Gramps 2024 Boys Girls MO HS BB ratings

 I have had several inquiries about team ratings and I have patiently answered them.  On two of them, I found another error in my reporting form where the team rating did not transfer over from the spreadsheet.   I appreciate people asking because I make mistakes with over 1100 teams to rate and the multiple forms I use to report these ratings.  Sometimes, a cell value from one spreadsheet falls off the table and I am misreporting the team's rating. Other times, I simply lose interest in a team.  Halfway through the season, I see no reason to continue calculating their ratings because it probably won't change much and they are mired deep in the class or district rankings.  Sorry folks.  Gramps spends more time on the top dogs than the pack but it is a fact of life.  Time marches on and I drop mediocre teams to focus on the best. Occasionally, a team comes on strong and I have missed them.  Brent Bradley brought up Father Tolton Girls and I cavalierly asked him to calculate thei

 Braggin' Rights extends beyond just the Missouri side of the river.  Over on the east side of St. Louis is the Southwestern Conference with some of the best teams in Illinois.  Collinsville, O'Fallon, Belleville East and West, East St. Louis, Edwardsville and Alton all have outstanding teams this year and these are all public schools.  Their records might not look great because they eat each other up in conference play.  The league is so balanced, most of the teams end up about 50-50 on wins and losses. Over on the St. Louis side, the Metro Catholic Conference, with De Smet, Christian Brothers College, Saint Louis U High, Chaminade and Vianney, always has elite basketball teams.  The biggest difference?  The MCC schools are all private boys schools and recruit.  Their records are usually similar to the SW conference.  They beat each other up in conference play and the conference winner is the team with one win over 50-50. And then you have Vashon in the St. Louis Public School

 Varsity Assistant Cory Nicholson of the New Franklin Boys basketball team had a question about New Franklin's rating vs. Harrisburg, who they beat twice, and Salisbury, who they lost by two early in the season.  I thought I would answer that question but first, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Martin Luther King holiday. Only some people are thrilled with the MLK Holiday.  I think it is an important American Holiday.  It is a reminder of the monumental struggle for civil rights by King and others that brought some advancement of the rights of people of color.   Yet, we are backsliding on our progress.  Some want to castigate the "Woke" movement.  (If you don't like "woke", then stop here and unfollow me).  I think Woke means being aware.  Aware of others in need, aware of our past and the lessons we should learn from it.  Aware of how we all want to be treated. Some want to ban books and not teach our history.  We don't want to hear about white privile

 I occasionally have someone who inquires about my ratings.  Most of the time, the inquiries are polite and inquisitive.  They do not understand how their team, with an 8-3 record, is rated lower than another team that has lost two-thirds of their games.   I will go back and recalculate and double-check my ratings.  Most of the time the stats are correct.  Occasionally the calculations are off and I fix them.  The Pit@Central and SWMO Sports politely asked about Springfield Central's rating and I did a deep dive and determined they were a #4 team instead of a #7 rated team in class six. A few Barstool guys get bent out of shape when their team is dissed.  Most of them are good guys.  I had this discussion yesterday with some Barstool Guy about 8-3 Glendale and 4-8 Ozark boys.  I had rated Ozark two points better than Glendale: Well, thanks Barstool guy.  Really gives your school a good vibe with everyone when you cuss out an elder.  I guess I am just some old fork to some folk, run

 I normally hear from the small, class one or two school fans when I post some controversial Braggin' Rights ratings.  Those small town fans don't have a lot going on other than rooting for their home team and when you dish on their home team, they occasionally get nasty. I guess I should have expected a negative response from the Springfield Central Bulldog fans too.  LOL. I had both 3-7 Cardinal Ritter and Staley, who lost their opening game at home by 44 points, to Springfield Central.  Of course, I deal in statistics, not opinions, although I do use my judgement in weighting the games played.  But the bottom line is that Gramp's bases his ratings on game scores, not opinions, such as Coach Johnson suggested.  I assume Coach Johnson is unfamiliar with my ratings or he would not make such a laughable suggestion. Mark Twain once said that "There are lies, damn lies and statistics".  Actually, I believe he stole that line from Disraeli but it seems to fit.  I have