Ensworth High School

[Perfection11]

I first want to say that I have family at this school, but I am wondering when people at Ensworth are going to stop making the same ludacris excuses for losing sporting events. Ricky Bowers everytime he is interviewed says something to the effect of, "we'll we're young, inexperienced, we haven't been doing this long... " etc. That excuse was all well and good when EHS didn't have a senior class, but now that they are in fact a 9-12 instituion (like everyone else) you would think they are on the same playing field as everyone. Also, the "depth" or lack their of issue is concerning to me as I have been to the campus many times as well as heard from SEVERAL people high up at EHS that Ricky can basically go out an get who he wants. I'm not accusing EHS of any illegal recruiting or whatever, merely trying to wonder why the "lack of depth" excuse keeps being used? These are just a few questions and concerns I was having... your thoughts

[big red big blue]

I first want to say that I have family at this school, but I am wondering when people at Ensworth are going to stop making the same ludacris excuses for losing sporting events. Ricky Bowers everytime he is interviewed says something to the effect of, "we'll we're young, inexperienced, we haven't been doing this long... " etc. That excuse was all well and good when EHS didn't have a senior class, but now that they are in fact a 9-12 instituion (like everyone else) you would think they are on the same playing field as everyone. Also, the "depth" or lack their of issue is concerning to me as I have been to the campus many times as well as heard from SEVERAL people high up at EHS that Ricky can basically go out an get who he wants. I'm not accusing EHS of any illegal recruiting or whatever, merely trying to wonder why the "lack of depth" excuse keeps being used? These are just a few questions and concerns I was having... your thoughts

 

In fairness to Ricky, I thought his comments (at least those in the Tennessean) were pretty measured after the game. I don't recall anything like "they've played 1,000 games; we've played 6. We'll be fine" as he said following the '07 game. He talked a lot about "you can't make those kinds of mistakes [turnovers] against a team like that and expect to win."

 

As far as EHS fans go, surprisingly they have all vanished from the boards after last year's play-off loss to MBA. I don't think a single poster showed up to talk this year (contrast with all of last year) before the MBA game. They are the ones who fall back on that sort of stuff (and "MBA is a bunch of racists") when they are losing.

 

RRR, KW, Redtwin, myself and others have posted on here after big MBA wins and awful losses...see the BA game from '06. We as a fanbase aren't front-runners who will disappear after tough losses.

[KWoodroof]

Optimism and giving the benefit of the doubt don't come easy to me. However, if you've ever spoken to a newspaper reporter, you know that what you say and what gets printed are not necessarily the same thing. Things get quoted out of context, things are cut and pasted...and the end product bears no real resemblance to what you said, and less to what you intended. As Lewis Grizzard said about newspapers and accuracy, "What do you expect? It only costs a quarter."

 

As to Ensworth...I'm not sure that things are that bad. Perhaps Ricky doesn't want to build up expectations, maybe he's just from the Bear Bryand schhol. Either way, he says nothing that spices up an opponent's dressing room wall. I can't fault him for that one. I'm not sure there's a better 0-2 team in the state. They've lost to what appears to be a good Oakland team. They lost to what appears to be a pretty good MBA team. As someone who lives and dies with MBA football (and saw the Ensworth game) I'm hoping MBA doesn't play them again. I don't know if MBA can count on Ensworth to provide as much help next time.

 

And there's no debating their depth issues. The school looks (according to EHSParent from a couple of years ago) to stay at about 120 students per grade, probably half of whom will be male. That means about 240 boys from which to build a program. You can probably exclude most of the freshmen and a lot of the sophomores. Any way you slice it, it makes for a fairly small school. Ricky's name and reputation draw good players. Spare me accusations of recruiting unless you have evidence.

 

Which brings me to the final point...where have the EHS posters gone? The trash talking children have fled. They wrote checks that their classmates couldn't cash. I miss their bluster and trash talking almost as much as I miss severe rectal itch. The more thoughtful ones I miss, and I suspect the aggravation has driven them away in much the same way that it has the BA posters, who were, to man, the classiest and most informed posters on this board. I suspect that the constant unsubstantiated accusations of recruiting just made this an utterly fruiltess venture. Read the MUS-SP thread if you'rte not clear on what I mean.

[itzme]

O

 

Which brings me to the final point...where have the EHS posters gone? The trash talking children have fled. They wrote checks that their classmates couldn't cash. I miss their bluster and trash talking almost as much as I miss severe rectal itch. The more thoughtful ones I miss, and I suspect the aggravation has driven them away in much the same way that it has the BA posters, who were, to man, the classiest and most informed posters on this board. I suspect that the constant unsubstantiated accusations of recruiting just made this an utterly fruiltess venture. Read the MUS-SP thread if you'rte not clear on what I mean.

