P-D: Wisconsin game should fill 30,000 seats

[moneymaker02]

also, just because they stadiums arent packed, doesnt mean the football isnt good. it just means the people arent crazy and actually have better things to do on a friday night then go see high school football lol

[jacojdm]

...but when i saw the movie "Go TIgers" about massillon it scared me that that's all that town has.

aww. c'mon. it's not all that the town has. there's that juvenile detention center. and the wastewater treatment plant that makes the whole town smell like poop.

And yes i have been to a ohio hs football game, i went to the sandusky/freemont game this year and it was ok.

that's the problem. while there are certainly great programs and traditions statewide, ohio high school football is arguably at its best in northeast ohio and greater cincinatti, and to some degree, greater cols. check out a moeller, elder, or lasalle game. or come east and check out massillon in person (just to feel more sorry for them), mckinley (or the entire federal league for that matter), ignatius, st. ed's, mentor, chanel, buchtel, etc. imo big time hs football, in the areas where thre is plenty to do besides going to a game and 6, 8, 10, 25 thousand people come out on friday or saturday, has a totally different feeling than small town and rural games.

[Jacobs4Heisman]

it makes sad to think that this is the greatest thing that will ever happen in their life to some of them. Life gets so much better after high school.

How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

[Dayons_Den]

it makes sad to think that this is the greatest thing that will ever happen in their life to some of them. Life gets so much better after high school.

How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

[BGSUfalcons]

whoa whoa whoa, i didn't think how many feathers i would ruffle with that. but i feel like i have a very valid opinion because i've lived in 9 states. sorry if it came off ignorant everyone. but when i saw the movie "Go TIgers" about massillon it scared me that that's all that town has. And yes i have been to a ohio hs football game, i went to the sandusky/freemont game this year and it was ok. I just don't think i cud ever take a high school sport that serious, they're just kids. it makes sad to think that this is the greatest thing that will ever happen in their life to some of them. Life gets so much better after high school.

I'm not debating whether or not certain people take high school sports way too seriously, because they do.

My problem was with your claim that states like Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia have more football talent than Ohio. It simply isn't the case. If you want to argue about Texas, Florida, and California, that is legitimate, but Ohio's talent is better than Georgia's (granted, it is close), much better than Virginia's (although certain areas of Va. are very strong), and much, much better than North Carolina (that one was laughable).

[duckunder53]

I've heard that California can barely get people to the state finals games...well guess what, Ohio puts a ton of people in two of the best high school stadiums in the nation.

GET OVER YOURSELF!!

The biggest flaw in your argument is right here. I went to H.S. in California and there is no state tournament in football, only sectionals. I think they are trying to add some sort of state championship system, but up until now they have not had one...

Sectional, State...it's all still the post-season. I think Cali has some great football, but they do not draw crowds like Ohio. I had a friend my first year of college that played ball in greater L.A. He said that football is great there, but they don't get the support from the community. I showed him a tape of my high school game and he was amazed at how many people were there for such a small school.

moneymaker - Life is what you make of it. Every part of someones life can be great, not everyone has to treat high school like it is a chore. High School is supposed to be fun, and sports helps enhance that. Sports teaches kids lessons, lessons that will be very helpful in years to come.

[Falconfreak90]

it makes sad to think that this is the greatest thing that will ever happen in their life to some of them. Life gets so much better after high school.

How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

If coach would have put me in the game in the 4th quarter, we'd have taken state. No doubt in my mind. We'd have taken state!!

[hammb]

it makes sad to think that this is the greatest thing that will ever happen in their life to some of them. Life gets so much better after high school.

How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

If coach would have put me in the game in the 4th quarter, we'd have taken state. No doubt in my mind. We'd have taken state!!

Well that was pretty much the worst movie ever made!

Yeah right Napolean, like anyone could know that.

[Schadenfreude]

What makes you think nothing would be in BG today if the state did not place a Normal College in the town back in 1910?

Growing up in Leipsic, I was told that Leipsic was the original choice as the site for the state college in Northwest Ohio. The powers that be in Leipsic (the Edwards family) did not want the college there, so it ended up in BG. So go look at Leipsic now to see if you think the city of BG would be what it is today without the Univeristy.

Actually, there were a number of towns that were "finalists", including Fremont and Napoleon. If I remember correctly, it came down to Napoleon and BG, and they went with BG because it was dry at the time. In the "no booze" sense.

My how times change.

A five-member commission made the decision. I believe it was 3-2, Bowling Green being the choice over Van Wert.

