[16thregioner]

I’ve never been a fan of the Covid holdback rule.  I get it people lost a lot during that period but I feel like too many schools took advantage of this rule for the wrong reasons.  If a kid was struggling academically because of Covid then sure hold them back but I don’t agree with the mass holdbacks that you saw at a lot of schools just to get another year of sports.  I know a lot of people get all bent out of shape and say kids only get to be kids once but sometimes you just have to learn the hard way that life isn’t fair and there are no do overs.  As much as I love my Rams this season will always have an asterisk beside it in my mind because we are winning with a team full of kids that should have already graduated.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't criticize Raceland for what they did, have done, and are doing.  In fact, I applaud them and hope they win the state this season.  The new turf field, schools, and facility off 23 look fantastic.  A state championship banner would make them look even better.  I'm not a politician or anything, but I support anything that brings positive light to our area.

The same Russell administration that signaled football success was important by running off Ivan McGlone, though, gave the opposite signal when they didn't support the COVID holdback rule.  And for whatever reason, Russell always seems to be on the losing end when it comes to impactful sports transfers.  That's always amazed me because Russell has been traditionally known as the top academic school in our area for decades.

Holding back players and getting transfers is a necessary evil if you want to win sports trophies, titles, and banners.  All the teams that our northeastern Kentucky teams will face deep in the football playoffs have done the same things.  It's a different time and teams win in different ways these days with the "off the field" games being played being equally consequential to the end results you see on the fields or courts as what you see "on the field".

I don't think Raceland would deserve an asterisk if they win the state this season.  If they deserve one, then so does most every other team that wins regional titles and state titles over the past decade.

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The biggest disappointment I seen last night was no fight from Belfry. Usually when your season or career (seniors) is on the line you play with a little extra intensity but that wasn’t the case last night. To be honest Belfry didn’t put up much more of a fight against Ashland than Magoffin County did last week. This Belfry team finished 6-6. When is the last time a Belfry team finished the season without a winning record?

This is what I was trying to point out.  The passion and fight didn't seem to be there.  I've seen a lot of Belfry teams over the years, including some of the lesser talented ones.  Even the lesser talented ones didn't go down without a fight, though, sometimes literally.  This team went down without a fight.