Just for the sake of amusement, I thought I'd throw some of these out there. If you've got something in the same general vein that you want to confess to after reading these, by all means chime in...

Have you ever...

...signed a recruit, without looking at potentials, just because he's listed as being from your home town or having graduated from your high school on his recruit card?

...signed a recruit, without looking at potentials, because of their name? (guilty...Howard Duck)

...turned off the "utilize bench if winning big" feature because your school was playing its real-life rival that night?

...how about because you couldn't stand the guy coaching the opposing team that night and were hoping to pile it on?

...bought a shirt or other attire from a school you have absolutely no connection with OTHER than the fact you coach them in HD? (put your hand down alblack, we know ;) )

...watched your team play a game on television and caught yourself thinking you should have set your defense to take away the perimeter/interior better? Caught yourself criticizing one of the coaches of said real-life game for their gameplan settings? (guilty...)

I'm sure there are others, these are just some I've caught myself doing and/or wondering about. Feel free to add others if you can think of them...

Hrm, I'm going to start turning off "utilize bench if winning big" against "Hellsdale" - Hillsdale - http://whatifsports.com/hd/TeamProfile/Ratings.aspx?tid=7229 rare for a blowout to ever occur between us, but ... but I like this idea.  Feel my wrath, 'Hood!

Almost signed a recruit from my high school, but I had him under FSS and he was solid... was probably my sixth or seventh option, so I easily could've taken him on the roster.

I'm upset that my high school (St. Raymond High School) isn't in this game (at least I've never seen them) because we're actually a power in the NYC and every few years get ranked in USA Today, but from about 2000-2005 we were ranked nationally at some point every season. But there is another school that is in our league that I've seen, All Hallows that is nowhere near as good as we are. But if I saw a guy from St. Ray's I would definitely sign him, lol.

Posted by kmasonbx on 10/24/2012 7:01:00 PM (view original):
I'm upset that my high school (St. Raymond High School) isn't in this game (at least I've never seen them) because we're actually a power in the NYC and every few years get ranked in USA Today, but from about 2000-2005 we were ranked nationally at some point every season. But there is another school that is in our league that I've seen, All Hallows that is nowhere near as good as we are. But if I saw a guy from St. Ray's I would definitely sign him, lol.

I'm right there with you -- if I ever saw my high school on here (I'm not sure it's in the rotation, but I don't always check the state to see either..), I'd have to give serious thought about just grabbing the guy. 

Haha, I've signed a mediocre recruit for the sole reason he was from my high school before.

obviously, i am pretty attracted to SIUE, having coached there like 4x longer than any other school. well, a guy who works for me went to college there, when he first told me, i went OH, i coach there! and had to explain it. thank god he is fairly geeky like me so he actually was moderately interested... or, he was just being nice. in retrospect, probably the latter, although we get along pretty well and have probably shared a number of more ridiculous and/or nerdy stories. i backpedalled pretty quickly, i didnt dare pull one of my HD style rants about it... i mean, the guy DOES work for me, and he WOULD have to sit there and listen, but i was feeling pretty stupid. i was like, i made them awesome, we won a lot of championships, and he was like, thats cool, and that was basically it. plus the part about, wait, what kind of game is this again? fantasy? wait, what do you mean simulation? you play a fake basketball team and you dont even use real players? wait, you actually have to PAY for this? like, real money?

anyway, this was a long time ago, and i dont think ill be informing him that they suck now. and, i guess i technically dont pay to play either, not on that team at least. maybe in his next review ill dock him for not asking how they are doing.

I see recruits from Covington (KY) Latin High School.  In RL, they've probably NEVER had a recruit.  It's an advanced school for gifted students. Most of them skip grades and graduate when they're 15 or 16.  Needless to say, they're not competitive athletically. They were eliminated in last year's tournament, 91-41, to an 8-20 team.

  Covington Latin's only had one famous athlete...Dave Justice (Atlanta Braves), the first husband of Halle Berry.  But his athletic talent wasn't developed at Cov. Latin..they don't have a baseball team

A coaching friend in Iba used to recruit every player from his high school, regardless of their talent level. He said, "I can't help it. It's my high school!"

