Stokomo

I've got the broom if you've got the rug CAP..... /dry.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

Who called the Cherokee win an upset? They both have similar records.....now.....Cherokee beating MoEast would definately be an upset.

In 24 hours, all will know just what Indian team showed up. The game is at TN High and that bodes well for the Vikes, but it could be a case of home away from home. Viking Hall, Freedom Hall, & the VanHuss Dome are the three main gyms that are similar to the background of each arena. It could play into their favor as I used to love playing in that gym. The backdrop was very similar to the Dome and seemed like you were on a national stage. All three gyms are bigger than most colleges with the exception of the big time colleges. Gyms you love the atmosphere but hate playing in would have to be the Hill and Central. Central fans are rowdy whether they have a good or bad team. GOD Bless......

There seems to be a theme this year from all teams in the Big Nine. This year's District will come down to who's focused more in each game. I always wish our Big Nine teams well when we get to the Regionals and beyond, but I'm concerned about this year's group. They have the talent to make some noise outside our conference..........SENIORS!!!!!! DO YOU REALIZE IN TWO WEEKS YOUR CAREER IN HIGH SCHOOL COULD BE OVER???!!! Make the most out of it before you become the "Boy! If I only had one more year!" group.

It does my heart to see some good players in this area. You realize how AAU can benefit our athletes. I miss those days and have been advocating for someone to carry the torch in this area. Will you be doing it again this year? In the coming years? I know Sylvester's son is a Sr. and what about his father continuing? I coached for 13 years and it was a blessing to see the fruits of labor with these kids, now men in our area. From those mentioned before plus Walter Brown, Rob Love (like a son to me), Jerome Odem (Josh's brother), Adam Hughes, BJ Miller, Rocky Nichols, Caleb Gilmore, Nathan Norman, Jonathan Wilson, Clay Potter, Raymond Lee, and the NFL's Jason Witten, Gerald Sensabaugh, & Vince Redd to name some more. I wish those with an itch would get in where they fit in and help our youth. It really does do the heart good and make the East TN boys more competitive when they play against the West teams. The Science Hill Alumni of those championship teams will tell you that AAU helped them get over that hump once they played against them and found out they could stand on even ground and beat them. There are plenty of athletes just itching to play AAU. I still get calls asking if anyone will get a team going around here. If you have the time and patience (and know a little about basketball), and above all else...have the kids' best interest at heart, then please give back to these kids. It will help out tremendously and warm your heart in the process. GOD Bless..... FYI..... I got a call recently from Vince Redd and he is playing for the New England Patriots. He got onto the practice squad, then made the special teams unit and got his first action against the Cardinals (actually made the first tackle of the kickoff for the Patriots!!) and played some defense when they were blowing out the Cardinals. What a feeling to see someone you coached since the 8th grade be successful!!!!!

That's what worries me about this DB team (trying to decide whether to play hard or coast). Now is the time to turn all all burners and focus for 32 minutes. They have the Vikes, East, South, DA HILL, and Boone left. If they try to decide what they want to do and have a lapse with the Vikes or DA HILL, then it might cost them. I only say this because in the 90's you had Nookie, Jovann, Shane Brad, & OD (DA HILL) & Jinko, Ryan, Shane, Ricky, & JaMichael (DB). These teams NEVER took a game for granted or time off during a game. It was almost frightening the way they would embarass you if did not stay focused. They took no prisoners and would absolutely CRUSH every aspect of the game. It was also great to see them go against each other. Friday night will either see a close, well thought out game by Witcher and the Vike, or a focused and calculating strike of CMO and the Tribe. DB has all the weapons to walk away from this game with a "W". Can they stay focused for the full 32? GOD Bless.... /popcorneater.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":popcorneater:" border="0" alt="popcorneater.gif" />

It's only funny when you talk about ADULTS, not kids playing a game they love. Adult-to-Adult, then it is ok, but for an adult to belittle kids...well anybody can tell you what kind of person does that, and that is true "no matter what anybody sez!!" And CAP... I thought you would love the Bayless referral, although I see you actually gave a compliment. Venus and Jupiter must be near the moon again. It looks like a showdown for first place Friday night. Maybe Whitcher can watch the game film and try to slow down DB Friday night. It will be a good one to watch. I really miss these games.....GOD Bless!!!!!

Noone was looking ahead. This just in........Charlie Bayless filled in for Coach Whitt and had a wonderful game-plan. A made layup, after an inbound steal, with under one minute to go would have helped the Falcons potentially win instead of going into overtime. I believe both teams added together didn't score 15 points in the fourth quarter and overtime combined. TN High got the W and that's what counts, but they must get some issues straightened out because they don't look like the team that beat Science Hill earlier in the season. The chemistry wasn't there tonight and at times seemed like they weren't focused. Anyway....congrats and GOD Bless!!!! TRI.....was the game with DB as close as the score shows? Any concerns there going into the showdown Friday night?

