bigbadblue

Cleveland High School 1994-1996 Three 4-A state championships 54-0 *Nationally Ranked (I can't remember what number, but they were up there in the USA Today poll) Dante Hickey-Miss State Eric Stout-Louisville Tony Styles-Tennessee Keith Cobb-Memphis Kevin Cobb-Memphis David Jackson-MTSU ...to name the few D1 players I can remember Also, 1997 Basketball State Champions Vincent Yarbrough-Tennessee Del Baker-Tennessee Oh, and for all the wrestling fans...93' 94' 95' State Champions They also had the fastest baseball player in Chad Davis Cleveland High School football has one of the best programs in the state (Not THE best, but one of the best).

If the fling moves to knoxville, most games will be played on high school fields...We're also forgetting that it is great for participants from other parts of the state to get the opportunity to travel.

Oh...I didn't see that. It's still gay though; the blackman coach thread was one of the best I've read and posted on since I have been a member. No one was saying anything bad either, that is what suprised me. It stinks that we are under the provision of Coach T, but then again, we know that up front so I guess there is nothing to complain about. Well, the people who read the terms of service know this!!! It's a private site open to the public. Hmmmm

Coach T-Who do you think you are shutting down the thread on the Blackman coach? This is a public board-a place where we can express our opinions with others. What in the sam heck do you think you are doing shutting down that board?? Who are you to decide what is appropiate and what is not? You have violated our rights!!!!

I'd like to know what the heck this player did to cause Coach Greene to lose his cool. I'm sure there is a lot more to this story than what has been posted on here. Either way, he is an adult and knows better. He might have gotten away with that twenty years ago, but not today. Please don't take offense because I don't know what happened, but some kids need a little shaking. Today's society doesn't allow it though. You never know, this kid could have done a number of things to Coach Greene to cause Greene's behavior. Again, I'm not saying Greene is right, by all means. He is the adult in the situation. But, this kid could have very well done something drastic enough to SOMEWHAT justify Greene's behavior...

Approx. 129 players can go to the next level, give or take 5.7936.

I like Farragut a lot, don't get me wrong, but is it a coincidence that they ended up in the easiest pool in the tournament? I mean, c'mon. They are playing nobodies. Like I said, I support them and want to see them represent the state in the nat'l polls and all that jazz, but I would rather see their credit coming from quality than quanity.

Oh yeah...just because Chattanooga doesn't have a team like Farragut(I have no idea about Houston or CB, MT Juliet, etc) doesn't mean Chattanooga teams aren't that good. Didn't Baylor win state last year? Wasn't McCallie and Farragut a one point game? There are a couple of Chattanooga teams playing in the Sports Belle tourney. We will see just how bad the Chattanooga teams are.

Good point. However, not many teams are.

You're mistaken...Walker Valley has played and beaten district 6AAA teams such as Ooltewah and Chattanooga Central. Their two losses came from the defending 6A (largest class) state champions in Georgia and (im pretty sure) the defending 4A state Georgia state champions. Walker Valley is very good, has played a very tough schedule, and credit should be given to them. They are not your average AA team, by all means. As a matter of fact, they should probally be playing AAA.

Practice perfection. Be patient at the plate and wait on a good pitch. Don't think about it too much, just do what comes natural. That might help you mentally prepare for a good day at the dish.

Agreed. But then again, I don't hear many people talking about firing Delmonico. It's almost as if people don't care about the program. Maybe if they had more local players it would increase fan support, and obviously if they started winning, like they are doing this year, they would gain more fan support. Fans of UT baseball are very fairweather, i guess. As someone pointed out, every couple years he has a good season. That is what has kept his job. But, as I said when I started this thread, there is plenty enough talent in this state to build a champion calibur team, but they are not recruiting it. That is one of their biggest problems, in my opinion.

They throw good parties. I don't know if there team is good though.

Maybe if you walk on...I'm telling ya, they don't recruit in state. Most players on the team that are from TN walked on. For instance, Simcox wanted Jared Gaston from Cleveland to walk on and sit the bench in hope of getting a scholarship in the future (and hopes of getting to play!!!). That is how they treat their in state talent. Look at Farragut High School. They got one player off that team from last year, Craig Cobb. They have yet to sign anyone from this year's senior class (Waldrop should have been an automatic bid; he's going to be at Vandy next year). Go look at Germantown's former rosters...They have sent tons of players to the likes of Miss, Miss State, Auburn, etc. Karns High School's Iorg signed with Alabama. The top catcher in the state, from South Doyle High in Knox, is going to Alabama as well. The list goes on and on. They are letting their top players go to their division rivals, and it stinks!!

