[Possum Bait]

I do not know about the thrill being gone, but the excitement level felt by the Whitley fan base and frankly more importantly by the players is certainly dimenished. A few wins could probably get the flame of hope reignited, but right now an awful lot of people are beginning to doubt the ability of Whitley to win without a major overhaul.

I have heard a lot of folks groaning since the Middlesboro fiasco. Whitley has really struggled offensively all season trying to run a fad offense that was last in fashion about 1930. For all the same reasons the single wing went out of fashion in 1930 for the wing T, it is again coming up short all over the country as defenses adapt to it (See Florida and West Virginia). According to winpedia the single wing was deserted for the wing t because 1) the ball is received to deep in the back field making the play easy to read, 2) the T allowed more faking and deception,3) the T allowed better lead blocking, 4) the T was more condusive to passing. Not my words, winpedia's words.

Friday night, there was some down right nastiness going on in the Whitley Seating Section. I do mean some nastiness. The dad of one of the better players on the team was really upset about his sons playing time and made his opinion rather public which led to an atercation with some of the stronger Black supporters. I support Coach Black, but this particular player should be on the field more, as he is, obviously one of the better 3 or 4 athletes on the team. Sometimes Dad's are right on these issues, sometimes they are not. In this case the dad is probably right.

I know for a fact (because my son was involved) that there has been some issues this season involving the coaches like or dislike for certain players or their families. These issues have a way of compounding problems. I heard some people from the same group of detractors consistantly calling plays accurately before they were run. I would say this means that the offense is pretty predictable. It may be time to give up the fads and return to fundamentals,

Rumblings like these are normal when a team is losing, nothing new here. Winning will cure everything, but this is a team badly needing a win. A loss Friday night might literally lead to the wheels falling off an already unsteady wagon.

I really hate to say some of these things because I really like Coach Black, but to be fair, the coach needs to know what is going on so that he can address, what needs to be addressed. I am willing to write the truth, unlike the back biters that stand around in huddles and talk behind the coaches back. These same huddles led to Coach Campbell's demise. I would like to see Coach Black succeed. In difficult times, good coaches pull their teams together and overcome. It is time to pull this team together and get some winning business done.