TSSAA - unspeakable

[lazarus]

boldcoach, et al,

 

it seems my memory failed me, and i apologize to the lipscumites. thats what happens when a non-fact becomes so embedded in my memory that i fail to verify it.

 

maybe i should clarify where i stand. my child played sports at a private school...while on financial aid. i am not concerned about recruiting as an issue, i dont even think it is wrong. i like private schools. i liked competing against them as an athlete, and i wish i were close enough to compete against them now. but they have no effect on me, personally, at this point in time. i believe that having multiple classifications implies that schools are grouped in incremental layers providing the best opportunity for every school to compete for one of the championships. i stand by the fact that simple mathematics shows that the current system has utterly failed to fulfill that promise. i would like to see all the schools grouped together, and sorted by a merit system. i would prefer only one state championship per sport, but could support anything based on merit... let everyone find their own level. but i see a lot of the chest-thumping, self-aggrandizing posts as pure self-gratification. i hope most of those are posted by kids, and they are either not actually connected with the team, or have failed to learn the lessons the coaches are teaching.

 

lastly, i mean no harm by mutilating names. it is all in good fun. life is too short to waste it being mad all the time.

 

your pal,

loser us

[Baldcoach]

Laz,

 

Me too...a merit system is the simplest and most fair way to group them imo. I'm all for it. See what you think of my Alternate/alternate...

[VolunteerGeneral]

Actually I think it should be lazy-r-us

 

I agree with the merit system. Nobody else does this and maybe tennessee could lead the way in developing a system that other states would look at and adopt. If it totally fails then so what?

 

Our state is blessed with all sorts of schools at varying levels. All of them have fine folks...students, teachers, administrators and fans. It`s a shame that we are bickering. It only hurts high school sports overall.

 

A system based on merit would make someone that complained about the competition look pretty silly.

 

I still say a system that incorporates all teams is better for the overall viability of high school sports in our state. Funding is just not there for athletics whether it is public or private. They must be raised through gate receipts and fundraising. Closer regional/district games can only be accomplished with an all inclusive system.

 

Now that the split is out of the way it is time to give thought to a reasonable solution.

[bill#73]

It is inevitable that the public school community must remove itself from the TSSAA. Regardless of the creative math by the TSSAA and the private sector, actually one in the same, the majority of members wanted a split.

The worst part, the TSSAA is cheating my kids. I know, better coaching in the private sector is the reason they win. They work harder. How many championships have David Martin and Scott Smith won at private schools? (At least 3) What about their public school tenures (0). What was their record? You don't want to know. I went to a public school and I'm smart enough to figure that out.

You, sir, are speaking with your heart and passions and not with your brain. The TSSAA is not cheating your kids...Might I remind you that the PUBLIC schools have the control of the Legislative Council at TSSAA? Do I need to remind you that they voted as a board should- based on the good for the whole group? Your "kids" are being cheated out of a good life lesson that things aren't always easy when their coach gets on a message board and whines about being cheated. Do you feel cheated when congress doesn't vote the way the majority of Americans feel?

 

Lazurus, can you avoid the second-grade tactic of spelling things in an insulting fashion and join our grown-up conversation.

 

Bill73, first, recruiting wasn’t allowed in D-II when goodpasture was in and it isn’t now…but…whether they recruited or not, the moment they went to Division I they had to take all the financial aid away from athletes since that is not allowed. You obviously don’t understand what is going on here.

 

And also Bill, for your records, Lipscomb was never in Division II, so if they recruited, then they did it in D-I. If you can prove it then turn them in…if not, keep quiet!

 

Everyone tries to make the private schools of Tennessee look like the Nazis invading Poland…when it all boils down to the truth, this should all be about lessons learned on the field…and the lesson learned is ultimately that everyschool is not going to be a winner…for one reason or another, there will be schools that aren’t as good as others, but turning this into a finger pointing contest is wrong. These whining people need to look in the mirror and figure out what the problem really is…

 

Let’s all just play together and stop all this “It’s my ball so that’s why I am going home” crap.

I can prove it not at lipscomb but at another Chattanooga area school. But what would they get if they were turned in a slap on the wrist. 1 or 2 year probation. More trouble to turn them in then it is worth. YOU KNOW IT IS DONE IN THE PRIVATE SCHOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not by the administration but by people connected to the school. It gets done by others, parents of other kids, church groups, etc. Quit trying to be "holier than thou" your halo is on to tight!!!!!!!!!!!

[boyfromsi]

...and of course Bill, your holier-than-thou public never "recruit" either. I suspect that there is as much "recruiting" at the public level as at the private level.

[CSense]

I heard the private schools recruited the voters and got enough so it would not pass.

[itzme]

wesvoles & itchme

 

so tell me this, what message did gluepasture & lipscum send to their kids when they jumped back from d-2 to d-1, to AVOID tough competition?

Despite your feeble attempt at annoying people through such clever misspellings, I happen to agree with your premise. Same bad message. I believe there should be no DII at all.

[orange12]

You're right! They can't compete with those schools. They don't have the money to give any tuition breaks to athletes.

