SpeedyGonzo

smasters, Brother Joel, or BroJo as he is respctively referred to by the students, is indeed still there. Brother Adrian just celebrated his 90th birthday and lives in retirement at the residence. Brother David has been back for years as the librarian. Fred Freres, Park Wong, Billy Canale, and George Pratt are still there, and Joe Baker just retired. I think that is all that are left from the 70s.

ydet is close. In the 04 loss to USN, Lima benched two top players, with the intention of benching them for the entire game. Trailing with 6 minutes to go, he forgot his standards and put them in. When they didn't score 2 goals in the 6 minutes, he told them, "I hope you remember this game for the rest of your lives. You lost this game." He lost his players that day, and that is his legacy. The players don't play for him, they play because they have 50 good club players and should win state. 50 club players. FIFTY. To this day, he blames players when they lose the final. He did it again Saturday.

I sincerely hope that you misinterpreted what you heard. It is such a bizarre statement to make. In any event, "I thought this was a Christian school," is inappropriate. To what standard do you hold your school?

A transfer student athlete who played a varsity sport the previous year at his former school cannot play varsity for his new school until the post season of the following year. He probably played JV until the regular season ended, then was added before the roster freeze date. Don't know if that is the case or not.

I seriously doubt a CBHS parent, or a parent from any school, would say "Snap their necks." Like any parent group, CBHS has a couple of people that are annoying, even to their own kids and the rest of the CBHS parent group. But that crosses the line and the others in the group would have quieted that person quickly. If the other two quotes disqualify CBHS from being a Christian school, there aren't many around. Christian Brothers High School is defined by its 136 years, not by parent behavior at a soccer game.

I ask you. Where is the coaching? Congratulations to the Brothers for bringing home another state title.

Just out of curiosity, how many club players does Baylor have, and which clubs do they play for? Sounds like they are young. True? If so, they just beat a veteran team. The CBHS coach benched a lot of the senior class two years ago to let this year's senior class play a lot when they were sophomores---and then juniors the next year. No judgement here--just stating that these guys have played a lot. This was his golden-boy class, loaded with Fury 89, former Memphis FC 89 who are now Kickers 89, and Fury and MFC 90. Most have been club state finalists or semifinalists. Very disappointing for the Brothers. They should be able to score one goal on Baylor. Shoulda and a quarter gets you a quarter. Congrats to Baylor.

Don't take this wrong. I am from west TN and don't know anything about east TN schools. Why do you think Webb can beat CBHS?

CBHS hasn't won a state title since 2003. I do think they will take this one. Too much depth.

CBHS learned that lesson last year. I hope.

Premier League isn't that much stronger than state league this year. In PL, the Arkansas teams have never been able to compete, the Alabama and Mississippi teams aren't that strong (at least, they have never beaten MFC's A team and struggled with the B team). TNFC and Crush are the class of the PL, and last year at state MFC tied Crush and lost 2-3 to TNFC. I would say that is standing toe-to-toe. Not sure how the Lousiana teams are after Katrina. Houston juniors from MFC are David Haba, Brady Ondra, Taylor Young, Matt Lightfoot, Casey Dietz, Micah Thomas, Devin VanCleave. Houston is going to be tough.

MFC has not won the league. PSA has three games left. If they win all three, they win it. If MFC beats PSA it won't matter what PSA does in the other two--MFC wins it. But, this is club and better suited for the club forum.

I stand corrected. I should have said "Florida state finalist." Tampa did beat Strictly Soccer in a shootout and MFC tied Strictly Soccer the next week in a great game in Jacksonville.

Houston has a lot of juniors starting. Most play club for Memphis FC 90 Boys, who tied the Florida club state champ and beat the #2 south California team in the last year. Look out for the Mustangs.

MUS from DII west. All of the top players dropped out of the better competitive teams a year or two ago, and last year's JV team was not up to usual standards for them--providing no help this year. They are just in an unfortunate part of the cycle this year.

In the west, look for St. George's to earn their first trip to the post-season. This is their first senior class, and they are playing well.

Some coaches will choose a keeper who can make decisions and run a team over an athletic keeper capable of making incredible athletic plays. Over the long run, the keeper in the right spot at the right time helps more. At least that is what our club coach says, and he was Jonny Walker's (just retired from USNT and MLS due to injury) coach. The keeper that makes it look easy is the one you want.

With the way parents treat young referees, we have to wonder where the next generation of officials is going to come from. In Memphis there actually was a parent-assault on an AR last year at a game that involved a U-11 club team. The verbal abuse these kids take is unbelievable. No amount of money is worth the baloney they hear. West TN is nearing crisis level in bringing in young officials. When we have big club tournaments, we have to bring in refs from as far away as Michigan, New York, Maryland, etc.

St. George's gave CBHS a great effort before allowing 2 goals in the final few minutes to lose 2-0. I think Tony Wicker is the coach at St. George's--and I wouldn't be surprises if they "upset" somebody in the post-season. It is a new school, but they have some fine players. CBHS is battling injuries. Two or three starters are either out or just back. They are struggling to score, but depth is helping them late in games, particularly in the last 6 minutes or so.

I would have to agree with Manu90. It is unfair to Lima to say he has the most talent in the state this year. CBHS has had an incredible 6 year cycle of talented players, and this crew is certainly good but the gravy train stops after this year. The forward they rely on is injury-prone (he is hurt now.) We will see. It is early.

Very interesting. Creighton has a field that mixes both. Natural grass around the perimeter, the artificial stuff in the diamond area that gets worn by the heaviest traffic. With soccer fields at such a premium in Tennessee, I guess we will see more of these in the future that can accomadate football and soccer

CBHS 2 - Brentwood 2 CBHS scored to go up 2-1 with a few minutes to play. Brentwwod scored to tie, I think on a PK.

Lima called BGA out before last year's title game. Exact quote, "We want to play someone who attacks us." Kind of like Joey Dorsey calling out Greg Oden before the Memphis-Ohio State Elite Eight game. Another quote in the paper after last year's loss to BGA, "People don't understand, it is hard to coach when you have talent." You guys pick the label. If that is being negative, so be it. Gofish, I repeat--if he is a great coach, explain. If I am wrong, I will be the first to admit so. If he wins state with this group, it will be his best effort by far.

This is a place for discussion, right? You say he is a great coach, and maybe he is. Because you say so? Are you speculating? I didn't start anything. These things have been siad for several years. No one is stopping you from shooting me down if i am wrong.

Experience is definitely a strength. Starters logged big minutes over the last two years. Not as deep as in the past, but can still hurt you with the first two or so off the bench. Keeper is huge. The back to back runnerups are talked about, but not three years ago. Upset by somebody in an early round. And remember--last they they went o shootout in the first round last year. May not be the coach. I don't know. Players don't need to likethe coaches, but they aught to respect them. Maybe that is not happening there?