If you think I am a Falcon man, then you must live in your own world. Anyone, including Whitt, will tell you that I bleed maroon and grey, not maroon and white (Vikes) and not marn and yellow (da Hill), all the way through. Saying what happened to Trent is not excusing him, as his parents didn't excuse his actions either as noone should. So believe as you may. Nothing anyone says will make you change your mind once you get things in your world to fit what you believe. So....good luck to you and the Vikes. Next TOPIC!!!! GOD Bless.....

Thank you to both Skunk and Brusier......my thoughts exactly on a bad situation. You said it perfectly of what I was eluding to...GOD Bless and good luck to all in the coming future. It's almost tourney time!!!!!!

CAP1....I could care less how I look in your eyes. Like I said and you still refuse to see my posts, I am not taking up for anybody in any situation. I also said that the Volunteer program will be looked at in this manner because of the past. If you can't see that, then I don't know what to tell you. Did you see the Crockett kid swing at Cameron? No! And that is the reason he had him wrapped up so he wouldn't hit him. i am not applauding anybody's effort s in the awful game. You do have a thick skull and I again will say "PLEASE POINT OUT WHERE I HAVE DEFENDED ANYONE'S ACTIONS!!!" You keep dancing around my question like you are on "So You Think You Can Dance" reruns. And your excuses as to why there are so many close games with TN High this year is REALLY an excuse maker. One or two...maybe..but TN High is just like DB this year....they play to the level of their competition. The foul descrepancy you speak of had them almost even for that night against Volunteer. DB has righted their ship up to this point. I do hope you guys the best success there can be, but don't sit and talk about a 15 second segment of what you saw AFTER all the stuff that was allowed to happen before. But as you always do, you will reply and dodge my original question and have a smart reply. Have at it but I guarantee you this.......you would be singing a different tune if your son was swung at two times and he just wrapped the guy up. You would have an endless assault against the Crockett kid and say that he deserves to be punished more than what was given to him. Now who is talking a double standard now? GOD Bless.......

I like your posts and you seem to be an honest man. Noone can debate video. I took the liberty to call Coach Whitt and got three video taped games, TN High, DB & the Crockett game. Why? Because noone has said anything all year about the play of the Falcons until now. So I surely would see the taught tacitcs in these other games, since CAP and WACO suggest this is taught. I watched the Falcons build a ten point lead against the Vikes with only three minutes to go only to miss 2 one-&-ones and a total of six free throws and let that game slip away. There was not ONE incident of cheap play in that game and CAP never address the game, even after I asked him in a post previously...hmmmm. I then turned my attention to the DB games and surely there should have been incidents of cheap plays, but to my dismay, there were none in either games and the DB faithful never said one word about any cheap or dirty plays in either game, even the one where it was close til the fourth quarter. then I watched the Crockett game and it started out with fans yelling obscenities at the officials, as was told to me about the girls game getting out of hand. Moving along to the second quarter and almost at halftime.......the Center for Crockett and Trent were bat tling for position and the Crockett player landed an elbow in Trent's chest, to my unliking Trent landed one back, and the refs let this go on until the Crockett kid threw two punches, none landed. Then I was supposed to see Trent retaliate with his own and there was none made by Trent. He did however kick around when the maylee started and for that he should have been ejected and disciplined along with the others. This is not my observation. This is on video. I will repeat...this was a bad situation for both sides....GOD Bless

You are 100% correct. I thought when you quoted the CAP1 "dogging" you were referring to my post, but I see it was itsock.... my bad...... CAP1, for your information, Trent was addressed by his father as you eluded to. I don't like putting personal matters on here, but you insist on speaking about things you are ASSUMING. Did you think that he doesn't have parents that are concerned about him and keep him in check? I can tell you from first hand experience that Cameron is a great kid with a great set of parents. Anyway....as I said in my previous post, please let me know when you find the quote (or in my entire post) where I defended what happened. It was embarassing for both sides. That's exactly what I said. GOD Bless......

