[Pulp Fiction]

Some of the arguments being made are legitimate on both sides. Even those people that do not want class systems for baseball would be open to it if done correctly.

Obviously, it is possible for a 1A or 2A school to catch lightning and win it all in a tournament setting. The point is, they shouldn't have to "catch lightning." Right now, those schools feel defeated before they even arrive at the state tournament.

Once you start looking at this argument you have to take in and factor all variables. Which means, monetary advantages, location advantages, facility advantages, etc. All of that plays a role with how teams finish every year. The reason LC has defied odds and JC and Pikeville, etc., is because they have done their best to give those players everything other schools have. That is why when their talent matches their work ethic, they can beat anybody.

I have a big issue with the argument of "25 players = 25 players." It's very silly. I know of several schools around the Louisville area that have a freshman team, a JV team, and a varsity team. They have separate coaches for each of those teams that don't even help with varsity. They all have their own schedules and that's that. In some cases, each one of those teams have 25 players. A couple of those schools are not even 6A. Now flip that around. I also know of several of teams in eastern KY, Winchester, Mount Sterling, even Lexington area that have 25 players. However, the difference is they have a total of 35 between their JV and Varsity. 95% of high school teams do not have freshman teams anymore because of numbers. So to assume that every school has 25 v. 25 opportunities like everyone else is not only wrong, it's very uninformed.

Excellent post.

The bold says it perfectly.


Do we really want to wait 20+ years to have a 1A or 2A school to make a run in the Sweet 16 or state baseball tournament? The answer is No. The Sweet 16 has had a decline in attendance over the past few years. IMO, the reason is, nobody wants to see a 5A or 6A team or a team from Regions 6, 7 or 11 win it. We've got the same old song and dance year after year. A Paintsville or a Shelby Valley may 'Catch the Lighting' once in a great while, but teams like that shouldn't have to. The demographics of Kentucky has changed for the worse in some areas and for the better in other areas. I can think of seven families (with school age kids) that have left Johnson County this past school year because of work. This is the story of Eastern Kentucky for awhile now. You can say "get better" or "develop quality players" all you want, but it doesn't do any good when the kids you work with all those years in elementary & middle schools and the off-season leagues move away. Leaving your system with a void and having to scramble to find somebody to fill their positions. Then that same team has to play a 5A or 6A powerhouse in the first round of the districts and get blown out. If that's a 1A or 2A school, the player who left could be a a four year starter for their program.

Life isn't fair, I get it. This is high school athletics, not the professional leagues. Wait til a team who's never been to a state tournament wins a State Championship in a Classed system and tell me it's "watered down."
Having a team make an unexpected run or come in Runner-Up in a Non-Classed sport is not a good argument for why we need to keep using the system we have.