 

Private schools are not perfect. However, most of the small ones are church based. People send their kids there because they can still pray at school or before a football game. Also you have no "board of education employees" (sometimes called teachers) at private schools. I am not saying all the teachers are perfect, but there is no such thing as tenure. If you can't cut it you are out... not just moved from school to school until people quit complaining. The publics can't do that because of the bureaucracy.

 

It was hard to leave the public system, but we did. We left for a number of reasons. However, we, like most of the folks we know, do not feel like we are better or too good for the public system. We feel like the fact that the teachers are all dedicate Christians who are motivated to teach and the class room size is smaller are fair reasons to switch.

 

My wife and I both attended public schools and we turned out alright. Our choice is to give our kids the opportunity to attend a school that we feel is best for them.

 

You are saying that because of our choice we should not be able to play sports against the public schools.

 

I agree that, based on recent success, there seems to be some advantage.

 

From being in both a public and private high school setting, I think it is attitude and work ethic. My experience has been that a high percentage of the private school team participates in off-season conditioning. I am not saying that there are no public school students with a good work ethic. I am speaking in general terms about the percentage of the players that are giving 100%. I know that the "big stars" did just about what they wanted to do when the wanted to do it in the public setting. I also know that the public school had several "groups" within the team. I have seen with my own eyes situations where guys did not block for someone because they were mad at him for some reason. In the private setting the team is more like a family. Everyone is pulling for the common good. The coaches stress team work and being a team. The young guys are to be taught by the older guys. The older guys do not just consider them living, breathing, blocking dummies.

 

Just one mans experience here.

 

I have no problem with a multiplier. Do I think it is fair? No. But if it makes you feel like it is fair then that is what I feel should be done. I believe that I should wrong myself before I allow you to perceive that you have been wronged by me.

First of all, I don't think that the 1A Privates have cornered the market on attitude and work ethic. I think Publics like Cloudland, South Pitt., Gordonsville, Collinwood, etc... that usually have pretty competetive teams almost every year have displayed a little bit of work ethic. They only play the kids that grow up in their small towns, and can't replenish from other areas. I think that shows a lot of attitude and work ethic.

 

What ever you or any other parent feels is best for their child is the right thing to do. But along the lines of this argument, let me ask you why is it that the 1A Privates that are now dominating are all in Metropolitan areas? Do you see a school like Friendship Christian (not from a big town) up there with DCA, CPA, Boyd, and the like? The whole issue is a level playing field. How does a team like Lookout Valley (17 kids) expected to compete yearly in football with Boyd (60 something kids)? Do you see public schools running newspaper ads or having billboards on interstate highways? You are asking teams from towns of 2 or 3 thousand to compete with teams that pull from areas of 300,000 or better.

 

I know several parents that send their kids to these schools, not all of them are even athletes. You have to admit, and I know this for a fact, that a lot of parents live through their kids in sports. There are a lot of kids in this country that spend a lot of time in specailzed camps (trying to be the next Tiger Woods) and they want them to play on winning teams. I know several of them that send their kids to privates for that particular reason. Don't get me wrong, that is a choice and that is fine. There may be a lot of other parents that would take the same route if they had the financial means to do so. But the underlying argument is that the small town publics are restricted by area and pure numbers, so it is getting harder and harder for them to compete. I think all the are asking for is to compete against schools like themselves. You said yourself there seems to be some advantage, and I also believe there is.

[wildcatfan]

I heard the private schools recruited the voters and got enough so it would not pass.

As usual, the "C" doesn't stand for "common."

[Gov]

How does a team like Lookout Valley (17 kids) expected to compete yearly in football with Boyd (60 something kids)?

 

Its funny that everyone forgets that Lookout Valley actually competes and sometimes dominates in basketball and baseball. Guys try to look at the big picture, like I have said before, some schools have more advantages than others, and even between sports. There is one simple answer, put everyone back in, this will create competition and everyone wins in the end. Competition breeds parity.

[Antwan]

Its funny that everyone forgets that Lookout Valley actually competes and sometimes dominates in basketball and baseball. Guys try to look at the big picture, like I have said before, some schools have more advantages than others, and even between sports. There is one simple answer, put everyone back in, this will create competition and everyone wins in the end. Competition breeds parity.

I agree that competition breeds parity if you are near the same size school (public that is). By your logic...just have one class for all. Put Red Boiling Springs in the same district with Riverdale. RBS should compete in no time.

[Gov]

Antwan, as I have said earlier on my posts, its up to the member schools to decide how many state champions you want to give in any sport. For example, in wrestling we have only two, Division I and division II, in baseball we have I think 5, 3 in division I and 2 in division II. As for me, I think that having a school like McMinn Central compete with a Bradley in wrestling is very unfair and bradley not having to compete with McCallie doesn't make sense either, but that is the way the member schools have decided. Sometimes common sense needs to take over. I realize that McMinn will never compete with Bradley because they are not really interested in competing. They are a basketball oriented school, and they concentrate on being successful in that sport. Its a shame that two schools like Bradley and McCallie don't compete against each other because it would promote a sport that needs it. If we want high school athletics to succeed and flourish we must not shy away from competition. When the best get together and compete everyone wins.