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The liberal media is ruining this country. They have created wide spread panic over the flu. They will try anything say anything to regain power and get Trump out of office. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. In 6 months we will all look back and see how idiotic this was. It’s a scam put on by Democrats and their media counterparts. So y’all just keep listening the political hacks on CNN and MSDNC and they will ruin your lives!

Disclaimer: I understand COVID-19 is a serious virus and understand anyone who is taking an abundance of caution to prevent contracting and spreading it. That being said, I don't understand why the TSSAA shut down the girls' tournament. With 12 teams left and two days to play, it makes more sense to me to just finish it out. You already have these kids up there. If they were going to be exposed to the virus being up at the tournament, then they likely have already been exposed. I thought it was smart to limit the fans in the arena, as was the original plan, but don't know why that suddenly wasn't sufficient. Based on the things I've read from the TSSAA there were to factors at play: pressure to postpone because other major sports organizations were and pressure from MTSU to shut it down. With the NCAA, NBA, MLB, NHL, etc. all shutting down, I can see how there would be some pressure to continue to cancel the rest of sports. However, there is a big difference between crowds for the State tournament and 80,000 people in an arena to watch the Final 4. There is a difference in driving to Murfreesboro (or already being there) and making multiple cross country trips a week in the NBA. The TSSAA already addressed the crowd size with their previous mandate, It wouldn't surprise me if a lot of this is on MTSU. With cancelling classes and extending spring break, I think they were getting a lot of questions about why they were letting the TSSAA play on campus. With the NCAA shutting down all sports, it wouldn't surprise me if the TSSAA was pressured by the school to shut it down, or told to shut it down. If this is the case, I don't put the blame on the TSSAA. The article in the Tennessean mentioned that KY and OH had already cancelled their tournaments. However, what it failed to point out is that those states have also shut down all schools for the next 3-4 weeks, TN has not. Now we will be sending players home to go back to schools filled with 300-2000 kids. If crowds are that big of an issue, why are schools staying open? There is a lot of mixed information out on what the protocol should be with this virus. Better safe than sorry is becoming the approach, which isn't the worst thing; but at some point, we need to get some clear direction on what needs to be happening. It makes more sense to postpone the boys' tournament, since we don't know what the state of things will be a week from now. This prevents these teams from having to travel over, if the risks have increased. It also prevents people from making plans that end up getting cancelled. However, I think they should have let the girls play out, given they were almost complete. My heart breaks for these kids that have worked, not just this year but many years, to try and achieve a state championship. In reality, no one is to blame, as much as we like to pile on the TSSAA. It is just unfortunate that these circumstances have come about. Having competed in state championships during my career, I understand the work that goes in for kids in all of these sports. To put in that work and have something completely out of your control take it away stinks. I hope they can find a way to complete the tournaments at some point, but even that has its own issues. If they have to wait multiple weeks to play this thing out, what effect will that have on these programs?

Congrats to Stone Memorial from 6AAA on their win over Science Hill.

The question is how the program is run, attitude/temperament, staff, willingness to adjust, offseason, community and booster relations, etc. Athletes come and go, but these constants need to remain, so it’s not all about the wins and losses, especially at the high school level.

You must drink from the FOX News kool-aid. You make broad sweeping statements about complicated Medical / Health Science Issues that I doubt you have any real knowledge about. Spewing hate like you do does nothing but divide Americans. I do pray you are right that we will look back on these days in six months and let out a sigh of relief. I want this all to work out without one more death. I just don't have enough facts to talk like an expert. I simply have put my faith in God and pray for his loving grace. Believe in God.

