CycloneMom

Here's a reply from the Cyclone Nation: We are proud of the Lady Cyclones team and the hard work they have put into this program. You can wallow in your desire for these girls to fail all you want - we are focused on our goal. We wish you and whatever team you support the best. Have a good day!

I have absolutely no idea - just know the three of them walked to the center and had a conversation (no one from elizabethton's bench had any type of conversation with them at any point prior to that moment and I'm sure of this since it would've been rather lengthy expalining it to and trying to convince someone who didn't know about the rule). After the refs talked between themselves one walked over to Dugger and asked him to come over and got CPA's coach and the ref told her they were calling a technical to which she replied "Are you serious?" and he said yes. Then Coach Dugger walked over and told his assistant what was going on and they chose Whitney Roberts to shoot the shots.

Now I may be completely wrong and our coach's did bring up the swoosh but it did not appear they were any more aware of what was going on that CPA's coach when the refs came over after meeting in the middle of the court at the end of the 1st quarter buzzer and apparently discucssing it. Maybe one of the refs for that game was aware of the rule but had not called one of CPA's games before last night - I have no idea. But if it was Elizabethton's coaches who knew about the rule how would the end of the 1st quarter be the moment it gave them the biggest advantage to do so?

I do not believe that Betsy fans are the only ones who complain about officiating. I cannot recall watching a ballgame when I was for a particular team or just there to enjoy a game with no special interest that I have not seen missed calls on both sides of the court. It can be extremely frustrating and people in general tend to recall the missed calls that hurt their team more than the other but you don't win or lose on a single call - it takes an entire game. The same goes for the Elizabethton/Grainger game - the officiating was terrible. The complaint regarding Grainger's actions that night was that several parents were saying things to the Elizabethton players after the game while pictures were being taken - that was uncalled for. I would say the same if it had been Elizabethton fans saying things to Grainger players. I have at times seen/heard our fans say and do things and I was ashamed for them. Even the students at times say and do things they shouldn't but they are kids - adults should know better.

Again I have no idea what that means. Maybe you're just much more advanced than me. But I don't need others speaking for me and I don't need to share my laptop...I say what I mean all by myself.

Well I wasn't talking about Rikki but yes she and her family are good people. I was speaking of a more recent player who is still in her second year of college. Anyway like in my original post (which just happened to be around the same time as the other mom name) I believe all of the adults need to be better examples of respect towards opposing players/teams just like the kids seem to do if not while playing at least when they eventually get a chance to get to know each other. Maybe the kids are smarter than us adults....

What on earth does this mean? I don't know who BigBama42 is but she has every right to say whatever she wants. Yep, adversity is part of life and the bests lessons learned come through those struggles - couldn't agree more. Again, my daughter won't be on the ball court tonight so....

Guess what limestone - my daughter isn't playing. I've read many of your posts through the years - I've been a parent of players for some time. Why would you have an attitude towards me and anything I've said? I've been respectful of all of the teams. In fact the Elizabethton player whom I said went to college with some of her former rivals - those rivals are from Unicoi. Did I offend you?

You're absolutely right the problem is fans from both sides and some "agitators" who have nothing to do with either team - I couldn't agree more. And I agree on both teams winning and meeting again - would make for an exciting championship game and an awesome and very deserving 1st and 2nd place team....but let's just get there first - one game at a time....

I'm pretty sure Cody is from closer to the Grainger and Alcoa area - I believe he stated so in another post on one of these discussions. You sure are a very unhappy person. Makes me feel sorry for you. But I promise you I nor anyone else is really concerned with who you pull for tonight or any other time. Win or lose, we are very proud of our girls and what they have accomplished. I'm sure the Grainger fans feel the same about their girls and they have every reason to be proud. Best of luck to whatever team it is that is unfortunate enough to have you supporting them - so much negativity......

