Ironically, I just stated the same thing to my AD. The regular season is long (especially for multiple-sport athletes). Qualify for the WPIAL Playoffs it gets longer. Good enough to make it to the states; it definitely takes a toll on the student-athletes. Add in the fact that now it cuts into the next sport. Maybe it's not such a bad idea. Add football too.
Piaa State Playoffs
- Thread starter FordhamIII
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Ironically, I just stated the same thing to my AD. The regular season is long (especially for multiple-sport athletes). Qualify for the WPIAL Playoffs it gets longer. Good enough to make it to the states; it definitely takes a toll on the student-athletes. Add in the fact that now it cuts into the next sport. Maybe it's not such a bad idea. Add football too.
Tom is an excellent sports writer who tirelessly covers northwest PA (D-10) for the Erie Times-News. I believe his comment was inclusive of football, as well.
Here is another tweet from Tom that is just as timely:
Not so long ago while in North Philly I saw countless milk crates nailed to telephone poles.
How good do you think you would be if you shot a roundball into a square basket with no backboard?
Not suggesting we withdraw from the state playoffs because we are not winning.
Lots of great points were mad as to what the problems are and how to correct.
As stated earlier in the thread empty courts are a big part of the problem.
Things are so much different than when I learned to play. We played against older players.
They taught you how to play through contact. What would happen if you guarded to closely or tried to reach in and steal a rebound from a big man and of course that no game would end with a layup.
When we did play against people our own age we were very successful.
Contrast that to when my kids learned to play. Neighborhood playgrounds were empty. There were not a lot of older players to compete against.
Their experiences were more aged grouped league and travel teams. They were
competitive but this only benefited a few and even this has dried up today.
Follow the City League Champion in the state playoffs and would like to see them win a championship again.
What used to happen naturally now needs a way to be fixed.
Put the hoops back in the neighborhoods, get kids involved at an early age and play more than one sport.
Then maybe we can win championship like we did in the past.
Lots of great points were mad as to what the problems are and how to correct.
As stated earlier in the thread empty courts are a big part of the problem.
Things are so much different than when I learned to play. We played against older players.
They taught you how to play through contact. What would happen if you guarded to closely or tried to reach in and steal a rebound from a big man and of course that no game would end with a layup.
When we did play against people our own age we were very successful.
Contrast that to when my kids learned to play. Neighborhood playgrounds were empty. There were not a lot of older players to compete against.
Their experiences were more aged grouped league and travel teams. They were
competitive but this only benefited a few and even this has dried up today.
Follow the City League Champion in the state playoffs and would like to see them win a championship again.
What used to happen naturally now needs a way to be fixed.
Put the hoops back in the neighborhoods, get kids involved at an early age and play more than one sport.
Then maybe we can win championship like we did in the past.
I said before, I am perfectly happy if the WPIAL would just decide "no thanks" to the PIAA, go back to 4 divisions, have the season end with their title games and be done with it.
My step father initiated that rule change in Jersey where he was and athletic director. He and other athletic directors lobbied and lobbied to get the rules changed. One of the reason he did this was there was huge disparity between public and private football teams. Kids were getting hurt.
That's cool. NJ is a bit different where pretty much all the best kids play at private schools. In PA, a lot of good players still play public but at this point, I really think PA needs something similar. I also love NJ's Tournament of Champions to crown 1 true state champion.
One way to better compete with the Philly schools is to schedule them in the non conference part of the season.
Western schools should not shy away from playing teams from the east. If you want to be the best you have to play the best.
Schenley was one of the schools to did this and it better prepared them when they met states.
If a coach has strong underclassmen take the chance, challenge your team. Then you won't be surprised if you face one again.
Western schools should not shy away from playing teams from the east. If you want to be the best you have to play the best.
Schenley was one of the schools to did this and it better prepared them when they met states.
If a coach has strong underclassmen take the chance, challenge your team. Then you won't be surprised if you face one again.
This is a myth. The Cleveland Browns aren’t any better from having played the Pittsburgh Steelers twice each year. Losing to a Philly area team in December doesn’t help you at all in March if you’re an inferior team.
i used to really enjoy watching the state championships but not anymore, it's so dirty and the piaa doesn't even care, which is odd considering those private schools don't bring a crowd to the game so having these teams in the title game hurts the piaa's pockets
i wouldn't be surprised if many of those philly "catholic kids" are older than 18, heck kennedy has kids from different countries and how the hell are they paying the tuition at these private schools?
one thing i used to always enjoy was the medal ceremony when the games are over, it was normal to see the champs jumping up and down with joy, and the losing team would be crying or holding back tears, now these private schools hardly celebrate and the public schools don't even look sad when they lose because everybody knew the result before the game even started
i remember lamar stevens was asked after they blew out that really good allderdice team 2 years ago, "what was the difference between this years team and last years team?"
lamar says "i don't know, i wasn't on last years team"
neuman goretti has been in the piaa since like 2009, they already have 8 titles which is like 8 more than 95% of schools in PA
these are AAU teams pretending to be high schools
i wouldn't be surprised if many of those philly "catholic kids" are older than 18, heck kennedy has kids from different countries and how the hell are they paying the tuition at these private schools?
one thing i used to always enjoy was the medal ceremony when the games are over, it was normal to see the champs jumping up and down with joy, and the losing team would be crying or holding back tears, now these private schools hardly celebrate and the public schools don't even look sad when they lose because everybody knew the result before the game even started
i remember lamar stevens was asked after they blew out that really good allderdice team 2 years ago, "what was the difference between this years team and last years team?"
lamar says "i don't know, i wasn't on last years team"
neuman goretti has been in the piaa since like 2009, they already have 8 titles which is like 8 more than 95% of schools in PA
these are AAU teams pretending to be high schools
