State Games for UIL to Dallas!!

jc_30

jc_30

In memoriam
So today, our coaching staff was approached by our Supe that received a form from the UIL that was asking our opinion on moving the state games to Dallas into Cowboy Stadium. I just wanted to see what everybody thought about this. I personally don't like the idea of moving them from Abilene. I believe that Abilene is central area for sixman and more people will be able to attend if they remain in Abilene.
 
HAVE U EVER SEEN JERRY'S WORLD......

If this was left up to the kids, it would be in DALLAS....


DALLAS (Jerry World) -vs- Abilene (Shotwell Stadium)


Also, take this into consideration (MONEY $$$$$)
The 5A division got 70K for EACH SCHOOL


And from what I was told..... To play at Dallas is FREE OF CHARGE....
 
For selfish reasons,(easy to get to, one day trip, not as much traffic, etc.) I would prefer to keep the state games
in Abilene.
The once-in-a-lifetime experience for small town kids to get to play in a venue like Jerry World and the coverage the games
would receive complicates my view.
Not to disparage the private schools who play sixman but sixman is a small town or rural community sport. From it's origins it has
always been that. Sixman tradition is unlike anything you will ever experience, nor do I think appreciate if it is removed from its roots.
Think about the fans who encircle the field, car horns honking in approval, reunions with old friends and all the other trappings that go with Friday Night Sixman Football................I just can't see that occuring in the opulence of Cowboy Stadium.
One thing is certain, where ever the games are played, dedicated players, coaches and fans will be in attendance.
 
It's a no brainer for me. You can play in Shotwell any time you want. Try calling up Jerry World and getting a game there. It's a once in a lifetime experience to play there. We are the only classification that dosen't play our State Championship game in Arlington. I think our kids deserve that experience just like every other kid in the State.
 
I'm gonna bet that UIL keeps the 11 man games at Jerrys World (and to the credit of Mr. Jones and the taxpayers of the Arlington area, they have been very helpful in making those facilities available to high school games at a cost I gotta think is much less than their actual cost of opening the doors).

Remember when UIL started the finals-are-our-deal-we-set-the-site a few years back, they said all games at one place ... and quickly followed up by saying the 6 man games will be at a separate site, Abilene Shotwell.

Only thing I wish is that they would find a site willing to temporarily paint sidelines and a goal line on the 11 man turf field for 6 man dimensions.
 
It is out right discrimination. The loud and clear message sent to our kids is that because you play six-man and not "real" football, you are not worthy of playing your state championship game in one of the best stadiums in the world, like everyone else. We all know nothing could be further from the truth. A six-man player has worked just as hard as anyone else and often more so when you factor that the six-man kid has probably been going both ways for the past 14 games.

If the UIL is going to crown six-man champions and if the UIL is designating a common site, then it is just wrong for the six-man games not to be included. Forget the details, travel, field demensions. Do what is best for the kids.

I hope our community will professionally bring this situation of discrimination before the UIL. I'll be happy to kick it off.
 
Everything is a buisness. And how many times has it been said on these boards and in coffee shops around texas how exciting the sport of sixman is.

The downfall of the growth of our sport is that we play on the same nights as the 11 man folks and we don't draw enough attention and interst as of now to pull the uneducated about sixman to fill up their cars and make the drive to see a sixman game.

When we played Windthorst, just an hour from us and in a pretty good location to see sixman games, none of them that we spoke to had seen a game. Even the old-timers on the chains were astonished at what they were seeing.

When I went to a Texas Tech game a few months back, I was with several players from Munday and other schools and actually talking about the State Games and without me prodding they all commented that it wasn't right that we didn't get the chance to play in the stadium.


I agree with the fact that the games need to be there. Central location is not a factor. We all know the same folks that gassed up their cars to go support thier schools would drive to Houston to do the same. Granted, there will be a loss of a crowd and will watch it, either on TV and or webcast.

I would like us to wait the extra week and tag ourselves along with the 11-man folks in order to draw the same equal attention that they would be getting. Otherwise we will stay in the same boat as far as playing on night that the non educated about sixman still wont have a resason to fill up thier cars and make the drive.. Therefore the only thing that is gained is the experince of playing in the stadium vs playing in a stadium thatyou can play in any day of the week.

If we want our sport to grow and gain popularity and respect, we must promote ourselves in a a manner that is equal with the rest.
 
Coach Tyler":1u0mulrc said:
It's a no brainer for me. You can play in Shotwell any time you want. Try calling up Jerry World and getting a game there. It's a once in a lifetime experience to play there. We are the only classification that dosen't play our State Championship game in Arlington. I think our kids deserve that experience just like every other kid in the State.
Click to expand...
Agree 100%
and
if you ask ANY boy
where he'd rather play his CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
he'd say Texas stadium.
And don't we do this for the boys anyways?
 
Okay, I just have two things to say about these points. In response to Mike's---ditto. Secondly, had the game been in Dallas this year perhaps some of the RS boys would have been just as bugg-eyed and pale...NAAAH. ):
 
I agree, I guess I am just being biased as a fan and not a coach. We do deserve it, I truly believe you have to be a better overall player to play 6man and we should get showcased with the big guys. Coach reed and Tyler have helped hange my mind. Jus wanted to see what others thought.
 