I attended this game. I'm not from UHS or York. I haven't watched either team this year. What I saw was a York team come in and make some difficult shots in the first half. If they miss those shots, UHS would have won going away because some of the shot selection of York's shots were questionable. But when you hit shots, you look good and York hit those and they got favorable bounces off the rims. Having said that.....UHS hand checks and bumps from the backside a lot. When a player is out of position, those bumps will get called every time. I am not surprised that UHS got so many fouls called against them, they are "handsy." It didn't help that UHS coach was complaining about so many calls. In fact, one of the refs gave him a warning due to being outside of the coaches box. I can't say I blame the ref in that case. The ref (yes, one ref) set the tone from the start of this game. UHS didn't adjust and York made shots. UHS appears to be very deep, but credit York for making big shots. Perhaps there were calls that went for York, but there appeared to be a few that went for UHS. But, it is not a good look to complain about every other foul (from players and coaches). Because, I can almost guarantee it will not help officiating. Sure, I would be in favor to let the officials know that was a terrible call, but not all the time. In the end, the latter makes one look like a complainer.

About to go in the gutter? Based on what? You have no sources...just made up nonsense! Stay off here if you choose to post a bunch of junk and/or have hurt feelings. Your post makes zero sense and is a lie. Sad.

We need to understand that sports is not that important when we are talking about the destruction of our country. Many won't be able to afford to go after the loss of jobs. A gold ball isn't everything!

The truth hurts don't it son. You need to quit pretending that this is a one way thing. It happens both ways. We can admit it and not be fake. If I still lived in Tennessee there ain't no way my kids would ever go to Metro schools. If they ain't born with a certain appearance they are targeted by everyone.

Honey hole?Yep I recon so!3 kids sign for big time schools.USF,VA Tech,Louisville.Great job gentlemen and congrats to the families and GREAT job by the coaching staffs getting their names out there.

Congrats to Jacobi Wood from Cleveland High School. Mr Basketball Division 1AAA. Well deserved! From everything I have heard, he is a better human than a basketball player & that is saying a lot! Way to represent Dist 5AAA!

Congratulations to the four Upper Cumberland boys' teams winning all four of their Substate games. 8AA York and Upperman won 2 point barn burners, while 6A Monterey won by 3. 6A Clay Co. won big. (the Upper Cumberland girls' teams went 5 for 5) York came from 7 down to beat a great Tyner team ranked #1 in East Tennessee. Good luck to all our Upper Cumberland teams! You've made your UC fans proud!

With that outlook maybe they should call your team "Stone Remembrance"... I mean, what's the difference, right?

Upperman Basketball In their biggest, most important game of the year, the Community of Meigs County took up donations from their crowd. They sent us home with over $2,000. They also put together gift baskets for our three players who lost their homes. We are completely speechless. THANK YOU SO MUCH! Meigs County, we will NEVER forget what you did for us tonight. Your kindness, selflessness, and compassion means more to us than you will ever know. #BeeStrong

The Overrated Red Rebels are region and district champs!

Huntington had gotten away with multiple fouls that haven’t been called and have gotten away with traveling at least 6 times. Officials had been so inconsistent.

They are both great players and would be a different team without either of the two. But I’ll take it a step further as great as those two are they couldn’t win a game without 3 more out there with them. It is still a team sport with role players and bench players who can step up when needed. i bet You Chloe And Tess would tell you if ask how important teamwork is. That being said I believe ether deserve any award they get. But I bet you that gold ball is the end goal.

I agree completely!!! Just about any coach worth his salt could have taken over a team that has traditionally finished behind multiple area schools with the traditions and history of Bradford, Gleason, Gibson County, Union City, Lake County, ect… (and all their gold balls), and changed the culture to the tune of a state title, undefeated season, multiple Miss Basketball nominee's, DI signee's... well, you get the picture. Add to that, He should have to wear a dunce cap and sit in the corner for losing to that awful team with that Weathers girl (who everyone knows isn't going to amount to much) in the tournament last year! If he doesn't get some advice soon, or a decent assistant coach, he could even wind up losing fifteen or twenty games before he retires if he isn't careful. Nice first post!!! SMH...

