Best of Preps can be political

[jon26]

Chattanooga Times today came out with their Soccer best of preps....as they do for each sport. It is voted on by the Times staff with alittle input by area coaches. As with everything in life so much is political and maybe who sells their players the best.

 

Baylor's Jimmy Weekley did get coach of the year and Baylor got #1 team as they should have with their tremendous year.

 

Their are so many deserving players that did receive recognition and of course as always some are controversial. But really seemed to be a terrible injustice was that Baylor had the #1 defense in the entire state for all divisions....allowing only 5 goals to be scored on them all year. Yet not one Baylor defender or goalie got 1st team. Granted CSAS goalie getting 1st team was not a big surprise. He is a senior and a great goalie and had only 10 goals scored on him.

 

But Danny Van Valkinburgh did not even get 2nd team goalie which is just outragous. With again 5 goals scored on him....the honor was given to CCS' goalie. CCS had 24 goals scored on them this year. He is also a very good goalie but give me a break.....5 goals vs 24. Granted again, the Baylor back 4 was unbelievable but Danny made many unbelievable saves when needed as was witnesses in the McCallie shutout. Besides Danny getting I believe ripped out...so did the Baylor defenders. Only one Michael Deere made 2nd team. Yes, as we all know politics plays into everything but how in the world the top defense in the state of Tennessee does not get one defender or goalie on the first team...or the goalie even mentioned is just incredible. No offense meant to the ones that made it....but this is just totally insane.

[chattasoccer]

Wow...I've been out of town and just saw this. Unbelievable. Alot of very good selections and I know it must be hard on some to choose as there are so many great players. But to leave out all of Baylor's defenders and goalie is amazing. At least one should have gotten 1st team but for Danny V not be even get the nod at 2nd team is just crazy. A least one defender made 2nd team. But lets see 5 goals vs around 24 for the 2nd team goalie is just pure crazy. Baylor can be proud though. A state championship speaks volumns. What do sports writers know anyway.

 

Chattanooga Times today came out with their Soccer best of preps....as they do for each sport. It is voted on by the Times staff with alittle input by area coaches. As with everything in life so much is political and maybe who sells their players the best.

 

Baylor's Jimmy Weekley did get coach of the year and Baylor got #1 team as they should have with their tremendous year.

 

Their are so many deserving players that did receive recognition and of course as always some are controversial. But really seemed to be a terrible injustice was that Baylor had the #1 defense in the entire state for all divisions....allowing only 5 goals to be scored on them all year. Yet not one Baylor defender or goalie got 1st team. Granted CSAS goalie getting 1st team was not a big surprise. He is a senior and a great goalie and had only 10 goals scored on him.

 

But Danny Van Valkinburgh did not even get 2nd team goalie which is just outragous. With again 5 goals scored on him....the honor was given to CCS' goalie. CCS had 24 goals scored on them this year. He is also a very good goalie but give me a break.....5 goals vs 24. Granted again, the Baylor back 4 was unbelievable but Danny made many unbelievable saves when needed as was witnesses in the McCallie shutout. Besides Danny getting I believe ripped out...so did the Baylor defenders. Only one Michael Deere made 2nd team. Yes, as we all know politics plays into everything but how in the world the top defense in the state of Tennessee does not get one defender or goalie on the first team...or the goalie even mentioned is just incredible. No offense meant to the ones that made it....but this is just totally insane.

[CCSMAN]

Wow...I've been out of town and just saw this. Unbelievable. Alot of very good selections and I know it must be hard on some to choose as there are so many great players. But to leave out all of Baylor's defenders and goalie is amazing. At least one should have gotten 1st team but for Danny V not be even get the nod at 2nd team is just crazy. A least one defender made 2nd team. But lets see 5 goals vs around 24 for the 2nd team goalie is just pure crazy. Baylor can be proud though. A state championship speaks volumns. What do sports writers know anyway.

