SportsDummy

Surprising - I thought Mason County was supposed to have written the book on hosting regional tournaments. Atmosphere and amenities trump a building most of the time - even with all those seats if the fans aren't happy, they aren't doing a good job. I was a little taken back by the roping off of the floor at half-time - any explanation?

IMO there is nothing wrong with boys and girls playing on the same night, most students can't/won't travel to watch their school, so if one team is home and the other away - at least the students and community can attend the game at home. It is great that the boys went to the girls games that you are talking about, but to increase the attendance we need to make it convenient for more than those 15-20 players. We need to make the games convenient for everyone else - students and community. Once we get people attending home games, then we can worry about one team not being able to watch the other.

Whoa - let's get back on track! The discussion is about lack of fans at ballgames - both boys and girls basketall and other sports. Both sports (boys and girls) have some fans that only like one or the other and that is fine. School pride is supporting all activities - sports, humanities and academics.

We all want it to be what it was, and we all agree on the reasons it is not. It will take everyone doing a little to make a change - school administration needs to reduce the price for students and use a little marketing to encourage students to support (not just because it is bball or whatever sport - but because it is pride in your school); parents need to encourage their children to become involved in supporting others, not just their own activities (pay it forward), cell phones/texting - I dk the solution to that one. Extracurricular activities should be required - besides being an athlete students could help put on the games - , announcing, music, video, pictures, pep activities (cheerleaders are performers now - not cheerleaders - lets change their name and move on to elect different squads), there should be a pep band that is different from the competition band or let a student be the dj for the game if the band would rather go to competitions. Yes, this would take coordination - but I think one person could be paid a stipend and take care of coordinating this - I know too many people that are paid a stipend and don't do anything. Learning how to be a good fan would help prepare them for college - most people don't have any trouble wearing blue and paying the price to get in to see UK and those games are certainly easier to watch on tv.

When and where are the district and region games for the 10th?

Great idea! Is there any reason this can't be done?

Sounds like a great idea!

If post season play stays as it is, just call the first week after regular season something other than play-off - i.e. district tourn (to borrow from the other sports) - it's all just words - I don't think everyone should advance either - in any sport - why should district runner ups advance to regional tourn - it just drags out the season - but it is what it is - both sides have very strong convictions regarding extending play for everyone or having only the best continue in the post season - no plan will make both happy. So just re-name it so it is accurate.

Just curious, but of the four states you have been involved with - do they all do it the same way? Please share the states and their formats so we can see if theirs are any better. Did the people in those states all agree that it was ok - no changes necessary or did they have varying opinons of the system as well?

Maybe the alignment needs to be geography and not male population of school. Obviously there are a few 2A and 3A schools that can compete with the larger schools - because they are either private or located in a strong football area (Lex, Lville, NKY) Some of the schools that are 5A are more compatible with 3A and 4A because they are rural and even though they have the numbers they won't have the participation. Maybe the designation by population is outdated

One of the problems with comparing football to every other sport is the verbage of post season play - in football "playoff" sounds like you earn it, in the other sports it is usually called something like "district games or tournaments". In reality football post season play right now is a district tournament of sorts. I don't have a problem with the format, but maybe what we are calling it is where the arguments begin. It seems older people who played when only a few teams made the playoffs are offended by the calling the current system a playoff.

Plus in every other sport the district runner up advances to region- so you lose a game and still advance - that's crazy!

The only disadvantage to football postseason play being like basketball, softball, baseball, etc - is the time involved - you can't play back to back games in football and it extends the season by about 5 weeks instead of about 3 in basketb

Just thinking - but once changes started being made in the playoff system, there was no stopping - everyone has a "better idea" - we can hardly remember the "way it used to be" because it would depend on who you were talking to. Some of it is crazy now - the distance teams have to travel to play district games, the disparity between #1 and #4 in some districts, the length of post season, 6 classes based on male population when the classes might be better divided geographically, and on and on. For some getting to play one more game is great, for some it is dreaded, for some districts it is needed to determine who advances. I used to not like the Sweet 16 format and wanted it changed - now I am thinking if they started making changes to it we would end up with as many opinions as we do in football.

Our school was told that a white board couldn't be used to make impromtu signs during a basketall game because it was an artificial noise maker. Of course I think artificial noise maker is a funny choice of words anyway.

Do you love hosting the tournament or just love hosting when Mason County is in it? Would you be in favor of hosting the tournment if Mason wasn't a contender? What if Mason was moved to a district that didn't practically assure them a regional appearance? In soccer this year, some of the teams decided it was a lot of trouble to host a tournament they weren't in? Please don't argue about whether Mason will be in the tournament or not, just curious if you would still be so determined it needed to be at the fieldhouse if Mason wasn't in it. Also, Clark, Montgomery and Bourbon have been in the 10th for over 35 years.

Rivalary's always create a great atmosphere -So I can't figure out why home fans like to invade the visitor fan section? Do they do it at all games or just when Montgomery is the opponent?

Doesn't band and chorus get credit for the classes they take? Aren't they just practice's for their performances basically.

Very confusing post:confused::confused:

Boyle is fast gaining a bad reputation for the "attitude" and game tactics in recent years. They seem to be a good enough team w/o the drama. They should just play football and forget all the antics. I know it would be easy to say the teams they have beaten have sour grapes, but you can be beaten by a team and still respect that team.

Then you would have some people traveling two weekends - consider those who like to watch and those who follow the winning teams. Also, would you do the same for the Girls Sweet 16? Suddenly we have 4 weekends of basketball - pretty costly for most families Ignoring the cost of renting Diddle and Rupp - you would have availability issues. Interesting thought - don't think it will go over - probably just adding fuel to the fire that it needs to stay the same instead of change to classes.

What would it look like if you picked 16 venues across the state to host the Regions and then built the districts for those regions based on distance.

Nothing special - just if you are interested in the statistics - that is one of the statistics that is different in the comparisons - you could also compare teams playing, nights games played on, attendance at years other than the three presented, which teams generate the most attendance, etc. - just depends on what picture you want to paint.

Keep in mind that quarter finals were on two different nights in 07 and 08, and in 09 all were on the same day

We asked for a ticket in our section at Saturday's game, but when we got to seats, we were told it was the overflow, all the tickets to our schools section had already been sold - but the section wasn't full and the ticket seller didn't tell us it was overflow - thank goodness for cell phones - we were able to determine there were plenty of seats in our school's section that weren't being used (had been sold for earlier or later games - so were vacant for the game we were at) For the finals - if that is the case, I can see "specators" being in the middle of "fans" - and possibly opponents being seated side by side. These kinks can be worked out for future tournaments if they want - but they need to be addressed - it is a small problem - but a noticible one.