CAP1 & WACO......neither cared to read my post. Please tell me where you find that I was sticking up for Whitt? I never said it wasn't wrong or embarassing. I ONLY said you were being biased and on both accounts THIS YEAR that has had problems in a game...neither were invoked by Volunteer and it just happened to be the same team on both accounts. Where's the "oh look at Crockett's program...this is the second incident this year with them?" I said it was embarassing for BOTH teams, you chose to report only on Volunteer and scold Trent for retaliating of which he is wrong. BUT!!! What about the first blow? You never scolded anyone on Crockett's side for that did you? Both should be scolded for representing the Big Nine and all of East TN like that. It does put another "black eye" on the Volunteer program because many will write it off as Volunteer's doing "it" again. I am speaking about this year. The past will rear its ugly head when something like this happens. You have to deal with it and move on. I never said you were wrong for scolding Volunteer did I, so where was the defending? As for WACO....I really expected you to get on here along with Floor Genereal (surprised he's not weighted in yet). How long has it been since your last post in the Big Nine thread WACO? You may say I am defending Whitt; you are wrong. Crockett fans said they felt they are getting the wrong end of officiating because of there "lack of success" in recent years. I will agree with that statement, because the refs tend to let play happen with the "top dogs." But TWO teams were at fault last night, not one. Both TN High and DB fans said nothing of the games that were played against Volunteer not even how they gave them a good competitive game, but now are ready to jump to judgement and say it was their fault this whole thing started. In years past probably, but this year it is not. GOD Bless and again please forgive those from last night's embarassment.

Moving on to DB & the Hill......both teams are looking good as of late, while the Vikes have had a couple of close games that should have been not so close. Two weeks and everything should be r3eady to go for the Biog Nine

CAP1....let me start by saying that I think both teams and programs, along with the Big Nine, all lost last night. Now...for you to attack JUST the Volunteer program is not fair. The last time this happened with the stitches to a Volunteer kid, everyone thought it was them being bad again when in fact it was one of Crockett's players that fouled him hard going in for a layup. You said nothing about the game they played against TN High. Why? Because you had nothing to say to a clean and complete game, of which I might add the Falcons let a ten point lead in the fourth quarter slip away. You made it clear what Whitt said, but failed to show how this whole thing got ignited and didn't cite Crockett's coach as saying""The last time we played, we were ahead by a point or two with about 20 seconds left and they hit a last-second shot to beat us. That was an emotional game and this one was too.'' Why did you leave out or not attack the coach for saying this? It all started in the game against the girls the Crockett fans thought the foul disparity was uneven, and it was allowed to continue into the boys game. If you were there, you would know that the Crockett kid made the first punch (watch the video), then Cameron retaliated with a kick and swing and both benched cleared. If you also saw the clip, then you saw Whitt trying to stop the fight while the refs were standing on the outside letting it get out of hand. I will not stick up for either program from last night because it is a bad situation for the Big Nine, the programs, and all of East Tennessee for that matter. But your lack of unbiased reports will not go unnoticed. You could have said something about both sides, but you didn't and let your bias for Whitt get in the way. You have been rather quiet on here lately. Could it be you don't like the way the Vikes are playing and know they might be on borrowed time with all these close games? I do respect your posts on here but sometimes you get one-sided on things before you know the whole deal. Like I said.....BOTH TEAMS were an embarassment last night. GOD Bless and please forgive the actions of any involved last night.

You might not remember way back when, but I grew up in the Riverview Community. Do you remember the Blizzard of January 1985. Kingsport City Schools were out two weeks, the coldest temps EVER in this area hit along with 6" of ice and 15" of snow. The temps were so cold that the workers could not put salt on the roads because it would freeze instantly (record cold of -21). Buck was sitting on 899 wins. All of that and WE STILL practiced at the Dome. Scotty Edwards, Randall Releford, and myself would ride 4-wheelers to practice or Al Wilkes would pick us up. I was even in on a game of 1/2 court with some people on the outside courts (after we shoveled snow) in the View. We finally played against Elizabethton (Elvin Brown played that year) and got Buck his 900th win. All of that was said to show the dedication people had in those days. Today is about "oh..it's too cold, let's stay in and play Wii basketball!" I'm not knocking today's youth because they have more at their fingertips to do than play sports. It's not their fault technology has made our society somewhat lazy. And it's also very hard for these kids to stay focused on one thing. GOD Bless!!!!

Thanks....I really love the tourney time coming up next month. Every team puts their best on and if you don't come ready to play, you'll be staying home. I like to watch the underdogs fight for their lives. It's something about Seniors knowing this may be their last organized game on the hardwood. Adrenaline starts pumping, sweat glands go into overtime, and most of all....emotions are let loose and 100% is given for 32 minutes. That's pure basketball!!! GOD Bless.....

It is a shame that you just can't enjoy these high school games. For this area it is a high level. In the grand scheme of things, the most important aspect of TSSAA athletics is to get these guys (& gals) prepared for life after high school, to make better citizens while having fun. Noone is comparing the East to Memphis ball. I have seen & coached against the best in the country, so I do know what the top levels of America have to offer. Just because you want to say what this area doesn't have, doesn't mean there's no good ball around here. There aren't many areas of TN besides the Memphis area that comes home with the Gold Ball. Those players play year round and on 24/hr courts. I never said this was the HIGHEST LEVEL of competition. Please just enjoy what we have around here. If it's not to your liking, you can always move to Memphis.

