Trad

As I have mentioned before, I do not know much about football, and the evidence continues to mount. I thought Central would win this game but as most of you know, I was wrong. I believe my venture into football prognosticating is just about over. Congrats to the Lumberton Raiders for a well played game.

Three games if I am not mistaken for the Seahawk basketball team. This will be a good indicator on what needs to be worked on before the season opener coming up quickly. Coach Cole and his ever present and able assistant Coach Yates will get their first look at the Seahawks under fire. Good move going up the night before vs getting off the bus with 30 minutes to warm up after a 5-6 hour drive. P.S. New year, new conference, new coaches, a lot of new players. Not only will the coaches get a good look at the players under fire but the players will get a good idea how the coaches will react under fire also. Could be a very educational trip.

I would not put money on it either, thats why I called it a theory. I did not say it was a fact. But I do believe this district is at least better than what you think it is badndn. No disrespect intended, just a difference of opinion.

Not exactly. 20-4A is a very tough district. True at this point and time we do not know how it will end. Most believe the top 4 finishers in this district will play each other close. Which means to me once in the playoffs begin some of our lower tier finishers may be able to surprise some of the top seeds in other districts. In theory.

I agree with the Aggie, Central has a great shot at winning this district. I would not sit Hanna for any emotional displays on the field. Football is a very intense emotional kind of game. I would set him out once Lumberton gets so far behind they cannot catch up. You are going to need him in all of your games and he took a pounding the 2nd half of the Vidor game. If you think Vidor taught you anything at all, I would really be carefull with Central. Central by 20.

He could get better, he is still young and Ozen will be looking for someone to replace Willey Jefferson after this next season. Sorry about the basketball on here, I could not help myself, it will not happen again.

I will vote for BLUEDOVE3 as the next president of the Oversight Commitee To Improve Basketball In Texas.

BMTsoulja..Before correcting my post please go back and read what I actually commented about. Your buddy said that "in the last few years, the refs kept Vidor from getting blown out". The last time I checked last season was in the last few years. One example of bad judgement on his part was good enough for me. Speaking of basketball, I understand your 6'8" player will now be playing for Ozen since moving in with his dad. If this is true Gulley and Jefferson will not be able to handle the Pirates by themselves. Look for a Pirate upset special.

bcjag---I do not like to get involved in football discussions but for you I will make an exception. Either your memory is terrible or you have been watching a different game. It was the Jags that received all the breaks late in the game (last year) from the refs including the safety that was not called after Vidor put you on the one foot line. What lost the game for Vidor were the three fumbles all near midfield. They (Vidor) did run one fumble in for a touchdown after a blotched punt reception by the Jags. But the go ahead touchdown that won the game came late in the game with close to two minutes remaining as the Jags on Vidors 45 run one play for a touchdown after a fumble recovery. Vidor actually received more penalties against them than did the Jags plus they gave away (Vidor)two more fumbles than they recovered. If you are going to come on here claiming referee bias please be a little more specific because your memory and allegations are just not sustainable. If Vidor can hold on to the ball, and that is a big if, I look for a Vidor win. If they continue to give the ball up there is no way they can win. Last years Jags had a hard time running the ball but had a lot of success in the air. Improvement on defense will make that more difficult this season. But if you want to talk about bad refs, some of the worst officiated basketball games I have seen have been in the Central gym. I have seen plenty of bad calls and a lot of good ones along the way.

Well I do believe respect has to be earned and not just given away.

WO GRAD 2000 And the excuses continue, only now you are in denial. I can recognize an excuse when I read one. West Orange gave more than their fair share. I will add yours to my list even though your people already brought it up. Do you really think that West Orange is the only team with an injured player (players)?

Well Mr. Lazeek I do respect your opinion most of the time because you will give an honest and informative statement. But this is a tough multiple choice question for me. I have nothing else better to do Thursday at 6:00 so I will also go to the game and try to figure out which answer is from the heart and which one is an honest opinion. I will get back to you after the game.

A question for Mr. Lazeek. Is HJ a good football team or a not so good football team? I would like to know before the game is actually played. If you tell me they are a good team and Vidor wins I will not pay much attention to the experts that will say Vidor won because they played another weak team. When Vidor scrimmaged West Orange and from what I read (I did not see the game) Vidor held there own against a tough West Orange team. West Orange fans had more excuses why they did not play better than Al Gore did when he lost Florida. When Vidor played Kelly Vidor only won because (I did not see this game either) they were not a very good team, and the same goes for St. Thomas. I am not a real big football fan, I mainly come over here to pick up new excuses for our basketball team if they do not play well. Thank you West Orange fans I now have plenty. So tell me up front, is Hardin-Jefferson a good team or not? As far as a prediction, I will go with Vidor on this one.

