Leaderboard

Based on the photos it looks like a Tug of War tournament… and some skinny guys decided to play catch. lol

When I was a little kid, and I’d play catch in the backyard with my brother, he would be Mickey Mantle, and I would be Willie Mays. I followed his career always. He was my first “sports hero.” Simply put, he was the greatest baseball player to ever walk between the white lines. The term “5 tool player” was invented for him. R.I.P. Willie.

Why are we talking like running is a rich man's sport. Hasnt anyone seen a marathon

1992 to be exact. Back when the population of Plainfield, Avon and Brownsburg were still cornfields away from the Wayne Township boundary of Raceway Road.

SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS. LEARNING TO PLAY TENNIS GOLF AND SWIMMING REQURIRES MONEY. SUBURBAN KIDS HAVE MORE OF IT........AND MORE FACILIITIES TO LEARN AT.

Based on 10th-12th grade statistics, roughly 75% of Ben Davis students quality for free or reduced lunches. I can't think of a single HS in Indiana that has ever been good at Golf, Tennis or Swimming with those statistics. Baseball, Softball, and Scoccer are a stretch as well. Community buy in for basketball and football is there. I've seen it myself at the grassroots level when Wayne Township teams come up to Hamilton County. The coaching and facilities for basketball/football at Ben Davis are also very good. It's OK to admit having that level of committment AND over 4,000 student is a huge advantage.

Do you, by any chance know a guy named Cody?

We too run our Friday night stuff at these events.....many teams do not.

It’s not just that though… Hitting the rewind button, when Carmel and CG were exploring their options outside of the MIC, one of the reasons was due to lack of numbers in the country club sports at the remaining 6 MIC schools. Carmel, for example would be better served having an intrasquad meet rather than showing up to LC and their JV tennis players, cross country runners, golfers having no one to take on. If you can’t field a complete team, what’s the point for Carmel to continue this charade? Does LC, in this particular hypothetical example, just not have a “feeder program”? I see the numbers in non-ball sports down tremendously at the middle school level in Marion County. A variety of factors could be the reason why, but it sure as hell isn’t lack of effort.

Love this!!! I will give you an example of a country club sport in Fort Wayne. Homestead is probably the wealthiest school in Fort Wayne and guess what sport they dominate and have done so for at least 45 years in this area? Tennis. Very rich sport. Kids start getting private lessons at 4 years old and by the time they hit high school, they have a 8-10 year head start on the other schools. No shot to beat them. On to football. Numbers matter, period. It’s why a 1A school can’t compete with a 6A school. Bigger, stronger, faster, and more kids to choose from. Oh yeah, let’s not forget all of the “transfers” that occur when someone is in a certain district, but wants to go to a powerhouse school. There are so many examples to choose from in Fort Wayne of this, bet you that it is double that in Indy.

We get that. Just acknowledge that having a large student body is a massive advantage. The school you follow ranks #2 in enrollment for crying out loud. It's simple, here, I'll give you an example: Snider has a historical record of 33-4 over Bishop Luers. Because Snider has a better program? Well, some might argue that Luers has twelve state championships to Snider's three. So it can't be that Snider's the better program. At the end of the day, Snider is so much larger than Luers, the Knights "private school advantage" is a non factor. We saw the same thing when Cathedral went from 5A to 6A. There's absolutely no way I'm putting money on the Irish winning 6A anytime soon, but many would argue that they have the best program in the state. It's just nice when those at the top of the food chain acknowledges that, "yeah, we have a significant advantage with our enrollment." If one more person mentions Center Grove I'm going to vomit. I'm talking "by and large."

LOL, those three schools have won 3 of the last 6 boys track state titles. I’ve defended you thus far but I am running out of energy.

So comparable to Homestead. Growing, but at a slower pace. I see Homestead picking up steam though.

Temptation hit the nail on the head. You can't compare Ben Davis now to how things were in the 90's...................C'MON MAN.

LOL...beat me to it. Oh, the irony....

Sometimes the truth hurts. It's the reality of the situation. Don't ever talk to me about maturity. I called out the truth. Be a contender or a pretender, facts are facts.

Simple urban sprawl as you mentioned yesterday with Carroll, just at a slower rate. What’s happening in the suburbs now is what happened to the county schools in the 80s.

Because their enrollment is SO much larger than the remaining schools in 6A. You can combine 6A schools at the bottom of the class and still fall short of 4500-5000 (Carmel and BD). Eventually that takes its toll as we discussed with Cathedral yesterday. People get too caught up in their feelings and feel personally attacked as if these statistics are intended to diminish the other factors that are poured into a winning program. It’s not that simple unfortunately.

Not one person has claimed it is solely enrollment and this is one of a handful of cyclical discussions on this board. BD/Warren can overcome their socioeconomic disadvantage BECAUSE of their large enrollment. However, eventually enrollment reaches a point of diminishing returns. Carmel, the other “mega school” discussed in this thread has both socioeconomics and enrollment on their side which is why I believe 2024 is a put up or shut up year for the Hounds. Comparing 1990’s BD to 2024 BD is asinine by the way.

I never said you did. I tend to agree with you on most conversations. Apologize if you thought I was referring to you. The ignorance is bliss comment is who I was referring to.

Been awhile....but my wife is a BD graduate....won 2 state titles in swimming and individual titles...also swam on a full ride at the D1 level....had multiple D1 offers. I just provided you several schools that have larger enrollments and I would contend solid coaches, yet are not rolling in football. To KMartGiants point, there more in the equation of success in football that just enrollment. If enrollment was king, many more top 10 to top 15 schools would be much more dominant.

If its all about enrollment...then explain why schools such as North Central, Avon and Franklin Central aren't winning more post season tournaments (sectional and above) in football. All 3 schools are in the top 10 in terms of enrollment...FC has a great football coach that has won multiple state titles at the largest class. Not buying completely in the social economic theory either, especially with these 3 schools. Same question for Noblesville, Crown Point, Elkhart, Lake Central, etc. (11-15th respectively) Meanwhile, CG's enrollment shot up from 17th to 16th......

No one on this forum has ever mentioned that enrollment "alone" is the key to a championship. Coaching and building a program is a factor. Enrollment is a coaches dream. Ben Davis + Above Average Coach = Westfield + Great Coach

LOL. Ignorance is bliss.

“BD has 4500 students and if enrollment is a key to wins, then explain their swimming, golf, tennis, baseball, softball, soccer teams etc. They are average at best and yes "irrelevant" in those sports.“ LOL, should I tell him?

sounds like my life story

Here are some nice photos! https://www.colts.com/photos/11-on-tournament-2024#8a72abe5-8d4f-40cf-93c1-85b62e4bfb28

Indiana high school basketball state titles had more weight in the single-class era than in the current multi-class era.