Seating at Clarksville

[TheVet]

Good point Texas. There were a few things this weekend that made the question the location of the tourny. One of the biggest ones was where can I sit? In the finals the two teams fans were seperated, which is a good thing when there is that much emotion. But the 1st two rounds, people were sat on top of each other. Maybe the state should be in Chatt OR somewhere bigger. ANYWHERE ! Putting State in the middle of the state makes sense. But it doesn't make sense to sit people on top of eachother. To add onto that argument, with the superbowl coming up, the two teams are playing on a neutral field. Personally, I think it is a HUGE advantage to play on home turf and a huge advantage to have your fans there. Personally I think State should be battle out in gym that no one has an advantage. Does that not make sense....

 

 

Just a Thought...

[slingshot]

Vet, that's a good point. "Home court" advantage has been given year after year to a team that is sometimes in the running for a State title. It's not only an unfair advantage from the competition standpoint, but also from an economic one. All teams scrimp, save and work to provide the necessary money to fund their program. Clarksville is given this great opportunity every year and while they take advantage of it and do a pretty good job overall, it still seems to be a boost to their program that others would welcome.

 

As far as Clarksville's hospitality, there is one area that has concerned me for a few years. I, and many others that I have spoken to can't help but notice the obvious dislike (or jealousy) that they seem to have for Bradley HS. While it's human nature to want to see the big dog fall, Clarksville's fans and wrestlers are the only team who make an organized effort to support Bradley's opponent year after year. It has been obvious vs. Franklin this year and Soddy Daisy in previous years. The coaching staff always has to prepare the team for the "Bradley hate" that they will surely receive from the fine folks at Clarksville. I'm sure that no other coaches have to give their team that same speech. Their tauntings, signs and other displays reak of not only poor sportsmanship, but many years of playing second or third fiddle to BCHS.

 

Why should Bradley be forced to endure this? Because they're usually near the top and because the TSSAA has decided to provide Clarksville with this yearly advantage.

[SuperZ]

thumb This venue has been a good way to learn what we needed to be concerned with when we were planning the State Duals at CHS. Time and time again it comes back to the space. I promise you that we are very aware of the space or lack thereof.

 

We did try some things this time, as in announcing that all wrestlers should take their bags with them as they moved to the floor and that helped. Prior to reducing the number of mats down to 2 from 4 I made a special point to be across the gym on the opposite rail from the bleachers and look at the seating . What I found was that directly in front of the mat 1, CHS vs BCHS it was tight and in front of mat 2, for some reason I can't quite remember who was wrestling there, there was about 30% of that half of the bleacher space available. I believe that was a Div II match . That appeared to be the worst crowding of the whole event. It relates to the numbers that travel with Bradley and Clarksville being at home. Once the mats dropped to two there was about 70% of the total seats being used.

 

So, it is nice to have this as a fund raiser for CHS as well as TSSAA, I believe it is a profitable venue for them and it is my understanding that not all events like this are. If we moved the event to APSU it would cost to get the gym, CHS would lose the concessions and as such make it unprofitable for us as well as TSSAA and it quite frankly would lose some of the excitement when you throw what seems like a big crowd in a small building into an extremely large building . Who would know who was yelling and what they were yelling. Being close together right on top of the mats adds EXCITEMENT.

 

We , the CHS Wrestling Club, work very hard long before the first wrestler shows up and love having this event and want to keep having it as long as TSSAA will let us. There are other fund raisers that we have that make more money but the prestige of this event is what makes it special to us. As far as an advantage for our team it is not working very well as we have finished 4th twice and 3rd and 2nd and only won it once since it has been in our house. This does not even include the extra load it throws on Coaches Jordan, Cobb and Manning getting all they have to do done to have this party in our house. I know they would love to load up and go some where else then wrestle, go to the hospitality room and eat then wrestle some more and then go to the hotel. I would bet when Bradley got home about 2 hours after they left the gym Coaches Jordan, Cobb and Manning were just finishing putting the wrestling building back together and making sure the last spilled spit cups and cheese dip containers had been cleaned up. Not to mention returning borrowed clocks back to Coach Lauderdale from Seymour who graciously lets us borrow them and mats back to various high schools etc.

 

I promise this is not a complaint on my part, I LOVE IT. It is challenging keeping the parents out of the areas that we have been asked to keep them out of, IE the edge of the mat camera in hand yelling instructions over the shoulder of the coaches, hanging off the stair rail to get that perfect shot or view. We laugh about it and enjoy it and work our butts off and love doing it.

 

How about that for going on and on. I rest my case.

[sly]

SuperZ, I'm really not sure where to start, but here goes......

 

1. First of all Slingshot never implied that home court advantage assures victory. However, anyone who can't recognize the obvious advantage it provides is either not being honest or has never coached or wrestled in it. Thats why in all sports its referred to as "Home Court Advantage" Being as honest as possible how would you feel if Ronnie Carter announced that Bradley would host the State Duals for the next 5 years with the traditional tournament to be held at MTSU.

 

2. Please don't insinuate that Clarksville is the only community capable of hosting this event. You spoke as if Bradley or anyone else wouldn't have a clue as to what is involved with hosting this tournament. In fact, until 2000 this event was rotated throughout Tennessee at other high schools. Bradley has hosted this event in 95 and 98 it was well run and profitable.

 

3. I too, have been asked by other teams and coaches why Clarksville seems to delight in any Bradley failure. I was wondering if you could share your thoughts about that as well.

 

I don't think anyone was saying that Clarksville isn't capable of running a fine tournament. What is being said is that this tournament is very profitable and advantageous and Clarksville isn't the only team capable of running it. Nor am I campaigning for Bradley to host this event. My personal opinion on where this event should be held is at MTSU or David Lipsomb.