 

I think what you need to look at is saves. CCS's defense did not have one player that played club ball and the CCS

keeper had double digit saves in a lot of his games. I know in one of the Notre Dame games, since they played three times, he had 18 saves and the game ended 1 to 0 Notre Dame. Also, in the McCallie game they lost 2 to 0 but it should have been 6 to 0 because he made four great saves. I know that most all, if not all, of the Baylor defenders play

club ball and that makes a huge difference as to how many times your keeper will touch the ball. Danny is a good keeper

and deserves credit but how active was he during a lot of the games?

[cincyred]

I really doubt that the electors of the best of preps know who is or is not on a club team. The Baylor keeper should have been player of the year. To come back off of injury (missing his entire Sophmore year) and only give up 5 goals this year, that says a lot. I guess he will have to do better than that next year!!!!

[OnThePitch]

Political choices is not always the reason a player gets in. Some great players never shine when they need to be seen, thus they are left off. Some teams have so many good players, not everyone can make it and whom you think is the best may not be the way someone else saw it. ...Think about it ; Does anyone ever agree with anyone else about everything? NO...thus you have different opinions about everything and who deserves the best players designation at any sport, is a subjective question. Some players are the stars of their club , yet never really show in High School the way they do in club and believe it or not it happens the other way too, High School stars are not always club standouts. The ones I really feel sorry for are the guys who are really good and play on a crappy school, NOONE ever recognizes them for their talent

[SpeedyGonzo]

I really doubt that the electors of the best of preps know who is or is not on a club team. The Baylor keeper should have been player of the year. To come back off of injury (missing his entire Sophmore year) and only give up 5 goals this year, that says a lot. I guess he will have to do better than that next year!!!!

 

 

 

What are the circumstances of allowing only 5 goals? There is more to playing keeper than saves. And if the Baylor defenders are as good as advertised, Baylor keepers sound like they may not have been challenged much during the season.

 

How many shots did he face? How many shots on goal? Did he run the team?

I saw a kid play two years ago for Germantown. Jonathan Alter I think his name was. The team only won about half of their games, but he was unbelievable. He got shelled every game. At some point, when keepers get 15-18 shots on goal per game, some are going in.

That kid never quit on any ball regardless of how helpless his defenders were.

Statistically? Because of the team he played for, not good.

Realistically, the best keeper in west Tennessee two years ago.

[sports89]

I think the point of jon26 has somewhat been missed. CCSMAN I really don't think it matter if players are club players or not....that is not at all what the awards are about. If you are from CCS which your name would indicate you probably did not see critical games where Baylor's keeper was involved. Such as either McCallie game and ofcourse all of the state games. He should have been at least 2nd team without a doubt if not first. BUT, the Baylor defenders deserve most praise. And for not one of them to be given 1st team is just incredible. I don't care about club players or not....that does not matter when Best of Preps is given. Again, for the goalie and none of the defenders to be given 1st team mention is a shame but for only one defender to be honored on 2nd team is indefensible. Only 5 goals all year....and no one else can touch that....enough said. That being said I had rather be team of the year and State Champions that for all of the individual honors. Individual honors are voted on by alot of people that have never seen the teams or players play. State Championships are won on the field and are not something that a sportswriter can award....in other words it is unbiased.

[CCSMAN]

I think the point of jon26 has somewhat been missed. CCSMAN I really don't think it matter if players are club players or not....that is not at all what the awards are about. If you are from CCS which your name would indicate you probably did not see critical games where Baylor's keeper was involved. Such as either McCallie game and ofcourse all of the state games. He should have been at least 2nd team without a doubt if not first. BUT, the Baylor defenders deserve most praise. And for not one of them to be given 1st team is just incredible. I don't care about club players or not....that does not matter when Best of Preps is given. Again, for the goalie and none of the defenders to be given 1st team mention is a shame but for only one defender to be honored on 2nd team is indefensible. Only 5 goals all year....and no one else can touch that....enough said. That being said I had rather be team of the year and State Champions that for all of the individual honors. Individual honors are voted on by alot of people that have never seen the teams or players play. State Championships are won on the field and are not something that a sportswriter can award....in other words it is unbiased.

