BlackSunshine

Nice job Lady Jackets. You make lots of people proud.

Madison won . . . think it was something like 63-55.

I agree completely, except that the charter for the award mentions character. I've already said that I think the award should be for "on floor" performance, only because it's voted on by people who couldn't know character issues. Unfortunately, in it's current incarnation, Mr. Basketball does include character, though.

Okay, fair enough post. Let me offer a counter-point. I really will try to keep opinion to a minimum and stick with facts, okay. Many people see the Mr. Basketball honor (and that's what it is) as not only an individual honor to the player, but it is also, in many people's views, the best representative of Tennessee's high school basketball (with respect to classification). In a sense, the winners represent "us". You can argue Webb, Doaks, Skogan, etc. all day long with regards to performanc. It's like debating on what the best car is. It's simply opinion on who's the best basketball player. That's all. What people take exception with is the character segment of the award. Let's face it. Doaks has not always portrayed what many consider exceptional sportsmanship, especially in the tournament when most people were watching. He was kicked out of a game for two very selfish acts. He shoved a JCS player out of frustration on a fast break hard enough to knock the player down. This was in the open court and away from the ball i.e. no excuse. In the State Tournament finals, he drew a technical foul for remarks made to the opposing team's crowd. None of these things are opinion. They all happened, and many people saw each thing. I will not comment on this person's playing ability. It speaks for itself. He led his team to the finals of the State Tournament, and he's already been recruited for major college play. People can judge his play all day long, but the performance on the floor has been rewarded where it counts i.e. scoreboard and college opportunities. Regardless of ability, though, being chosen as Mr. Basketball with such events in recent history cheapens the honor in many people's minds. His ability is something to be honored and held up, but his behaviour isn't always as favorable. It comes to the question of is this what we want to reward? It also says that, even with the observed behaviour considered, this player is still better than the other two. From a coach's view, you have to ask yourself is the risk of technical fouls and other discipline issues worth the added benefit of Doaks over the other contenders. As a fan, you have to ask yourself if the image this player portrays is something that's worth his performance. To some, winning is all that matters. To others, rewarding the "complete package" is more important. More than likely, the disparity between these two parties is what's causing the conflict when meaningful debate is carried out.

How many ads in the Sun are from Hardeman County or Lake County? How often do you see out of Jackson ads compared with Jackson ads? Do they cover the private schools more? You mean the schools who's supporters buy a significant portion of the ads? You bet. If I ran the Sun, I doubt if I'd do anything differently as far as sports coverage. Why would you?

Regardless of who is the subject, I think that's a fair statement. There's no way someone in Dyersburg is going to know if Skogen cheats at algebra or is an Eagle Scout any more than a reporter in Bristol is going to know about the players from the West. Honestly, considering how spread out Tennessee is and how different the play is across the State, I'd just as soon not have a Mr. Basketball. There really doesn't seem to be a logical place for it.

Voting for all classes was due in before the tournaments started, correct? Just a point of discussion for all three classes. If all of the people who could have voted could have changed their vote at the end of each respective game, do you think they would have? Who would have gotten it, instead?

What powers? Who? Names? Organizations? Who?

Once again, I have to ask, exactly WHO has been underestimating Trenton? They were pretty dominant all year long in their district/region. I think they were picked to at least go to the Sub-State pretty early on by the pundits. Who underrated them?

Who, though? Other than Lake County, who in the district/region has beaten Peabody . . . boys or girls? I dunno'. I've just heard Peabody people saying this over and over, but I haven't heard the other side of it.

I've heard this over and over, but I just can't find this group of people who were underestimating Trenton all year.

I don't mean to sound trite, but exactly who has been doubting Peabody (girls or boys) all year? I wasn't aware either were underdogs or surprise finishers. Did they upset anyone during either tournament so far? Is there anyone left that, if beaten, people would consider an upset?

No. My "real" job called. I did have a good guy up there writing (and broadcasting a bit ). I think he's doing back this week, too. Drop me an EMail sometime.

