conratulations to mike montville, jr at portsmouth high. he's a player, and a good kid.

keep it up.

i don't know how they make their selection. but i do know players need to be nominated. maybe these players weren't?

but again,i think this young man was very worthy.he is representing american legion baseball at the tournament of stars in cary nc ,one of 144 young men chosen in the us. i believe he is the first player to represent the state of nh.

Perhaps this junior is MORE deserving than the players you speak of

Ok Mr. Ironwill here is my answer to your tirade.

I just got home and found out my friend 20DAD posted
that my son won the NH Gatorade Player of the Year, and yes he is a Junior. We knew he was nominated but we don't know by whom. We thought that was a nice honor in itself. Today, when my wife and I were informed he won we were suprised and of course happy for him.

Before you go spouting off about baseball statistics let me present to you, the award criteria.

This comes from he official press release that we received from the Gatorade tonight.

"The award, which recongnizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field." Where do you see anything about the best baseball statistics.

Oh by the way, here are his statistics through 15 games in Class I which I do agree has been average at best.

59 AB's, 47 Offical At Bats with 12 Walks - he has only K'd one time.

9 Home Runs, 35 RBI's, BA of .553, OBP of .650, 66 total bases and slugging percentage of 1404%

And as my friend 20Dad pointed out in his post my son is the first player from NH to ever be selected to particiapte in the USA Baseball Tournament of Stars.

Do I think my son is the best player in NH, probably not, are there other deserving player for this award- absolutely.

But one thing he doesn' deserve is to have someone like you shouting off without knowning all the facts and its obivous from your post you didn't even know what the award crieteria was.

ironwill



what kind of honor would it be if there weren't lot's of deserving player's?

this kid is no slouch, and it really is kind of a bush league statement that he's a jr. so he shouldn't win.
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quote from ironwill

The award is based on what they have done this season though and all four of those boys I mentioned blew this kid out of the water for this high school season.
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i get that your not pleased with gatorade, but why dump on the kid for it. this is a high school player. it may not have been your intention, but by building others up, your really trying to bring one down. sounds funny coming from a class L coach.

but that's my opinion.

nhmonty, didn't you say something about Mike quitting football and playing in the GSBA Showcase League? There might be a hooded sweatshirt in it for you! Congrats on the award. That homer he hit at St. Thomas may still be in flight.

I have gone back to delete my previous posts as I realize that I am not getting the message I want to get across effectively and in the process causing damage to a person whom many say is a great kid. In my aggrivation with Gatorade and their selection process, I realize that 20dad is correct (not about the bush league thing, that I disagree with) that I was tearing down a good kid (unitentionally). I have no intention of being a negative voice in what is a great honor for him and his family. From NHMonty's stat rundown Mike is very deserving of this honor! Congrats!

The only opinion I wanted to really get out is this:

I do believe that this award should go to a deserving senior over a deserving non-senior. Talk with people around the state and nobody really knows how this thing works. Do any of you know?

ironwill

i didn't mean any disrespect. maybe i was a little strong in my words.

that was a classy thing to delete your posts. i do know what your trying to say, i just don't 100% agree with the thought. we can agree to disagree.

we do need more nh people on here talking baseball.

here is our local paper link.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pb...705309884/-1/FOSNEWS

For what its worth I didn't think Ironwill was being negative towards anyone. I got what he was saying.

We do need more people on here, I have posted the northeast forum link on my website and hope it pushes a few more people this way.

Ironwill,

Thank you for your email and no apology is necessary. I can understand your frustration and respect your defense of the players in your league. My son has played against many of the Class L players in Legion last summer and I concure there are many better players than we are seeing in Class I, especially this year.

My wife and I have worked had to keep Michael humble in victory/success and gracious in defeat. His reaction last night after hearing from his coach that he won was predicatable -"let's not make a big deal out of this" I am embrassed that I got fired up when I read your post about what his stats were and how many more deserving players there were. That's when I posted his stats from his Coach which is out of character for me/and our family. We beleive that indiviudal awards are usually won because of the efforts of a team. So my apology for putting up his numbers - I am trying to figure out how to take down my post. I don't even know how to post a Private Message so this is going mainstream.

I hear your concern with the selection process and I agree that awards like this should probably go to Seniors all things considered. I also can understand that if a player is the best in all or most categories they should not be set aside because they are an underclassman -tuff call either way. I wish I had a good answer for you but I don't. I have no clue how the selection process works.

As I stated, we thought being nominated was an honor in itself, we didn't think twice about him winning the award.

Don't lose your enthusiasm for your players or the players in your league. Your players need to know you respect them and that you will fight for them.

Good Luck and I will pass your words of congratulations on to my son.


Portsmouth, NH

Thank you gentlemen. I realized it was getting out of control and I am the last person to want to damage any ballplayer's ego/reputation.
I can agree to disagree, I am just glad my opinon is out there.
On another note: why doensn't Portsmouth petition to play in L? I believe Trinity does. It is not a hard process and they would be a top 5 team in L. Plus, aren't a majority of schools around Portsmouth L schools- thus cutting down on travel?

ironwill

are you a HS coach?

Iron

I had this discussion with Rus Wilson the Portsmouth AD on Thursday night. He told me that if any school wants to go up a class in any sport all the sports have to follow. Could Portsmouth have competed in Class L baseball last year and this year - yes. We would get killed in football, we have less than 50 players.

He said we are not good enough to compete in Class L (overall) and probably a bit to good for Class I. The NHIAA is looking at making Divisions in all sports in order to put programs where they belong.

I know very little about the Class/Division issue but thats what he told me.

monty


did you get the email?

First of all congrats, even being considered Gatorade POY is an honor and it sounds like there were many worth candidates which makes this accomplishment for this young man even more impressive.

TR,

I did get your email. I didn't get a chance to talk with my son - our house got Toilet Papered last
night by the Girls Lacrosse team and he and a few of his friends are picking up the mess!

As much as I don't want him to play football I can't believe he will not play this year but I will talk to him.

I have to drive my daughter to Logan this afternoon, I will call you on my way back.

TR: Yes, I coach in class L...

Is there a player of the year in every sport in every state from Gatorade?

First off congratulations to Mike Montville for winning the award!!! I'm sure it is well deserved!!

I also could make an arguement for both sides in regards to seniors vs underclassmen. My guess is that no one for Gatorade comes to watch the boys play so it is all based on their nominations. That being said it would be hard to argue against what Mike has accomplished this season and what he will be accomplishing by representing NH and the american Legion in the Tournament of Stars. Hard to knock him for playing in class I as that is where he lives.

The one good thing is this has actually generated some posts in the northeast forum...lol.

I look forward to the arguements when my son wins the award 3 or 4 years from now....oops getting ahead of my self there!!

I was wondering if they give any thought to where the games are played or the competition they play against. I figured nobody actually comes out to see the kids games.

I would have liked to see Mike in the fall showcase league last year, all college fields, against pitchers like Garrett Cole, Taylor Eames, Chris Crutcher, Shane Beauchman, Nick Poore, Nick Poulin, Chris Debonis, Alex Trammell, etc etc every week with a wood bat.

Does anyone know how Tom Heath's season in Concord was this year? I didn't get out to see him play but he had a great fall.