Why can they not get their in state talent to play for them? Tennessee gets beat by their own in state talent. Every roster in the SEC has players from Tennessee, and its these guys that come back home and beat the Vols.

Tanner...your all time favorite umpire here. Wish I had been there to see it, but I'm in Knoxville. I'm very proud; keep it up!!!

Actually, I was just thinking. This is the whole lowering the shoulder thing: If it is a bam bam play, the runner will natutally use his shoulder as a brace for impact between him and the fielder (we'll use the notorious play at home). This is not malicious contact. (NOTE: Any good baserunner is going to slide because they want to score.) It is just old fashioned baseball. We will also assume that the catcher caught the ball and moved in the runner's path. Say, the catcher is a step or two outside of the path, catches the ball, and immediately turns to make the tag, all in a split second, bam bam play. This is a probally not so clear example of how lowering the shoulder is not always malicious contact. And, actually, if my jibberish is understandable, this is actually what happens nine out of ten times when we have this situation. Now, if the catcher is standing in the baseline (on home plate, five feet up, with or without the ball), and the fielder rounds third, has twenty feet between him and the catcher (plenty of time to acknowledge the fact that the catcher is standing there) and then lowers his shoulder and plows the catcher, it is malicious contact. That is how I interpret the whole thing.

Grad, those are the actual NFHS rules. I found these in the case book: 8.4.2 Situation U: F4 is in the baseline withour the ball (a) on both knees or ( bending over. R1 hurdles, jumps, leaps or dive over F4. RULING: In (a) and ( obstruction is ignored. If the runner hurdles, jumps, leaps or dives over the fielder he shall be declared out. These illegal acts supercede obstruction. (Basically, what it is saying is that if the fielder does not have the ball, but is in the baseline and the runner jumps over the fielder, the runner is declared out. If there was contact, the illegal hurdle would supercede the obstruction: the fielder who gets hit by a runner while sitting in the baseline with his thumb up his butt.) 3.3.1 On a play at the plate, F2, who is on his knees, is about to receive the throw. R1 decides to hurdle F2 or jump over him feet first. RULING: The runner is out. The runner is entitled to slide legally or legally attempt to get around a fielder who has the ball and is waiting to make the tag. Going over the fielder who is not lying on the ground by hurdling, jumping, leaping or diving over the fielder is dangerous and, therefore, illegal. A runner may jump or hurdle over a fielder, who is lying on the ground, but diving over a fielder always is illegal. (This is more along the lines of what happened with Ooltewah, I think. If so, the act was not malicious; it was simply an illegal slide/hurdle. The runner is out, but not ejected from the game.) There are two examples in the case book of malicious contact, but they really wouldn't help to understand. Malicious contact is not defined in either the case book or the rules book. That is why malicious contact is so debateable: no one knows for sure the line between interference and malicious contact. Everyone has an opinion, and most of them are different. Personally, I think most collisions are not malicious contact but just hard nosed baseball. Lowering the shoulder, in my opinion, is usually NOT malicious contact. Malicious contact, in my opinion, would be something more along the lines of pushing, punching, kicking, clotheslining, spiking, etc. Your "common" collision where the catcher is cleared is not malicious contact. Just my opinion though...Very hard call.

I wasn't in Knoxville three years ago, and last year was my first year calling baseball in Knoxville. I had one game at Clinton last year; I'm thinking it was Clinton and Campbell County. It was a JV game, so if you were a senior last year I have probally not umpired any of your games. I go out there again this year.

I had their JV once last year. I think I will go out there this year a few times.

Yes, I've umpired at all the Anderson Co. high schools.

Baseball, I umpire in the knoxville area. I go home in the summers, but still come back to knoxville for tournaments. I think you are from Rockwood...havent called any in Roane County. But yeah, knox, anderson, sevier, campbell, claibourne, blount, loudon, etc. You name it.

