Eagledriver

ROCKING CHAIR, I am not going to bring myself down to your level of incompetence. By posting that I am some 4 letter word I think shows who the real idiot is here.

SCHS has been smoked by Trousdale for many years of late. Does anyone know whats wrong? Its very easy for SCHS to beat teams that offer no competition, but when it comes to playing teams with decent talent, the bad coaching shows up. If you can score on SCHS first, they seem to get demoralized. 41-7 is inexcusable, its an embarrassment to the county, town, and people of that great school. Alabama had a great coach nicknamed, "THE BEAR", who always took the blame when his teams lost. The coaches are teaching children ,that do what they are taught. If you are a coach that can't handle the criticism, you had better grow some thicker skin. When I joined the military and my drill instructor jumped down my throat, I could not say " dont criticize me." Grow up and stink it up and face the facts of this world. As the great General George Patton said, " Americans can,t stand a loser, they can't stand to lose." Coaches just happen to be in a very public enviroment, they chose to be there, they are under a microscope, but it is voluntary. If you can't take the heat then do something else. I keep reading about these so called athletic players that SCHS has had over the past few years. Good athletes not only play football, they play all sports. Just because you are a good football player does not translate into being a good athlete. The problem with SCHS is the lack of support for other sports. Look how many people show up for football games compared to other sports. SCHS will NEVER WIN A STATE CHAMPIONSHIP. NEVER!!!! Tell me the last D-1 prospect from SCHS. Where are all these great athletes? I have not seen a great athlete on the SCHS football field in 17 years. The "WOODSHED BEATINGS " will continue until SCHS becomes more diversified in sports other than football. Great athletes learn other skills from other sports that translate over to the football field. Just read publications on D-1 recruits, they almost always were 2-sport or 3-sport athletes.

Those of you that are always bragging on SCHS football got a good dose of reality Friday night. That was one of the worst "WOODSHED" BEATINGS" that SCHS has ever taken on its home field. The coaching was horrible. Why is it that coach MAYONAISE cannot beat Trousdale. I thought last years team was the best ever. But if the records do not lie Trousdale beat last years team as well. I do not want to hear, "we gave the game away, we did'nt play up to our potential, we did'nt play with any heart." These are all EXCUSES!!!!! SCHS DID NOT HAVE THE BEST TEAM IN SCHS HISTORY LAST YEAR. They could not even beat Trousdale. Two years in a row SCHS has been beaten soundly on both sides of the ball. PERIOD!!!!! Trousdale has a better coaching staff and better athletes than SCHS. And this year 41-7 at home!! Do not blame the players, blame the coaching staff for not having the OWLs prepared. I do believe that if coach Mayonaise had attempted to coach in the 80's, at SCHS, he would have already been dimissed.

SCOTT DIRKSON 5880 YARDS AND 69 TDS. NO ONE ELSE HAS COME CLOSE, NO ONE WILL COME CLOSE, HE WAS A ONCE IN A LIFETIME PLAYER AND WE SHOULD BE PROUD OF HIM AND SCHS DURING THAT TIME. SOME OF YOU KEEP POSTING THAT THE 1988 TEAM WAS NOT THE BEST. THOSE STATS DO NOT LIE AND THEY COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ACHIEVED WITHOUT A GOOD TEAM NOT JUST WITH ONE GOOD PLAYER. DO NOT FORGET THE PLAYOFF SYSTEM TODAY VERSUS THEN ,IT IS MUCH EASIER TO GET INTO AND WIN IN THE PLAYOFFS TODAY THAN IT WAS IN 1988. THERE IS NO DEBATING THAT. THERE ARE TEAMS ALLOWED INTO THE PLAYOFFS WITH LOSING RECORDS TODAY. THAT WAS NOT THE CASE DURING THAT TIME. THE PLAYOFF OFFICIALS HAVE MADE IT MUCH EASIER TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS. LETS NOT ALSO FORGET THAT THE 88 AND 89 OWLS WERE UNDEFEATED DURING THE REGULAR SEASON. THATS SOMETHING THAT LAST YEARS TEAM DID NOT ACHIEVE. IF LAST YEARS TEAM HAD TO PLAY EAST TN TEAMS IN THE FIRST ROUND THEY POSSIBLY WOULD HAVE BEEN ELIMINATED ALSO. ITS IS NOT THAT LAST YEARS TEAM WAS NOT GOOD IT IS HAVING TO PLAY A TEAM FROM EAST TN THAT YOU KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT. YOU ALREADY HAVE A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF CONFIDENCE GOING INTO A PLAYOFF GAME KNOWING THAT YOU HAVE ALREADY BEATEN THAT TEAM 34-0 OR WHATEVER THE CASE MAY BE. IT IS MUCH DIFFERENT GOING INTO A GAME WITH A TEAM THAT YOU HAVE NOT FACED AND THAT YOU KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT. IN CLOSING I DO BELIEVE THAT IT WAS MUCH MORE DIFFICULT TO GET INTO AND WIN IN THE PLAYOFFS. THERE WERE SOME KILLER PRIVATE SCHOOLS THAT WERE KINGS DURING THOSE TIMES.YOU HAD TO BE AWFULLY GOOD TO HAVE BEATEN A BRENTWOOD ACADEMY OR MUS OR ECS IN THOSE DAYS.

