Red Pepper

Great Job Chelsea.  We are all proud of you.

Good Job Cardinals and Coaches.

Good Job. Ladies

I have always thought that we must have club VB tournaments every weekend from around 12/1 until 6/1 in the Triangle (just like in Houston and other large communities) to be able to compete with the larger areas in post season. The cost for a person to join, travel and play for clubs like JCJ is simply cost prohibitive to most in the area (not to mention the travel cost of parents and fans). I know it would be hard but can be done if all schools in the area wanted it.  Plenty of ex-coaches & ex-players available without having to use parents.  Must screen & pay well to get & keep good coaches. Sometimes I have thought some schools/communities don't want more girls involved in order to make their schools better in district play without considering how weak it makes the entire district in post season.

While I can't comment on the PNG/Nederland match; I can comment on the BC/OF match last week.  It was the only match that I attended this year. I don't agree with the statement "It's the way it is these days".  While both sides showed good school/community spirit, I heard [u]zero[/u] "Heckling" or rude comments from either side.  In fact, while most knew that I was pulling for BC, my many friends from OF were very kind and courteous to me.  I am extremely proud of the way OF fans as well as the BC fans conducted themselves. I am confident that many fans in the Triangle act like OF & BC fans.  Maybe BC & OF aren't easily influenced by Hollywood.

AAW; seems like anyone that dares to challenge anything you say more than once is your "red headed step child".  Lets just see how long it takes you to slam me for this comment.    LOL  :D  ;D

Gotta hand it to you AggiesAreWe; you do liven topics up with your predictable and [u]boring[/u] remarks.

WOS and Vidor scrimmaged each other this year.    Think that neither team has bragging rights on this one.    Good match-up.  Anyone remember the results?

Mr Joseph:    The issue was dead for two whole days until [u]you[/u] wrote the letter that seems a little suspect to almost everyone that has read it. Mr Joseph:    Not only did you bring this hot issue back up after it was dead; you mistakenly think that reasonable SE Texans believe a word you said.  You only made it up after you got caught.  You might want to fire your PR Team.  Would save the district money being that "On December 12, 2009, our community passed a Tax Ratification Election.". [size=12pt][b]Shame on You![/[/b]size]  Crosby deserves better than you.  ::)

What age?

Not sure of the names of each organization or how many teams each has.  I worked with a club for a while and always thought that one of the reasons for only having limited teams was because of the heavy cost.  I thought that was the reason more opted for softball & soccer. Many families simply can't afford the fees or the travel cost.  If each league would keep their cost down (ie T Shirts) for local competition, I wouldn't be surprised if SE Texas Club teams doubled in numbers. After a few weeks of matches/scrimages, Clubs could go back to normal with their allstars. LCM and Vidor had a "practice team" a few years ago that was charged a very limited fee and never went to out of town matches. Anyone know how many HS age teams play club ball in SE Texas.  Also do you know the app fees for each club?

I currently live in an area in another state that has enough teams to have large local tournaments.  With all the club leagues in SE Texas, I have always wondered why local teams couldn't have local tournaments and play each other at somewhere like Lamar or even at local High Schools.  If cost were controlled, more parents could afford these fees. The teams could then select an allstar team/s to compete in the larger areas of Texas, Louisana or even nationally. I think this might get more local athletes playing longer which might upgrade VB in SE Texas.  Just my thoughts.

Cougtalk; Not sure you understand why people of Southeast Texas are upset. I didn't really know much about Crosby (I don't currently live in Texas; never lived in Vidor and don't even know where Crosby is) except for comments on the post "Crosby drops game with Vidor". I have always hoped that the game was cancelled because of a scheduling conflict or was just too far away to travel.   Now you are confirming what I hoped not to hear. "[u]our administrators apparently think Vidor has always been they way they were and will always be in thier eyes.[/u] " You are confirming our worst fears that Crosby administrators forced the cancellation because they think that people from Vidor are racist.  Hard to believe that Crosby dropped Vidor due to their finding a stronger opponent.  Believe Coach F has too much integrety and love for SE Texas to do something like that. While I probably would be defending my school/town if I lived in Crosby, I would be as active in erasing this hatred at home as those folks in Vidor have worked to changing their old image. No place in Texas for these old racist feelings in Crosby or Vidor.  Let's all just have respect and get along with one another.

  I remember when West Orange (before WOS) & BC (Wooster years) was a big thing.  Remember when LCM & BC was a big thing.  Guess BC & OF is now a big game.  Many other rivalries in the Triangle.   Coop; point is that rivalries have always been around and they eventially just fade away.   Would have really been interesting and objective reporting if you had interviewed the LCM Coach before writing a scathing article like this one.   Great Athletic programs in LCM & WOS.

Very good post, soccermom.   I lived in the Triangle for 50 years and have observed Vidor community activities as well as their sporting events.  No one is saying that Vidor hasn't had their problems in the past.  We are saying that the community is a very nice area that has taken giant steps toward improving their self image while being a good neighbor to all that choose to visit their town.   It hurts very deeply when someone treats the fine people of Vidor in this manner.  This is not the way to improve race relations with fellow Texans.   They are really nice people.  Those that worried about the safety of their people while travelling to Vidor could have eliminated their fears by simply seeing for themselves.   Coach Mathews and town has done an exemplary job in making other teams feel safe while in Vidor.  If you still are worried, ask any of the schools that go to games there. Ask Central or any other teams that play Vidor.   Again; they are far from perfect but [u]neither are any of the communities in the country[/u].   To whoever is responsible for this mess. Shame on you. In the future, think before hastily making a decision that might hurt another community.