Wad, if you were in Memphis or Millington last year you sure as heck were not there as an umpire. I got a couple good friends at Walter's State, and if there was an umpire as bad as you they would have told me about it. Stick to Dixie Youth where you can continue to make rules up as you go along. Baseball, you are 100% right. One, a player is not the one who should be questioning a call. Two, there is a professional manner that a coach can uphold when dealing with an umpire. Respect is a two way street, and by God if a coach treats me the right way I am going to break my back to see to it that his questions are answered and that the calls are right. However, if the coach is acting like a horses a**, I'm not going to do any more for him than I have to. Example: Yesterday I was umpiring in a middle school tournament in Knoxville. There was a throw from the leftfield setting up a play at the plate. I was in the correct position to make the call, but I got straightlined between the catcher and the runner (my view was 100% blocked). The runner ran past the catcher who was attempting to tag him and tagged home as if he had not been tagged. I made a judgement on the reaction of the runner. Apparently, I was wrong, and everyone in the park knew it. The defensive team's coach came out to me, requested time, and in a very calm and professional manner said something to the extent of "I know you made that call, and I know you tried your best. However, is there any way you could check with your partner?" Now, this is what I had: I made a judgement call at homeplate. That was 110% my call, my judgement. I do not have to ask for help on that, and 99/100 times I don't because appealing a judgement call is frowned upon (imagine if people were appealing balls and strikes. this situation is about the same). However, the coach was very professional about it, and treated me like a human being. I went out to my partner, asked him to tell me what he honestly saw. The kid was obviously out, and my partner knew it. So, to end my story, I called the kid at home out. In the long run, we got the call right. Wad, if you want to become an umpire, it is too late this year to call high school ball. You should try to pick up some rec league ball and summer ball. That way you can make a little jack while getting your feet wet as an official. I'm assuming you are from Fairview, which is in Williamson County. If you REALLY want to get a start, I used to date a girl from Brentwood who's father assigns baseball for a park in Nolansville (I THINK Nolansville). Either way, email me at acoultry@utk.edu and I will give her a ring and see what I can do....I'm a college student too, and I make pretty good money umpiring baseball. Much better than waiting tables!!!

Wad, umpires like you are the reason threads like these are started. One, you don't know the rules. Two, when a coach or player tries to explain to you that you applied a faulty rule or that you misapplied a valid rule, you get mad and you dump them. Considering you are an umpire (any willing person with $45 can fill out the little card and become a TSSAA official, sadly), I can promise your assigning officer has rhetorically expressed the importance of two things: professionalism and knowledge of the rules. Bragging about ejecting a player/coach/fan is not professional. It is not a necessarily a bad thing when you don't know a rule (there are hundreds of them, we are only human), but it is unacceptable to not try to get the rule/situation right. That is the difference between a good and bad official. I umpire in East Tennessee-Knoxville and Chattanooga to be exact. I have probally umpired more games in the last month than you will this whole season. And yes, I umpire high school baseball, and yes I have been doing it for quite some time now (five years). In your situation, the only thing that applies is obstruction. A player can stand in the baseline all day long if he chooses to do so. Unless he is making a play, it is obstruction (delayed dead ball) if there is any contact between the fielder and baserunner. The fielder can stand anywhere he wants, but if he is in the baseline he is open game for a cheap obstruction call (unless he is making a play on the ball, at which time it would be interference on the runner). If you don't want to believe that, hate it for you and the teams you officiate. Dixie Youth Baseball and all the other crap that is played in West Tennessee is not real baseball, and the rules are a far cry from those of the NFHS. Understand that fully, and understand me when I say you need to put forth more effort into being a good official because you are only hurting the players.

Wad, how about you post your name on here so I can call Manny and Eddie (or was it Junior back in your "prime") and let them know that one of their "twenty year veterans" believes there is a rule that says a player "MUST BE IN POSSESSION OF THE BASEBALL BEFORE HE CAN BLOCK ANY BAG". I was also at the meeting this year. Gene was not. Bob Black was there, and he talked extinsively about the new rule changes (discovery of an illegal player, no accidental appeals on force play, etc.) but did say a word about a player blocking the bag, obstruction, interference or anything that has to do with this message board. At the state meeting last year, however, they did talk about this, and they explained, in detail, everything that I posted about malicious contact, legal slides, and obstruction. They must have forgotten to mention your rule, maybe because IT ISN'T A RULE. I just got off the phone with our high shool assigning officer and he told me that whoever posted that message doesn't know the rules. Just to double check, I called ole Joe from Athens Umpire Association. He agrees; You don't know the rules. Now, if you would like to break out one of your "many" rule books from your tenure as a high school and college umpire and find this rule, please do. I will mail you a check for $100 and buy you a steak dinner if you can find this rule. Otherwise, do us all a favor and don't tell people that you umpire baseball. You are making umpires look like lazy bums who don't read the rule book, and might I add beligerent and stubborn.