Edited February 7, 2005 by sly

[LovinIt]

MTSU sounds great! Any where but Clarksville!

Edited February 7, 2005 by LovinIt

[JustWrestle]

Well, I guess I can only speak for myself when it comes to the possibility of why Clarksville, or any other team, might want to cheer against Bradley instead of for them. Maybe you are correct when you talk about jealousy or dislike or whatever other word you use when you talk about Clarksville or any other team being for the opponents of Bradley. I think that it is fun every now and then for other teams to win. Keep in mind, THIS IS MY OPINION. It isn't much fun anymore when the same team wins time after time. It is fun when there is competition. I am saying that Bradley is an awesome team but I am also saying that competition is fun, if it is real competition. It is never fun to go somewhere and totally dominate a team so when you get super good teams like Bradley it is fun to help support the other team. Maybe it's because they don't have the crowd following that Bradley has (although it looked like Franklin had quite a few folks there.) It is fun for the other teams when rival schools help them in cheering. Maybe CHS supported Franklin because if they couldn't beat Bradley they were glad to cheer for someone who could. It is the nature of the beast, so to say, to want the top dog to fall. So, IN MY OPINION, if the champ for many years running had been Franklin, I would venture to say that the folks of CHS would be throwing their support behind any other team to beat Franklin. That is what I think. It is amazing though how things affect our perspective of situations. I sat at matside for matches of several different teams and listened to the people around me. There was a school (I would prefer to not mention the name of the school because it is not my intention to start something with them) who when their wrestler was pushing the opponent backwards out of the ring they shouted that the opponent was fleeing the mat. Then, when their guy was backiing out of the ring they yelled that the opponent was pushing their guy out of the ring. It is just amazing, isn't it how our perspective colors everything.

[noonesfool]

JW, a fine perspective and cograts to Clarksville HS and the job they do.

[aolisbad]

Sly,

If Bradly did such a great job, why didn't they keep it?

[slingshot]

aolisbad, Sly has probably gone to bed, so I'll help you out with your question.

If you go back and read his post, you'll read where he typed that "until 2000, the event was passed around the state, allowing different schools and areas this same opportunity" (to host the event and reap the many benefits of doing so). That was the design, so it was in Memphis one year, then in Bristol the next, Cleveland the next, Nashville the next and so on. The TSSAA had set it up that way so that it would be more fair. Many coaches complained that it wasn't fair that while the State Traditional tournament was always in Chattanooga, the Duals were passed around, which often meant two long road trips within two weeks of each other for some teams. Very expensive.

 

I don't think that Sly has a problem with the idea of the State Duals being held in a central location such as Nashville since it is true that the Traditional is always in Chattanooga. The problem is that one specific team reaps the rewards of this advantage every year and that too, seems unfair. See, Bradley nor anyone else during the '90's ever claimed ownership of this tournament. They just waited their turn, then busted their tails to do a good job with it for that year. Clarksville has been given unconditional ownership and all of the benefits that comes with it.

 

Hope this answers your question.

Edited February 7, 2005 by slingshot

[10W40]

Move it to the GEC. Put up some ropes. Call in Vince McMahan.

[rigger101]

Time and time again it comes back to the space. I promise you that we are very aware of the space or lack thereof.

 

We did try some things this time, as in announcing that all wrestlers should take their bags with them as they moved to the floor and that helped. Smart!

I promise this is not a complaint on my part, I LOVE IT. It is challenging keeping the parents out of the areas that we have been asked to keep them out of, IE the edge of the mat camera in hand yelling instructions over the shoulder of the coaches, hanging off the stair rail to get that perfect shot or view. We laugh about it and enjoy it and work our butts off and love doing it.

 

825554550[/snapback]

SuperZ, I arrived on Saturday after a 5-hour trip to get there. (Car Problem) I had not had the opportunity to come and watch the duals in 2 yrs. After arriving, I parked on the wrong side of the school and I was trying to get in the way I had in year's past. A man let me in and I walked to the sound of the meet. Once I found it, I came to a door and a young man told me I had to go around. I asked if I could wait until the weight class that was wrestling finished. He said yes.

Then I was on the step watching and one of the men told me I couldn’t stand there. Therefore, I moved back up. Then I was asked if I was a coach and I said no. Then I was told I would have to go around. (No one ever told me where around was.) I said could I wait until this weight class finishes. Before the person could answer one of the women "Nazi chick", jumped in and said, "YOU HAVE TO LEAVE, NOW!"

 

I think with all the laughing your parents are doing at the fans, they need to remember that some us are driving a long way to come and watch our great sport and pay the cost of our time, gas, rooms, meals etc. Maybe, she had had a bad day. So had I! Even thou I felt like I had been treated like crap, I cheered for Clarksville because I had lived there for 5 years and have known some of your parents and great kids. Didn't spend any money there, as my silent protest.

 

Enough for my snivel! Except for that situation, I enjoyed watching the great matches. No problem with seating on Saturday.

[walkenvol]

slingshot - If you guys are really open for suggestions on how to improve the tourney, then my $0.02 worth is don't have the D1 and D2 finals at the same time. I know its easy to dismiss this idea under the premis that the tourney needs to end early enough to allow all teams to travel home Satureday night so that they don't have an additional night in a hotel. I don't know how many teams would have had to stay the additional night, but these are usually 2 of the best dual meets of the year and its a shame to only see one of them. Or if you're like me, you watch 80% of one match and 20% of the other and always end of missing something important in both matches. Maybe the tourney could start an hour earlier on Sat or compress the schedule to gain some extra time?