ErikG

Congratulations to Farragut on another state title, this one perhaps the most unlikely but most inspired of them all.

Thanks for sharing this; I, and likely many others on this site, wouldn't have seen it otherwise. Revelation 21:4-6 (4) "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." (5) Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." (6) And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts." Matthew 25:21 "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'"

Yes, thank you. Now that I see it I can't believe his name escaped me. More evidence of the aging process.

Carson-Newman

I was talking earlier tonight about the number of quality, wide-bodied big men around the area during those years. I couldn't produce the Oak Ridge center's name. He played alongside Lane during those years, of course. But as you mention there was also Morris at Clinton (who went on to Pitt), Brad Hillsher at Maryville (UT football), Tyson Clabo at Farragut (Wake Forest & the NFL), and in the sectional tournament some guy named Jason Witten from Elizabethton was added to the mix. All had really good skills to go with their bulk.

The center was Mike Carpenter. The guard was almost certainly Chuck Johnson, a JR that year.

Farragut in '82-'83 went 36-1. The loss was to Nashville East, 72-70, in the state tournament at Memorial Gym. Great team to watch. Ranked 11th nationally. Austin-East had some outstanding teams in the 80s winning state titles in '85 and '87. The Roadrunners were runners-up in '82 and '86 and throughout the decade had teams with size, athleticism, and toughness.

Best wishes to Oak Ridge and Powell in substate.

You can find i105 online at either www.myi105.com or www.wfiv.com. The "listen" link is at the top right. Thanks for asking.

Thanks guys. I thoroughly enjoy every Friday night, but there's a lot of prep that goes into it and even more so last week with the endless playoff scenarios. So your comments are very much appreciated.

Farragut's radio call will be available in and around Science Hill's Kermit Tipton Stadium on, coincidentally enough, FM 105.3. The stadiumcast begins at 6:30 and for spectators is preferable to the online stream which has a delay of some 40 seconds.

Of the teams that didn't make the playoffs, McMinn Co. might have been playing at the highest level at the end of the season. Riverdale is another team that comes to mind.

They always take down/ don't update the statewide standings once the brackets are out. I started a thread this past week in regard to incorrect numbers for Southwind, thinking it might prompt others to look a little more closely at the accuracy of what the TSSAA was using in all classes. Judging by the replies to that thread, there either weren't any other errors or no one really cared to look for them. Thankfully, in the Southwind case the TSSAA's incorrect figures (which they never corrected on their site) didn't affect the proper placement of teams in the bracket -- or far worse, like last year, who actually qualifies. Obviously, they don't want those standings up for people to scrutinize after the fact. So there's no link to provide, but I can tell you that in 6A all teams with at least 6 wins got in (29 of those) plus 5-win Antioch which was an automatic qualifier as District 12's runner-up. That left 2 spots for 7 teams with 5 wins. Here's how those 5-win teams finished in the statewide standings. 31. McGavock 32. Bradley Central --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 33. Franklin Co. 34. Hardin Valley 35. Germantown 36. Powell 37. Centennial In 5A all teams with at least 5 wins got in which made it pretty easy since there were 32 of those. As to their statewide ranking, Cherokee was no. 31 and Lenoir City was no. 32. Here's how the 4-win teams -- 7 of them -- finished in the playoff standings. 33. Daniel Boone 34. Clarksville 35. Morristown West 36. Knox Central 37. Clinton 38. Columbia 39. Memphis Overton

I haven't followed closely what the TSSAA has done in past years where quads 3 & 4 are concerned in 5A, so I can't guess as to why they sent Lawrence Co. to quad 4 last year. On their website, however, they state that they "never want to move a team more than 1 natural quadrant." Districts 1 through 4 are considered natural quadrant 1, 5-8 are considered natural quadrant 2, 9-12 are natural quadrant 3, and 13-16 natural quadrant 4. Because that restriction of "never" wanting to move a team more than 1 natural quadrant is the most strongly worded of their "guidelines" (see the 2nd video: http://www.tssaa.org/divisiononefootballplayoffs/ ), I was thinking the 5A bracket should be the following. Quad 1 #7 David Crockett(wc) @ #2 West(2) #6 Gibbs(wc) @ #3 Campbell Co(2) #5 South-Doyle(wc) @ #4 TN High(wc) #8 Cherokee(wc) @ #1 Anderson Co(1) Quad 2 #7 Stone Memorial(wc) @ #2 Ooltewah(1) #6 Oak Ridge(wc) @ #3 East Hamilton(2) #5 Cleveland(wc) @ #4 White Co(2) #8 Lenoir City(wc) @ #1 Rhea Co(1) Quad 3 #7 Clarksville Northeast(wc) @ #2 Lincoln Co(2) #6 Hillsboro(wc) @ #3 Beech(wc) #5 Lawrence Co(wc) @ #4 Gallatin(wc) #8 Tullahoma(wc) @ #1 Shelbyville(1) Quad 4 #7 Dyer Co(wc) @ #2 Ridgeway(1) #6 Melrose(wc) @ #3 Hardin Co(2) #5 Memphis East(wc) @ #4 Millington(2) #8 Kenwood(wc) @ #1 Henry Co(1)