The Tribe played a good game last night and didn't let up. Maybe you should stop hating on teams that are good. Some years you will see a team that has all the talent needed, but for some reason just will show up when "they want to." For the record.....they beat Farragut (16-3) who is dominating the Knoxville area, beat TN High (1st in Big Nine), Beat Tabernacle (who beat TN High in Bahamas), even against the Hill (1-1), beat siegel (13-3 and has beaten all the Memphis teams such as Liberty Tech (16-2) and Memphis Central (beat Bradley Central)......so if you do your homework, you will see that they have the talent to beat just about anybody if they can stay focused for 32 minutes and not think that they just have to show up. Buck always preached against playing down to a team's level, Pitts also preached the same thing, and CM said before the first meeting against Volunteer...."I said in the pregame I didn't want our guys to play down to the level of the opposition after playing so well in Knoxville. I was concerned we'd take them lightly. They acted like they wanted it more than we did,'' said Morgan. Three good coaches saying the same thing about how they felt their teams were or are. You can hate or think they are not as great, but then again, maybe you should appreciate a high level of play around here from DB, Science Hill, TN High, & Unicoi County (I put them in there because they play at a high level and are very competitive). GOD Bless!!!!

I will totally agree with that statement et.... The strange thing is that I don't think it is a selfish kind of "non-team ball" though. It is like taking the street game and trying to make it work in a TEAM atmosphere. And the glue that will get it sticking into one unit was not there that night. CMO can take the street game and make it fit to a TEAM aspect. It just goes to show you that you can have all the talent and savvy you desire on the court, but if you cannot make each other better and FLOW together (chemistry), then you will always fall short of expectations. Buck always taught us that five "fundamentally sound players will always beat the five more talented players with no fundamentals." I'm not saying they don't have fundamentals, but something is not clicking just yet. I hope my ALMA can get it together by district time. I can't believe another season is almost over. You seniors better enjoy the last 3 weeks of the regular season, then it tightens up and the ole "one-and-done" theme will be in the back of your mind. GOD Bless..... /popcorneater.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":popcorneater:" border="0" alt="popcorneater.gif" />

A player controlled foul, whether in the bonus or not, will give the ball to the opposing team. There are no free throws unless it is considered a flagrant foul. The team's player committing the player-controlled foul should be credited with a turnover also, but rarely is charted that way by most teams. GOD Bless!!!!

Sorry to get back with you so late. But as you see, there are incidents of which the "goings-on" at functions that should not be tolerated. I guess with all the legal and "red-tape" issues in our schools today, noone really thinks anything of it as long as their is nothing physical coming out of it. And yes it is hard to raise kids to be upstanding citizens despite the peer pressure that exists in schools. But that is why parents are on this earth, to watch over what God has blessed us with. Even in the prestigious Big Nine Conference, issues are prevalent and sometime swept under the rug. I believe in letting kids heckle, have fun, get under the opposing teams' skin, but there is a limit to what should be said in the mist of rivalries. They do not let the kids do this anymore....my guess is for cleaning issues...but our (DB 80's) home games had the student section reading a newspaper when the starting line-up was introduced for the visitors. Then when we were introduced, the students already had newspaper confetti to throw. It wasn't to get under opposing teams skin so much as it was to pump us up and play hard. When we went on the road, Buck had us mentally prepared so we could withstand the student section of the home team and others.... GOD BLESS!!!!

I will not speak for all, but some AD's have just as much hatred for a rival school as parents and students. It is fueled by years of rivalry, but mostly because of our times....no respect for authority, parents, adults, etc.... We as parents and adults have caused this broken bridge. I remember when I was young, if you disrespected an adult or showed your butt in public, you got taught a lesson by an adult who knew your parents and got some more when you got home. Many times today, we glorify kids and make excuses for them. Noone wants anyone to discipline or touch their kid, when its good medicine to keep a kid in check and let them know that there are consequences to their actions and will be held ACCOUNTABLE. Forget DRINKABILITY......let's have ACCOUNTABILITY!!!! GOD Bless.....

Yes your point is very true....not much of anything is off limits. We live in a time where anybody can say anything about anybody, just like on here. But some of the taunting (bad and good) have been around for a long time. I went to a game about fifteen years ago (teams left out to protect the guilty), and the home team chanted "jailbird" to a certain individual who got into trouble with the law previously. Although I do not condone such conduct, it was allowed to happen, and it really messed with the player's head. I have witnessed such taunting doesn't affect the players that are mentally tough and it has the opposite results. Great players can use it for motivation of which I have witnessed. So, no! I do not agree with such taunting but it happens. You have to develop tough skin if you want to get past your "past." Ashlon can expect ten times as bad when they go to J.C. and he must be able to tune-out the crowd and be effective on the court. The best medicine for bad manners is hard work, hustle, and a victory. Noone likes to taunt the opponent and go home with a loss..... GOD BLESS the Big Nine!!!!!