for Male played boys and girls basketball games this week at Male. Full gym, 40 something member dance teams, cheerleaders, competitive games but maybe 2 -3 good athletes both games. The rest of the 1000 people in the gym could of been on the cover of Teen magazine or been just as in place at KCD or Collegiate, two affluent private schools here in Louisville. Well behaved kids, great kids, polite kids. Larry O'Bannon type kids who graduate and move on the college. Male has changed in the last 10 years and I think for the better of the student-not the student-athlete.

Yes they may be at their level but it wouldn't help Colerain if they lose to them for the playoff points. Manual is the perfect foe for their playoff system in that they get a big school with Division 1 points with a bunch of wins ( secondary points) Highlands is admitably too small on the first points because of enrollment. Colerain was close to not making the playoffs a couple of years ago and had to depend on Highlands turning around their season. Understand that Colerain doesn't play in the GCL and their league is improving ( see Middletown, Lakotas) but their have a lot of Fairfields in their league that they play and destroy and get hardly any points for.

Let's say you are Andy Clark, star 8th grade quarterback at St Pius in the CSAA. You just finished your CSAA season at St Pius and happen to notice that a QB from St. Bernard is going to go to Trinity also. Your heart is set on Trinity and because of that, St X is not an option. The QB from St Bernard-oh its Brian Brohm,. Immediately the coaches from Trinity start talking wide receiver, maybe defensive back. What do you do? Andy Clark went to Seneca and led them to a 10-0 record his senior year coached by Lonnie Oldham, beating a Brian Brohm led Trinity team before bowing out in the playoffs. It was the last time a Seneca team beat the Shamrocks. He had more passing yards and possibly more TDs than BB his senior year. He now plays baseball for the Florence Freedom in an independent league. Play or Sit?