You speak a lot about being around to see all things TN wrestling, but somehow don’t recall the Red Raider wrestling club winning the kids state consistently during Mike Sutherland’s time? At the same time you fail to acknowledge the talent that trained in that room. The last time I heard someone ask Mike how many highschool state champs came out of the club he replied “I’m not sure.” That’s how many there have been. The thing about kids clubs at Baylor and McCallie is that they actually help the rest of the schools in Chattanooga as much if not more than they do their own programs. Wanna know why? Because Baylor and Mccallie ,News Flash, don’t have elementary schools and not every kid in those clubs goes on to attend the respective school due to several reasons. The reason Baylor and Mccallie dominate Chattanooga wrestling is because their administration prioritizes the sport. There was a time when the administration at Soddy cared about wrestling and combining that with years of hard work by some great coaches, they were able to compete just as Cleveland and Bradley have been able to. If you wanna be great, build a continuous culture over decades and reap the benefits. So cry all you want about private this, advantage that. No one really cares, work harder.

Tunderwood !! Elite defense !!! It’s only elite when you hold top teams way below their average . Also by turning them over getting them out of their comfort zone . You do have saylor which alters a lot of shots ., your offensive style contributes a lot to holding teams in the 40’s and 50’s . Now if you can hold East to 40 or 50 then maybe I will give you elite defense . My best example is va. In college . Duke avg 81 a game . Va held them to 50 . Not sure what East avg . Doubt it’s 80 but probably close to 70 I would say . I might have to come check it out because you might have just sold me on it . I always liked saylor always improved year to year first year I haven’t seen him play

I was Rick’s OL Coach at the Raiders for quite sometime. The man knows how to win. We won a lot of games; often with less talent. Rick was always incredibly well prepared, highly organized, and an excellent tactician. More importantly, he was a great motivator and loved his players like he did his sons. I loved coaching for him. He let his assistants coach and kept the parents out of the huddle. Rick invested so much of his time and money to make an impact on the community that many can only dream of. The fact he has retired makes me very sad. Hopefully he will return to youth football and continue to make young men out of boys. Fantastic job Rick! I treasure our time on the field together!

Best they had to offer at the time at the very least. I also feel it will be the same this year. But I feel like hes done a pretty good job considering what accusations has been thrown his way over the years and then proven false. Dems wont leave him alone and let him do his job though. Not sure we will see another Reagan in our time.

Man-O-man, Old Pirates everywhere feel the pain & have been awakened by the passing of #40. Jimmy Wigfall was a magician with a football in his hands. It was great to see a Chattanooga Magazine had recently written a well deserving article on him. South Pittsburg’s Band of Pirates have been seriously hit with his passing. Many Pirates have played the game but none more talked about than Old # 40.

There are plenty of smaller schools coaches who successfully made the big leap. Ask Oakland high school. One thing Ill for sure say about coach Puckett. LC definitely had talent but that was no accident he developed those boys in Tiptonville and got everything they had out of them.

I agree. Cade grew up a lot as the season progressed. IF he takes care of the ball, I see no reason to move him. Puckett kid will help them on defense as much as offense. He's a solid athlete.

These reactions are like asking if I want to go to Red Lobster for dinner, and me to tell you that I don't like seafood. Then you respond with, "There are starving people in this world that would kill to eat at Red Lobster!" While that statement is true, it is a red herring. There are some people on this board that no doubt aren't treating this virus with the proper amount of respect, or through the proper viewpoint; but, most understand that high school sports are far from the most important thing going on (or not going on) in the world right now. People are dying, people are losing jobs/money, people are afraid and uncertain about the future. Just because high school sports, or sports in general, aren't the most important thing right now, doesn't mean that they aren't important at all. Having empathy for kids that won't get an opportunity to try and achieve a sports goal, and having empathy for people suffering through this virus in a variety of other ways, aren't mutually exclusive. Many of us either know what it is like to try and pursue a championship and the sacrifices that must be made, or know someone who has battled and sacrificed to pursue that dream. If you know any of these kids personally, or even if you don't, your heart goes out to them. Right now, everyone in this country is missing out on things because of this virus. For these high school seniors, many won't get to finish their sports careers the way they wanted, or go to prom, or possibly even get to walk across the stage at their graduation. I'm not someone that looks back at my high school years that fondly, but even I can recognize that missing out on those things would stink. I feel for the fathers that aren't able to witness their child being born, because hospitals are on lock-down in places. I feel for the college kids who are uncertain about if they'll be able to graduate on time. I feel for the people who have either lost their jobs, or see the writing on the wall that they will lose their business. I feel for the elderly who are locked in a nursing home and can't visit with their family. It is possible to feel a lot of things at once. This situation sucks; but we bare through, not because we want to, but because we have to. If you don't think sports are relevant right now, then maybe you should consider not coming to a message board that is dedicated to sports for the time being. For some of us, it gives us an avenue to think and talk about stuff that is outside of this gloomy reality, for however brief. So please, take the righteous indignation elsewhere, while we try to be creative about this little state championship.

