rallykat

What separates me is about 1200 posts. I rarely get on here. I just read the complaints and smile to myself. If the people complaining on here would band together or form a group of concerned citizens, something may actually get done. My time has passed. I am probably 50 years older than most of you. But let's face it...not nearly as many people care about OR football as they used to, and nothing short of extreme pressure will change that. How do YOU feel about school board members being unresponsive to the public? Am I the only one bothered by that?

I'm sick of hearing about school board members being unresponsive. Our field is subpar;the stadium needs work;the locker rooms also need work, yet we say the school board is unrespnsive. Has Coach Blade spoken to the administration or school board? He would carry some weight. The fans have let this happen. The board will respond to pressure but nobody is applying any. Has our AD done anything to secure improvements to our facility? He should carry some weight around here. Jim Helton sure did. It's time to run the ENTIRE school board off of the school board and out of town. Being unresponsive is INTOLERABLE!

What's happened to this place? Let's get rid of the school board members who aren't concerned what anyone thinks! The problem here is that NOBODY seems to really care about much of anything around here. If they did, they would lead the charge to make some changes instead of running their mouths on Coacht. I can tell all of you one thing for certain...complaining about things on Coacht will get you NOWHERE. In the not so distant past there were people of action supporting our program. Now it's just a bunch of Coacht blowhards.

Then you read something in that wasn't there. My point is simple. The 4A class looks weak and if we remain 4A as our enrollment dictates, we should compete for and win many more titles. If we move up to 5A as the TSSAA allows, then we most likely have won our last, although anything can happen. My personal preference would be to move up to 5A because that's what I'm used to (playing in the top classification), but being "ashamed" of being in 4A is ridiculous.

I see the question mark at the end of your sentence but the words indicate that it is a statement. Are you asking me a question or telling me something?

What will we do if the TSSAA goes to five classes? Will we move up or stay at 4A where the projection shows us to be? The 4A class looks pretty weak. I could see us competing for a championship in most years and winning several. If we stay 5A we may have won our last one years ago. What's your opinion Wildcat fans?

I agree with you. I also spoke to him when he was here that night. He said he liked NC OK but he would come back to Tennessee when the right job came open. He would have to give up his retirement to come back but he didn't seem to care. So its not about money. He also seemed as energetic as ever and said he wants to coach for years to come. I hope Kingston gets him.

I hope I am right and you are wrong, but I do agree with you about Maryville. I still believe that he will play in that one though.

We will beat Halls handily and play Maryville very tough, After that, we will win out in the regular season.

I haven't talked to any of them, if they exist at all. I am not in position to talk to them. I just can't imagine that there aren't a few more playing other sports, who don't play football. That's all I am saying. Maybe they are all out there, but I wouldn't think so. Good news on Zulliger. I bet he plays against Maryville.

I would agree that most of the lower and middle tier programs have the same problem. The better, or top top tier programs, don't have it to the same degree. Either way, I don't care about "most" schools, I just care about one.

I remember him very well. He looked great last night.

I have no idea who they are or even if they exist, but I must assume they do. Any basketball player who doesn't play football, any track athlete who doesn't play football, any baseball player who doesn't play football-we need to find a way to get them out there. It's bound to help in the long run. I also must assume that if they are on any of those teams and qualify to play, that they qualify to play football too.

My observations are as follows: 1)Zulliger is tough, and it hurt when he left 2)Powell is not nearly as good as I anticipated 3)No matter what happens to ANY player on offense, until we can defend the run, we are in deep trouble 4)If Powell had just lined up and run right at us as they should have (their coach must not be too smart), we would have given up over 400 yards rushing, maybe more 5)Our expectations are way down and it's sickening (one poster congratulated us for "showing up"). Is that what it's come to? 6)We played hard and there was no quit 7)We have to find a way to get all of the best athletes in the school to play football and we can never again lose athletes to Clinton, AE, etc., as we have in recent years 8)Zulliger needs to get well soon There are more but I will stop there.

I think if something has been around for 35-40 years, that it qualifies as a tradition. That said, my point is simply this...a coach should be in place longer than 2-3 years before he changes something that has been around for almost 40 years...especially when those 40 years includes four state titles. You are entitled to your opinion, and that's mine.

I thought it was great to get back to the semis, although I thought the road there was not that tough. With that said, I will repeat that it was good to get back. I hope we can make it a habit like the old days. I am not sure about this team compared to last year. We obviously have a long way to go on defense up front. As far as the helmet logo goes, I doubt the players view it as a 70s logo, but I could be wrong. I just think it's one of those things you don't touch, but that's my opinion. I have missed our battles bladerunner.

This is totally off the subject but every time you post and I see the helmet logo, I love it! But it also makes me wonder why our current staff would ever want to change it. I hope that doesn't happen.

This game will make or break our season. If we win, then we will likely finish 7-3. A loss puts us at 2-4 and may affect us mentally to the point that we lose another game and finish 5-5 or possibly worse. We are better than the remaining four teams on our schedule after Anderson County. We are fixing to face a great QB and our secondary and overall pass defense leaves a lot to be desired. I hope we are ready for this one. I am still shattered at the realization that our once proud program is where it currently is. We strike fear into no one. The respect is gone. We are just another team that happens to have a great history. There has to be an answer to this dilemma. I am just not certain what it is.

I agree with you. Where we may disagree, however, is that I think that Blade has already been given the same chance that SS was given, if only by his reception. I don't believe that Blade will be here many more years despite the chances afforded to him.

Obviosly jedave has a chip on his shoulder where SS is concerned. I guess the foul language that SS was accused of using has now been associated with Blasde at halftime the other night. I actually have no problem with a little foul language from SS or Blade. We are joking ourselves if any of us think that it doesn't take place. The difference is that SS was not well received by the Wildcat faithful from day one and anything he did wrong was quickly used against him (and his mistakes were numerous and well documented). Blade is still in somewhat of a "honeymoon period" and if he does some of the same things (some, not all) that SS did, they will be viewed differently. Another huge difference in the two situations is that while SS was not well received early on by many, Blade has been well received by most, as he should have been.

I can only hope that we do. I certainly hope that we beat all of the others you mentioned.

That "light" needs to lit again. The leaders of the school system don't care anymore. The school board doesn't care anymore. The community doesn't care a fraction of what it once did. This filters down to the players. The community leaders have to make it a mission to get it back. It can be done.

Oak Ridge by four TDs. I want to see us beat a good team.

Someone...anyone...please answer this question? Are their people in the school who can play, but have chosen not to (I am talking about good athletes)? I don't go into the high school other to attend basketball games, but when I do, I see the same kinds of kids I have seen for decades. In recent years I have noticed a gradual decline in our athletic ability on the field. I know a few of our players went to Clinton and AE through the recent past, but not that many. Why would ANYONE leave OR to go to Clinton or AE? Why have our feeder programs been allowed to be mediocre at best? Why did the renovation include a state of the art basketball facility (which I am glad that we have), and little, if any, improvements to the football facility at the high school? My point is that our problems and decline can be traced to problems within our own leadership. There has been a systematic de-emphasis of football to the delight of some, and to the horror of others. If you don't believe what I am saying, then please convince me otherwise.