[Black Bear Cuz]

I agree BB Cuz,
What escapes me is the fact that if more kids focused on developing their baseball skills rather than getting ready for the NBA or NFL, we would see more young men getting into college. We all know Basketball and Football are the more glamourus sports, but Baseball will get you into college quicker. Ever wonder why so many Lex. and Louisville kids sign to play baseball? Most of them play summer ball. Here in the mountains our babies are all headed for UK in basketball and Alabama in football when they graduate! (Sarcasm off). Wake up parents, a free college education is where it is at! Put away the basketballs and football and pick up the little round white ball. I realize not every kid can play baseball, but I have seen so many basketball and football players devote countless hours to their sports and the majority not sign to play at the college level, where as if they would have invested those hours in baseball, many more would be in college playing and getting a mostly free if not free education for their respective futures. <Rambling Off>

Slow down a little HC, I agree with some of the points you are making here, but regarding the free rides due to baseball, those are few and far between. NCAA schools have very limited baseball scholarships but kids can qualify for scholarship money in other ways. NAIA schools have a little better budget of actual baseball money than NCAA schools do, but still do not throw very many full rides around. I do believe if many of the kids that dedicate a huge part of their time to football and basketball had the passion and drive for baseball instead, would have a better chance of playing college baseball than they have at playing college basketball or football. In Lexington and Louisville it seems more people understand this and therefore support their kids baseball efforts much more. There are many reasons however that the Lexington and Louisville schools seem to develop a lot more top notch baseball players than we do here in the mountains, but lack of emphasis on baseball is one of the biggest reasons IMO.