I know h.s. football is competitive, but this is ridiculous!
 

Pigskin spy story rocks Cleburne

08:19 AM CDT on Friday, September 24, 2004


By BRANDON GEORGE / The Dallas Morning News



CLEBURNE – An anonymous caller who has offered inside information to opponents of Cleburne's football team has upset this small town and created a head coach who's suspicious about who might be watching.

Cleburne coach Mickey Finley learned last week that someone was trying to sabotage his game plan.

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Local football coaches feel Cleburne's pain
Football coaches at Fort Worth Southwest and Brownwood confirmed on Thursday that they received a phone call from a man who wouldn't identify himself, offering details about Cleburne's plays, formations, personnel changes and injury reports.

Cleburne (0-4) hosts Brownwood at 7:30 p.m. today in its homecoming game. Brownwood coach Steve Freeman said he received a call Wednesday but wouldn't listen to the offered information. Freeman said the caller said he lived in Cleburne.

Cleburne players and the administration were told before the Southwest game last week about the anonymous caller. Parents and students said they're confused about why someone close to the program would leak information.


Cleburne coach Mickey Finley "Whoever is doing this is hurting the kids, and I can't understand that," said Paul McCarty, a parent of a football player. "A lot of parents are very mad."

Finley wouldn't allow his players to discuss the situation. Senior Tyler Shanklin, who's not on the team, said he feels betrayed.

"If it's someone at school doing this, that's not school pride at all and not cool," Shanklin said. "I'm just shocked and in disbelief."

The anonymous calls also have had an impact on the practice field. Finley said he has been looking over his shoulder during practices all week. He checks out the windows of a church nearby. He runs plays with 13 players instead of 11, using two as decoys to confuse any potential spies.

At Finley's direction, the coaching staff has erased all game and practice tapes and makes sure not to leave any information on chalkboards or play cards.

"I'm not good at espionage," Finley said. "I'm good at coaching football, though some people around here don't think so."

Finley said he has sensed a division among the community since his hiring. The Cleburne school district board approved Finley's hiring by a 5-2 vote in early 2003. Four finalists were chosen from a pool of more than 20 applicants.

Finley replaced Gary Keithley, who guided Cleburne to the playoffs in 2002 and was 18-23 in four seasons before stepping down. Finley has gone 1-13 at Cleburne and has been outscored, 191-80, this season.

"There was no question that there was a group of people in town who didn't want me to get this job," Finley said. "I've been able to build programs wherever I've been, but this is a split situation out here."

Finley, 53, came to Cleburne from Arlington, where he improved his record each of his four seasons. He is 190-109-5 in 30 seasons and has led teams to 13 district titles, seven regional championships and two appearances in the state championship game.

UIL athletic director Charles Breithaupt said the UIL wouldn't investigate the passing of inside information to another team.

Finley said he and school officials would continue to seek the source of the anonymous calls.

"I think it's an organized deal, but really, I'm not a secret agent or an investigator," Finley said. " ...If they're after me, they need to settle it after the football season. Leave the kids out of it."

Staff Writer Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.

Welcome to the fanatical religion that is Texas high school football. Win at all costs, take no prisoners, do everything in one's power to make the opponent lose.

THE CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE GRIDIRON (Texas Synod)

Worship Services

Youth Services: Friday, 7:00 p.m. (High School Football)
Young Adult Services: Saturdays, 1:00 p.m., and 4:00 p.m. (College Football)
Sunday Services: Sundays at noon and 3:00 p.m. (Pro Football)
Special Services: Monday Nights at 7:00 pm

:D

These people really are pathetic.

Amen.

Word on the street is that it is an assistant coach...

Reminds me of that Brady Bunch episode where the football jock from the other team tries to hook up with Marcia just so he could steal Greg's football playbook.

I can't wait to see Friday Night Lights.

I really wish I could see a huge football game where people are this energetic about it.

-Rudey

They fucked that kid up....right?

Please, this is the Brady Bunch.

Marcia got pissed at Greg because she thought the dood really liked her, they planted a phony playbook on the table and he ended up stealing it...but the plays were all fake. The best part was how Marcia got screwed.

I read the book some years ago... it is quite true that Texas lives and dies for football, and the Odessa Permian Panthers (popularly dubbed 'MOJO') were for a time the biggest swinging dicks of Texas high school football.

Legend has it the annual 'Trash vs. Cash' football game between Lewisville High's 'Fighting Farmers' (just watch where you park, lest you get towed away... :D) and Highland Park's Scots has the HP fans tossing cash from the stands.

And Plano High School FINALLY won one after a pathetic no-win season last year. The football program was dissected and analyzed in the local yellow press to find what was the reason a former state champion football team went into a tailspin.

And I gotta remember to avoid FM 544 on Wylie High's home football gamedays!

(Only HS football team I follow is my alma mater's -- North Miami Senior High (Florida) Pioneers... :D)

Rudith, you can come to Wisconsin and see my high school play. I don't know how or why but a bunch of middle managers' kids get just as into football as the people down in Texas.

Was this the HBO version?

I am dying to see that movie too. I read the book and it is fantastic.

The NFL Network had an interview with WR Roy Williams today and it turns out his brother played on the same team that the book is about.

Or,

You can come see a HS game played in the state that makes it famous.

I'm gonna make the long ass trek from the SoDak to Texas for the A&M-Tech football game. We can take a detour to Chicago and pick you up so you can catch a real, true life HS football game in Texas before we hit the real deal up that Saturday at a game with no less than 80,000 loud and proud, guaranteed.

Despite what others might tell you, noone does football as well as my colleagues in the Lone Star State.

KS 361

Come to Oklahoma sometime, we might challenge that notion ;)