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Sharkbait

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Posts posted by Sharkbait

  1. I know a lot of thought and prayer goes into a move like this.  Coach Jordan has had tiger blood running through his veins forever and has banged heads with St Joe as a player and coach, to take the helm of your fiercest rival must be quite a strange feeling.  He is a fantastic coach and I am not sure the administration at Blountstown appreciated just how appreciated just how good he is.  If he takes the job at Port St Joe ;) he will enjoy great support and be very appreciated.  PSJ should have about 17 seniors next year so there will be a lot of talent to work with too.

  2. 19 hours ago, OldSchoolLion said:

    Tallahassee is a unique place.  I cannot think of any other state capital that has a major football university in it yet has such a relatively small population.  Even so, with FSU there I would expect Leon County to have a lot of support for hs football.

    In ancient times, Leon had a great program.  But that didn't last.  Lincoln and Godby have had moments of brilliance, but not totally consistent over the years.   Pensacola is another area that has really fallen off compared to how things were in years past.

    Go across the border into Alabama and Georgia and not too far away from these places you have some very good football.  It is not as if there is no talent there.

    Pensacola's drop off seemed to coincide with the military budget cutbacks at Eglin AFB and Pensacola NAS.  As for Tallahassee's issue it seems to have gone down hill since Chiles opened and school zones were changed.

  3. It is now official. http://www.wjhg.com/content/sports/Palmer-steps-down-as-Port-St-Joe-football-coach-470157593.html

    Coach John Palmer has resigned as head football coach at Port St Joe.  I talked to him last night at the football banquet and he was in good spirits and looked the best he has in some time.  I wish John the best and thank him for his hard work and his leadership and guidance he has provided over the years to so many young men including my son.  Coach Palmer leaves quite a legacy with his 2 State Championships and multiple playoff appearances.  The next coach has some very big shoes to fill but I am sure he will be up for the task.

  4. As far as the Tampa schools go  I really don't  understand the lack of success outside pf Plant. My alma mater Armwood is a paper tiger every year it seems and the drop off from there is ridiculous. Every year you have a team (TB Tech this year) that looks like they are ready to step up but always fall short.  There is plenty of talent but nobody seems to be able to get anything out of it.

  5. I think coaching is probably the biggest difference.  It seems to me that coaches here rely so much on the athletic ability of their players that they don't focus as much on fundamentals and discipline.  I know some of the schools on the list have really good coaches but during the season you play a lot of poorly coached teams and you end up ill-prepared for a well coached team that matches you athletically.

  6. 15 minutes ago, DarterBlue2 said:

    I remember in 2006 seeing Edgewater High have four offensive linemen above 300 and a fifth in the 290s. I thought back to the mid 1980s when William "refrigerator" Perry was considered an aberration in the NFL and thinking what happened?

    In the 1980s and early 1990s, it was not unusual to see High School Offensive Linemen between 200 and 250 or less and Defensive Linemen from 180 to 220. Those days seem gone forever; at least among the competitive teams. The increase in size has almost certainly contributed to the number of serious injuries on the playing field in addition to being terribly unhealthy for these athletes as they get older.

    I gotta wonder where this will all end.   

    I think it has more to do with nutrition.  In 1985 Armwood had an O-line that averaged 250 pounds and that was huge compared to most high schools then.  My son played this year at 285 and is obviously not "skinny" but is very fit.  I look at the numbers these kids are hitting  in the weight room and it is baffling. 

  7. 1 minute ago, gatorman-uf said:

    OldSchoolLion is right, football is cracking the under the weight of it's own hubris and greed.

    While sports are designed to fun, build character, social events that allow students to showcase a different set of skills that are not always able to seen in a standard classroom. At some point, college athletic scholarships were designed for a poorer student who maybe had the mind, but not the $$$ to make it to college and not pay. Today, the scholarship becomes the goal to try and get to the NFL.

    The cost of football (and all sports) is absurd. New uniforms, new helmets, new pads, new cameras, Hudl, security, ticket takers, ushers, travel to the games, new weight rooms, more coaches. The real amateur level is not designed to support this type of cost. Add in the time commitment that some coaches demand from players in a year round way. Football season is over and then starts weightlifting season, 7 on 7 games every weekend, track season, spring football, and back to the grind of summer workouts again. Ask yourself if that was really the same commitment 30 years ago, or was football something fun you participated in. Even the serious kids of yesteryear wouldn't do some of the things that are required to do today.

    Ask yourself is it really worth the time and money that it takes to be successful? Could a student earn an academic scholarship with the same amount of time dedicated to the task of sports? Could a student work a minimum wage job and have as much money socked away by the end? With the continual push of "Scholarship or Bust" or "State Championship or Bust," students have the ability to read the tea leaves and as a 6"0 245 lb lineman the likelihood of earning a scholarship in football is not high. 

    So as a community, we have set unrealistic expectations of the prize (Scholarship or State), we have set unrealistic expectations of what it takes to earn that prize (the amount of hours and $$$), and we are surprised when parents, students, and communities start turning off football?

    Finally, institutionally, football has failed to sell itself. There is an old joke , "What doe you call your Social Studies teacher?" The answer is "Coach." How many educational opportunities were ruined because a school had to hire a defensive line coach and the only teaching position was US History. The coach put on some history channel documentaries and that was the end of the class. High School coaches (all sports, but most publicly, football) did this to themselves by not holding their own coaches in to the highest standards. The community has soured on it. Classroom education comes first. 

    Yeah but I got straight As in history.  Coach was awesome for my GPA :D

  8. I do not like Blountstown, I have never pulled for Blountstown, if Blountstown loses avery game they ever play from now on it wouldn't bother me one bit but some of the comments on here actually have me hoping Blountstown wins.  I have not seen Madison play so I can't say much about them.  But if you think Blountstown doesn't have speed you are dead wrong, this is the fastest team they have ever had. They also have size and excellent coaching.  I don't know if they will beat Madco but I will not be the least bit surprised if they do.

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