Okay, it was obvious to you. It was probably obvious to the Adamsville crowd, too. But it probably wasn't as obvious to the Greenfield crowd. I can probably round up 50 at the game who thought Greenfield had to play against the cheating refs who obviously wanted Adamsville to win. I could do the same for about any game played, honestly, regardless of justice of feeling a particular way or not. Why was it obvious? Why would Greenfield be "chosen" to win? Did Greenfield pay the refs off? Were the officials from there? Family there? Or is it the omnious "the man" theory? I just don't get it. True. But is that good strategy by the team or poor officiating? Let me answer for you. If it happens to the figurative "you", it's cheating. However, if it's the other team who gets into foul trouble, then obviously your team had a good strategy thanks to fine coaching. Well, I know a little about the game, but I don't see the mass cheating that you see. I see POOR OFFICIATING now and again, but I see more screwy calls on both ends than consistently against one team. About the only exception is the "superstar" effect i.e. if the superstar hits, good for him. If he misses, he was obviously fouled. How could he miss otherwise?". But, this is more for a particular player as opposed to a team, and truthfully, I haven't seen it as much this year as I have in the past. Well, if you find the truth not mature or thoughtful, maybe you should re-evaluate more than the TSSAA. Face it. That's all Tennessee effectively has. Play in the TSSAA or don't play at all. I see new teams in playoffs constantly (over a period of years). Sure, there are powerhouses out there, but they get upset and beaten now and again. It happens. You seem to subscribe to this illuminati/Freemason/Skulls/"the man" theory that there's some kind of mass conspiracy to fix high school games. I've asked over and over again "why?", but you can't give a significant reason for the vast and far-reaching conspiracy you point out to even exist. Are they fixing the massive underground high school athletic gambling syndicate? Are they winning games for political clout? Money maybe? Please, offer some kind of motivation for everything to be as crooked and fixed as you make it out to be, and I'll join the crusade. Till then or till I see poor one-sided calling I'll have to pass on your theory. Fair enough. Then try countering with some facts or at least some kind of soluable theory instead of "it ain't fair because they're all cheating." Okay, let's expose some cheating refs. You provide the video tapes of the payoffs. Cancelled checks would be even better. If it's as bad as you say, SURELY you can get some audio tapes of the refs plotting the fouls per quarter strategy and points shaving. I mean, there's GOT to be a big money trail. I mean, you've got to figure game fixing a high school match-up for three local officials has got to be, what, a few hundred bucks. An official calls say 50-75 TOTAL games a year. That $5,000 per official AT LEAST plus what they pay to supervisors and even more to the upper level guys who HAVE to be in on it. Surely to goodness you can find a money trail there. Find some evidence of all of these refs cheating, and I'll join up. Seriously. Tape it and expose him. If you're the champion you're asking everyone else to be, get the dirt and expose these people. Unless, of course, your friend is the only bad one in the bunch? Or he's a liar. Either way, you're witholding evidence which makes you no better. YOU'RE THE ONE WITH THE GOODS! Out with it. Till then, your argument is pretty weak. Maybe we should just get rid of HIM! You're right. By my comments on this board, I'm pretty new to sports and people in general. Thanks for noticing. However, you utterly and completely sidestepped every request I've made for a "why". Completely. I can only guess that you have no real idea why they "cheat". I'm also betting that you feel they only cheat against your team (JCS perhaps?). Actually, we all pay. Private school parents just pay for their choice. Often times, it's a good choice for academics. With regards to thugs, there are thugs in all schools. Some use muscle, some use drugs, some use sex, and some use money. It's just a matter of how well you prepare your child to deal with all of them. Look at it this way. Take a kid out of JCS and put him in an inner-city school somewhere with drugs and violence. Odds are, he'll be intimidated. Now, take a 250 pound thug out of that school and let him walk through his new private school parking lot full of Hummers, Infinities, and BMW's and tell him he's got to fit in and survive. Odds are, in a very different but very similar way, he'll feel the pressure and intimidation, too. I agree to a point. Cowards? Maybe. But we also have a society ready to sue at the drop of a hat. We have a court system filled with juries who believe that a lawsuit is like a lottery ticket, too. And if they can help someone else's ticket payoff big, maybe the favor will be returned to them one day. Sounds wonderful. It's right up there with "DO THE RIGHT THING" and "MAKE GOOD CHOICES!" Great mottos but there's no wisdom there. Wisdom lies in figuring out what freedom and truth really are and THEN letting them reign and prevail.

For what it's worth, I didn't see anything particularly negative, either. If anything, I think the Gleason program is one of the most consistently overacheiving programs around year to year.