LCborn

Classy post, Vandy.

Coach Pharr is probably doing rain dances as we speak.

I'm not saying I agree that the regular season should get you an automatic bid, but I know of a case where that very scenario you describe happened. In '03 Loudon went 10-0 during the regular season in 4AA. The 4AA format gave the top two seeds (Loudon and Anderson County) a bye through the first (single-elimination) round. So, you had a 4-team double elimination tournament after the first round. Even with UT pitcher Aaron Everette (a sophomore that year) starting the first game, Loudon went two-and-through, with 4 seed Lenoir City winning the tournament and AC runner-up. There are two ways to argue that case, I think. On the one hand, you could say that Loudon deserved to qualify because of their regular-season record. On the other hand, you could say that they didn't, since even with the advantage of not needing to win a play-in game and getting an extra day off because of the seed their regular-season record got them, they weren't able to beat the 4-seed and then the 3-seed in tournament play.

I'm not sure that the MLB system of Division-League-World Series is all that different from the current high school system of District-Region-State. High schools just have more "divisions." MLB used to send the two best regular-season teams to the World Series. Now they have a tournament to see who gets to go. They use regular-season records to seed the tournament. When you say, "Imagine if each MLB division having a tournament to decide who goes to the playoffs," if you substitute "league" for "division," that's what you've got. The thing I don't like about just taking the regular-season standings is that it doesn't allow for teams to develop. Some teams get better during a season, some don't, and some get worse. That's particularly true for young teams. The district tournament system can reward a team that improves over a season. Relying on the regular season standings does not. Look at 4AAA right now. Bearden is the only team that's clinched a region berth. If there wasn't a district tourney, they would be done playing. Right now, the #1 and #2 regular-season teams in that district are in the #3 and #4 spots in the tournament bracket. I like the ideas for changing the region, though. I'd prefer a double-elimination format to the current one.

In 4AAA, Bearden has clinched a spot in the region. The second spot will be decided today from among South-Doyle, William Blount, and Farragut.

I thing that SD plays WB first, and the winner of that game plays Farragut in the second game today.

S-D won. WB won. Bearden won.

According to KnoxPreps: S-D 17 LC 2 WB 10 Maryville 0 Bearden 12 Farragut 7

A Sports Illustrated columnist reports seeing these signs in Philadelphia during the Phillies-Giants series. Hey Barry. Move Your Head. We Can't See. Seeing Barry Hit 715: Worthless Ruth did it on hotdogs & beer. Aaron did it with class. How did YOU do it? ESPN: Every Steroid Produced record Needs an * For Sale: Life-Sized Bobblehead. See Leftfield Got Juice? (On a skinny guy's t-shirt) Barry With Pirates (On the guy next to him in an inflatable sumo suit) Barry With San Fran

6 HR, .231 BA, 22 RBI's

Stick around, Slyder. Just 'cause your kid is retiring from playing doesn't mean you have to retire from posting. Besides, you're one of the pre-eminent authorities on submarine pitching and kickball. This community needs that kind of expertise.

I'm sorry, what part of me saying something nice about two coaches made you angry? That connection doesn't jump out at me. Farragut finished what, third or fourth in the district? And won a lot of games against a tough schedule? I think you accusing Coach Pharr of having a down season is just because you expected too much of them this year. They're competitive. They're still in the tournament. So...if they're having a down year, talent-wise, and they still end up going through to the region--which they may do--it seems like an example of that good coaching I was talking about. Just that they're challenging for it does, seems to me. FBE has to "SHUT IT" because he doesn't go to games but justs reads about them in the paper? Interesting notion. By the same rule, how is it that you can comment on the teams Loudon and D-B play? Were you at those games or just read about them in the paper? I saw from your schedule that you were probably at one D-B game this year--they also beat S-D, BTW. Science Hill beat Halls. And I notice that you are a little familiar with Loudon's district, as you lost to Anderson County. No shame in that, they beat William Blount, too. Of course, I wasn't at those games, I just read the schedule.

Hey, I've coached in two Little League tournaments that used 4-man crews--all TSSAA umpires. It seems like high school tourneys could be as well done as Little League. I got into one beef in one of those but my first-base coach told me I was wrong.

