sixcat

Hey, my senior year!
 
I remember playing Grayson (then D2) in a number of sports, being a higher classification, and Grayson being about 40% larger than we were at Graham.

Shocking when you consider where they were numbers wise 10 plus years ago

I’ve been doing some statistical research today, and one of my items of interest was percentage of population age 18 and under.  If I’m not mistaken, Grayson is one of the 3 lowest in Virginia in terms of percentage of population under age 18.

Virginia High and Tazewell wouldn't have sub .500 records if they played the schedule that Grayson did.

Yep. 100% self inflicted by politics and the kids are the ones who got the short end of the stick. I hate it for those girls. They 100% should be in the regional tournament. VHS and Tazewell finished the season with sub-.500 records and both got in. 

Folks in Grayson County are very upset not to have made the Regional tournament in softball after finishing with a record of 13-6.  By choosing not to enter the SWD and remain in the MED, 12 of their 19 opponents were 1A.  This will only continue for other sports as well as long as they play down in competition.  
Didn't several folks on this forum predict such an outcome?  I think maybe I was one of them! 

No one cares what I have to say.

That's Mercer County Board of Education's problem now...City of Bluefield "gave" them Mitchell Stadium.  City of Bluefield still owns the parking lot, I'll almost guarantee there will be at least a $5/car parking fee next season...

Galax is famous for it's Fiddlers Convention.  The next generation is in pretty good hands!  This is my daughters band.  They have been together since November.  No member is older than 13 and none have been playing longer than 3 years.  They are playing a 45 minute set at MerleFest this Saturday which features Jamey Johnson, Brandy Clark, The Mevericks, Kris Kristofferson and Steve Martin's band. 
 
 

Apologies for the fact that this is not soccer related -- and it also has nothing to do with our personal situation -- but I thought the following story from the Roanoke Times was worth sharing.
http://www.roanoke.com/sports/high_schools/early-softball-recruiting-to-end-under-ncaa-rule-changes/article_cde826fc-dcc3-56b3-8086-37d16401b4ab.html
Millie Thompson (who is quoted and referenced in the article) is a classmate of my son.  She's a good kid who comes from a great family.  But the process they are going through is pretty surreal.  Three thoughts of my own from the article:  1.  I don't like the use of the word "de-commit."  It's very reasonable for young kids to change their minds, but the truth is that there is never really any commitment until somebody signs a document;  2.  With notable exceptions, I can't imagine that there are many HS sophomores who are truly settled on a specific college major -- and in any case, I don't think they should be;  and 3.  I'll be surprised if she actually enrolls at Clemson.

Galax is famous for it's Fiddlers Convention.  The next generation is in pretty good hands!  This is my daughters band.  They have been together since November.  No member is older than 13 and none have been playing longer than 3 years.  They are playing a 45 minute set at MerleFest this Saturday which features Jamey Johnson, Brandy Clark, The Mevericks, Kris Kristofferson and Steve Martin's band. 
 
 

Marshall’s developed a good pipeline from SWVA over the years.  A team can develop some quality depth poaching off the D-I talent that rises up here.

Galax is famous for it's Fiddlers Convention.  The next generation is in pretty good hands!  This is my daughters band.  They have been together since November.  No member is older than 13 and none have been playing longer than 3 years.  They are playing a 45 minute set at MerleFest this Saturday which features Jamey Johnson, Brandy Clark, The Mevericks, Kris Kristofferson and Steve Martin's band. 
 
 

Galax is famous for it's Fiddlers Convention.  The next generation is in pretty good hands!  This is my daughters band.  They have been together since November.  No member is older than 13 and none have been playing longer than 3 years.  They are playing a 45 minute set at MerleFest this Saturday which features Jamey Johnson, Brandy Clark, The Mevericks, Kris Kristofferson and Steve Martin's band. 
 
 

Always the first full week of August.  This year it will be the 6th - 11th. 

