Mike E

If you build it, they will come, just sayin'

Venice is the last of the Sarasota School District fields to get the make over. New bathrooms, new snack shacks, new new turf, new pressbox, some new seating, new scoreboard, new track. I have no idea what the budget is. The plan is for it to be completed about a week before graduation.

Stay safe from the fire! I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley.

Interesting, I grew up/lived the first 40ish years of my life about 30 minutes from Pasadena. Are you East, West or South of Pasadena? (North puts you on Mt Wilson LOL)

I took the easy way out and threw in the trigger words. I probably could have found another way to express my thoughts.

Here in-lies the problem. Only 3 of those 8 teams should be even considered for the open, Venice, Chaminade and American Heritage. STA lost a few games but still has not lost a championship since Jesus walked the earth. Columbus lost a few games yet were the closest thing to Venice since the first half of the season. Cocoa lost a few games but how many in a row is it for them? Gadsden had a surprisingly good team. West Boca couldn't win more then 1 game a season until 2 years ago and had 1 playoff win in God only knows how long. So their reward would be to get thrown to the wolves? There are massive holes in this concept. Mostly 6A, but even 5A this year were not very good. I am including Lakeland and STA. Any other division than 5A and 6A and they don't make the finals. I can get behind promotion and relegation. But use a rolling 3 years worth of data to make the decision. One good year or one bad year should not move the needle. The other concept no one has suggested with the open that would make it more palatable... Leave room in the standard bracket for the teams that lose in the first round of open to fall back into. This will allow them to compete as they have earned. You want the "one true" champion, fine. But punishing good teams in the name of DEI is silly.

Obviously, the transfer thing cant apply to private schools and freshmen, maybe even the public schools. Those sophmore-senior transfers could still be used to bump teams up a level or 2. I can't imagine all of those Chaminade kids sitting on the bench as freshmen.

I have a lot to say about so many things in this thread, I will try to keep it to some and not all. Private and public schools have never, ever, been the same and should be separated. Public schools that get more than 10 inbound transfers (my random number) regardless of outbound transfers should have to play up a level for playoffs. 20, up 2, etc. (probably private as well) Punishing good teams by forcing an open division makes no sense. Just because you don't like that STA, Chaminade, Columbus, Venice, Lakeland, etc have won a lot doesn't mean bad teams that don't deserve a title, should be handed one. In all likelihood, 12 of the 14 teams that played in the finals would have been in the Open. Very likely all but one deserving champion would have gone out without an earned title. Giving those titles to who? 3 of the 7 teams that lost in Miami? Other teams that couldn't even win their region? The teams that win put in the work year after year to be where they are. One bad offseason of weight lifting, training, etc. can knock a program down for years. The Rural Invitational seemed weird to me on the surface. But I watched the game on NFHS and those kids were just a proud to be in that game as any we saw in Miami this last week. Why cut it to 3 or 4 divisions rather than give more kids an unforgettable experience? It is about the kids not about us in the Ivory Tower. Complaining about the scores of the title games.... not sure I get it. Teams play relatively local schools their same size all the way to the regional championship. There is the "same kind of school" championship. The final 4... truly the bonus. I went to all 7 of the games in Miami. So, I saw a little bit of everything. Being that I pay attention to 7A the most.... based on rankings all of the true 7A power was supposed to be in the Orlando area. I can tell you that it was Venice and the Miami area after. Win your region and be proud of that. Should LM be proud of what they accomplished this year? Or should they feel cheated because Venice wasn't pulled into an open division? Despite what they have been telling you for the last 50 years, not everyone deserves a ring.

Just occurred to me video is a good thing.....

I know you like to beat the "get them to jump" drum. I think (old brain misses stuff now and again) that there have only been 2 jumps by the opposing D during the playoffs. It is as much about keeping the D from timing the snap as anything else. It isn't any different than just about every team Venice has played this year. Venice does play fast, but there isn't anything wrong with that. Just as other teams will run out the play clock to try and slow things down. All that said, Lake Mary is the 1 team that I have been keeping an eye on all season because I think they are the only one that can keep up as well.

If it is going to be a game, Columbus is going to have to score. Only IMG Nat'l and CCC have slowed down the Venice offense at all. Prefaced with the fact that Peacock doesn't like to punt, ever. But, I can't recall Venice punting more than 10 times all season.

Not an expert on them at all. But, I did see them against Venice in the KOC. They were bigger and faster than I expected. As it turns out Venice's D was not close to where it is now. They hung in for a while. Cocoa was better. Both of those references were early season. I think Booker is going to have their hands full.

So Venice had Gadsen in the KOC. Gadsen showed far more than I expected. Truth is, I couldn't understand why they were on the schedule. For a small not rural, but really rural public school, they made a respectable showing. I am not surprised by where they are.

This was my first thought. Not sure why they are having such a hard time getting the finals scheduled. There is no reason it shouldn't be settled before the season begins.

Maybe a couple of unpopular opinions. But, my thoughts differ from pretty much everything on here. Florida already has the tightest running clock rule that I have seen. Many other places it is 42 (or at least it used to be). If the mercy rule is not enacted because they are staying within 35, it is still a game. Also, a lot of posts on here call for taking it easy by running up the middle. I agree, call off the dogs. Play 3rd string, 4th string, freshman, whatever it takes to level the field for the rest of the game. But, those 3rd and 8th stringers (yes exaggeration) deserve to play if they get their chance. Throw the ball, run the ball. Play like it is the only chance you will ever have to play under the lights, it might be. Teams such as Apopka and DeLand (probably 50 others in the state I am unaware of) do their business running the ball up the middle. The clock is running either way. Throwing could be far more merciful than running in some situations. Soapbox relinquished.