[Schadenfreude]

wow you people from ohio take high school sports way to seriously. It's HIGH SCHOOL. I remember 4 years ago when i was a freshmen coming from buffalo, ny(where high school hockey is bigger than football), it totally blew my mind that kids were going home on the weekends to watch the high school football game instead of stayin in bg for the BG football game.

It's cultural.

I lived in Utica and Rochester over the course of seven years and high school football just isn't taken as seriously. I've got a lot of theories on that. I think the strength of hockey is part of it. So is the long-standing tradition of lacrosse, which peels off athletes who -- in Ohio -- would be trying to fit into the football team.

There are only a few communities in upstate New York that rally around their football team in the way that comes naturally in Ohio.

Rome Free Academy is my favorite example. Rome is a small, economically struggling city that could be compared to Elyria or Massillon or Newark. The RFA Golden Knights are a major community rallying point.

(Oddly enough, Utica Proctor could never get that kind of support. That was one bad football team.)

Webster was getting there in the course of winning two Class AA state titles -- but it wasn't the same. Webster was an upper middle-class suburb full of newcomers who were used to going downtown to watch the Red Wings, the Amerks or the Rhinos. Whether or not the Warriors won or lost wasn't quite as vital for Webster.

I remember going to a state playoff game between Webster and whoever had won Section VI (North Tonawanda, maybe) at the University of Rochester's Fauver Stadium with my boss, an Oklahoma native. The winner was going to play at the Carrier Dome. There were a few thousand people there -- and my boss couldn't stop laughing. I think she went to Jenks High School, in Oklahoma. Attendance for her football games was Massillon-like.

I'm much more insulted by Bowling Green kids staying in the dorms to watch the Buckeyes than I am kids who go home to watch their high school team play. This is Ohio, and high school football is important.

[Schadenfreude]

I've seen the NY/NJ All-Star game on TV, and there is a lot to be desired, especially if they are the best of the best.

I think that game pits the NYPSAL and maybe Long Island against New Jersey. I don't think the upstate schools participate.

New York doesn't have a unified state football championship. There is the state title game at the Carrier Dome (basically, Westchester northward), a New York City PSAL title, a Long Island title (Nassau versus Suffolk, I guess), and a NYC-area Catholic championship.

[Falconfreak90]

it makes sad to think that this is the greatest thing that will ever happen in their life to some of them. Life gets so much better after high school.

How much you wanna bet I can throw a football over them mountains?

If coach would have put me in the game in the 4th quarter, we'd have taken state. No doubt in my mind. We'd have taken state!!

Well that was pretty much the worst movie ever made!

Yeah right Napolean, like anyone could know that.

Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been home all day chatting online with babes. Besides, everyone knows I'm training to become a cage fighter.

That movie seriously challenges Office Space for awesomeness.

[JohnnySwoop '85]

Webster born and raised! Then the out-of-state fee's attracted me to BGSU and have been in Ohio ever since.

And before I forget....Go Amerks! That's old time hockey...the kind Eddie Shore, andd Don Cherry and John Bednarski used to play.

Swoop

[Schadenfreude]

And before I forget....Go Amerks! That's old time hockey...the kind Eddie Shore, andd Don Cherry and John Bednarski used to play.

The Amerks were cool and the War Memorial was a great place to watch them play. At some point, my discretionary income will reach the point where I'll get a white Amerks sweater. Those things were great -- some of the best sweaters in hockey.

http://www.dropthepucks.com/sotg/images ... hm_frt.jpg

Speaking of old time hockey: Some of the key scenes from Slapshot! -- including the fight that ensued after the national anthem -- were shot at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.

Utica no longer has a pro team, but back in the Original Six era, the Clinton Comets were a big deal in the ECHL -- the basis for the movie.

Two of my favorite hockey memories of Utica:

1. I watched the Mohawk Valley Prowlers (UHL) play the Winston-Salem team that had abandoned Utica a year or two earlier. It was Clinton Comets night at the Utica Aud. Old time hockey. And local fans hated the Winston-Salem owner.

So many fights ensued that the refs tossed three goalies from the two teams. For the last two minutes, the Prowlers had to put a skater in goal.

2. A sportswriter tells me that when the Clinton Comets played at Clinton Arena, the seats weren't bolted down. They were folding chairs, basically.

After a particularly vicious round of fighting, he recalls those chairs came raining down on the ice. Fans were just throwing them willy-nilly.

Old time hockey.

[JohnnySwoop '85]

Maybe we should continue this in the Free for All forum...but too lazy to do so.

If you followed the Amerks back in the 70's you might remember Bob "Battleship" Kelly and John Wensink. And nobody...nobody...called hockey like Pete Brown.