The Quips
Re: The Quips
Hey underrated - So what if the WPIAL has some better football teams? Does that mean that kids shouldn't even play football at other schools? Well, if kids around here didn't play football, then chances are they wouldn't like to watch it either. If that were to happen in all the places that are "inferior" to the elite powers of the WPIAL then guess what, there wouldn't be an NFL. And if there wouldn't be an NFL, then there wouldn't be a nice article in Sports Illustrated detailing how a select few men (less than 1% of those who played at Alliquippa by the way) made it to the NFL in spite of the fact that they grew up in a poor and crime-infested area.
Let's get some perspective here - Aliquippa a poor neighborhood, but its not unlike every other large or even small metropolitan area in the U.S. Now, with that said, would you really trade places with the 99.999% of the other Alliquippa residents that weren't mentioned in the article. By the way, you could probably do a similar article about the handful of athletes that hail from the poor sections of every city in the country.
Let's get some perspective here - Aliquippa a poor neighborhood, but its not unlike every other large or even small metropolitan area in the U.S. Now, with that said, would you really trade places with the 99.999% of the other Alliquippa residents that weren't mentioned in the article. By the way, you could probably do a similar article about the handful of athletes that hail from the poor sections of every city in the country.
Re: The Quips
I bet they don't hand out trophys to every kid in Aliquippa.
oldcollegecoach, welcome to the "Johnstown Mentality" where every piss ant hates every other piss ant and people would rather give you condolences than congratulations. This mentality is the DIRECT result of having SO MANY UNCOMPETITIVE TINY SCHOOLS. As long as no one achieves (or tries to achieve) eveyone is cool. But step out, commit and become better than the piss ants and you will either be ignored or torn down. Piss ants try to artificially build up their own and rip on or simply ignore those who have achieved. Jealousy is truely one of the darkest charachter traits.
The SI article is wonderful. We should congratulate and feel happy for the kids who achieved, especially against such odds.
oldcollegecoach, welcome to the "Johnstown Mentality" where every piss ant hates every other piss ant and people would rather give you condolences than congratulations. This mentality is the DIRECT result of having SO MANY UNCOMPETITIVE TINY SCHOOLS. As long as no one achieves (or tries to achieve) eveyone is cool. But step out, commit and become better than the piss ants and you will either be ignored or torn down. Piss ants try to artificially build up their own and rip on or simply ignore those who have achieved. Jealousy is truely one of the darkest charachter traits.
The SI article is wonderful. We should congratulate and feel happy for the kids who achieved, especially against such odds.
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underrated
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Re: The Quips
I didnt say your kids shouldnt play footbal, im saying face the facts that the competition in the greater Pittsburgh area is way above that of the Laurel Highlands. SEC > Big East = WPIAL > LHAC. Get the picture yet???? By no means am I saying your kid sucks so dont bother, im simply stating that the WPIAL is and always will be the ELITE football district in PA until proven otherwise and that the Quips are more deserving than any school in PA atleast, of having such an article featured in the greatest sports magazine of all time. Again I say celebrate the fact that PA is being noticed for their love and passion of the game and be thankful that your wonderful little kiddies dont have to go through some of the graphic situations that were discussed in this article. MY alma mater however has had 6 players make it to THE LEAGUE and one of those players has his head forever casted in Bronze over in Canton Ohio, Maybe SI should have done an article on the U of KS????? :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Re: The Quips
Underrated - please bear with me because I have a few things to say and psycho seems compelled to enter the fray with his extreme views. With all due respect to the NFL players from Alliquippa, this discussion has quickly gone on a tangent. But when you make a statement along the lines of a school or league "being higher up on the food chain" you have to expect some backlash. Perhaps if you would qualify the statement a little more, and use actual facts such as number of NFL players, number of state championships, or number of big-time college recruits, then you may not get such negative feedback. I will get back to this later...
Psycho, hmmm, what can I say, other than I really think you need to calm down or your ticker is going to give out in the middle of a sentence. The last time I checked, the sole purpose of the public school system was EDUCATION. Public schools are institutions of learning, and exist to EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN so that they grow up to be productive members of society. Public schools are not sports franchises whose sole intention is to provide athletic entertainment for the masses. If all you want is competition, then go and live in AAU land. And see how many people pack the stands. Maybe you can start an AAU bleachercoaches website and post all of the topics yourself. But seriously, if you are so against small schools playing sports against each other as an extra-curricular activity, then why do you even watch the games. Watch the NFL or the BCS or the NBA, but whatever you do - QUIT WHINING!
Ok, I got that out of my system. But the REALITY here is that 99.999% of the users on this site don't see a problem that every "small town" has its own high school for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES (I'll also touch on this later...). One of the benefits of this system is that there are opportunities for kids to develop and learn how to play sports and then use that extra-curricular activity. The best athletes move on to college, while the rest use their athletic experiences throughout their life. That is the American way, and that is why high school sports are popular. We all know that the fans are either relatives of the athletes, current students, alumni, and/or the residents of the town itself who use the games as social events and take civic pride in their success. Now that I typed it for you, I can see why you are so against that. :roll: I could go on with this all day, but I think everyone else on here gets my point.