Elizabethton girls basketball has been competitive for some time even before any of the Petrowski girls started playing. Someone else has already addressed their living in Elizabethton and attending city schools and we are very glad to have them. As far as playing at home, I am assuming you mean during this regional tournament since that has been a huge topic. Those refs were from Region 3 so that's a bit out of Carter County. Also, if you have ever attended an Elizabethton game whether home or away you would know that we are much less than easy on refs and their performances. Based on what we had during the tournament though, it does appear local refs do a better job than I previously thought. Since you claim to be so knowledgeable on area girls basketball info I would have thought you were aware of both of these things. Now if by Rikki you mean Baughman, her father has a business in Hampton and has to my knowledge never been a ref or been in any way involved with refs. Now, if a child and their parents make a choice to come to Elizabethton, whether for academic reasons or because they want to play ball in a solid, proven and successful basketball program we will welcome them with open arms. But it is just that - the choice of parents and their children. You are very persistant in your quest of degrading Elizabethton. Perhaps you would be better served taking that persistance and recruiting for your ball team.....then you could spend your time improving your ball program so you can compete rather than trying to cut down another program to have an excuse why you can't beat them......

Ok - all teams have fans with different personalities who support them in different ways. Some support is good for teams and some may be embarrasing. I'm sure the Grainger players would agree. It is a really big deal that your team had a long stretch of being undefeated through the season and into the post season. We had a team not so long ago who was blessed and fortunate enough to do the same and yes, they lost in the first round of the state tournament. It broke their hearts as well as us parents/fans. Did it take away from their accomplishments in our eyes? Absolutely not - we were still just as proud of them. And I'm sure the Grainger parents/fans feel the same about their team. Now please stop putting pressure on these teenagers by talking about how things would be different or the same at the next meeting and let them enjoy the experience of their success. Sometimes adults cause more hard feelings between the kids than would be there without these type remarks. I can tell you for sure that one particular girl that was on our undefeated team now goes to college with some of the very players who played for our biggest rivals and there certainly was no love lost between the players. Now they have good relationships and respect each other and what they all accomplished. They've even played some intramural ball together. Elizabethton's players are some of the best kids with lots of heart and commitment to what they are working for that you'd ever meet and I'm sure the same could be said of Grainger's. Hopefully if they get to meet again each team will respect the other and not let the things talked about in this thread influence their opinions of the other.

Can everyone please move on? Coach Dugger is the coach of Elizabethton Lady Cyclones. Some like him, some don't, sometimes we agree with his choices, sometimes we don't. The bottom line is he is Elizabethton's coach. What coaches/players/parents/fans from Grainger, Unicoi, Hampton nor any other place makes any difference to what we know to be true about him. The points could be argued until this same time next year and no one is going to change their mind. Wednesday night there was a game between Elizabethton and Grainger. Elizabethton won against a very good Grainger team. These two teams could play over and over and more than likely each team would win and lose some of those games. Last night on their home floor Elizabethton's boys lost to a very good Sullivan East team. Sometimes it's just about who wants it more. All of these teams are still playing and that is the important thing. Let's go support our respective teams to the best of our ability! Good luck to all the remaining teams!

As I stated before I'm new at posting and have no idea how to include your post boxn1. I do not know anything about the tournament orginally being at HV or why it would have been changed to Elizabethton. We were told the first of the year that we would be hosting, I cannot "enlighten" you any further. If you are insinuating that we somehow have the ability to manipulate district and regional tournament locations I assure you there were previous years when we would have chosen to host as well based on the expectations of teams we have had. I will tell you that it is a lot of hard work if you're involved with hospitality rooms, concessions or organization of any kind - I'm glad we don't host very often in that respect. I would not, nor do I believe anyone else involved with the team, have a problem with playing on a neutral site as this is just one year of hosting. My understanding is that next year it goes to Sullivan East and then Unicoi the next - it's not like we look forward to ever playing at an opponent's school especially during tournament time. If Elizabethton had lost the District Championship they would have "boarded a bus" for game 1 of the Regions. Likewise had they lost the Region Championship they would be boarding another Saturday. Does hosting the tournament give the host team an advantage? Absolutely if they're a good enough team to play with the other opponents - if anyone says otherwise they're insane. No one knows for sure if the outcome would have been different had we played at Grainger or a neutral site last night. But if they had played the game at your facility or elsewhere and the teams' performances were the same as they were last night, the outcome would have been the same. Elizabethton's girl's came out with a purpose and goal and they never looked back. As for our coming to Grainger to play - I think it would be great for our team to have the opportunity to play in your fine facility against a great team. That's how a team improves and gets experience that benefits them if they make it to the State Tournament. And the ride isn't too bad either - we live in one of the most beautiful areas of the US so the scenery is amazing.

