slowrunnertn

The Chattanooga Times is reporting Ralph Potter is heading back to McCallie.

That would be great. Tell Coach Bradley to call Coach Massey. Baylor is always looking for good teams to play. This year Baylor played Bradley Central, a very good 6A team, along with Columbia, last years 5A state champ.

I would agree. Baylor would win. Yes, Ensworth handily beat Baylor in the finals and has a ton of talented athletes along with a great coach but it seams to be forgotten, probably since it was not on state wide television, but Baylor beat them just as soundly in the regular season.

They do have a great team and coach and Corn is a great player. He was not gimpy when Ensworth played Baylor. The Baylor coaches put together a great game plan to shut him down. In the last two games against Baylor (last year's state championship and this years game), Corn did not have the success that he has had against other teams. Here is to hoping that the coaches and players will be as sucessful in slowing him down as they have the last two times they have played.

About What?

Bluemom, Thanks for your support of all the Zebras that work so hard on Friday night. I don't blame you for pulling for MBA, I know it would be devastating for the Big Blue to lose to the Red Raiders 5 times in 3 years. Good Luck in Memphis. I am hoping to see you in Cookville.

From a former high school and division 1 collegiate official, I tend to find that most teams that get beat want to find a reason to blame for the loss. They don't want to blame their kids (naturally) and they don't want to blame the coach that would not be supportive of the program. Who else do you blame? The Officials! I too have seen bad calls made in Chattanooga, and in Nashville and many other cities. Just like any job, you have some people with more experience than others. If you watch many Pro and Collegiate games, the officials have the benefit of instant replay and there are still a lot of calls where there is still a difference of opinion on what was the right call. These men and now women have to make a split second decision and do not get the benefit of instant replay. You are also dealing with only 5 Officials in high school on the field versus 7 for college and pros. That is due to budgetary reasons. What that means is there are fewer officials to cover more territory and guess what some calls are going to get missed. It is the job of district supervisor, who are usually some of the best officials in the country and are usually current or former professional or collegiate officials, to build crews that incorporates all the experience levels of the association. I have rarely seen an official effect the outcome of the game. For all the people that complain about the officiating, they should first learn the rules of the game and then learn the philosophy of the association because it varies from city to city and state to state. I for example find the Nashville association is much more lenient on holding calls than the Chattanooga association. I find most people that complain about officiating don't know the rules and there for make a bad interpretation of the rules. What most people don't realize is that the rules are different on every level (high school, college and pro), and they take what they see on Saturday and Sunday and try to apply it to the same rules to Friday Nights. I promise you, that if MBA gets beat on Friday night it will not be because of the officiating. It may make you feel better by blaming it on the officials but that will not be the case. From my understanding of your results this year, MBA has not lost a game due to Chattanooga officiating. I guess the officiating must be bad in Nashville also!

They bring in officials from another area unless both teams are from the same area so the so called "Home Cooking" should not be a factor in any playoff games. Officials are selected by the supervisor. I do not know if the do it by crews or by position like they used to do. The problem with selecting by positions is that you may have a crew that may have never work together which is critical for key games.

Great List. Howard and Tyner are Public Schools in Chattanooga and you need to add McCallie, which I would think would be about the size of Baylor but all male. I would think Chattanooga Christian has more students since I think they are one of the biggest Private schools in Chattanooga now. It has really grown in the last 5 years.

I know a lot of the D2 schools have streaming video programs that they produce during the regular season. Does anybody know if the TSSAA will allow them to produce them during the playoffs? Will The TSSAA do anything in their place or just make you go to the games so they can generate more revenue?

Does anybody from Big Blue know why McCallie cancelled the JV game against Baylor a few weeks ago and now it appears like they are not going to reschedule? I am sorry but this is a rivalry on all levels, from 6th grade to Varsity, and it is shame that our JV teams will not get to play each other. From what I hear, the McCallie JV team is not as strong as it has been in the past, but surely that does not justify not playing your cross town rivals because you might get beat. If that is the case, what lessons are we teaching our young men? Only compete if you guaranteed a win?

So what do the playoff brackets look like now with Enswort's win over BA?

In my opinion, it is not even close. Bradley was a threat to score on any play but Columbia totalled just 14 yards of offense in the second half, and needed a 20-yard run on the final play of the game to escape negative numbers. You take away the 5 turnovers (4 inside thier 10 yard line) and the score is significantly different. I know there is a lot of talk about the different divisions across the state and we have now played one of the top teams in 6A (Bradley)and now the top 5A team (Columbia)and week in and week out D2 is by far the hardest conference in the state. It is not even close. You can't compare the talent level of the teams by box scores or scrimmages because you are rarely going to see a team post 65 or 70 points scored on a D2 opponent. I think that is for two reasons, one is most of theses schools have too many good atheletes to allow that many points and secondly, I think the coaches have too much respect for the other coaches and players to do that to another team. The coaches seem more interested in getting the 2nd, 3rd and 4th team players an opportunity to play and making sure that none of the starters get hurt because it is a long season. The non starters have been there every morning and afternoon for practices and work outs plus all the summer workouts just like the starters and deserve the chance to play on Friday Nights.

What is the latest on the MBA coaching situation? There is no news about it in Chattanooga.

Bluemom, that is interesting that would assign a local crew for the game. I have never heard of that for a playoff game. Typically you want a completely unbiased crew with no ties to either school. The problem with the playoff crews is that they are typically the best in a region which is good thing but they have never worked together which hurts in their execution during the game. Lets hope for the best.

If Bluemom is correct and they let McCallie park behind WDOD then that should work out well. I heard some McCallie parents talk about that it was nice place where they were able tail gate two years ago and it is only .6 miles from the stadium. It should be a great game.

I meant it in good fun you "old ridge runner". We always preferred to call them "Blue Guts" in my days. Being a former Zebra myself, I can understand and appreciate your comments about not having a good facility for the officials which can be said about most of the high school facilities in the country. In the old days Marion Country was known for treating the officials the best providing dinner before and after the game. I do not understand why the high schools do not take better care of the officials. I have not officiated in over 8 years so things may have changed in how they are treated. As for plans for a new facility, lets us pay for the state of the art weight room which just opened a few weeks ago and will rival the facilities of any program in the SEC. McCallie the bar has been raised get out your check book. As for making comments about the surrounding area around the schools, I could think of a few choice names for McCallie.

I agree with Landro, it is ironic anybody would ever have a negative comment about the Baylor Campus. There is no comparison between the two campuses. The only reason I could think that a McCallie person does not like the campus is that they are usually leaving in defeat.

UTC is very lucky to have both Huesman's. That have great character to go with their athletic talents.