Sobriquet

Incidentally, I realize that some people, even some who are part of the game, take a kind of lackadaisical attitude to the issue…

But, my strongly held opinion is that the game should be won or lost on the basis of how the players play and the coaches coach. It should never be won or lost because somebody else made a mistake.

Sobriquet as for as I know all schools own their own markers, The ones that I have used are 1-inch aluminum pipe with a foam pad around the pipe, older down markers or the flip the number and the newer style you slide a handle to change the down number. (Question to you why do you ask this question?)

Thanks for the info.

As for why I asked, I’m just playing with a few ideas in my mind. From some of the things that have been said here, there might be a problem with spotting the marker. Just how accurate is the placement when for example the ball is on the opposite side of the field and the guys manning the sticks have to eyeball it. It’s possible this could even have an impact on the outcome of a game.

I’ve been wondering if there’s a simple and relatively inexpensive technological solution to the problem. Which leads to the questions about who owns the markers and how are they constructed.

I have some ideas but they’re just in the thinking about it phase.

Again thanks.

I have some questions. I hope they don’t sound too silly, because I have a serious reason for asking.

I’m curious about the down marker. The pole with the sign like indicator that gets moved up and down the sideline to mark the line of scrimmage and that shows a number, 1-4, for whichever down it is.

Q: Who owns that marker? Does it always stay at the same stadium? If so how many of them does a typical stadium have? Meaning—are there any spares?

Q: What is the approximate diameter of the pole? Is it bare metal or is it padded? Is there anything else that covers up the pole? And do these things vary from stadium to stadium or is it basically the same pole everywhere?

Those blue and yellow lines. They put them on the TV screen. The TV audience can see where the line of scrimmage is, and where the ball must be advanced to make a first down.

But it's just on the TV. The people in the stadium, and certainly the players, don't see them.

But what if the technology existed to put those lines out on the field, so that everyone in the stadium could see them the same way a TV audience now sees them?

Would this be a good or a bad thing for football? If the players running a play could see specially colored lines marking the line of scrimmage and the first down line?

How do you think the football establishment would react to such a technological advancement? Would they embrace it? Or would they ban it?

I googled it.

Barton had to forfeit. It goes in the record book as Piggott 13, Barton 0.

Got a final score on that game with Piggott?

I read the whole thing and I really enjoyed it... where did you get that from is that out of a book or something?

I sent you the info by private message.

BLAH,  BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH     Did anyone finish that novel?

Could anyone recommend a good high school football discussion forum where posters love and respect the game?

The biggest upset? Easy to remember. Not so easy to talk about.

I was pulling for the team that won, so why is it so hard to talk about? Because it’s so removed from SETexas style football.

The game was played 32 years ago, in a different region of the country. A place where the rules of the game were the same, and the functions of the positions, but where the framework of the way high school football was organized and operated was so different from what we’ve always known here that it might have been, not merely a different state, but a different planet.

There was a school whose football teams were a joke. Perennial losers. One week earlier they were beaten in the season opener. The newspaper duly reported that they had lost their opening game for the umpteenth year in a row. That was an Away game. The following week they were at Home, against a big school from the state capital that was ranked number two in the state. I was there. Just out of curiosity. First time I had ever been to a football game in that part of the country.

Something unbelievable happened. The home team won. Beat the number two team in the state. At no time from kickoff to final tick of the clock did they look like losers. They totally dominated the game, demolishing the other team 26-0.

It would have been a great victory simply on its own merits. But as things turned out, as the fans watching in thrilled amazement could not have at that moment foreseen, this was the beginning of something that would have profound implications beyond the playing field. Something that would change things for the entire state and finally allow the boys who played the game to receive the recognition and respect that they had earned on the field. It was the beginning of a process that continued throughout that season and into the next until this school that had been such a loser had won the state championship.

Winning the state championship. That was the great problem. Until then you couldn’t “win†it. There was no playoff system for high school football in this state, so you could never win the championship on the field. There was a weekly top 10 poll, conducted by one newspaper, and which had ten voting members. At the end of the regular season the school ranked number one was acclaimed as the state champion on the basis of the poll. And because of where those ten voting members were located the dice were so loaded against the schools in this one corner of the state that it was impossible for them to ever get the votes needed to be number one. No matter how great they played on the football field.

For the rest of the season this one school continued to win impressively. And week after week they were so unfairly dismissed by the poll. And the discontent in this corner of the state simmered and boiled.

It forced a change that was announced for the next season. Not a regular playoff such as we have, but more like a BCS system. Through out the season high school teams accumulated points based on various parameters of their performance. At the end of regular season the two schools in each size classification with the highest points would then meet in a special playoff game. Everyone knew this special game was coming at the end of the season.

