Reply to "Russell County High Busted"

quote:

Originally posted by Novice Dad:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by tonyIII (only portions have been reposted)

Hmmmmm. Oh I see devilman. No other school in American had 5 students transfer into their jurisdiction. Only Russell County. And you know what. I bet a bunch of those transfers went into loser schools.

Makes more sense to write about controversy then it does to write about a winning program, or a winning coach, or highly talented students.

I would like to know what motives the educational hierarchy achieved by building a child's hopes up and allowing them to transfer and play on a team, only to say wait a minute you can't play even though you did everything according to the rules.

It is not worth writing about the heartbreak and emotional rollercoaster these students had to go through before they were reaccepted into their team.

QUOTE]


Tony,

I appreciate the attack the only thing missing was a few 4 letter words but I'm sure that will come.

Anyway, the reason I wrote (and I specifically said devils advocate) was that there could be other motives besides jealousy for people to be reporting the number one ranked school in the nation. When you have 5 players, I mean students, transfer to a school and all make the Baseball team and have nationally ranked players within those 5 players, I do believe it is reasonable to look at the situation and say "hey maybe we should check on this".

Now since I haven't taken a higher level math class in a few years according to your snide remark, Maybe others can let us know how many schools out there had 5 transfer tryout for the school team and make the team in the same year. I'm sure it has happened but I feel fairly confident that it is not the norm.

I do like your quote " I would like to know what motives the educational hierarchy achieved by building a child's hopes up and allowing them to transfer and play on a team"

You make it sound like they transfered to the school to play baseball? You don't think anyone would transfer to play a sport do you? I'm sure transfer rules are in place for academic reasons and someones athletic ambitions would never be a motivation for transfer (by the way thats sarcasim...).

Have the players/students been put through a little bit of a roller coaster absolutely, should they or their parents, or the coach or the school seen the possibility of controversy...maybe. But than again maybe the kids and the coach were surprised to see each other on the first day of school! Will they suffer from this IMHO no. They have their names attached to a nationally ranked program, they are listed in national publications, the Sr is already committed.

You will see in other topics where parents make suggestions on how to transfer to another school (mailing address, course study etc.). So as you say "tries to blow that smoke you mentioned in your posting"...If you think I'm blowing the smoke so be it...

The issue of student transfers for athletics is growing and our feeble little back and forth has no impact on it what so ever. But to blame just jealousy and wallow in pity for the children and their hopes and dreams is a bit much.


Ohhh and tony just so you understand since you call me devilman and don't seem to understand the definition of devils advocate here it is.

1. a person who advocates an opposing or unpopular cause for the sake of argument or to expose it to a thorough examination.

Ah, definitions. First let me discuss these words with you.

Attack: 1 : to assail with unfriendly or bitter words
Discussion: 1 : consideration of a question in open and usually informal debate

I thought the original scope and content for these forums was the latter and I thought that the context of my statements was aligned towards these goals. If the content is perceived as the former than I can only construe that I have possibly voiced something that has some truth and touched a tender point of contention that has not yet been resolved. If my statements are perceived as an attack then I will clarify myself and try to make sure that those who read my thoughts know that my intention and desire is to lean in the direction of discussion. I too am only human and my emotions can sometimes be found in my discourse.

Four letter words have the context of a weak mind trying to express itself without the use of a dictionary. Emotion can always be expressed in terms that explain the depth and hurtfulness that has been experienced. Somehow the use of four letter words does not seem to fall within this framework.

I see I am dealing with someone who does have the knowledge and ability to rise above the pettiness of many who dwell in this posting world.

