Ridgeway at Melrose

[VolunteerGeneral]

If you had a problem, you should have gone to the cops about it.  That's what they're for.  I've been to a couple of games at Melrose, on the visiting side, and I haven't seen any problems bigger than our cornerbacks not having anything resembling a matchup on their receivers.  But we won both, so I guess it wasn't too bad. 

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Hey Opperman,

 

I think soso said they did try to get the cops involved. I didn`t see any pot smoking from where I was sitting at the JCM game, but there was quite a few "adult drinks" being consumed by the Melrose fans that were sitting near me.

 

As a school Melrose should not condone this behavior and do something about it. It wouldn`t be hard to make a few arrests or at the very least kick some folks out the gate to make a statement to their fans that these activities won`t be tolerated. Heck they were even selling cups of ice at the concession stand.

 

I want to repeat though that I enjoyed the trip to Melrose. Most of the fans were just great and even went out of their way to make folks feel welcome. Other than that group sitting next to me who were drinking and yelling expletives at the JCM fans it was a great night.

[REBELRON]

Guys

 

Sometimes I wonder is LoyalRebFan is really a Rebel fan.

[soso]

Opperman....lived in Memphis 47 years....so I am not an outsider when it comes to the "things" that go on in Memphis. The police WERE asked to come and try to control the crowd that continuously made crude, vulgar remarks and gestures to those trying to watch their team play football. Like I said...."they were not allowed to come into the stands unless there was a fight." There wasn't a fight because those being yelled at had the comman sense not to say anything back. The police made it perfectly clear they did not want to be disturbed because they were watching the game. You had to have been blind not to have seen the alcohol they were waving around. When those in authority, and I include in that the school administrators, "turn the other cheek" because they don't want to get involved, the message is being sent loud and clear!!!

 

I must say that the post from the JCM fan was probably correct when he said that besides the alcohol there was not much trouble. I think that the rivalry between Ridgeway and Melrose contributed greatly to the problem. Hopefully, White House will have a great atmosphere while here.

[VolunteerGeneral]

soso...I talked to one Melrose fan after our game who told me that he wished all the Orangemound kids would stay at Melrose. He said that several Melrose kids played for Ridgeway, East, and White Station. If true, that may add to the intensity of the Ridgeway/Melrose rivalry.

[crc]

Years ago that may have been true. Ridgeway used to be a 7-12 school. Kids from the Orange Mound area were assigned to RHS 7-9 and could choose to remain at Ridgeway 10-12 instead of going to Melrose (on what was called a majority to minority transfer). That is no longer the case b/c Ridgeway is now 9-12. I don't imagine many kids that live in that area go to East. If they go to White Station is probably on an optional school transfer. (White Station is a college prepatory optional school - students with good enough grades/test scores can transfer there.)

 

The rivalry between Ridgeway and Melrose goes back to our 3A days when Tim Thompson was the coach. A player that failed 9th grade at RHS went to Melrose the next year as a 9th grader. When he was a senior, he played against Ridgeway even though he was in his 9th semester of high school. Ridgeway called Melrose on it and they turned themselves in and had to forfeit their previous game. Made them finish 4th in the region instead of 1st but they still went on and won the state that year.

 

Coach Ingram has done a great job with the Melrose program. The difference in the attitude of the players and the leadership of the coaches is tremendous.