Out-of-state games for 2010

[pepvol]

It used to be settled on the field, and then there was a split. I'll skip "who caused it," since that ground has been covered ad nauseam. Rest assured that the folks in Div 2 didn't ask for it. And yes, there's a simple solution, as you suggest. We can stop giving financial aid and come back to Div 1. The problem lies in the fact that tuition at MBA is around $20,000 per year. If we stop giving financial aid,we lose all of the middle class students there, and any (if there are any) lower income students presently there as well. Not only does this deprive MBA students of diversity, it leaves us open to the charge of elitism that hits us often enough as it is. In effect, it becomes nothing but young men from wealthy white families in Belle Meade and Franklin. We found ourselves in much the same situation in the late '70's, when we were threatened with the loss of tax deductability on gifts to the school. That would be crippling.

 

Ergo, we're stuck with one of two alternatives: we play football with most of the rest of the state, as we'd prefer, but at the expense of diversity and the provision of a top flight education. That's not a palatable alternative for us.

 

I have nothing but respect for Maryville and Alcoa. I'd love to see MBA play one of them, not because I think you'd get your "Comeuppance," but because I think it'd be good football. Sadly, I have no influence witht he scheduling people. I can't even get in touch with the recruiting director.

 

I would have no problem with some kind of compromise being worked out that would allow the " lower income " kids to still be able to receive financial aid ... as long as the kid had the kind of grades that would justify giving that aid . Anyone who actually thinks Maryville or Alcoa would not relish the chance to play you guys has no clue . Until some kind of compromise is worked out and this can happen , I really don't see why we can't show mutual respect towards one another and quit trying to find some way to belittle each other's accomplishments .

[rantnrave]

I would suggest that Alcoa and Maryville schedule Byrnes next year. I'm sure they are looking for a game or two and it would be a program that would provide respect to their scheduling that they so desperately crave. It is the same distance that Olive Branch and BA travel. If Olive Branch can do it, so could these more successful programs. It would equal to the statewide interest as the SP/MUS games of the past 2 years.

[pepvol]

I would suggest that Alcoa and Maryville schedule Byrnes next year. I'm sure they are looking for a game or two and it would be a program that would provide respect to their scheduling that they so desperately crave. It is the same distance that Olive Branch and BA travel. If Olive Branch can do it, so could these more successful programs. It would equal to the statewide interest as the SP/MUS games of the past 2 years.

 

Anyone who doesn't have respect already for Maryville and Alcoa has no respect from me ,and I could care less about earning such a person's respect .

[big red big blue]

Anyone who doesn't have respect already for Maryville and Alcoa has no respect from me ,and I could care less about earning such a person's respect .

 

Okay....then please, go back to the other board and quit posting on here. If you don't care about us and what we think about you, then you have no reason to be posting on the d2 board.

[pepvol]

Okay....then please, go back to the other board and quit posting on here. If you don't care about us and what we think about you, then you have no reason to be posting on the d2 board.

 

I did not say I didn't care about you guys or what you think about us , I said I had no respect for someone who thought Maryville and Alcoa didn't deserve respect . I respect MBA , BA , & MUS , I just wish the feeling was mutual . If you happen to be one of those guys who can look at Maryville & Alcoa and say they deserve no respect .... then I have no respect for you either . You seem to enjoy being isolated from anyone outside of DII , if it bothers you so much to see an inferior Public school poster on your sacred DII ground .... just skip over my post !

[OmahaVol]

It used to be settled on the field, and then there was a split. I'll skip "who caused it," since that ground has been covered ad nauseam. Rest assured that the folks in Div 2 didn't ask for it. And yes, there's a simple solution, as you suggest. We can stop giving financial aid and come back to Div 1. The problem lies in the fact that tuition at MBA is around $20,000 per year. If we stop giving financial aid,we lose all of the middle class students there, and any (if there are any) lower income students presently there as well. Not only does this deprive MBA students of diversity, it leaves us open to the charge of elitism that hits us often enough as it is. In effect, it becomes nothing but young men from wealthy white families in Belle Meade and Franklin. We found ourselves in much the same situation in the late '70's, when we were threatened with the loss of tax deductability on gifts to the school. That would be crippling.