Congratulations on the hire. Solid choice but I was a little surprised he was a candidate. But a very solid hire.

3 Mighty Pirates sailing that Pirate Ship in the sky with Captains Beene, Grider and Brooks and 1st Mate Dave Baxter.

This one hurts. Knew it would happen. LC is a stepping stone. Don't blame the man. LC was good to him and he was good to LC. It was a fun ride....

Sounds like a bleeding heart abortion supporter to me.Closet Left winger.Probably has a poster of Pelosi in a bikini on his wall.

Both parties need to get back to roots. Too much social media and finger pointing on both sides. I did vote for Trump and will again. I just wished they’d do away with his twitter account.

If more people think like you our hospitals will see a crisis never before seen in this country where we don't have enough ICU beds to treat those in need. Do you want to be responsible then for who is getting treated and who just has to hope to pull through it? Yes the majority of people will be fine if they contract it however we do not need to needless spread a disease that is 30 times deadlier than the flu currently so that our healthcare systems are strained and do not have enough ventilators to serve people. It is real ignorance to disregard the information that is out there. I don't know about you but I love my grandparents and elderly friends and do not want them to be put in a potentially deadly situation. I guess being pro-life stops after birth for some people.

State Tournaments are not canceled. TSSAA working with CDC, TN health and the governor of TN. Could be may 11th week...that is not definite. They are working to let us finish!

Meanwhile it’s a banner season for the spring break capital “Florida”. Beaches are packed with thousands of people. Where is all the social distancing that’s supposed to be going on? Haha haha haha what a joke our Media has become. H1N1 killed 15000 it was way worse than this virus and there was no shut down then. What’s the difference? Glad you asked! The democrats controlled the White House! Just wait and see people. This is the biggest hoax in modern day history.

This is going to get worse before it gets better. Numbers will rise dramatically over the coming weeks, but I am hopeful that some of the actions in recent days will help to curtail that rise. Social media is not real life, but currently there are only two voices out there: "this is no big deal" guy and "we're all gonna die" guy. These generally represent the far wings of the political spectrum as well. I have no doubt he truth lies somewhere in between. People you know will be affected by this. If we can slow the spread enough to allow the number of severe cases to remain manageable, then we can keep the death rates low. I believe the sports and school restrictions will last longer than we would hope, but we will know for sure in about 2 weeks. To answer your original question: Regardless of the upcoming weeks' events, this thing will run its course well before fall football.

Macon will lose 3 starters including Ms Basketball K Carter and probably won’t make the State Tournament next year. But keep scheduling single A schools and padding that record.

Good read fellas, but all of you are biased toward your team and give no real analysis. Watched all A games last year and all of today’s games and here is an unbiased look at it. GC benefited from a brawl last year between Loretto/Greenfield. I think all can agree on that. They earned it but the draw helped them tremendously. GC is no where near as good this year and the other 2 are better than last year. If Greenfield or Loretto played GC 10x this year, GC would lose all 10. If Loretto and Greenfield played 10x this year (5 home games each) they would each win 5. Which makes the tournament suspension even more frustrating. The draw was perfect and it was setup to be an epic game that literally no one knows who would have won. Not even MrMiyagi could predict this winner.

What was beginning to look like it could be a blowout, turned into a great game! Congrats to Westview!

Rematch from last years first round right? It was a decent game until y’all pulled away late. East TN teams are better than people are leading on. Midway was very scrappy and quick last year.

Tori Rutherford is their best player... I wouldn't say they have a true "big" but they do have a kid with decent size who can knock down the 3.... Westview should win by 10-15...