Meanwhile the newspaper poll continued as usual. The school that had pulled the great upset the year before was now a powerhouse. They were winning all their games. And they even made it up to number two in the poll. But as was always the case there was another team that was also undefeated. And this team was located at the other end of the state, where the votes were. So all season long this other team was number one. Not because they were better, but because they had the votes.

But for number two, their number of points were growing every week, with every victory. They knew they would never be number one in the poll. But they also knew that a day of reckoning was coming when the two teams would meet on the field and settle the question of who was really the best.

And when it came they destroyed number one. Literally stomped them into the turf. But that wasn’t an upset. They really were the best. The real upset came at the beginning of the previous season. When a losing team suddenly and dramatically turned it all around.

When this upset game had ended and the teams had left the field, we spectators filed out of the stands. As we made our way to the parking lot we had to walk by the field house, where the home team, the victorious team had their locker room. We could hear them inside. My God, we could hear them. The school had a certain cheer and during the games the cheerleaders would occasionally lead the fans in this cheer.

Now the football players were giving that cheer. Giving? They were screaming it, thundering it at the top of their lungs. They were stomping the floor and kicking the walls and lockers until the whole building must have trembled.

Right On, Right On, Right On, Right On.

Right On, Robert E. Fitch.

We’ve Got The Spirit To Get It On.

RIGHT ON, ROBERT E. FITCH

What bullets said. Starting the kids out young helps alot. I think there's a few other things as well. As silly as it sounds, school spirit and tradition is a big one. When I was in elementary all i wanted to do was grow up and be a Bobcat, and all of my classmates felt that same way. At a young age we were taught it wasnt' "OK" to lose to Hardin and West Hardin, among other schools. Schools like Nederland, PNG, Newton ect. have great school spirit, pride and tradition.

Athletes staying in the same area is also a big deal for the smaller programs. If Dad, Uncle Joe and Cousin Jim were all great players on the '81 championship team, it helps if they still live in the district, passing on their genes and knowlege of tradition to thier children who will probably be decent players.

The last and most important thing (other than just having crazy atheltes) is a coach that can get in the heads of the players. If you have a head coach that can convince every kid on that team, that they will not lose, they will be successful. Trust me, dealing with 16-18 year boys, it's just as much mental and emotional as it is physical. If a coaching staff can make the guys honestly believe that they cannot and will not be beat, winning teams will come. I have never played for or been around Coach Hooks from WOS, but I believe that is how he produces great teams year in and year out. Coach Barbay at Newton is the same way. They may not be the best X's and O's coaches in the state, but they know how to motivate kids and make them believe in something greater than just playing a game.

That's just my .02 cents.

So the coaching is a crucial element. Is it possible for the coaching impact to come from the assistant coaches and not necessarily from the head coach? Meaning that for a few years a school fields excellent teams because the assistant coaches are so good. But then when those coaches go elsewhere, moving onward and upward in their own careers, the school quickly goes downhill, even though they have the same head coach.

And how important can the psychological element be? If a school has been everyone’s favorite Homecoming opponent for the last several years do the kids there develop a mindset that they are inevitably going to lose? Do boys who could have played simply not bother to go out for the team?

And what if one school comes to think of another school as being their big rival? The team they wish more than anything else that they can beat. If that other team most always wins, do the kids at the losing school become so obsessed that every year they’re halfway beaten before they even walk out on the field? Because deep down they just don’t believe they can win? When one school constantly beats another school, does this kind of thing figure in and help explain why?

gummy bears,lots of mmmmmmmm : : : :

I've gotta buy that boy a cream cone.

Obviously you have to have talented players. As legendary TCU coach Abe Martin liked to say, “Yew kain’t win without the hosses.â€

That’s fine for the major college programs and for the NFL. They can entice with recruiting pitches or simply draft the talent they want. But high schools generally have to go with the kids that grow up in their back yard. And it isn’t logical to think that for years and decades at a time the kids who grow up in one neighborhood are just naturally going to be more talented than the kids from the neighborhood down the road.

So why does one school produce dominant teams year after year? Why is it that some schools never seem to be competitive? Is it the coaching? Are the dominant schools so successful because they have the coaches and the system that makes better use of whatever talent happens to walk in the door?

the stark hi school tigers 62-63 team we had some super football players on that team.i will add a few names----david foster QB  all american----charles owens  FB---- dan sears RB----- rc slocum  TE--- jack the crazy legs mc clelland

They were called "The Zing Along Gang" because the offense was so overpowering. As I recall, the All District Offensive team was practically the Stark starting line-up, with the Tigers supplying 9 of the 11 positions. And I think they had 5 out of 11 on the Defense.

In district play that year, 1962, the other five teams scored a total of 12 points against Stark. Of those five, only one team held the Tigers to less than 40 points.

The "zing along" tag was inspired by the TV show "Sing Along With Mitch" which featured a choir of about 30 male voices that was called the Sing Along Gang.  The show had a brief bit of popularity, but is now long since forgotten.

