TheKeenObserver

MBA wins 16-12 in a thriller. It was truly the story of two halves -- speed won the first half for Hillsboro and coaching won the second half for MBA. I mean come on, clearly the MBA staff made some decisive half time adjustments. Also, the Burros were driving down the field with about 1:30 remaining to have a chance to win and they did not even use one of their three time outs to set up a crucial 3rd down conversion play. So, they failed to convert and then rushed to convert on fourth down. Ridiculous -- you cannot take your time outs home with you. I guess what "they" say is true -- the privates have superior coaches who are able to get more out of less athletic kids. Don't believe me, watch the tape of this game and check out the overall records of the privates versus the publics so far this season. (Sorry to burst D1 supporters' bubble, but there is NO WAY that anyone can use the "private schools cheat by recruiting" defense tonight because there is no doubt Hillsboro had the better athletes. Wow, much better athletes.) Let the rebuttles begin...

SMWWREST -- Is there something in the water in Memphis or is it the Rendezvous’ dry rub??? Careful HOOSERDAD, whatever it is, I think it might be impacting your judgment too. Look, darn near every official is affiliated with a wrestling team somewhere. No wrestling team (despite its bank balance) has its own official. Tournaments like often use officials from other parts of Tennessee in order to help out and in order to provide those officials an opportunity to see local wrestlers prior to the state tournament. (Although I do not think that was the case at the Black Horse. As stated in an earlier post, out of town officials were brought in due to the pathetic officiating in Memphis. Without a few competent officials, good teams like Brother Martin, Grissom, and MBA would not continue to come back year after year.) In the end, an official's alma mater and/ or home town should be irrelevant because no wrestler should ever allow a match to be so close that the official's decision affects the outcome.

I was at the MBA v. JPII football game last night and, I must say, that is the worst MBA team I have ever seen take the field. Of course, I am fully aware of the well-documented injuries that have decimated the Big Red, but that does little to explain the team’s overall lack of skill, speed, and strength. Is MBA’s talent pool so shallow that even its amazing coaching staff cannot field a team capable of competing with a JPII team that is, at best, a marginal DII power? If not, then MBA is in serious trouble during the rest of the season because it has to play Ryan (home), BA (away), McCallie (away), and Baylor (home) – four teams far superior to JPII. But is it not just the varsity that is struggling. In fact, the situation appears to be far worse than a varsity team decimated by injuries with no apparent football players in reserve. I checked the MBA website and saw that MBA football teams are pitiful at all levels: the 7th grade team is 1-4, the 8th grade team is 1-2, the 9th grade team is 2-1, the JV team is 0-1, and the Varsity team is 3-3 (and probably on its way to finishing 3-7 and not making the playoffs for the first time since the DI-DII split). The future does not look bright; in fact, it appears that the talent pool at MBA is very thin and drying up. Bad news for the football-crazed Big Red alums and even worse news for MBA’s Headmaster and Admissions Director – at this rate, both of them had better update their resumes! Without having the benefit of an insider’s insight, the only fact that I can discern is that while MBA may recruit musicians, artists, debaters, and thespians, is one DII school that definitely does not recruit athletes in general or football players in particular. So, someone in the know, please tell us what is going on at MBA?!