 

Ergo, we're stuck with one of two alternatives: we play football with most of the rest of the state, as we'd prefer, but at the expense of diversity and the provision of a top flight education. That's not a palatable alternative for us.

 

I have nothing but respect for Maryville and Alcoa. I'd love to see MBA play one of them, not because I think you'd get your "Comeuppance," but because I think it'd be good football. Sadly, I have no influence witht he scheduling people. I can't even get in touch with the recruiting director.

 

Well said. That was an informative and eloquent post. I think that says it all.

[OmahaVol]

You really don't fit in too well with the DII guys do you .... most DII guys don't resort to name calling quite as quick as you do . So , do you call everyone who doesn't agree with you : Morons , Clowns , Chumps , Stupid , Old man .... geez , all of that in just 2 or 3 posts .... Good thing you're such a friend to Alcoa & Maryville and do everything you can to " Promote " them .... I'd hate to see all the names you'd come up with if you wasn't our buddy

I never claimed to be a DII guy either. You just don't get it. I am a fan of all TN teams, DI and DII. When one of those teams has a good team I always want them to succeed and get nationally recognized. Alcoa and Maryville have had some excellent teams the past decade. Now, all I'm saying is for them to step it up a notch regionally or nationally. I haven't bashed the DII schools because they continually step it up by scheduling tougher teams, whether they be in-state or OOS. Come on Pep, I consider you to be a buddy. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings with the namecalling....

[OmahaVol]

I would suggest that Alcoa and Maryville schedule Byrnes next year. I'm sure they are looking for a game or two and it would be a program that would provide respect to their scheduling that they so desperately crave. It is the same distance that Olive Branch and BA travel. If Olive Branch can do it, so could these more successful programs. It would equal to the statewide interest as the SP/MUS games of the past 2 years.

...or even Olive Branch, S. Panola, Madison Central, Meridian, Hoover, Prattville, Vestavia Hills, Auburn, Lowndes, Buford, North Gwinnett, Peachtree Ridge, Independence, Butler, Mallard Creek, Richmond, Phoebus, Oscar Smith, Hampton, Stone Bridge, Trinity, St. Xavier, Highlands, etc. The list goes on and on. The teams to play are out there and they are not too far off.

[KWoodroof]

I would have no problem with some kind of compromise being worked out that would allow the " lower income " kids to still be able to receive financial aid ... as long as the kid had the kind of grades that would justify giving that aid . Anyone who actually thinks Maryville or Alcoa would not relish the chance to play you guys has no clue . Until some kind of compromise is worked out and this can happen , I really don't see why we can't show mutual respect towards one another and quit trying to find some way to belittle each other's accomplishments .

I don't know what you know about financial aid, so if I'm covering something you know, I'm not trying to be condescending or sarcastic (both of which come fairly easily to me, a by-product of an education at an all-male school). A scholarship is something the school gives solely at its own discretion. We can give as many of them as we like, to whomever we like. The catch is, the recipient is ineligible to participate in TSSAA sports. (See this link for an example http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1169181/index.htm) We could use it at MBA to assemble a good hockey or lacrosse team, or an ultimate frisbee squad, but not much else. Financial aid is need based, based on the parents' ability to pay. The determination is made by an independent company in Princeton, probably connected with ETS. The school has no input in determining the amount of the aid, though a school isn't obligated to give the full amount the company allows. In other words, the kids playing football at Div 2 schools aren't getting scholarships.

 

As to your thoughts on academics, I agree with you, and probably feel more strongly about it than you do. The value of my diploma is contingent on the school's academic standards; the football team has nothing to do with it. I have a friend on the faculty who assures me that there's been no compromise in that area. Eligibility at MBA has always been determined by the grading period (as opposed to the semester system used by the TSSAA). And while there's not a lot of data (i.e., not that many Div 1 college athletes), I am not aware of any MBA athletes who have been Prop 48 casualties. I can't speak for any of the other schools in Div 2, but given their cost and the fact that there are a lot of non-athletes at those schools whose parents couldn't care less about what happens on Friday night, I suspect the situation is similar.

