If you read my writing ✍ for 10 years going forward you will see that is one of the rare times I question something that happened and I do it tonight for no other reason than to ask can it be avoided going forward???
Most of the 18 or 19 ( not sure if Paul’s Daughter included me in the count or not) folks that made their way up to Low Moor last night were coming up from Carroll County but I was coming over from Beckley. I had spent the morning and too much of the afternoon working on one of our other Family projects – the West Virginia Tech University baseball team. This is only relevant in that I was running late and didn’t stop for lunch or even a drink.
Fear of missing the tipoff kept me from stopping at any of the 20some exits I rode by on I-64 because the plan was to just grab a drink and a snack at the game. Rather disappointing to find out that AHS was not running a concessions stand of any type.
My unofficial guess would be we had 8 or so cars that made the trip up which meant I couldn’t have been the only Cavaliers fan that was hurrying to get to the game (hurrying sounds better than rushing).
I wish the issue was bigger than those of us that were thinking, “Why didn’t I stop at McDonald’s on the way in?”
The decision to not offer any type of food or drink was clearly made before the game started. It’s not like they started up and saw a small crowd and closed up which makes me believe that they knew in advance that they would have a very limited amount of people attending the event.
Not knowing the entire history of Carroll County High School Ladies Basketball, I am assuming that this Class that is set to graduate has to be at the top of the list or near it. I am guessing that these six young Student Athletes are now down to less than a dozen games together at best.
While I’m not saying that they should have arrived by a charter jet or a Limo service but I do think that they deserved to perform in front of a crowd. Just how quiet was it in the Gym during the game? The kind of quiet that the husband is when he’s trying to watch Sportscenter in the bedroom after his wife has already fallen asleep quiet.
I can’t help myself here but the amount of quiet clearly threw off one of the referees because he was having trouble assigning his fouls to the right player multiple times.
During my Live Blog I started out with four reasons that the crowd would be smaller but I never imagined that the number of combined fans would land short of triple digits. What does it matter – the contest was played with zero atmosphere to the point it felt like a pre-season scrimmage.
It would be hard to speak for the players as to the effects but after 8:00 minutes the score was 9-5. Once the adjustment was made the second quarter was 24-8 and then 20-4. Both Coaches were required to Coach a little quietly because every word was going to be heard across the Gymnasium.
Once the contest ended I followed the Bus as it headed over to the nearby McDonald’s and thought about my life long managing style which was “Don’t Bring me a Problem without bringing me one possible Solution”
I know economics play a part in the schedule so here’s my first question about AHS having to host a game that they knew in advance no one would attend – would it have been an option to let the game be played at CCHS ? Cover their gas ⛽ for the trip out of our Gate and let our team play in front of a crowd and save our parents making the drive up and back. The only thing tougher than driving up to Alleghany after work is driving back home in the dark with a bonus of rain 🌧. Plus everyone could have eaten!!!!
Option 2, on the off chance someone could complain about some sort of unfair advantage for playing at home for both games. Play the game at Lord Botetourt and give our fans a slightly better chance to see the team play.
Not having a second game removed a number of folks from the gym in players and parents alone but the number of times this group is going to get to play together is dwindling down and as many people as possible should get to enjoy the ride.
It wasn’t all bad with the quiet though so I will end this with 3 positive thoughts.
#1 – It raised my appreciation for the detailed Coaching of Mr . Motley. Impressive.
#2 – There was no long line at the Snack Bar, couldn’t pass that one up.
#3 – Both Bella’s Mom and Jaelyn Hagee can be pretty funny when given the chance!
We won the game 55-25 despite only scoring 2 points in the final corner.
Alleghany plays hard and follow their Coaches lead.
Final Note – I am really looking forward to Friday night when we play at Floyd were half the building will be cheering for us and half not so much but I’m pretty sure that we won’t be able to hear the sneakers squeek through out the night.
So impressed by the 18 or 19 of us that made the Loop – Way Cool !!!
Next Stop – Galax tomorrow night or being its now 2am, tonight for the JV Girls game at 5pm
A.S.P.N on The Hill 