Interesting topic on Head to Head today concerning moving the High School....

[Railin Jemmye]

It's not near as dangerous at the Vet as Legion Field is, anyway...

The First 48 likes to hang out around Legion Field. Lots of things still going on around Veterans Memorial. And for the sake of the largest city in our state, we need to help preserve and rehabilitate that stadium and the downtown Jackson area. I think the real question is where to put the new, smaller stadium....on Jackson State's campus or in the suburbs. If you go with the latter you are basically abandoning downtown Jackson, for better or worse.

 

[engie]

The First 48 likes to hang out around Legion Field. Lots of things still going on around Veterans Memorial. And for the sake of the largest city in our state, we need to help preserve and rehabilitate that stadium and the downtown Jackson area. I think the real question is where to put the new, smaller stadium....on Jackson State's campus or in the suburbs. If you go with the latter you are basically abandoning downtown Jackson, for better or worse.

If ever a new stadium is built, it will be on campus at JSU...

 

[Railin Jemmye]

I think that would be a great move. And for the record I have no clue who even owns Veterans Memorial right now or how feasible any plan would be. I thought I read where JSU was given the stadium or something. I bet in a new, renovated Veterans Memorial (named after whoever foots the bill for rehab) you might could convince someone to play a game down there. There's potential down there, with Milsaps, Fondren, Belhaven, etc. for that to be a great place. Of course these are my idealistic ideas, I would never expect Mississippians to agree on anything, especially about Jackson.

 

[engie]

No, I'm not...once again you are putting those words in my mouth. All I'm saying is that it can only help us to have a bunch of high school players play the Championship at our stadium. Their parents, classmates, and the players themselves would be on our campus. If you don't think that's a positive, you are just wrong and are arguing for the sake of arguing.

IF it helps us by playing it at State, it hurts us by the same amount by having it at Ole Miss or USM. This is simple logic 101. Helping one year to hurt the next does not equate to any appreciable gain. Sorry - it doesn't.

By the way, South Alabama has a pretty good argument like USM would in your scenario..based on your map. Those poor families on the Alabama coast that have to travel to Tuscaloosa for a Championship that could be played at USA....I bet it's miserable for them**.

No, they don't. Alabama and Auburn are as centrally located as they can possibly be in that state. It's ridiculous if you can't see the obvious difference here - even with the map showing geography.

And saying we keep kids in state better than Bama and Auburn, is really stretching it to fit your argument. If Bama and Auburn weren't able to get recruits nationwide, they could much more easily dominate the recruiting in their state. If Bama weren't loading their recruiting class with 5 star LB's last year, they could have taken Beniquez Brown in a heartbeat. Probably Richie from MS too if they wanted him.

So, you discuss Beniquez - consequently the lowest rated player I mentioned - to try to make your argument. Yet, Alabama and Auburn still lose more ELITE Alabama players than State/OM lose from Mississippi. Auburn tried HARD to flip Beniquez. Must have missed that part, huh?

Like I said, I'm willing to put my pride aside and say that I see the problems in my solution...but for you to act like getting kids and families on our campus isn't a good thing, is just argumentative and silly.

It is a good thing. But it's also a bad thing for those kids to go elsewhere. How can you possibly not see that the net gain from this is zero?

Is it that hard to see someone's opinion and just agree or disagree without having to search for ways to not lose a discussion. I see your view and I'm fine with it...doesn't mean either one of us is right or wrong...just that we have differing views. Right?

I form my viewpoint on as much logic/fact as possible - as such, I can and do back it up the same way. It's certainly nothing personal. Simply "agreeing" or "disagreeing" never gets anyone any closer to actually solving issues at hand. I generally approach things as solution-oriented. This isn't about "winning" and "losing" - it's about coming up with the best possible fair solution for these highschool kids - not about some slanted MSU bias looking for a perceived advantage. That's why I've approached it as such.

 

[CadaverDawg]

IF it helps us by playing it at State, it hurts us by the same amount by having it at Ole Miss or USM. This is simple logic 101. Helping one year to hurt the next does not equate to any appreciable gain. Sorry - it doesn't.



No, they don't. Alabama and Auburn are as centrally located as they can possibly be in that state. It's ridiculous if you can't see the obvious difference here - even with the map showing geography.



So, you discuss Beniquez - consequently the lowest rated player I mentioned - to try to make your argument. Yet, Alabama and Auburn still lose more ELITE Alabama players than State/OM lose from Mississippi. Auburn tried HARD to flip Beniquez. Must have missed that part, huh?



It is a good thing. But it's also a bad thing for those kids to go elsewhere. How can you possibly not see that the net gain from this is zero?



I form my viewpoint on as much logic/fact as possible - as such, I can and do back it up the same way. It's certainly nothing personal. Simply "agreeing" or "disagreeing" never gets anyone any closer to actually solving issues at hand. I generally approach things as solution-oriented. This isn't about "winning" and "losing" - it's about coming up with the best possible fair solution for these highschool kids - not about some slanted MSU bias looking for a perceived advantage. That's why I've approached it as such.

1. Nope, didn't miss it...they came in at the last minute after missing on a higher rated LB...but it was too late to persuade him because we had been on him so long. Must have missed that in your cherry picking, huh?

2. No you don't, you cherry pick stats and facts to help support your point of view. And any stats brought up to dispute your conclusion, you leave out of your responses.