LamarState: I am actually more excited about this years team than I was last season. I was glad to hear that Joseph and Moten signed with the team. I did not think we had a very good shot at landing Jacoby but I am glad we did. I have no doubt that Coach Cole will do his best to put this team in position to win as many games as possible. As you have mentioned before, this is a very tough conference. Beating Angelina and Lee last season makes me believe we will be able to compete in this conference with a bigger, faster team. Last years team was not a bad team at all. They actually had a lot of talent. They were a lot of fun to watch. Most of the home games that I saw the Seahawks play they were in it to the end. For some reason they played a lot better at home. It may have had something to do with the long trip they had to take to get anywhere in their conference. Just for the record, I had no choice but to back out on this season. You are the one that put me on the team. I never said I was on the team. And I never said I did not like Coach Bryson. That is simply not true. As with most coaches he did some things that I may have disagreed with, but he was the coach. It was his job to do with the team as he saw fit and it was not my job to like everything he did. I liked going to the games and will more than likely continue to do so.

Lamar state -I believe the new and improved Seahawks are headed in the right direction. Everything that I have heard about Coach Cole has been good. He has hit the ground running and scrambling to put together a competitive team for the 09 season. It is good to see he is taking advantage of some of the local talent here. I know some of the new recruits well. I have not met him yet (Coach Cole), but I hope to shortly. I did hear you on the Bob West show several weeks ago, and you did a very good job. I will give you a solid B on the interview. If you had used a lot of new material, you would have gotten an A. A lot of your talking points were taken right off these pages, not that there is anything wrong with that. I did not believe some of what you were saying, even though I was getting it a 2nd time. But this is not really what I wanted to tell you anyway. After a lot of thought and soul searching, I have made my decision about playing for the Seahawks next season. It really pains me to finally realize that after all these years, my basketball days are just about numbered. (Unless I get picked up by an overseas team.) But I have decided not to play this next season; And I really have you to thank for that. To tell you the truth, I was scared. In the first place having to get back in shape would have been really hard. You were right about me not being in the best of shape. And the part about having to learn more than one offense really got me worried. I really did not like the idea of having to sleep with my playbook and have to learn so many new ways to play basketball. I really believe you will be better off without me. When I saw the list of new players coming to the Seahawk team, I knew I had to do the right thing, the best thing for the team. I really do not want to take any playing time away from those that may be a tad better than me. Some may think they were taller, faster, younger, stronger, and can dribble without looking at the ball, and actually have a good shot at making the basket when they shoot. And I know Coach Cole would have felt an obligation to play me over the new guys because of my experience. I want you to know I am sitting this one out, and I am not going to reconsider no matter what you tell me. So please give my scholarship that I deserve more than most to a really tall player. So what I am really trying to say is, I quit. Please do not hold my scholarship any longer. I am retiring and now will spend all my free time playing basketball at the YMCA in Port Arthur with all the old guys that still think they can play basketball but can't. It really is sad to watch, but I will be there. I hope I do not get hurt. I know it will be hard but try to carry on without me. I wonder if the Seahawks will consider retiring my number? I could go on, but I think I have embarrassed myself enough. Sincerely, Trad. P.S. Please extend my regards to Mr. Vitale. I know he will be heart broken as well.

That's what I like about you guys, so encouraging and so full of wisdom. I really do not like basketball, I am more of a baseball guy.

Finally a discussion about a topic with any insults. I do not consider myself an unreasonable person, some may disagree. I like your approach and logic, both of you. From where I was coming from it was a position that no one did anything wrong. I could not understand how a person could lose his job over the handling of the list of potential coaches. I see now that I was mistaken the whole time. LamarState was almost right to begin with. By the fact that Lamar P.A. gave the list to a newspaper knowing it had the potential to be made public was a disservice to the school and to the names on the list. As a result of the list being made public I am convinced we now have 13 people that put there trust in an institution to protect their names and their job, and we didn't do that. We let them down. What are we going to do about it now? Not our finest hour. Perhaps a phone call to apologize followed up by a letter letting them know of the mistake just in case they do not know and do receive grief for it later. I want you to know that you guys are shattering my faith in my fellow man.

Moderator you should not in courage bad behavior. What happens if Mr. Vitale does become the head coach of the Seahawks and the moderating business gets bad and you end up as one of his assistants? Would you expect Mr. Vitale as a head coach to do to you what you think is a great post? Perhaps as a head coach you could get your assistants to sign a contract that said they would stay your assistant forever and they could not look for another job. You guys act like none of these head coaches ever applied for a job before. By the way, how do you know that all these applicants applied behind anyones back? Likeing it or not is not the issue here, it's the punishment that you believe is attached to an applicant being outed by a news paper that I am having a hard time understanding. That was freely given to the P.A.News by the school itself. If there is fault to be blamed, which I do not believe there was one to begin with, try the person that gave out the list to begin with.