I seem to have struck a nerve with the use of my Neologism.
A neologism is a word, term, or phrase which has been recently created ("coined") — often to apply to new concepts, or to reshape older terms in newer language form. Neologisms are especially useful in identifying inventions, new phenomena, or old ideas which have taken on a new cultural context

I think you will agree that playing “devil’s advocate” can be a useful discussion tool but more often it is used and construed as fact so I think the neologism devilman can be quite useful in refuting the use of this tool when the possibility it only existed to attempt one-upmanship rather than discussion. Besides I thunked it up myself. lol

I too believe that we should check on things that we question but somehow I never see the media bring focus on facts that should be relevant. They are the ones who we presume are skilled in the ability to ferret out information and to present it in some sort of fair and balanced way. Maybe this would a novel new way to educate journalism students. How many students transferred to Russell county this year? How many students transfer schools each year? How many students transferred in the surrounding counties? Why focus on 5 transfers and lead the reader to believe only 5 students transferred into Russell and they were all baseball stars. Some sort of balance between truth and fiction needs to make its appearance.

Case in point: All of that media hype about Vice President Cheney. Did any reporter ever enquire about the bird? Did the Vice President shoot the bird? We might never know. All the media cared about were was their jealousy in not being the first to be notified of this horrible accident.

I find the analogy quite interesting. Now transfer this jealousy to the local arena. I do faintly remember major media networks mention the fact jealousy in the way this information was initially disclosed. No care for the poor person who was hurt. No care for the students that were hurt. Is this the face of news of the future?

Why didn’t the superintendent enquire before the debacle? Did she not know one of her high schools won some type of championship? Where is the principal’s responsibility in all of this? I hope he knew he had a winning baseball team. If the major media organizations in the United States are focusing on your team don’t you think the people who are responsible in giving the ok for a transfer to be a bit more perceptive about the consequences of their actions?

Why make our children suffer through the rigors of political correctness and petty jealousy and political aspirations? Baseball is an emotional game. We do not need all of these additional emotions distracting our thoughts and focus.

I do admit to not taking a higher level math course in more than a few years but common sense can be used to rough out some type of statistical base if you start at the beginning, not at the end of the statistical equation. One does not start with the 5 at the end but the unknown number at the start. Only then can we have a good perspective of the norm and how far outside the bell curve these five fall. Then again you can always spout statistics to back up any equation. So a future retort could be that this group is gifted and falls much higher on the curve than norm. (To play the devil’s advocate as you say. Hmmm, maybe I do know what this word means) Hey this would be a good starting point for an educational lesson. Have the results broken down by answers from the whole school, just the math classes, or by the students on the team.

I can’t think of why any student would transfer to another school to play sports. I can’t think of why any student would prefer to go to a private school. Why would low income students need a voucher to get out of the inner city school system? (This might fall into the realm of sarcasm) Why do students try to get to Yale and Harvard. Why can’t a student move out of a place of mediocrity or even failure? Is a student doomed to have to endure bad teachers, bad coaches, bad superintendents, bad politicians, bad neighbors and ad nauseum just because someone tells them they have to go to school, vote, and live in the place they were born no matter what?

Will a student suffer by not being able to play a sport that they anticipated they would be playing? Would the team suffer by not having them there? I see again you have used a statistic from the end of the equation rather than the beginning. The question should be would any student suffer from this type of action if it were directed at them? Just because the five in question have a higher level of success than many of our students who are enrolled in their individual sports you denigrate their level of suffering? The successful sports student suffers less than the average sports student or even the sub average sports student? I do not think this argument holds water.

For my last tirade in this edition I would have to say that jealousy does play a big part in all of these actions. It always has and always will. The additional problem with this area is that you have an added source of jealousy from parents and others who have not achieved this level with their children. I thought the American way was to root on and congratulate the winners, not try at every step of the way to place obstacles and behind the scene maneuvering to prevent this special cadre from being even more successful. It is hard but you can do a bit of research over the years into the politics concerning baseball in this and the Phenix City Alabama area. I bet you would be surprised at the large amount of print media criticizing (not in any constructive way but real low down mean spirited remarks) this march to success. From disgruntled parents to media prejudice. I was not trying to imply pity for the students, just a feeling of emotional remorse that they had to endure and be subjected to problems outside of the baseball diamond.

For my next installment…………You just gotta love baseball.