 

[engie]

I think that would be a great move. And for the record I have no clue who even owns Veterans Memorial right now or how feasible any plan would be. I thought I read where JSU was given the stadium or something. I bet in a new, renovated Veterans Memorial (named after whoever foots the bill for rehab) you might could convince someone to play a game down there. There's potential down there, with Milsaps, Fondren, Belhaven, etc. for that to be a great place. Of course these are my idealistic ideas, I would never expect Mississippians to agree on anything, especially about Jackson.

They aren't going to waste money renovating the Vet because it is so clearly in the growth path of UMC. It'll be a parking lot or hospital long before it becomes a football palace...

I agree with you in principle - I just know the general idea for that area unfortunately.

JSU should have had an on-campus stadium long ago... the issue is that they want public funding to pay for it, instead of funding through bonds and donations like the rest of us do....

 

[engie]

1. Nope, didn't miss it...they came in at the last minute after missing on a higher rated LB...but it was too late to persuade him because we had been on him so long. Must have missed that in your cherry picking, huh?

2. No you don't, you cherry pick stats and facts to help support your point of view. And any stats brought up to dispute your conclusion, you leave out of your responses.

1) Forget Beniquez then - How do you explain Jameis Winston? Chris Casher? Kwon Alexander?

2) Like what? What has disputed my conclusion? Be very thorough - please. I form my viewpoint around the facts. I don't preconceive.

 

[patdog]

You're right. Long-term, that stadium needs to be razed and the site developed and a new 25,000-30,000 seat stadium needs to be built on JSU's campus.

 

[Railin Jemmye]

There is a need for a big stadium, or at least some new type of State of the Art arena, just to house typical stuff cities do. Do we have that in Jackson outside the Vet and the Coliseum? I have no clue what state the Coliseum is in.

Where would you propose playing these HS games if the Vet is leveled? At the new smaller JSU stadium in the ghetto? Back at Mississippi College?

 

[engie]

I like the State, OM, USM rotation honestly. Maybe JSU too if the new stadium proves to be nice...

Mississippi needs an arena in Jackson - that much I definitely agree with...

 

[Maroon Eagle]

All I'll say with regards to this is that I seem to remember reading that when the Mississippi All-Star game was created back in the late 1940s (early 1950s?) that MSU hosted the event & it didn't help our recruiting.

 

[Railin Jemmye]

That is basically saying that MSU, OM and USM are all equals in the state. While ideally it's true, I don't think we can afford to have 3 equal schools in recruits' eyes. Alabama and Auburn have conceded they are equals I suppose. I'm sure MSU and OM would love for each other to fade away, but in reality that isn't happening. And since we were geniuses in regards to school location, rotating between just those two is out. And there's a MUCH bigger chance that Southern falls into irrelevancy, especially with the new TV deals and such. USM is getting left behind. No need for us to help them out so they can compete against us. Let me be what they SHOULD be....a small C-USA/Sun Belt level school for people in South MS who cannot travel to Ole Miss or MSU. No better or worse, just different. Best thing for the MS schools.

So in essence, we play in Jackson. I guess the best scenario is a new medium sized stadium in a nice part of Jackson or a revitalized part of Jackson (with no connection to JSU), JSU gets a smaller stadium, and the hospital gets the Vet. I just keep thinking of the money a bowl game or similar could bring to the state, then I think about the money we export to other states going to bowl games. I love that the C-USA tournament is at Trustmark. I really wish the SEC tournament could do that. It's something that could have been unique to MS, a state that cares alot about baseball.

 

[patdog]

No. It's not saying they're equal. It's saying that all 3 have a decent stadium that is plenty big enough to host a high school football game. I say just do a 4-year rotation between MSU, UM, USM and Jackson (either at the Vet or on JSU's campus).

 

[engie]

No. It's not saying they're equal. It's saying that all 3 have a decent stadium that is plenty big enough to host a high school football game. I say just do a 4-year rotation between MSU, UM, USM and Jackson (either at the Vet or on JSU's campus).

Exactly. It doesn't say we're equal at all - just that we're all willing and capable hosts of the game.

 

[drt7891]

I have no idea why this is continually turning into this argument about recruiting and "perceived equality." Engie has CONTINUALLY pointed out, as will I, that any benefit or harm this causes us in recruiting perception is so marginal at best, it's a non-issue. Name me a high school recruit, highly touted recruit, who flipped to USM from State. I can't think of one.... and playing ONE high school championship game at their stadium every third year is even a more ridiculous excuse to exclude them from this opportunity. It's ridiculous for the MHSAA to exclude them simply because of conference affiliation and ticket sales. JSU plays in the SWAC and they own the Vet... why isn't anyone bitching about that? We beat them 56-7 this year and no one has said anything about them being perceived as "unequal" to us. The Rock is so much nicer than the Vet is, and while USM is NOT on the same playing field as we are right now, this argument about perception and equality is stupid when they have a stadium on their campus that is more than capable of putting on a high school championship event.

This is about their location, which is in south MS while State and OM are concentrated in NE Mississippi. Quite frankly, I'd be far more worried a recruit would flip to OM than Southern (which is highly unlikely, anyway)... and anyone who can't see that is a dubmass. I'm all for giving OM (our biggest rival) 33.3% LESS exposure to high school students by giving USM a game every third year.

No one has taken off their maroon colored glasses long enough to see the benefit this could have on high school football throughout the state, and the fairness of not screwing south MS high schools every single year. Instead, this is all about the fact that "we play in the mighty SEC and they play in lowly CUSA. They sell fewer tickets and have won fewer games this year, so they are unworthy of hosting a HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME because we sell more tickets and play in a better conference." Sounds ridiculous, huh?