[cbg]

I would have no problem with some kind of compromise being worked out that would allow the " lower income " kids to still be able to receive financial aid ... as long as the kid had the kind of grades that would justify giving that aid . Anyone who actually thinks Maryville or Alcoa would not relish the chance to play you guys has no clue . Until some kind of compromise is worked out and this can happen , I really don't see why we can't show mutual respect towards one another and quit trying to find some way to belittle each other's accomplishments .

 

When the TSSAA formed D1 & D2 the private schools that gave financial aid could only have three (3) players on the varsity that received financial aid. IMO, the TSSAA should go back to the old financial aid rule along with doing the following:

1. Four (4) divisions in football

2. Have 8 regions in each division and the top 2 teams in each region make the playoffs

3. All private schools must play in 2A, 3A or 4A

4. All schools have the option to play up in 1 sport but with their enrollment in other sports

[owlbooster]

I did not say I didn't care about you guys or what you think about us , I said I had no respect for someone who thought Maryville and Alcoa didn't deserve respect . I respect MBA , BA , & MUS , I just wish the feeling was mutual . If you happen to be one of those guys who can look at Maryville & Alcoa and say they deserve no respect .... then I have no respect for you either . You seem to enjoy being isolated from anyone outside of DII , if it bothers you so much to see an inferior Public school poster on your sacred DII ground .... just skip over my post !

You know Pepvol your repetitive claims of people not respecting Maryville and Alcoa are boring, baseless and delusional. Posters say almost apologetically over and over again how much they respect these teams and what they have done historically. Nobody even criticizes much less "bashes" your teams or its players. Yet even now some Alcoa "fans" still are taking pot shots at LAST YEAR'S MUS team and QB (and celebrating their loss this year to SP). They simply can not stand it when most of the football universe outside Blount County does not proclaim Alcoa the best team in Tennessee. I posted, as I had not seen both teams play and they had no common opponent, that they were "2 of the best 5 teams in TN." For that "heresy" I was excoriated. What BS.

If that's "disrespectful" then I give up.

 

What people who care about TN HS football and its reputation DO criticize is your SCHEDULE. We cheer for any Tennessee team when it plays what is hopefully a worthy out-of-state opponent (NOT Middleboro). Your ilk seem to care only about the glorification of your own team. You jeer the TN team, hope they lose, ridicule them if they do and demean both them and their opponent if they win, all because you selfishly and wrongly think it will elevate your own team's standing. Very sad. What elevates one TN team elevates all TN teams. And that's playing quality competition, especially OOS.

 

You may not like it, but this is the reality: Division II AA is the "SEC" of TN HS football; every year it has 3-5 teams ranked in the top 10 in TN. BA is the Alabama, Alcoa is the Boise State and Maryville is your Virginia Tech. Your season basically ends with the Maryville game because afterwards you play nobody that can compete with you now and probably ever. Pray that Maryville doesn't lose again (like last year). As things stand now, every year you win, it is your only "signature" victory. Va Tech has lost again; if Alabama and Boise State both go undefeated in the regular season, who will most people think is the better team? BA already is ranked ahead of Alcoa nationally. If they both go undefeated, who logically gets the nod in all those polls you cherish? Then once again your fans will start whining, remind us about how you beat McCallie twice 5 years ago and BA once 21 years ago, how many "Gold Balls" you have. You will insist that the reason you can't upgrade your schedule is NOT because your coach and administrators don't really want to play "certain schools" but that they and those "girlie schools" (as one of your more prolific posters endearingly refers to them) are "chicken." Or that you're just a poor little rural school that can't afford to travel. "Home and home" means "ya'll come to our place" 2 years in a row. That will get you some games....LOL

 