  "mathews did not want to drop it.  He was told flanigan wanted to.  Mathews called flanigan and told him if Crosby needed to drop it Vidor would be ok.  Flanigan said crosby would keep the game.  2 weeks later crosby dropped the game." Coach Parker said it right .  [u]Now; the rest of the story.[/u] Coach Mathews was led to believe that Coach Flanigan simply had a scheduling conflict which is common.  I don't believe that he felt the cancellation "would be ok" when he realized Crosby's reason for dumping Vidor.

It's obvious to most that Crosby is the community with race problems rather than Vidor.   I hold Coach Flanigan to at least being partial to blame.  He scheduled the game/s.  He went to school in Lumberton and coached in Orangefield (2 of the many good schools in the Triangle).  He knows about all the area schools.  He should have stood up, told everyone about the good people in the Triangle and insisted the game be played as [u]he[/u] scheduled.  I am convinced that he could have kept the game on his schedule.  I have never heard of an AD with even a small amount of courage letting the Superintendent tell him who not to play for a bogus reason like this.  Other Texas communities that have Crosby on their schedules should insist on a credible answer.  If I thought it was BS; I would petition my school to cancel the game.  I would be interested in hearing from anyone concerning how serious the race problems are in Crosby.  Must have been very bad for the community to react in this manner. Crosby ISD owes the entire Vidor community a public apology for their being narrow minded!

1) LCM 2) PNG 3) Ozen 4) Ned

Unions are doing a great job.  Some of the better ones are UAW, SEIU & ACORN.  LOL I know that unions have helped many workers move to the middle class and made life better for many non-union workers.  I also know that the Texas Teachers Union does a lot of good.  Not sure that Texans have the patience to allow teachers to go on strike and abandon the children in order to make athletics better. I was personnaly upset when [u]our president [/u] recently exempted unions from paying additional taxes on their health insurance for their support while us non-union workers are (were) going to have to make up the difference.  LOL Back on the subject.  While Texas has made great strides on parity between Ladies and Gentlemen Student Athletes, we have a long way to go for real parity and I am not sure a strong teachers union would have a positive effect on anything in Texas Athletics.  Been wrong before.  LOL  :D

Very good comments.  Been enlightening to me.  Other ideas that I have are as follows: *  I too see a lot of improvements.  Most schools are trying to do what is right with limited $. *  Football is king and normally generates much more money than any other HS Sport. *  HS Athletics aren't run like the "real world".  Coaches/teachers don't have many rights.  Coaches that ask for clarity on some issues don't always have their contracts renewed or simply mistreated to the point that they move to another school.  I sometimes think this is a good idea but other times I think it is unfair.  Gets rid of "gripers" but sometimes lose [u]very good [/u] coaches.  Good lady coaches are sometimes harder to find that guys.  Just ask any AD. *  AD/Head Football coaches are usually fired/rehired according to their win/loss records which is probably one of their reasons for taking funds from lesser (hate to use that word) sports and spending on football.  I sometimes understand their logic.  Logic shouldn't justify wrong behavior. These are my thoughts only. I will say LOL. That might keep me out of trouble.  Thanks for your comments.

Are Lady Athletes treated the same as guys in Texas High School Athletics? Should they be treated the same in areas such as  1) Pay for Coaches  2) Food allowances for student athletes while travelling  3) Equipment & uniform allowances  4) Facilities  5) etc.?

  I keep looking at this post hoping to see more on 3A predictions only to see trivial feuding between members.     Found on the forum guides that members 1) shouldn't make abusive comments about others 2) should stay on the subject at all times and 3) shouldn't abuse the administrators.  I will assume it also means that the Administrators shouldn't abuse the rest of us.     I have noticed that some continue trying to get members back on the subject with very little success.   Here's hoping that newer members like myself, more experienced members & administrators will be more tolorant of others and make most of their comments to the subject at hand (21-3A Predictions (2010).  

Cause you are such a nice guy, do an excellent job covering VB & wanted to see if you really read these silly posts.

I have to respond to CrazyLikeThat's comments: *  You say that baseball, like VB, has meaningless rules.  All sports have meaningless rules if you are looking at the sport in a negative manner. *  You say " Only one person requires significant diversified athletic ability in volleyball, the setter."  It is obvious that you don't really understand volleyball.  While I am the first to say the setter is a vital part of a team (Quarterback of VB); other positions are just as important.  If the ball isn't passed to the right position, a good setter can look like a rookie.  Also; a good passer or good hitter can make a weak setter look good. A good server can make an entire team look good. The setter normally uses both hands while setting the ball.  Hitters and servers only use one and have to be just as accurate.  A good setter relies more on knowing when and where to put the ball than having "significant diversified athletic ability". *  You also say VB conditioning "pales in comparison to basketball".  I believe that is entirely up to the coach in each sport.  I would put most VB players up against most BB players without worry.  Certainly, different skills are needed in each sport.   You might get more appreciation for VB if you attended a few practices or better, the preseason conditioning.  Truth is; most reasonable basketball coaches appreciate the conditioning thats done in VB before they are allowed to begin their own conditioning.   I love BB & VB unconditionally.  Many players (especially in small schools) are playing both sports.

Good comment [color=red]East TX[/color].  I agree completely.  Maybe you and I could mention this to Coach Mathews before next season.