The whole 1985 Owl football team was very good. Anyone who saw the playoff games that year were just incredible. These playoff games were some of the most hard hitting, physical football games that I have ever been to . And I lived in Florida for 8 years so I have seen some of the very best football that this country has to offer. As far as Scott Dirkson being the best football player in Smith County history, lets just put it this way. Scott Dirkson was the only football player that could have even stepped on the field with high school teams from Pensacola Florida to Fort Walton Beach Florida. Some of the athletes from those high schools make Riverdale look like Red Boiling. Also everyone lets remember this is all for fun. These are my opinions and everyones should be respected.Everyone have a good day.

BigOwlFan, It is much easier to make the playoffs today than it was back during the 80's. Only two teams would be selected out of 16. You had to be a much better team back then than you do today. Lets not forget that you had to play private schools also. Brentwood academy was the team to beat in the 80's. When Gordonsville won their championship back in the 80's they had to play a very good ECS team that had beaten them the year before. Tell me this ,name just 2 present day football players that are as good as Scott Dirkson or Brad Cowan were. You can not! Lets not forget the whole playoff issue. You did not play teams that you had already beaten in your district, if that were the case the Owl teams 87-90 would have all made it to the semi-finals. Also look at the stats on a per game basis not comparing a 14 game season statistics to a 10 game season statistics. Obviously the totals look better for a 14 game season. You may be surprised by the per game statistics. The 1987-1990 Owls would have destroyed last years owls. They were just better teams all the way around. Scott Dirkson would have shredded the 04 Owls. And lets not forget Chris Crowe a 4 year starter and the winningest Owl quarterback of all time. Chris was a 3 way star athlete that was also a 3 year starter in the secondary. These teams during the 80's were much more athletic.

The time period from 1987-1990 was the best in Smith County football in my opinion. The best running back to ever wear an owl uniform played during this time,his name =Scott Dirkson. Scott was 190-200lbs of explosive gamebreaking excitement that Smith County has not seen since and will probably never see again. Scott led the state in rushing and scoring for 2 consecutive years. He was Mr. Football during a time when there was only one Mr. Football per class and there were only 3 classes 1A,2A and 3A. Some compared the Wilmore running back from last year to Scott, there is no comparison. Scott was bigger,faster, and much more explosive. He was a true division 1 prospect if not for his academics. I urge you to simply look at the stats. Also during that time you did not play cream puff teams from your own division in the playoffs. You would have to face talented east TN teams like Marion County, Sequatchie, etc. Look what happened to last years team as soon as they stepped out of their division, it was no contest. Gordonsville was also a much better ball team in the 80's. You had great players like Jaimie Angel, Brad Cowan, Doug Dillard. I believe teams during those days were bigger and stronger. Now before anyone debates weights as the deciding factor about strength lets remember something. Back in the 80's Carthage and Gordonsville were farming communities. Young men would work outside all day in the hot son, physical labor was the norm. This type of upbringing made strong,tough and hard young men that would laugh at todays football practices. They were better conditioned to handle the heat. Weightroom strength is one thing but good old fashioned strength developed by hard work is immeasurable. Kids today set around playing playstation and drink cokes and eat junkfood. Todays football players might look the part but the glory days of real football are over. One more thing if the Smith County head coach had has his ball players drink gatorade on the way to knoxville last week the owls would have made it a game. Riding on a bus drinking cokes will dehydrate you which will lead to cramps.