Now getting back to the Alliquippa... Again, great for those who have made it out. However, did they really need one more article to tell us about Tony Dorsett, etc??? Looking at the article more objectively, all it really did was to let the world know that on the socio-economic level Alliquippa is the armpit of Pittsburgh /Western PA. Every major city has their Alliquippa, and you could write an article about the few who have emerged due to their athletic talents. In my previous post, what I should have said was that while Alliquippa has earned football championships, and had some players make it to the NFL, it has failed its players on larger issue - their EDUCATION. Without an emphasis on education, those players are stuck in a town where it is a struggle to make it day to day. And unfortunately, there is no type of enshrinement for drugs, crime, and unemployment. Looking at the story from that point of view, Alliquippa is not above Johnstown on any level. But they still will always beat the LHAC teams on the field. GO QUIPS!
EDUCATIONAL NOTE: A few weeks ago, ESPN's TMQ offered the suggestion that the BCS Championship formula should have an academic component. In other words, since these publicly funded SCHOOLS are playing for the BCS and $$$$$$$$$$$, then they should also be rated on how well they do on ACADEMICS. Schools that don't graduate their players, or even make them go to class like Auburn and Florida would take a hit. Schools like Penn State and Stanford would get a boost because they haven't forgotten that their primary responsibility is EDUCATION. Now, what if that same principle were proposed and adopted by states for their own high schools? Then maybe a school like Alliquippa could still turn out the athletes they have, without the stigma of making it out of such a poor and dire socio-economic dilemma.
(And psycho - Please no more CONSOLIDATION BS on these posts... If you really want to debate that issue, then take it to the HOB. While you rattle off all of the financial advantages to CONSOLIDATION, I will give some tax saving ideas of my own like immediately ending Medicare, Social Security, and other entitlements that are wasted on those who are too old and weak to COMPETE. Talk about the Johnstown Mentality - Just because you are old doesn't mean you should get a trophy in the form of my tax dollars. I'll be waiting in the HOB)
Psycho, hmmm, what can I say, other than I really think you need to calm down or your ticker is going to give out in the middle of a sentence. The last time I checked, the sole purpose of the public school system was EDUCATION. Public schools are institutions of learning, and exist to EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN so that they grow up to be productive members of society. Public schools are not sports franchises whose sole intention is to provide athletic entertainment for the masses. If all you want is competition, then go and live in AAU land. And see how many people pack the stands. Maybe you can start an AAU bleachercoaches website and post all of the topics yourself. But seriously, if you are so against small schools playing sports against each other as an extra-curricular activity, then why do you even watch the games. Watch the NFL or the BCS or the NBA, but whatever you do - QUIT WHINING!
Ok, I got that out of my system. But the REALITY here is that 99.999% of the users on this site don't see a problem that every "small town" has its own high school for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES (I'll also touch on this later...). One of the benefits of this system is that there are opportunities for kids to develop and learn how to play sports and then use that extra-curricular activity. The best athletes move on to college, while the rest use their athletic experiences throughout their life. That is the American way, and that is why high school sports are popular. We all know that the fans are either relatives of the athletes, current students, alumni, and/or the residents of the town itself who use the games as social events and take civic pride in their success. Now that I typed it for you, I can see why you are so against that. :roll: I could go on with this all day, but I think everyone else on here gets my point.
Now getting back to the Alliquippa... Again, great for those who have made it out. However, did they really need one more article to tell us about Tony Dorsett, etc??? Looking at the article more objectively, all it really did was to let the world know that on the socio-economic level Alliquippa is the armpit of Pittsburgh /Western PA. Every major city has their Alliquippa, and you could write an article about the few who have emerged due to their athletic talents. In my previous post, what I should have said was that while Alliquippa has earned football championships, and had some players make it to the NFL, it has failed its players on larger issue - their EDUCATION. Without an emphasis on education, those players are stuck in a town where it is a struggle to make it day to day. And unfortunately, there is no type of enshrinement for drugs, crime, and unemployment. Looking at the story from that point of view, Alliquippa is not above Johnstown on any level. But they still will always beat the LHAC teams on the field. GO QUIPS!
EDUCATIONAL NOTE: A few weeks ago, ESPN's TMQ offered the suggestion that the BCS Championship formula should have an academic component. In other words, since these publicly funded SCHOOLS are playing for the BCS and $$$$$$$$$$$, then they should also be rated on how well they do on ACADEMICS. Schools that don't graduate their players, or even make them go to class like Auburn and Florida would take a hit. Schools like Penn State and Stanford would get a boost because they haven't forgotten that their primary responsibility is EDUCATION. Now, what if that same principle were proposed and adopted by states for their own high schools? Then maybe a school like Alliquippa could still turn out the athletes they have, without the stigma of making it out of such a poor and dire socio-economic dilemma.
(And psycho - Please no more CONSOLIDATION BS on these posts... If you really want to debate that issue, then take it to the HOB. While you rattle off all of the financial advantages to CONSOLIDATION, I will give some tax saving ideas of my own like immediately ending Medicare, Social Security, and other entitlements that are wasted on those who are too old and weak to COMPETE. Talk about the Johnstown Mentality - Just because you are old doesn't mean you should get a trophy in the form of my tax dollars. I'll be waiting in the HOB)