As you can see I have just registered to this site and have never posted though I have for several years enjoyed reading the posts. I have been a parent of ball players for many years and have been blessed with the opporutnity to experience doing so on several different levels and in different conferences. There is one thing I can tell you for certain - no matter where you go sports fans are always the same: they love their team and seldom see wrong in what they do (they never foul, are always the one done wrong, etc.). The mixture in the fanbase almost always includes those who are die hard supporters that are in reality somewhat embarassing to the very ones they are supporting. There are also those who actually have the ability to see good in the other team and can admit when a call made by a referee was wrong although you usually will hear the "but we'll take it" comment added in relief. There is absolutely nothing wrong with supporting our teams. There is even nothing wrong with disliking other team's fans and/or coaches and there are many times these feelings are warranted to an extent. It would be nice if everyone could see that they too are only supporting their team with the same spirit as the other. Regarding coaches I will say this about the time-out called by Coach Dugger at the end of the game mentioned above: when the timeout was called an Elizabethton player was trapped and in trouble and was possibly about to lose the ball. The refs could also have called a foul on Grainger - yes it was right in front of me and it would not have been out of reach. Was it a smart timeout - Cyclone fans (including me) would say yes - Grainger fans would say no. Again it depends on which team you were rooting for. What I find disheartening is when adults allow their feelings towards other adults to spill over into how they treat and react to other ball teams. The kids on the other team are just that, kids who have worked extremely hard, spent hours in the gym, worried about their shot, tried to remember all of their plays, adjusted to injuries and stepped into a position on the court where they have never before played. They have worked just as hard as the other team (sometimes harder) but for the most part they've all put everything they have into the game. From the time we first became parents to a player we've tried to tell them to put 100% into whatever they were doing - if you're gonna do it do it to the best of your ability. But we've also told them to never take any team or individual player and their abilities for granted and to always, always appreciate other players' abilities no matter who they are. But the most important thing we have tried to instill in our kids is to respect other teams and individual players. Last night when Grainger's team was given their trophy, Elizabethton fans not only applauded the team but also stood and showed them the respect they deserved. They are a really good ball team and their achievements are awesome! However, when Elizabethton was given their trophy Grainger parents not only did not applaud, they yelled things to our team the entire time they were taking pictures (mainly about the referees and that they should be in our team picture - again it depends on which side of the final score you are on - we could argue they didn't make calls our way as well - they are from Region 3 which is closer to you than us - we've never been happy with their game calline either). Likewise, when individual tournament awards were given, Grainger parents clapped for all recipients except for Elizabethton players. Parents - not the kids chose to not respect a team of kids who worked extremely hard and overcame losing 3 starters just to be able to play that game. I have to say in all the years I have attended ball games I believe that was the saddest example of sportsmanship I have seen. Elizabethton may not have a facility that is up to the standards of Grainger's (and yes, the statement about our facilities was made by a Grainger fan) but it is what we have and we appreciate our seat backs. We did not request to host the tournament - it was just our turn and in fact I do not even remember when we last held one. My experience since I have had kids playing is that we have always traveled other than game 1 of a regional tournament or the sub-state game. Would Grainger fans feel any differently about the game had we played on a neutral court or even at their facility? Regardless, I can only hope that our players learn something valuable from how the Grainger parents treated them after the game and that is not to do what they did, but to have respect for the other team, appreciate their abilities and the effort they put forth during the game and to always show that respect and appreciation. Best of luck to the Grainger team on your sub-state game with CAK. Go Cyclones! We are very proud of you!