That makes one appreciate guys like Thompson of Loudon and Ritz of Dobyns-Bennett--the talent goes in cycles but those two (and others) field competitive teams year-in and year-out. The luck of talent--or creative scheduling (find me another bad A team!)--can produce a 25-win season. But if you make it to the regions something like 11 years out of 12--I think Thompson did that, and ironically Loudon was undefeated during the regular season in their district the year they didn't make it--you gotta say coaching has something to do with it. Maryville's facility could--could--help them be year-in and year-out competitive. Maybe even "should." Then again, I recall dedication day for another facility like that; a perceptive dad said, "That's great! Now--who we gonna find to teach inside it?" (And it wasn't sour grapes: this dad's kid was a 4-year starter and 2-year all-district player.)

Then again, 4AAA #3 Bearden beat 3AAA #1 Central 11-0; 4AAA #4 Farragut beat 3AAA #2 Karns by the same score; and 4AAA #1 S-D beat 3AAA #1 Central 16-0. (Central, 13-4 in 3AAA, was 1-2 in 4AAA.) But 3AAA #3 Halls beat 4AAA #2 WB 13-3. I'm not sure you can say that this year one of those districts is better than the other. Certainly not "a lot better." They are both pretty tough.

I'd add Bearden to the mix of teams with a chance after their win over WB. That gives them an advantage in the bracket and they are hitting the ball pretty well right now. Today KnoxPreps says WB plays the winner of Maryville/SC and LC plays the loser of Farragut/SD. Bearden gets the Farragut/SD winner. The LC-Heritage score was 7-3; LC scored 5 in the top of the 7th to win it. Heritage opened the door and a couple of LC kids came up with clutch hits.

Cost is the biggest thing, I guess, and a lot of teams don't have the budget to pay 3 blues every night. I can sympathize with that. For some teams, sure, it's a question of maybe spending 1 less day in Florida. But I bet for most teams the extra dollars would come out of equipment or uniforms. The issue of finding the bodies seems important, too. It seems like if every team went to 3 in the crew, every association would have to come with 50% more umpires. Or maybe they could just work each of them more. I don't know if there is that much slack in their manpower. The principal upside is another pair of eyes on the field. That's gotta be better. It also would make breaking in newbies an easier process if each rookie ump was a third of a crew instead of a half of a crew. I don't see it happening on a wide-spread basis, though. Coaches all have limits on their dollars and most of them probably would rather spend money on other things than the extra ump. Also, just as football teams have that "twelfth man" umpiring teams already have the "third man"--the bleacher blues.

I don't know about the politics of the program and I don't know anything about Maryville's coaches, but FBEmeritus states an undeniable truth: the facility will only help the team to the extent that the teaching that goes on inside of it is good. It's absolutely a great thing to have and it gives more capability to develop players. But just as buying the best available bat won't make you a hitter, having the facility won't automatically make the team better. But it will provide more opportunity for them to improve, no doubt. I hope Maryville's coaches are up to the challenge. Congratulations to the school on getting it done.

LOL, baseball digest published a list of Eukerisms last issue. My favorite was, "When I signed with the Braves the bonus was $3000. My old man couldn't really afford it but he managed to find the money."

I know of an instance where a college contacted a kid. They wanted to come and watch him pitch, and asked when he would next start. The kid goes to the coach, and coach tells the kid he won't commit to a schedule because he wants to be free to make those decisions on game day. (This program doesn't use a regular rotation so kids are never sure exactly when they're going to pitch.) Another thing that bothers me is coaches who discourage their players from participating on travelling teams so that they will play in the coach's summer program. Especially if it's a bad summer program.

I was ignorant of what the tiebreaker was. I stand corrected.

Good for Coach Ozment. That's a great thing to do.

I believe the rule book says something about "ordinary effort" or some such langauge. Failing to make a diving catch is a hit, I think. The poor kid was robbed--not by an opposing player but by his own scorer. That's the bush league part.

Oh, wow--a couple of years ago, this poor freshman in his first at-bat hit a screaming line drive into left field. The LF came charging in, made a full-out dive, and the ball hit off the LF's glove. The scorer charged it as an error. After all, he said, it did hit off the LF's glove. Sheesh.

Absolutely. The world needs less complaining and more purpose pitches.