It may not mean as much in far SWVA as it does in this area.  I would have loved for my former high school coach and mentor, Fred Jennings, to have been interviewed for the podcast series Ryan is putting together.  You guys would have loved listening to him as much as I have for the past 40 years.  He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86.  I would love for more people to hear his stories.  For example, at one point just following WWII, four of his older brothers were in the starting five of the Lees-McRae Bobcat basketball team.  All five starters were graduates of Fries High School and had fought in WWII.  They postponed completion of high school to serve their country, completed high school upon their return, all became college graduates and high achievers in life.  It was a different time and they were symbolic of "The Greatest Generation"!
Fred was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and lost 70% of his hearing in the process.  He was awarded the Silver Star for his efforts.  Fred attended every single Virginia Tech home football game from 1958 through 2016, not missing a single one.  He was honored on the field for his contributions to the university on several occasions.  Fred built a full-court basketball court and Olympic sized pool at his home to keep "his kids" (us) out of trouble.  He never had children of his own but had hundreds he taught and coached through the years.  He was my baseball coach, football coach, Algebra teacher, mentor and friend.  For most of the past 11 years, Fred would come to my office every few months and just talk...for hours.  His wife passed away a few years ago and he hasn't been the same.  He is, in all honesty, the single greatest influence on my life.  He took an interest in me when I was 4 years old, taught me the value of life and passed his love of math on to me.  He is the reason my username on this board, Twitter and Instagram handles will never change.  He is partially responsible for the moniker.
His brother, Allen "Birddog" Jennings was a teacher and coach at Virginia High in the 60's.  He wrote a fabulous book several years ago called "My Day to Wear the Underwear".  Birddog passed away March 8th at the age of 92.
Rest in peace Mr. Jennings.  You were loved and will be missed.

This I can affirm.  In my graduating class (2007), despite almost twice the enrollment, VT had 18 more African-American students than UVA did.  That’s total, not pro rata.

It may not mean as much in far SWVA as it does in this area.  I would have loved for my former high school coach and mentor, Fred Jennings, to have been interviewed for the podcast series Ryan is putting together.  You guys would have loved listening to him as much as I have for the past 40 years.  He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86.  I would love for more people to hear his stories.  For example, at one point just following WWII, four of his older brothers were in the starting five of the Lees-McRae Bobcat basketball team.  All five starters were graduates of Fries High School and had fought in WWII.  They postponed completion of high school to serve their country, completed high school upon their return, all became college graduates and high achievers in life.  It was a different time and they were symbolic of "The Greatest Generation"!
Fred was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and lost 70% of his hearing in the process.  He was awarded the Silver Star for his efforts.  Fred attended every single Virginia Tech home football game from 1958 through 2016, not missing a single one.  He was honored on the field for his contributions to the university on several occasions.  Fred built a full-court basketball court and Olympic sized pool at his home to keep "his kids" (us) out of trouble.  He never had children of his own but had hundreds he taught and coached through the years.  He was my baseball coach, football coach, Algebra teacher, mentor and friend.  For most of the past 11 years, Fred would come to my office every few months and just talk...for hours.  His wife passed away a few years ago and he hasn't been the same.  He is, in all honesty, the single greatest influence on my life.  He took an interest in me when I was 4 years old, taught me the value of life and passed his love of math on to me.  He is the reason my username on this board, Twitter and Instagram handles will never change.  He is partially responsible for the moniker.
His brother, Allen "Birddog" Jennings was a teacher and coach at Virginia High in the 60's.  He wrote a fabulous book several years ago called "My Day to Wear the Underwear".  Birddog passed away March 8th at the age of 92.
Rest in peace Mr. Jennings.  You were loved and will be missed.

Another one of my weird foibles is that I really don't like capital punishment, but I tend to embrace the Native American concept of Blood Law.
I feel completely abandoned by the "two party" system.  But I'd probably be willing to vote for you if you ran for something.  :-)

This is extremely interesting information.  A lot of fodder for some very serious discussion.  Thanks a bunch, sixcat!
Not sure that I have standing to comment on this potentially volatile issue, but I think Virginia Tech does face a very persistent race issue.  Although there was a noticeable minority presence in the community during my time there (well... at the very least it was certainly more diverse than Richlands) my perception is that it was not statistically representative of either the national or state population.  And I doubt that things have changed much.  I don't wish to make this too political, because my own political views are very complicated.  (For example, I am probably very liberal in terms of my views on race, but I am generally opposed to the concept of affirmative action.)  That said, I would actually be very happy to learn that my alma mater isn't reaching out to students like my son because it is targeting its efforts toward attracting a more diverse student, faculty, and staff population.  My cynical suspicion is that Tech isn't really doing anything at all.
On a much broader level, the apparent direct relationship between a college's selectivity and its consideration of race is very interesting indeed.