Good post LamarState, at least I can understand a little more your rational, not that I agree with it but will understand more why you think that it is the job of the persons receiving information to keep it private. Now, is this how you would react if you were a head coach and your assistant applied for a job as a head coach at another school? There is a big difference if that same assistant applied for your job which he did not. Mr. Vitale is this how you were taught by your head coach dad to handle rouge assistants? It is not right it is not legal and it's not the kind of head coach I would want to work for in the first place. Ask me basketball questions, disagree with my opinions, have conversation in general but personnel questions I am not going to answer. Thank you very much. Let me set the record straight LamarState: Correct me when I am wrong. But was it you that brought up the P.A.News in this thread? Did I inject a tirade against a newspaper for doing there job? Was it Trad that decided to talk about a topic other than the one the thread was suppose to be about. Stop acting like you had nothing to do with the change of topic when it was you that did it. Let's take a look at a recent head coach in this area that applied for another head coaching position at a Houston school. Larry Neuman, I am sure you are familiar with this story. The NISD retaliated against him by giving him a 12k (around) dollar a year raise. Thank you very much NISD, you did the right thing for the right reason.

Sigh...Where to begin. "What we have here is a failure to communicate". Quote from the movie Cool Hand Luke. Mr. Vitale if it sounds crazy and silly then it more than likely is. Not only is it silly and crazy to think this, it is more than likely illegal also. To retaleate against a person for applying for another job outside the work place is a big big mistake. It is descrimanatory at best. LamarState, let me make this perfectly clear. Your coaches, teachers, school adminastrators, janitors, parking lot attendants, police officers and the schools dog catcher can do their job anyway, any how, in any order they want. This does not mean I will agree or except the results of their work. You ramble so much. 1st. If Lamar State College was not responsible for giving the list to the P.A News, Who was? Do you ecpect me to believe they broke into the school after hours or went through your trash to get the information? Or did they torture someone to get the information about the list. No, maybe they used extortion. 2nd. Bottom line. Is the school responsible for keeping this information private or is it the job of newspaper to keep this private? Maybe the person at the school that released the list to the newspaper had no idea it had the potential to be made plublic. No, no I am sure the person that gave the list to the paper asked that the list be kept a secret just like the school told all of the peple that had the list in the first place. 3.If you beleive the people on this list are going to be hung out to dry with their present employers because someone at your school leaked a list to a newspaper, are you afraid of being sued by the whole list of 13? I mean a suit filed against the newspaper. No one at your school leaked a list of 13 to the P.A.News to be plublished, stick to this story and you will be okay. Great, now I even want to file suit. 4.Play games with you? You are good at it? Another misconception. 5.Go ahead and put me down, call me names, take your ball and go home. 6.But thanks for the information about the coaching situation. You are the best at that. 7.Your opinions are great, give me more. 8.This is all I have time for at the present time, we will talk later.

LamarState: It looks like it is okay to disagree with a news reporter for reporting a story your school(person privy to list) had given him. It appears that you don't mind people that disagree as long as it is not involving any of your school employee's. I really do not think any school will "hang anyone out to dry" for trying to better themselves. How do you think the head coaches got their jobs if they did not first work their way up? Reporting on the status of school functions is great, but your opinion is subject to review, respectfully. I really do not mind being disagreed with, but the put downs on a personnel level is not necessary.

Exactly Mr. Vitale. How many threads have we seen over the years talking about Coach Boutte? Many good thing said about him while others question his coaching. I agree 100%, if you cannot handle the criticism you are more than likely not the man for the job. Most real coaches know this as well as real athletic directors. Lamar State, your search for a new coach seems to be going well. I cannot imagine the response if the pay had been better.

Mr. Vitale, I did not mean to get personnel but as I stated earlier, I think this job needs more money. Several high school coaches in this area make what they are offering or more. The interest in the job is there for the money that is offered so each applicant knows going in about what to expect. Those that go into coaching or refereeing usually understand that they are not going to make everyone happy all the time. Coaches have an obligation to win no matter who's feelings get hurt. Can you handle people not agreeing with you about some of your coaching decisions? Do you think this comes with the job?

Mr. Vitale does not a head coach bring in the people he would want to work with for approval? Unless you knew the head coach personally, what are the chances that you would become an assistant? Are you serious? Does posting on the sports pages day and night not pay much? If you are serious? I would vote for you, but my vote will count as much as Lamar State's. On my list of 11 qualities I would want in a new head coach, how many of them do you not like, and what else would you add?

Well that is certainly good news. I am glad to hear that I doesn't have to agree will you because I doesn't. Okay let's talk about a new coach. What I would like to see. 1. I would like to see our new coach making more money. 2. One that is interested in moving up, not retiring. 3. One that believes he can succeed from day one. 4. One that is happy to be here and excited about the opportunity. 5. One that will try to win no matter how far we are behind. 6. One that will not quit in the middle of the game. 7. One that can recognize a good recruit from a not so good one. 8. One that knows more than one offense. 9. One that has a love for the game, not just looking for a paycheck. 10. One that will care about every player on the team. 11. Last but not least, knows how to run a good practice. As the athletic director, I am sure you have more input into the hiring of a new coach than most think. These are just a few things off the top of my head that I would like to see in a new coach.