Central vs. Castle Sectional....Time for the Gloves to Come Off

[Jon H]

My only real gripe with the re-alignment is I have to go to Castle 3 weeks in a row.  SIAC, Sectional and Regional......................that is a borderline "Blue Blood" overdose  and the worst thing about it.............they no longer offer ChickFilet (sp?) in the consession stand!  However, they still have Diet Ski which keeps me coming back!

 

 

[WrestleMan]

My only real gripe with the re-alignment is I have to go to Castle 3 weeks in a row.  SIAC, Sectional and Regional......................that is a borderline "Blue Blood" overdose  and the worst thing about it.............they no longer offer ChickFilet (sp?) in the consession stand!  However, they still have Diet Ski which keeps me coming back!

I can understand that complaint.  Two out of three weeks is enough.

[hook and half]

Actually they missed it by a mile, but that is a matter of whose bench you sit behind I guess. 

 

The one comment I have heard since the announcement came out was (this is a direct quote heard repeatedly) "I guess they want Mater Dei to win the sectional year".  The other one - AND THESE ARE NOT MY WORDS - "At least we don't have to listen to a certain coaches whining all the time now".

 

So you tell me...What REALLY drove this realignment? 

 

I agree with whomever posted a while back about how this was all drawn up.  Mt Vernon to Castle?  Tecumsah to Central?  Wood Memorial and Pike Central to Central?  With gas $3.50 a gallon I am pretty sure the parents weren't asked if they want to make those trips weekly.  I know that is a minor thing, but it is a real concern in todays world.

 

The East West split down 41 makes a heck of a lot more sense to me.  North comes to Castle and the Gibson County Schools (Except Wood Memorial, its right above Warrick County) and VL goes to central also. 

 

Castle Sectional would make more sense if it were

North, Memorial, Bosse, Harrison, Castle,  Tec, Boonville, South Spencer, Heritage Hills, Tell City.

 

Central would be:

 

Central, Mater Dei, Reitz, Mt Vernon, North Posey, Gibson Southern, Princeton, VL, Wood Memorial, Pike Central

 

Levels the planning field as much as currently possible, and eliminates the cost to the schools and parents, making it more attractive to the fans BTW.  Also keeps some pretty historic rivalries in place. 

 

BTW...Which team won the Freshman City Tourney this year?  First time ever...including the Team State trips that recently happened...So the pipe is looking more and more full for many programs.

 

The basic difference between you and I is I can see the issue for what it is.  Programs ebb and flow.  MD is the obvious exception to that but if we are being completely honest, they are not as strong as they were 5 years ago.  Would MD's current line up have beaten the teams they had 3 years ago?  They will get all butt hurt about that, but it's true.  And to be fair Reitz, Castle, and a the other traditional powers are down a few notches too. 

 

BUT, and here is the part people will chose to ignore, teams like Central, North, Harrison, and YES Bosse have shown great progress in their own rights.  That is meant ONLY as a compliment to their coaches and kids by the way.

 

Outside the conference, Jasper and Heritage Hills have been pretty darned impressive.  And here is another one that people will scoff at under their breath...Boonville...Good core of kids on each of those teams.  Graduation will hurt them, but that's a part of the ebb and flow of it.  Rebuild and go again.

 

So go ahead and think what you want.  The facts are right in front of you.  Remember, it wasn't all that long ago that certain programs lost year and year out to the same programs.  Now it is much tighter, no matter what the pundits and bleacher rats say.  This year alone (and warm up the excuse band, here it comes from certain quarters) Jasper AND Central beat Reitz this year?  Didn't MD lose a couple of Interstate Duals (and their own tourney for the first time ever)?  I am NOT trying to pick at teams or the kids.  Just trying to show you the facts behind the point.

 

Bluebolt is back with a vengeance!  When his claims and "facts" get blown up, he changes the subject.  the sectionals now have parity; these are the facts and they are unchallenged.

 

name one "pundit" or "bleacher rat" that says that area wrestling has not gotten much tighter!  precisely who is arguing this point with you?  central isn't good?  jasper isn't good?  heritage hills isn't good?  who is saying that?

 

you seem sore that your castle sectional is now incrementally tougher than what it was.  last year, you were very angry when folks posted their predictions that the central sectional would landslide the castle sectional in terms of semi-state advancers.  (see the 2012 rants:  "it's about the six minutes", "you are putting down the kids", etcetera, etcetera)

 

i do, however, like your new MD-hating tactic-- compare the current team to MD teams of the past.  effectively, you are saying that your team(s) can't beat MD, so the new put down is to state that this team is not up to par....according to its own standards.  how desperate and absurd! 

 

I await your fact-deprived, logic-free and unnamed sources rebuttal.   

 

[hook and half]

My only real gripe with the re-alignment is I have to go to Castle 3 weeks in a row.  SIAC, Sectional and Regional......................that is a borderline "Blue Blood" overdose  and the worst thing about it.............they no longer offer ChickFilet (sp?) in the consession stand!  However, they still have Diet Ski which keeps me coming back!

 

gotta love the pizza deal at castle....

 

a piece as big as your face for three bucks.

[Chi Town Hustler]

Hook and Half....I think you are just a bit too harsh on Bluebolt, and you might have used a few words which went over his head.  I think one clear point is no matter what the state of Southern Indiana wrestling "The Wildcat" is still far and above other programs in depth of program, and will be getting stronger in the next few years.  You will just have to rise above the haters....as long as there is high school wrestling there will be envy of "Wildcat" facts or not.