Being a little more serious, I have no passion nor conviction for moving, and I don't favor the argument that we deserve it because someone else does...seems an endless argument. I don't believe the sixman detractors will change their minds merely on the basis of where a championship is played. Imagine this: these skeptics walk in to a Division I state game with 10,000 people sitting in a 75,000 seat stadium; comedic material for a month-of-sundays. But as I hinted to earlier, I would support anyone who believes it would "promote ourselves".

Until a sixman team wins or places at the top of the 7-on-7 state championship, or beats a good 3A or 4A team in a Throck vs Windthorst scenario, or a sixman player dominates a top Bowl game or national championship, I can't see sixman getting enough positive attention to bridge the gap.
My wife's dad was an arena league coach for fifteen years and he believed nothing would enhance their reputation with the "big boys" except head-to-head matchups. According to him QB Kirk Warner has helped in that area the most.

Of course "a lifetime of faith and devotion can accomplish anything, if the goal is based in truth"...Emanuel Lasker
 
BE, I see your point about 10,000 in that big stadium, but what if this is a possibility! Maybe instead of 10,000, we get 10,000 more local DFW'ites that want to see what all the fuss about 6 man really is? I think it would be a good thing!
 
Texman, I agree, sincerely. There is no doubt in this sixman-maniac that we play the best brand of football for sheer fun, eye-catching skill and entertainment on the planet...this from a grade six to senior eleven-man player. But, as Reed alluded to, until I watched and coached it I didn't know better. And JJ's stadium would definately spread the word.

Just a few months before Brownwood's Gordon Wood died in 2004, he watched a semi-final game between RS and Strawn from the comfort of his private booth in the stadium named after him. He told my sister the week after the game "that game was the most exciting thing I've seen in ten years, maybe ever, ...wish I had been watching it all along".
 
Mr. Tex

Thats kinda my point right now. 10,000 DFW people wont fill their cars up to drive to Jerrys world to see what the fuss is all about. So yes, Coach Ethridge is right, we will be swallowed up by the stadium and the Fox television will not be able to justify advertisement and production cost to put it on TV.

Being on a stand alone basis the week prior the other state championships doesnt help the growth of the sport, it is just an equal opprotunity for all schools and UIL can say that they are equal opportunity based.

The crowd size will no doubt be smaller because of it not being centrally located and we cant pull a draw from another event.

BE brings up a good point, Class A football, and Class 2 A football coaches incur the same lack of acknoweldgement as we do. Its a simple fact that there will always be a heirarchy of thought process about the little folks at the bottom.

But Arena football suffers much like our recongnition because they still try to stand alone, much like the Canada football league and so forth.

When an up and coming band wants to gain popularity they open for a big band.


At the State Basketball tournament they tag Class A before a biggerschool session.

Wait till the state track meet and they add a classification to run with the 5A.

Therefore what is the mission of the sixman nation. To walk into community from Houston to Dallas to Pecos to High Island and everyone say they've seen 6 man or to stay the way we are currently?

Growth brings revenue into our small communities. Puts fans in the stands and when families move, just maybe they pick the small town that plays sixman.

BE you know how hard it is to get Colleges to look at our kids despite their abilities in sixman and recruit them. But just maybe this is a step in the right direction. They will go in the hole and the cost of the games a week prior will swallow them up. They are all about the money. So yes..maybe for two years it does swallow us...but then they will see that all games on 1 weekend is the only way to maximize the cost..

My grandad is a baptist and his baptist mentality is never to bring on change becuase with change comes uncertainty..with that being said I''m Pentecostal of that kinda forward thinking.

I am very proud to be a sixman coach and take a lot of pride for the communities and kids that have been a part the sport..and it just seems like yesterday that i stood in front of a college classroom giving a presentatioin to 250 students about sixman and know one knew what it was. I want that to change formy son when he gives a simular speech.
 
Not knowing how the weather is going to be is keeping me away from the championship game. Indoors, I will go and is easier and much fairer on the young men to play in a controlled climate. Sixman football finally enters the big time football arena with a move to Dallas. This chance may never come around again so do not lose it. A no brainer !!! Go Go to Big D !!
peace n love
 
i would like to see the games played at Jerrys world and also would love to see them televised on the fox sports southwest like all the other state games were this year. i think it would be a big positive for six man football.
 
I attended my first game at Cowboy stadium a month ago when they had the State Championship games. Watched the 4A Div. I and both 5A games. If you have never been to a game there it is amazing. The 5A Div. I game had more fans than a lot of bowl games this season. All that to say this....sixman football deserves the same right as the rest of the classifications. It is not a lesser game. When the UIL host the State Championship in basketball all classifications play where.....the Frank Erwin Center in Austin. When the UIL host the State Championship in baseball all classifications play where....Dell Diamond in Round Rock and Disch-Falk Field in Austin. Same can be said about all other sports. So why have the Sixman Championship games at a different venue that the other classifications? It's still football and it should be played at the same location as the rest.

On a side note I wouldn't be surprised if the State Championships in football didn't make their way back down south. Look for Reliant Stadium in Houston to get the games at some point. They have already added a turf surface that they can bring in for HS and college games to keep their grass field in shape for Texans games. They are also adding two endzone video screens the size of the one in Cowboy Stadium. Mostly to win bid for the Superbowl in 2017, but also to draw more usage of the stadium. If Houston jumps in I would think the folks that run the Alamodome in San Antonio would want in as well. Could see the State Championship games rotate between Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.
 

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