 

I seen more Baylor games than you could imagine. It does matter if a kid plays club or not, look at the players that made

the Best of the Preps, 90% of them were club players. You can always look at a team and pick out the club players without a doubt if you know anything about soccer. I do agree that the State Championship is the most important thing

and that is what players strive for all year long.............

[bluelion]

I don't have a dog in the hunt but you brought it up. First of all the sportswriters mostly don't know who is club and who is not....that should not matter in awards. Joel Bradford does not play club. But your goalie is a club goalie that plays year round. Baylors goalie is not a club goalie now. Has not been for a couple of years. He plays football and missed all of the soccer season last year due to an injury. I think you sound overly sensitive on this. The guy was only saying that Baylor allowed 5 goals the entire season. No one else came close. Perhaps the entire defense should have been given an award.

 

I seen more Baylor games than you could imagine. It does matter if a kid plays club or not, look at the players that made

the Best of the Preps, 90% of them were club players. You can always look at a team and pick out the club players without a doubt if you know anything about soccer. I do agree that the State Championship is the most important thing

and that is what players strive for all year long.............

[larry]

Maybe they chose only in-state players.

[CCSMAN]

I don't have a dog in the hunt but you brought it up. First of all the sportswriters mostly don't know who is club and who is not....that should not matter in awards. Joel Bradford does not play club. But your goalie is a club goalie that plays year round. Baylors goalie is not a club goalie now. Has not been for a couple of years. He plays football and missed all of the soccer season last year due to an injury. I think you sound overly sensitive on this. The guy was only saying that Baylor allowed 5 goals the entire season. No one else came close. Perhaps the entire defense should have been given an award.

 

What I am sensitive about is when someone states that someone doesn't deserve something they have earned and starts

spewing off stats which aren't correct. Also, I was saying that when you have three club players in front of you then you're going to be better off than someone who doesn't. The facts are, club ball is at a higher level than school ball and that is just a hard fact and even though Joel didn't play club ball that is more of the exception than the rule.........

[jon26]

If in my original post I insulted you I apologize. That was not my intention at all. The only game that I saw the CCS goalie was when I attended the Baylor vs CCS scrimmage. I believe you must either be the goalie or a relative and again I did not in anyway mean to mean to belittle you. If you are talking about my post however I am not sure what incorrect stats are being spewed off. Please tell me what they may be. I don't think that any of the Baylor players care at all about the awards and I am sure that Coach Weekley does not. What won state for them this year was playing as a team and pulling together. The championship was just great and is really all that matters. Now if Weekley or Baylor had not taken the top spot that would be a different thing all together. You could probably take Chris Penn, Danny V and Brad Gibson and they are all just great goalies no doubt about it. I guess I was just surprised that again the best defense in the state by allowing just 5 goals all year did not get recognized. At least Michael Deere made 2nd team. Danny would I am sure be the first to tell anyone that his defense did it for him....but if you were at as many Baylor games as you say you would know that he made some incredible saves. And if you are a parent or goalie you could not have seen the 2 critical McCallie games or 3 state games. Looking back at my post I guess I was defending the back 4 for Baylor most as I think they were just amazing all year. Burt and Roden had never even played defense until this season. As everyone knows though defenders get less credit than anyone and the shutouts, etc glory shows up for the goalie. Coach Weekley though continually praised their play and I am sure for a player that means the most.

 

Regardless, I am sorry if I offended you.

 

What I am sensitive about is when someone states that someone doesn't deserve something they have earned and starts

spewing off stats which aren't correct. Also, I was saying that when you have three club players in front of you then you're going to be better off than someone who doesn't. The facts are, club ball is at a higher level than school ball and that is just a hard fact and even though Joel didn't play club ball that is more of the exception than the rule.........