[ElectricEye]

Wow!  Could someone please summarize that last post.  How did they miss it by a mile?  Strangely enough it seems as though we got two fairly equal sectionals out of the realignment.  I agree that geographically it seems a little strange, but is that what we are trying to do?  Are we trying to make the shortest drive for everyone involved?  I don't know the answer to that, but it would appear not.  I also can't figure out whose bench would disagree with the realignment.  Would it be Castle because they lost a sectional they had won so many times before?  I can't see Reitz or Memorial complaining.  Reitz finally won a sectional for the first time in 38 years.  I also don't get the quote, "I guess they want MD to win the sectional year."  I assume you meant every year and am not sure why that is even relevant.  MD does win the sectional every year.  37 years in a row in fact.  I really doubt the powers that be looked at southwestern Indiana and thought, "Man, we need to give MD some help.  Let's make their sectional a little weaker, so they don't have so much trouble."  Really man, do you honestly believe that garbage? 

The one thing I do agree on is many area programs are improving.  Central is much improved, as is Jasper and Heritage Hills.  Boonville has a couple of quality kids and Gibson Southern should improve with their new coaches.  So why don't we just let the realignment go?  Who did it hurt other than possibly Castle?  Any time you have change some are going to perceive it as a negative for some and positive for others.  I don't think you can determine that on one years results. 

By the way, I was at the Central sectional and didn't see any coaches whining so they must have all been at Castle.

 

I heard many of the same sort of comments at the Regionals.  Just because certain fans didn't hear them doesn't make it not so.  I also agree that alignment is alignment and you just have to wrestle.

 

As for the economic factors, like it or not, they are a real concern for the schools and the parents.  May not seem like much, but if you're living closer to the economic edge, as many people are or soon will be, then it does effect things. 

 

You want it summarized, Perception Equals Reality.  The general perception was someone cried and got what they wanted and now everyone has to rearrange just for that reason.  I think we all know that is realistically not a factor as realignments happen from time to time, but I have to agree that the geographic split makes no sense at all.  Does it balance the talent pool?  For a year it might, but over the next year or two it will skew again and I will bet you anything certain schools will fight tooth and nail to not go to the Central Sectional again.

 

 

 

 

[bluegraypanther]

I overheard there were 3 people sitting in the stands posting comments about a certain person that was mad at another certain person who perceived the truthful perception that this one fan was glad to be the parent of a wrestler that thought there was a conspiracy to tilt all the power to that one sectional because one of the coaches hated winning and wanted to bring in a better program to teach his kids a lesson. Thankfully the governing body agreed and decided to secretly move them without any dialog from certain people who would have wanted their secrets to become reality by perception.

[hook and half]

I heard many of the same sort of comments at the Regionals.  Just because certain fans didn't hear them doesn't make it not so.  I also agree that alignment is alignment and you just have to wrestle.

 

As for the economic factors, like it or not, they are a real concern for the schools and the parents.  May not seem like much, but if you're living closer to the economic edge, as many people are or soon will be, then it does effect things. 

 

You want it summarized, Perception Equals Reality.  The general perception was someone cried and got what they wanted and now everyone has to rearrange just for that reason.  I think we all know that is realistically not a factor as realignments happen from time to time, but I have to agree that the geographic split makes no sense at all.  Does it balance the talent pool?  For a year it might, but over the next year or two it will skew again and I will bet you anything certain schools will fight tooth and nail to not go to the Central Sectional again.

 

as one who is driven by facts, i mapquested the locations to measure the impact of the venue changes.  from mt vernon to castle, it is 28.5 miles.  from mt. vernon to central is 21.9 miles.  this means that with the re-alignment, your mt. vernon fan is compelled to drive 12.4 additional miles to root for his team.  if gas was $3.25/gallon this weekend, and your car got 25 miles to a gallon, it cost your average mt. vernon fan about $1.62 extra to attend the sectional.

 

on the other side of the coin, it is 28.8 miles between gibson southern and castle; 18.2 miles between gibson southern and central.  this saved your gibson southern fan $2.75 in gas this year! 

 

in these economically challenged times, princeton fans are also huge winners!  The trip to castle is 34.9 miles, while it is only 24.4 miles to central.  this saves the princeton wrestling fan $2.73.

 

we all know that president obama likes the concept of "spreading the money around".  what's wrong with extending that concept to the wrestling community?  princeton and gibson southern fans:  do your fair share!  don't be selfish, share your bounty with the less fortunate among us.  when you see a mt. vernon fan at semi-state, give him a warm pat on the back and slip him a buck.  at bare minimum, kick in some cash on his concession stand purchase.  if you do, you are still money ahead!  everyone wins and utopia is acheived!

[Chi Town Hustler]

I don't think economics even came into play on the realignment.  I feel the IHSAA wanted Reitz at Castle to make sure the scales for weigh in's are not tinkered with.  I do have a solution to this which may make both Castle and Reitz fans happy.  Lets say next year we move Reitz back to Central and just let Mater Dei skip the Sectionals and just advance all of their wrestlers to regionals.  They will switch back and fourth each weight class wrestling a match against a 4 seed and will then advance to face a one seed in the next round. ;D

[mtv2112]

As for the economic factors, like it or not, they are a real concern for the schools and the parents.  May not seem like much, but if you're living closer to the economic edge, as many people are or soon will be, then it does effect things. 

 

As noted above by hook and half, economic factors don't exist for the sectional change.  I would never be one to show a lack of concern for those having financial troubles, but the small amounts we are talking about here make this portion of your argument nonsensical and, in my opinion, weakens your overall argument because it shows you are having to resort to emotion in making your argument.