lol KP. I have been there some years. I can't imagine being from here because it can all be a bit suffocating at times. There's really not much break from it at all. That Iron Bowl still has to be a kick in the chops. That can't help. The bowl sure as hell didn't help. It can lead to the blues for sure. If you're looking for something more pure and are somewhat near the hospital/downtown, you can always stop by and watch the HS team practice. If you see a tall blonde kid with really long arms and a shock of long, shaggy blond hair, that's Carson. I used to think they didn't practice in the stadium to keep from tearing it up, but now I think they use those practice fields so that people in the community can drop by for a hot minute and check the boys out before moving on with their days. Either way, their facilities are really nice. Their weight room is as good, or better, than a great many DII schools. We have moved over there by the older historic district, so the boy just walks to practice each day. It doesn't take him 5 minutes. ****, that reminds me, I have to join the booster club and buy my season tickets soon. Let me know if you want me to grab any extras for you or yours.
Corey, I might stop by and watch sometime. I go to Hartselle games once or twice a year. I've been to Priceville games but they are not as well coached as Hartselle. Anyway, I just tired of the talk about money, I guess. If I wanted it to be about the money I would watch the NFL. :?
If you like good coaching and quality high school football, you'll probably love the new high school region/league that will be playing right in your back yard. The coaches around the camps refer to it as 'The SEC of high school football in Alabama.' I kid you not. I've lived here long enough to determine which grumbles are just sour grapes and which are valid. One of the most valid grumbles is that the AHSAA is totally out of touch with anything that goes on north of Birmingham. It was time to re-shuffle the decks by attendance, and they've often tried to give weight to the quality of the programs. For areas south of B'ham, they did pretty well. What we got in NoAl is ridiculous. In the newly created 7A, there is only 1 region in NoAl and that is Region 4. Everyone in that division except for Bob Jones and Gadsden City are mediocre at best, to downright terrible. How they're going to play 7A football come playoff time is beyond me. In 6A, they split NoAl into 2 Regions. Region 7 is known jokingly as the 'Homecoming Region' because those are all the teams up here that the big dogs want to play for their homecoming. (Albertville, Arab, Brewer, Huntsville Lee, Southside Gadsden, Scottsboro and Fort Payne) Then, there is Region 8, which is the HS equivalent to trying to answer 'what would happen if you put 7 pit bulls in the ring at once. Every school in this league has at least one SEC player come this fall, and all but one have at least 2 NFL players. The region is made up of Hartselle, Cullman, Decatur, Austin, Athens, Florence, and Muscle Shoals. Of the 7 teams in the region, 3 have played for, or won, state titles in the last 5 years. Teams like Austin and Florence always seem to have at least a handful of guys who will play Division 1 and just seem to be lacking the coaching, although both programs seem to think they've got the right guys now and recent events have shown that to be the case. Athens always seems to have at least 1 big name DI talent on their roster, and they're always quite competitive. Then there's the smallest school by far in the region, Decatur, which also happens to be one of the state's top winning programs and a regular producer of DI and NFL talent. There's not a bad game in the region on any given night. Decatur and Austin share the same field, and I believe you're not too far from Hartselle either, so you can pretty much pick and choose the matchup you'd want to see on any given night. The only other Region that will be top to bottom competitive like this one will be the new Region in 7A that includes Hoover, Spain Park, Hewitt-Trussville and the Tuscaloosa schools.
yeah Hartselle is about 5 miles away. My dad played at Hewitt (long, long time ago) and coached there for a couple of years before moving to Norfolk. Va. schools where he coached at Granby HS for about 15 years. Anyway, like I said I have watched Hartselle a few Friday nights in the last couple of years and I was impressed.
Charlie Strong is running a tight ship. http://espn.go.com/college-football...uspensions-dismissals-texas-longhorns-players
It was Lenin, not the Joker, who first said, "You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." Remember coach Norman Dale in Hoosiers?" The first thing he did was kick the clowns off the team. Players who brazenly break the rules distract both the coaches and their teammates. Everybody is wasting time on silly nonsense, instead of preparing for victory. Dumping the damaged fish overboard may look cruel, but a team that refocuses it's energies on more important matters can deal with more important situations when they come up in a game. But it's not just about winning. A focused team that concentrates on doing everything right and doing those things together is a safer team, even at practices. Never suppose that these clowns were popular with their teammates. Athletic teams tend to be filled with goal-oriented young men, who view unnecessary distractions as obstacles that they must overcome. Nearly every time I kicked a kid off a team, I had players come and thank me. Whatever the problems were; they were not a secret...
I know the Huskerfan will be shocked to hear this but that Iowa Ath. Dept in an attempt to lure students to games is holding a raffle for a semesters free tuitioin to 5 lucky students. According to the article I read that's worth 8K, I have to say 8K is incredibly low for a full semester tuition in today's world.