Maryville has never scheduled a game with a DII 2A school, but they played and beat a little school named Brentwood Academy TWICE in the 2A playoffs in the mid-70s when there were only 3 divisions and no public/private segregation. BA was a 1A school "playing up" in order to improve their program. The games elevated BOTH programs. Now Maryville has moved up as far as they can and is a perennial 6A contender. Maybe a good way to start elevating Alcoa is to "play up" as far as you can. Alcoa has beaten Maryville 2 in a row - can you not move up likewise to 6A? That game would then be a league game and free up a weekend to play an OOS "big boy" (like South Panola) and PRESTO! you've got all the recognition you crave, even if you lose. Wash cars, have bake sells, solicit donations, make it happen. You'd be amazed how many people would contribute. Heck, I would, as would probably all of these posters you criticize unfairly.

[feverpitch]

You know Pepvol your repetitive claims of people not respecting Maryville and Alcoa are boring, baseless and delusional. Posters say almost apologetically over and over again how much they respect these teams and what they have done historically. Nobody even criticizes much less "bashes" your teams or its players. Yet even now some Alcoa "fans" still are taking pot shots at LAST YEAR'S MUS team and QB (and celebrating their loss this year to SP). They simply can not stand it when most of the football universe outside Blount County does not proclaim Alcoa the best team in Tennessee. I posted, as I had not seen both teams play and they had no common opponent, that they were "2 of the best 5 teams in TN." For that "heresy" I was excoriated. What BS.

If that's "disrespectful" then I give up.

 

What people who care about TN HS football and its reputation DO criticize is your SCHEDULE. We cheer for any Tennessee team when it plays what is hopefully a worthy out-of-state opponent (NOT Middleboro). Your ilk seem to care only about the glorification of your own team. You jeer the TN team, hope they lose, ridicule them if they do and demean both them and their opponent if they win, all because you selfishly and wrongly think it will elevate your own team's standing. Very sad. What elevates one TN team elevates all TN teams. And that's playing quality competition, especially OOS.

 

You may not like it, but this is the reality: Division II AA is the "SEC" of TN HS football; every year it has 3-5 teams ranked in the top 10 in TN. BA is the Alabama, Alcoa is the Boise State and Maryville is your Virginia Tech. Your season basically ends with the Maryville game because afterwards you play nobody that can compete with you now and probably ever. Pray that Maryville doesn't lose again (like last year). As things stand now, every year you win, it is your only "signature" victory. Va Tech has lost again; if Alabama and Boise State both go undefeated in the regular season, who will most people think is the better team? BA already is ranked ahead of Alcoa nationally. If they both go undefeated, who logically gets the nod in all those polls you cherish? Then once again your fans will start whining, remind us about how you beat McCallie twice 5 years ago and BA once 21 years ago, how many "Gold Balls" you have. You will insist that the reason you can't upgrade your schedule is NOT because your coach and administrators don't really want to play "certain schools" but that they and those "girlie schools" (as one of your more prolific posters endearingly refers to them) are "chicken." Or that you're just a poor little rural school that can't afford to travel. "Home and home" means "ya'll come to our place" 2 years in a row. That will get you some games....LOL

 

Maryville has never scheduled a game with a DII 2A school, but they played and beat a little school named Brentwood Academy TWICE in the 2A playoffs in the mid-70s when there were only 3 divisions and no public/private segregation. BA was a 1A school "playing up" in order to improve their program. The games elevated BOTH programs. Now Maryville has moved up as far as they can and is a perennial 6A contender. Maybe a good way to start elevating Alcoa is to "play up" as far as you can. Alcoa has beaten Maryville 2 in a row - can you not move up likewise to 6A? That game would then be a league game and free up a weekend to play an OOS "big boy" (like South Panola) and PRESTO! you've got all the recognition you crave, even if you lose. Wash cars, have bake sells, solicit donations, make it happen. You'd be amazed how many people would contribute. Heck, I would, as would probably all of these posters you criticize unfairly.

 

And how did BA jump ahead of Alcoa nationally? By soundly beating an out-of-state team that had a history of being ranked nationally.