F@lcon

Graham by 10

What? Fred Phillips has problems with somebody? It can't be, he is an upstanding citizen. Everyone loves him. I don't think it matters to the kids if they play in front of 3,000 people or 5,000 people. The thing that makes a game like this special to a team is playing in front of a huge home crowd. GC travels well but if you limit their fan support it affects their play. Give Graham the crowd support and it ups their game. Anyone who has watched high school sports will tell you that momentum is huge and the crowd can help carry momentum.

The best central location ever used by the VHSL was Liberty University in Lynchburg. It was totally unfair to most teams when they began making everyone go to Richmond. I think it is a good thing to let higher seeds. They earned the right.

I don't blame Graham at all for making GC travel as far as possible. Long bus rides can account for 6-10 points in a big game. Plus, you want to keep as many GC fans out as possible so that you have the crowd support. That's part of the game. GC does it all year by opening their doors at 5:00 and there are already 500+ people sitting in the stands. Back door????

But the most important question to Fred is how many points and headlines would his son have given up to allow Fuller to stay.

Fuller was a good coach and was winning. Fred's family has always been way too influential in the area of Richlands. Even without hearing it from the inside it's pretty easy to read between the lines what went down. Fred didn't want anyone else coaching his son's group because the kid may not have been the focal point. It's good to have pull with school board members and supervisors.

I have heard from quite a few people involved that Fred was a big factor in former coaches release so he could be head man. Fred was a great player and seems to do well as coach but knowing him as long as I have, I could never see him as humble or respectable. That is just for show in my opinion and the true Fred comes out when you are in a close game with them. As for congratulating McCamis, I think Fred truly appreciates big athletic accomplishments so I will say that part was probably genuine.

I did speak wrong, I had meant the team shot that many. The team actually plays really good recover defense. They get to the ball quickly. There was plenty of contact, just no calls. I never said we didn't foul and never said we could have won the game, don't have the talent or shooters for that. All I was saying is that refs need to be impartial during a game like that and maybe it won't get out of hand to have to call a BS flagrant. When you call one sided for an entire game the kids get frustrated and begin getting riled up on the court. They are kids and their emotions get the better of them. Coach Johnson did argue quite a bit but never raised his voice. He had a lot of reason to complain. Wise Central's coach acted like an idiot and didn't get T'd in the first game. The T was to prove a point in my opinion, "take your medicine". I know you will try to spin this by saying it didn't happen so go ahead. I have said my peace.

I agree that most everybody hates Abingdon and I know Coach Johnson has a reputation among officials going back as far as his Dad. That doesn't make it any more fair to the kids that play there when the refs make it a point to make an example during a game like this. And to be honest, I think that the majority of the gym last night hated on a certain father/son duo in the first game more than Abingdon.

I am sure there will be GC fans to totally disagree with this but most of the calls were total BS. The flagrant was totally bogus, it was a hard foul across the arms and in an attempt to hit the ball. Only way a flagrant is supposed to be called is if there is no attempt at the ball or there is ill intent, not true in this case. Even the GC fan section got quiet during that call because they knew it was a bad call. If it was a shove in the back or hard take down they would have been calling for ejection. Our kid actually took the hard hit against the wall because he is 130 pounds soaking wet. Total foul difference in the game was 33 against Abingdon (not counting the 3 T's and flagrant) and 6 against GC (yes 6 for entire game with only 1 in first half). McClung shot 27 free throws in the game by my count. At one point the gray headed ref actually was at the foul line laughing with him and rubbing his back. The coaches T came while he was in the huddle talking to the players during a timeout. He had said something to the ref before but when it was called there was no confrontation. The player ejection may have been warranted, I wasn't paying attention to see what went down there. My opinion is, if you want to be a fan of McClung then by all means sit in the stands and cheer for him, get pictures made after the game, get autographs, whatever. But if you want to be a fan then you can't be a ref at the same time. He is a great player and I hope he does well down the road but call the game impartially and let's stop the Jordan treatment.