And if the above post is correct, quad 3 becomes the following: #7 Franklin @ #2 Station Camp #6 Hendersonville @ #3 Arlington #5 Independence @ #4 Rossview #8 McGavock @ #1 Overton

I suspect Antioch will be in quad 2 making it look like this: #7 Cane Ridge @ #2 Ravenwood #6 Smyrna @ #3 Blackman #5 Siegel @ #4 Antioch #8 Wilson Central @ #1 Oakland

Head to head doesn't matter unless being used to break a tie for 1st or 2nd in the district standings. The two teams you mention are just a couple of statewide wildcard qualifiers in the eyes of the TSSAA, and Beech has the better qualifying criteria.

Farragut is #6 in quad 1, playing at Science Hill Cookeville is #7, playing at Sevier Co.

Last year they didn't know, or didn't pay close enough attention to correctly apply, their own rules in the Cleveland/Sullivan South debacle. That rule -- if a team played more than 10 games, only the first 10 counted toward the ranking process -- was changed this year. Afterall, it wasn't their oversight, it was the rule's fault. Now it's all games played through the TSSAA's week 10 that are applied to the rankings. Even if they don't consider out-of-state opponents until the regular season has concluded, I don't see how that would explain the discrepancy I'm seeing in the numbers. And if you look in the TSSAA's playoff standings at other schools' numbers that have played winning, out-of-state teams, those games seem to be represented. But, again, I don't see how it applies here, because Southwind isn't being "shorted" an opponent's data but is seemingly getting bonus figures that can't be accounted for. But maybe I'm overlooking something really obvious.

On this week's 6A statewide playoff standings Southwind is shown to have 6 teams on its schedule .500 or better (criteria no. 2), 3 wins over those .500-or-better teams (criteria no. 3), 48 wins by its opposition (criteria no. 4), 42 losses by its opposition (criteria no. 5), and 22 wins by the opponents it defeated (criteria no. 6). It looks to me that those numbers should be 5 for criteria 2, 2 for criteria 3, 47 for criteria 4, 43 for criteria 5, and 21 for criteria 6. The out-of-state team on Southwind's schedule, Byhalia, MS, is 3-5 having apparently cancelled a game with Eupora, MS ( http://www.webstercountyschools.org/subsite/ehs/page/varsity-football-243 ). Byhalia's schedule can be viewed here: http://www.unapproved website.com/high-schools/byhalia-indians-(byhalia,ms)/football/schedule.htm . The .500-or-better teams on Southwind's schedule ( http://www.coacht.com/tennessee/inside/schedule.cfm?schoolid=471&sportid=1&seasonid=203 ) include Memphis East, Trezevant, Germantown, Houston & Collierville. Ridgeway has a good opportunity to get to .500 on Thursday but isn't there yet. Of these teams Southwind has victories over Germantown and Houston. The win totals on Coach T match those on the TSSAA's site. Am I missing something? Or are we about to have another embarrassing episode for the TSSAA if these seemingly incorrect numbers affect seeding or even which teams qualify?

diamond Cards: . Thank goodness Beltran's penchant for October success now benefits STL. Over on the AL side, Smyrna's own Sonny Gray is worth celebrating.

An excellent and well deserved hire. Best wishes to Coach Mays and his Vikings.

A link to the Media Guidelines from the 2012-13 TSSAA Handbook: http://www.tssaa.org...dbook/Media.pdf . What I'm unclear on is whether ANYONE should be permitted to televise playoff games live according to the TSSAA's own media guidelines. There are inconsistencies and possible omissions in the TSSAA's use of the terms "telecast" and "videostream". But because there are places where "telecast" and "videostream" are used side by side, I think one has to assume they know the difference and consider them, in fact, to be different. If you look at the link above and therein at section B, articles 1 and 2, you'll notice the only option for "live" video of a football playoff game is a videostream ($750 fee paid to the game director and included as part of the gate receipts). The only opportunity in the media guidelines for a "telecast" is a 24-hour tape delayed telecast ($250 fee paid to the game director and included as part of the gate receipts). I haven't watched any of the playoff games, but I take it they're being aired live on television, not just on some web channel. If that's correct, just going on the TSSAA's stated media guidelines, it appears as though the TSSAA might once again be overlooking the details of their own Handbook.

Cleveland (3-3) finished ahead of Walker Valley (2-4) in the District 5AAA standings. Cleveland beat Walker Valley head-to-head 56-28. Both were 5-5 overall, so Walker Valley got in because it had 6 teams on its schedule, to Cleveland's 5, that were .500 or better. Personally, I think it's ridiculous that all of these 5-5 teams are in the playoffs (1/4 of the 5A playoff teams are 5-5), so I have difficulty feeling as though anyone is being terribly wronged. But this system flies in the face of good sense, and no amount of adjustments will substantially improve it. The flaws are inherent; the regular season is a square peg and the playoffs a round hole.

Life's not fair -- but it doesn't have to be stubbornly stupid.