Pretty sure it won't happen again tho.

They did, 5-3 very early on.  I missed it and it has been updated on the school schedule.

Virginia Tech struggles at times to meet state mandated standards for affirmative action.  Quotas are not a popular topic for discussion and the powers that be have done everything within their power to change the "buzz words" but it does exist.  Some interesting reading you may find helpful.  https://ballotpedia.org/Affirmative_action_in_Virginia
On an interesting note, 2006-2007 VHSL State Baseball Player of the Year, Wes Self from the state championship team at Grayson County is the Head of Infectious Diseases and Critical Illness at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. 

It may not mean as much in far SWVA as it does in this area.  I would have loved for my former high school coach and mentor, Fred Jennings, to have been interviewed for the podcast series Ryan is putting together.  You guys would have loved listening to him as much as I have for the past 40 years.  He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86.  I would love for more people to hear his stories.  For example, at one point just following WWII, four of his older brothers were in the starting five of the Lees-McRae Bobcat basketball team.  All five starters were graduates of Fries High School and had fought in WWII.  They postponed completion of high school to serve their country, completed high school upon their return, all became college graduates and high achievers in life.  It was a different time and they were symbolic of "The Greatest Generation"!
Fred was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and lost 70% of his hearing in the process.  He was awarded the Silver Star for his efforts.  Fred attended every single Virginia Tech home football game from 1958 through 2016, not missing a single one.  He was honored on the field for his contributions to the university on several occasions.  Fred built a full-court basketball court and Olympic sized pool at his home to keep "his kids" (us) out of trouble.  He never had children of his own but had hundreds he taught and coached through the years.  He was my baseball coach, football coach, Algebra teacher, mentor and friend.  For most of the past 11 years, Fred would come to my office every few months and just talk...for hours.  His wife passed away a few years ago and he hasn't been the same.  He is, in all honesty, the single greatest influence on my life.  He took an interest in me when I was 4 years old, taught me the value of life and passed his love of math on to me.  He is the reason my username on this board, Twitter and Instagram handles will never change.  He is partially responsible for the moniker.
His brother, Allen "Birddog" Jennings was a teacher and coach at Virginia High in the 60's.  He wrote a fabulous book several years ago called "My Day to Wear the Underwear".  Birddog passed away March 8th at the age of 92.
Rest in peace Mr. Jennings.  You were loved and will be missed.

It may not mean as much in far SWVA as it does in this area.  I would have loved for my former high school coach and mentor, Fred Jennings, to have been interviewed for the podcast series Ryan is putting together.  You guys would have loved listening to him as much as I have for the past 40 years.  He passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86.  I would love for more people to hear his stories.  For example, at one point just following WWII, four of his older brothers were in the starting five of the Lees-McRae Bobcat basketball team.  All five starters were graduates of Fries High School and had fought in WWII.  They postponed completion of high school to serve their country, completed high school upon their return, all became college graduates and high achievers in life.  It was a different time and they were symbolic of "The Greatest Generation"!
Fred was a veteran of the Korean Conflict and lost 70% of his hearing in the process.  He was awarded the Silver Star for his efforts.  Fred attended every single Virginia Tech home football game from 1958 through 2016, not missing a single one.  He was honored on the field for his contributions to the university on several occasions.  Fred built a full-court basketball court and Olympic sized pool at his home to keep "his kids" (us) out of trouble.  He never had children of his own but had hundreds he taught and coached through the years.  He was my baseball coach, football coach, Algebra teacher, mentor and friend.  For most of the past 11 years, Fred would come to my office every few months and just talk...for hours.  His wife passed away a few years ago and he hasn't been the same.  He is, in all honesty, the single greatest influence on my life.  He took an interest in me when I was 4 years old, taught me the value of life and passed his love of math on to me.  He is the reason my username on this board, Twitter and Instagram handles will never change.  He is partially responsible for the moniker.
His brother, Allen "Birddog" Jennings was a teacher and coach at Virginia High in the 60's.  He wrote a fabulous book several years ago called "My Day to Wear the Underwear".  Birddog passed away March 8th at the age of 92.
Rest in peace Mr. Jennings.  You were loved and will be missed.