 

Some of us still peruse the posts on occasion, my friend.

 

BTW, who, exactly were those "classiest and most informed" BA folks? Never met one myself.

[BAEagleFootball]

Some of us still peruse the posts on occasion, my friend.

 

BTW, who, exactly were those "classiest and most informed" BA folks? Never met one myself.

 

ouch. Haha but my best guess is that they are with the polite and considerate Ensworth fans (i'm directing at students, not the parents for the most part)

[WesVLT]

Some of us are still around! Wish I was able to see some good old DII football more often!

[USA1]

I'm still around, as well. I have just transitioned from "poster" to "reader".

[fiftyfifty]

Optimism and giving the benefit of the doubt don't come easy to me. However, if you've ever spoken to a newspaper reporter, you know that what you say and what gets printed are not necessarily the same thing. Things get quoted out of context, things are cut and pasted...and the end product bears no real resemblance to what you said, and less to what you intended. As Lewis Grizzard said about newspapers and accuracy, "What do you expect? It only costs a quarter."

 

As to Ensworth...I'm not sure that things are that bad. Perhaps Ricky doesn't want to build up expectations, maybe he's just from the Bear Bryand schhol. Either way, he says nothing that spices up an opponent's dressing room wall. I can't fault him for that one. I'm not sure there's a better 0-2 team in the state. They've lost to what appears to be a good Oakland team. They lost to what appears to be a pretty good MBA team. As someone who lives and dies with MBA football (and saw the Ensworth game) I'm hoping MBA doesn't play them again. I don't know if MBA can count on Ensworth to provide as much help next time.

 

And there's no debating their depth issues. The school looks (according to EHSParent from a couple of years ago) to stay at about 120 students per grade, probably half of whom will be male. That means about 240 boys from which to build a program. You can probably exclude most of the freshmen and a lot of the sophomores. Any way you slice it, it makes for a fairly small school. Ricky's name and reputation draw good players. Spare me accusations of recruiting unless you have evidence.

 

Which brings me to the final point...where have the EHS posters gone? The trash talking children have fled. They wrote checks that their classmates couldn't cash. I miss their bluster and trash talking almost as much as I miss severe rectal itch. The more thoughtful ones I miss, and I suspect the aggravation has driven them away in much the same way that it has the BA posters, who were, to man, the classiest and most informed posters on this board. I suspect that the constant unsubstantiated accusations of recruiting just made this an utterly fruiltess venture. Read the MUS-SP thread if you'rte not clear on what I mean.

Gold-Bond powder is good.

[Hamburglar]

Gold-Bond powder is good.

Its like a 1000 pixies slowly blowing on your body.

[BigENS]

Well Ricky can go out an get just about anyone. The problem is kids are starting to realize they don't want to play in a system like Bowers has. That and the fact he is not a great coach (reference last years football and basketball season enders). He is to arrogan t for his own good, the best thing he did was hire the coach from DA to come over and help. Now if he sucks it up and hires someone on the basketball side of things we might get over that BIG RED hump!

[owlbooster]

Well Ricky can go out an get just about anyone. The problem is kids are starting to realize they don't want to play in a system like Bowers has. That and the fact he is not a great coach (reference last years football and basketball season enders). He is to arrogan t for his own good, the best thing he did was hire the coach from DA to come over and help. Now if he sucks it up and hires someone on the basketball side of things we might get over that BIG RED hump!

EHS 30 Smyrna 14 Does that soften your criticism any?

[ojsimpson]

Well Ricky can go out an get just about anyone. The problem is kids are starting to realize they don't want to play in a system like Bowers has. That and the fact he is not a great coach (reference last years football and basketball season enders). He is to arrogan t for his own good, the best thing he did was hire the coach from DA to come over and help. Now if he sucks it up and hires someone on the basketball side of things we might get over that BIG RED hump!

 

That is absurd. This kind of talk lowers the quality of discussion on these boards. Whether you like him or not, Bowers has an impressive body of work in two sports at three different schools in Nashville. What he has done at ensworth in a mere 3 years of varsity sports is not to be trivialized. As far as bball is concerned he has already won a title there, his team was number one in the midstate last year for most of the year, (a rebuilding year) and essentially dominated until they stumbled to an MBA bball team he had beaten 6 straight times. No one wins a championship every year. Boy, you have a strong case to get rid of him. haha

Edited September 27, 2010 by ojsimpson