Year after year, we at Stark didn't have a lot of athletic success to cheer about. The handful of bright moments meant a lot to us. And still do, even a lifetime later.

Orange Stark

1.  David Foster

2.  Hogan Wharton

3.  Frank Beachamp

4.  Chachie Owens

5.  Curtis Hodge

6.  Billy Fisette

7.  Dan Sears

8.  Dickie Colburn

9.  C. E. Riggs

10. R. C. Slocum

Honorable Mention:

Allen Daniel

Jack McClelland

Kenneth Eads

Mike O’Quinn

Bill Hammond

He was from Denton, too.

(A fine young coach is dead--from the Port Arthur News)

David Foster hadn't broken his collarbone in the Bay City game.

Some of us still remember.  > > >

David Foster hadn't broken his collarbone in the Bay City game.

True enough.

But somewhere in the U.S. there are two or three high school football players who one day will win the Heisman Trophy. And there are also some HS players out there who will one day be in the NFL Hall of Fame.

Having someone like that on the HS team does tend to have an impact. And it also tends to inspire the other guys to play to a higher level than they might otherwise attain.

I understand there's something called "reviewing a call." Has something to do with looking at video's.

Could someone explain to me what it means?

I must be missing something  ??? What game??

Paul Harvey wants to know - What is the rest of the story?

One of the bowl games, several years ago. Penn State got the benefit of the bad call. Don't recall who the other team was.

Who won the game?

The team that had the most points on the scoreboard when time expired? Or the other team that put the ball in the end zone on the last play of the game, but had the touchdown disallowed by a really bad call by the refs?

Note: It wasn’t a close call. The player was clearly in the end zone and it’s incomprehensible how any of the officials could have thought otherwise.

Here’s a question for all you HS football experts. Especially for you experts with recent experience in HS football. I’m going to describe a trick play and ask, “Could this play be run in the modern game? Would the officials allow it? And would the other team be fooled?

Let’s start with a little historical background. One thing must be understood. There once was an occasion when a HS team really did run this play. It really happened. And when the QB crossed the goal line with the ball the officials scored it as a touchdown. It didn’t happen in Texas, and most of you weren’t even born at the time. In fact, maybe your parents hadn’t yet been born.

As best I recall the game was between two in schools in Nebraska or Kansas or somewhere in that general area. The year was either 1961 or 1962. The players at one of the schools concocted this play and during the game persuaded their very reluctant coach to let them try it. In the news item that came down on the AP wire service afterward the coach was quoted as saying, “I didn’t think it would work.â€

My understanding was that this was a completely original play worked up by the players. No one in the history of football had ever done anything like this before, and as far as I know it has never been repeated. And it has undoubtedly been forgotten by everyone except for characters like myself who have weird memories and unusual powers of retaining useless facts. It was a remarkable play, which was why AP picked up the story and sent it down the wire to all their newspaper subscribers.

OK, here’s how the play was run. The team broke from the huddle and formed their line of scrimmage. Everyone was set and all that remained was for the ball to be snapped and the play would be in motion. The QB was calling signals just like normal.

Suddenly, according to plan, the QB pointed to a player on the other team and yelled, “Hey, you can’t do that. That’s a penalty.†And then to the center, “Give me the ball, there’s a penalty.†The center, as planned, didn’t move and the QB yelled again, “Give me the ball.â€

And then slowly, as if bewildered and confused, the center lifted the ball off the ground, straightened up and twisting his upper body around handed the ball to the QB. Nobody else on the offense had moved and at that point the play was in motion. Naturally they had previously alerted the officials to what they were going to do. And with the play now in motion the rest of the offense started standing up and staring in well acted amazement at the QB and giving each other confused looks.

By this time the QB was acting like a man out of his mind. Yelling things like, “Football is a game of rules and when you break the rules you get penalized.†And more importantly, toeing up to the line of scrimmage, he started stepping off penalty yardage against the other team just the way an official would have stepped it off. And all the while the other players were yelling things to each other like:

“What does he think he’s doing.â€

“You talk to him. You’re his buddy.â€

“Joe, what do you think you’re doing? You’re going to get us penalized.â€

All this and turning to their own bench and giving arms spread out shrugs as if to say, “I don’t know what’s going on?

And the other team didn’t know what was going on either. They also stood up and just watched in confusion as the QB walked right through their defense, stepping off the penalty yardage and yelling like a maniac. Of course once he was through he suddenly stopped yelling and walking, and broke into a dead run for the goal line. And his teammates, in their milling about confusion, had managed to move along with him, enough so that they could block out any of the defenders who might suddenly wise up and take off in pursuit.

The QB raced all the way to the end zone and it was scored as a touchdown. It really happened—45 years or so ago. And maybe the point of telling it is not so much to ask if it could be done again. But rather because it’s just too good a piece of football history to be forgotten.