I COMPLETELY AGREE. THIS TOPIC HAS BEEN DISCUSSED AT LENGTH IN GARDINER. WE HAVE GOTTEN EXCUSES LIKE "THE BAND KIDS HAVE OTHER COMMITTMENTS" OR "I DON'T GET PAID TO DO EXTRA STUFF", IT REALLY IS PATHETIC.

Hey,this game was played on the Friday after Thanksgiving at 1:00 in the afternoon! Parents who were working on Friday could not even attend. It's a holiday weekend, many people are away spending time with family imagine that! If they want to keep this rivalry special then the game should be played as an exhibition in late August. Get everyone geared up for the upcoming season, not as an afterthought Friday AFTERNOON on a holiday weekend.

They could have it on thanksgiving every year. But what they need to do is have all football conf. have 1 game that counts on your record which would be a non conf. game. So you would still play 9 games and the 1 game wouldn't count in your conf. Thats what we do in iowa all classes have a 9 game season and the 1st two games count on your 9 game season but not your conf. so that way they have a way to see what they may have before conf. play. You would have to change your conf. around a little but yes it would work.

Why not play on Veterans day as it was for years!! This was probably the most attended game for years. We had huge bonfires the night before with the band and cheerleaders. Always burning the ram in effergy.

An interesting observation. I was more concerned by the comments in Sat. paper by a team captain and its coach. Both sounded like they were making excuses for the loss. True or not, tiredness and an emotional letdown do not excuse diminished sportsmanship. Both Gardiner spokesmen should have given a motivated and prepared Cony team credit for "coming to play" and not giving up when down by two touchdowns to a Championship team. Sports are usually touted as "character building" Gardiner had the chance to demonstrate that publicly. It failed. That failure must be claimed by its coach. His winning is everything attitude seems to be all that has been taught to his players.

I totally agree with Ken. The Gardiner Band has not shown up at basketball tournament games and it has really upset people in Gardiner. With the excuses Ken mentioned.

Whether you think he is right or not, since when did Gary Hawkins get paid to write about anything but sports? Since when does whether or not there is festive music to listen to during the game affect the game itself? If it was a "already lackluster" atmosphere BEFORE even considering the presence or lack of music, why don't you ask the PLAYERS AND COACHES why that is?!?

I, as a K.J. subscriber will start ending my subscription immediately if Gary Hawkins chooses stuff like this to write about. It is a slap in the face to the MANY MANY other things that those two music directors do for their programs, students, and the communities of Augusta and Gardiner. If you don't believe it, Mr. Hawkins, have one of those directors hand you a schedule of all of the events they take care of or are a part of during the school year.

And what exactly do you mean, Mr. Hawkins, that you "have a hard time buying" the excuse of the game being scheduled late in the season? I know that in Gardiner, ALL of the students are given a schedule at the beginning of the school year of all of the music events that they are expected to take part in. You CANNOT expect these students to upright their family/other commitments for the long holiday weekend just because of a football game that they were not committed to in the first place (because of the late scheduling of the date). Sorry, Mr. Hawkins, music teachers and students are not blessed with secretaries to handle all of their events. Get a life and find something real to talk about.