Leaderboard

My dad graduated from high school with a regular, old high school diploma in 1977, wasn't in special education, and didn't know how to read. Like NCLB or not, kids have a much stronger education now than they did before, and you can't water down the material when every student in the state takes the same final exam. Whether or not that education is useful is another story. I think the problem is that the last 25 years or so of tech development has shifted the definition of hard work and discipline, and its finally started to come to fruition in rural America in the last ten years. Very few people work 9-5 jobs doing hard labor anymore; and the few who do are, with due respect, are doing it not because they want to, but it's because it's all they can do. Plus, with the widespread coverage of CTE research, it's hard to convince a teenager to commit themselves to something that will have no positive impact on their life after they graduate. It's become more apparent that football has can potentially be devastating to a person's long term health, and the physical toll may not be worth it to kids who aren't going to be playing for world beater teams. I'll entertain the idea of Gen Z being soft all day and twice on Sunday, but it's due to the environment that my generation and my parents generation put them in, namely, study as hard as possible and protect your health. In regards to playing football, there are no longer any apparent benefits to them, so a lot of them are choosing just not to play.

8 days for several teams. I know RV and Central are opening on Monday night, who else?

Ryan, great job!!! Love seeing the view of the field. Sat through many games there; nail biters, cold and rainy games, but always cheering for the Blues. I came to watch and cheer. Would be bothered when players would turn around on a 3rd and close yardage, waving arms to get fans up and cheering. Coach Mance now gone, is bittersweet for me, but will be listening to the Blues games and cheering for the win. No greater thing to hear as a fan, then Ron Brown saying "put a "W" next to that lighting R." GO LORIS LIONS!!! GO BLUES!!!

Sorry that I don't have the time to sit in my law office and look all of the statistics up. I would be curious to see the federal guidelines of No Child Left Behind / Federal Money with the need for schools to water down material and grading in relation to getting graduation rates up. Just a thought. My point is made below, unlike like my grandfather who walked five miles to school, in the snow, with no shoes. I guess I was referring to hard work, discipline, and teamwork. You know since this is a football board and these things usually apply to student/athletes. Obviously you did all of those things for yourself because you had the work ethic to go to college and pass the bar. Good grief smoking a cig was done by most of the faculty in school "back in the day." I would dare say that school and personal accountability was more prevalent then than it is now.

Our region has seen three consecutive years of record-setting precipitation. We had roughly 63 inches in 2018, 65 inches in 2019 and 70+ inches in 2020. Considering we average 43 inches per year, a 50% increase for three consecutive years has left wetter conditions in most areas than anything we have ever seen. This region has water in places water has never been seen before. Grass fields are going to be destroyed in very short order. I think we will see games being played on turf after concessions are made to allow for moving games. For example, Grayson will play the majority of their season at Galax.

The equipment made it. The installation by NFHS was substandard and wasn’t corrected in time for the end of basketball season. Football is a go. Still working to see if our audio can be synced to their video.

Week 1 schedule: Monday: Pulaski @ Cave Spring Rural Retreat @ Ft. Chiswell Giles @ Radford Central @ Ridgeview John Battle @ Gate City Lee @ Union Grayson County @ Holston Bath County @ Narrows Northwood @ Grundy Honaker @ Castlewood Hurley @ Rye Cove Twin Valley @ Twin Springs J.I. Burton @ Chilhowie Saturday: Hidden Valley @ Pulaski Gate City @ Abingdon Floyd County @ Giles Graham @ Richlands (Non-district matchup) Tazewell @ Riverheads Lebanon @ Honaker Chilhowie @ Marion Grundy @ Virginia John Battle @ Central Ridgeview @ Lee Bland County @ Galax George Wythe @ Rural Retreat Narrows @ Parry McCluer Hurley @ Eastside Thomas Walker @ Twin Valley Patrick Henry @ Holston Several teams playing twice in the first week to have an open date later in the season.

Yes. The issue with basketball was the height of the camera in the gym (much higher than Graham or Richlands) and the chord not being long enough and equipment issues. My understanding was that the stuff was on order but didn't make it before the end of the season. Football is ready to go.

Great production as always

Radford very similar with some length, but not really true size as in a true power forward or center. Union will be the best ball handling team (by a lot) that we will have played. I'm worried that with Union's ball handling skills, the turnovers may not come as easy as our kids are used to and that could cause a big surprise for our defense. What we do very well is rebound after a miss. 32 minutes ain't much time though, and if Union is on and Radford (who relies perhaps as much or more than Union) on points outside of the paint, it will be interesting. We get a bunch of points in transition off of steals and from outside the box in our half court sets, but we don't get much from inside the paint within a half court set. This game, like many teams that are really close in talent may very well come down to the simple old saying of who makes shots wins the game. A shooting percentage difference within the half court sets carrying a difference of 10 percent either way I think will decide the game. IF we are on from the outside, we will win. Same with Union. It's not going to be a game where we are getting layups off of turnovers from the other teams half court set. Union handles it to well.

Just under two weeks from kickoff. In the words of Bart Scott: CAN'T WAIT

Boom. Awesome post