There a few who are trying to make the argument that somehow the refs were purposely favoring York. I know several refs and trust me, they could care less who wins or loses. When you start blaming refs, then you're excusing bad play. What were the shooting percentages for both teams? Sounds like york deserves credit for beating a good team

I can't remember an UHS loss in a big game that the officials were not blamed for the loss. I've followed 8AA for many years and I can assure you that the UHS teams have had more than their share of questionable calls during the games that I have watched, with some of these calls or non calls possibly contributing to a UHS win. Sometimes 'you get the bear' and sometimes 'the bear gets you'! That game is over. Let's look ahead to supporting both 8AA teams when thy play in the sectional!

Everyone has their opinions on here but here are some facts and numbers to help formulate them. Covington is #2 in defense in the state, giving up 33.8 ppg. Westview is 3rd, allowing 34.2. Could be a low scoring affair. Covington had won 12 straight before Wednesday's loss to Melrose. They won four of those games without PG Kalynn Howard. She has been back in postseason. Westview has won 15 consecutive games and held their opponents during that time to 29.1 ppg. Common Opponents: Fayette-Ware: WV won on road 54-27, Cov won 51-31 on road & 52-33 at home Union City: WV won 50-25 at home & lost 54-52 on road. Cov won 49-46 at home & lost 42-34 on road Gibson Co.: WV lost 45-36 at home, Cov won 48-40 on road. Both Westview losses above were without Alexis Callins. They are unbeaten with her playing.

I agree with almost all that you said. I would argue that as a high school coach you are always on the job and what you do off the field is as important as what you do on the field. As the coach you are the face of the school and the primary leader of these young men. If you to be a coach then simply don't drink and drive etc etc. (not saying Palmer did that just using as example). Like or not coaches should be held to a higher moral standard than the rest of us.

Greenyyyyyyy why you didn’t say your new super team was made up of recruits? I guess if y’all are able to beat Clarkrange for the championship we will have to put an asterisk ************ by it as it will be tainted!!!! Your words from the past are coming back home!!!!

Probably because they were fouling twice as much. Come on.

Hahahah oh Durden That’s EXACTLY was recruiting is. Nothing wrong with it. It’s with in their rules. But ONLY 3 kids ever wrestled in thier kids club... hartline Duffy and chambers( possibly radpour, never heard of him though) Harper....Chattanooga...haha get out of here. Just bc his parents moved doesn’t mean he wasn’t recruited. Alvarez is from Dalton Georgia Dendy is from Lafayette Georgia Bond is from Chattooga Georgia And when you say Gunner showed up for academics shows your ignorance. They put Dendy’s dad on staff bc he would recruit these kids for them. It’s OK, you guys are allowed to recruit. It’s all with in the rules, just don’t try and make it sound like they are developing talent. Makes you look stupid.

I am dating myself but back not to long ago the NAIA, NCAA D2 & NCAA D3 divisions had individuals that participated in the NCAA D1 Tournament. It was discontinued due to the fact that several D2 & NAIA wrestlers won national championships and made the D1 coaches & schools look bad. Just like anything in life you can run, duck, dodge and juke but you cannot escape the fact that iron sharpens iron. The question has been ask many times before why there needs to be multiple state champions crowned in an INDIVIDUAL SPORT? What happens when the D1 kids and the D2 kids have to compete for both jobs and college acceptance against one another? Don't say that it is different because it is the exact same thing. Look I know that the rules will never be changed back because we are now a soft society that avoids competing against each other. I am of the generation that at 8 years old you had to "TRYOUT" for the local Little League baseball team. There were kids every year that were cut because they were not deemed to be good enough to play Little League baseball. Yes, the coaches tried to teach fundamentals but they also wanted to WIN and that's not a bad thing. The problem with that is that at some point everyone is told they are not good enough for whatever reason and as educators & parents we must prepare kids for the fact there is always someone better. By having divisions all we have done is water down the competition for everyone and we are not teaching those valuable lessons.

Westview Gold Ball you heard it here first.

This is a tough one.... whoever hits the most shots is the best answer I can give you...