Posted by coach_billyg on 10/25/2012 6:01:00 AM (view original):
obviously, i am pretty attracted to SIUE, having coached there like 4x longer than any other school. well, a guy who works for me went to college there, when he first told me, i went OH, i coach there! and had to explain it. thank god he is fairly geeky like me so he actually was moderately interested... or, he was just being nice. in retrospect, probably the latter, although we get along pretty well and have probably shared a number of more ridiculous and/or nerdy stories. i backpedalled pretty quickly, i didnt dare pull one of my HD style rants about it... i mean, the guy DOES work for me, and he WOULD have to sit there and listen, but i was feeling pretty stupid. i was like, i made them awesome, we won a lot of championships, and he was like, thats cool, and that was basically it. plus the part about, wait, what kind of game is this again? fantasy? wait, what do you mean simulation? you play a fake basketball team and you dont even use real players? wait, you actually have to PAY for this? like, real money?

anyway, this was a long time ago, and i dont think ill be informing him that they suck now. and, i guess i technically dont pay to play either, not on that team at least. maybe in his next review ill dock him for not asking how they are doing.

I went to SIUE - got one of my buddies to play this game for a little while by getting him to coach there.  That job always seems to be taken in the worlds I'm in or the timing has just never lined up right, but I'll coach the Cougars eventually.

I've thought about goofing around with an experimental DIII team near an area where I used to live and recruiting only players from local high schools.

I'm guilty of buying a Wittenberg shirt (my first team), but the background story is far more interesting.  My buddy got me to start playing HD, so I joined his conference.  Every year, my buddy, 14 of our good friends, and myself compete in a 3-day competition of pseudo sports.  Events are pool, air hockey, ping pong, darts, bags, foosball, croquet, HORSE, bowling, and mini golf.  With the exception of the last 4, everything is head to head, double elimination bracket style.  It's the greatest weekend of the year.  16 guys get together and grill out, drink, and talk trash.  Winner gets his name engraved in a 40oz. beer mug, gets the mug for a year, and endless pride and bragging rights.  My first season in HD, the first time I played my buddy  in conference play was this particular weekend.  So I decided to buy a shirt and taunt him all day the day before our game, even though his team was far better than mine.  Turns out, he he had the same idea, bought his team's shirt, and was wearing it as well.  Our other friends knew about the game and found it pretty comical when we both showed up wearing our respective apparel.

As for who won the game...I was up 6 with :30 to play, but missed something like 6 straight FTs and lost by one.  Just gave my buddy more trash talking ammo for the weekend.  Looking back, it's probably also worth noting I followed in Wittenberg's footsteps.  Solid lead going into the last event (mini golf), only to crumble and choke the victory away.  Sad face.

Posted by darnoc29099 on 10/25/2012 12:42:00 PM (view original):
I'm guilty of buying a Wittenberg shirt (my first team), but the background story is far more interesting.  My buddy got me to start playing HD, so I joined his conference.  Every year, my buddy, 14 of our good friends, and myself compete in a 3-day competition of pseudo sports.  Events are pool, air hockey, ping pong, darts, bags, foosball, croquet, HORSE, bowling, and mini golf.  With the exception of the last 4, everything is head to head, double elimination bracket style.  It's the greatest weekend of the year.  16 guys get together and grill out, drink, and talk trash.  Winner gets his name engraved in a 40oz. beer mug, gets the mug for a year, and endless pride and bragging rights.  My first season in HD, the first time I played my buddy  in conference play was this particular weekend.  So I decided to buy a shirt and taunt him all day the day before our game, even though his team was far better than mine.  Turns out, he he had the same idea, bought his team's shirt, and was wearing it as well.  Our other friends knew about the game and found it pretty comical when we both showed up wearing our respective apparel.

As for who won the game...I was up 6 with :30 to play, but missed something like 6 straight FTs and lost by one.  Just gave my buddy more trash talking ammo for the weekend.  Looking back, it's probably also worth noting I followed in Wittenberg's footsteps.  Solid lead going into the last event (mini golf), only to crumble and choke the victory away.  Sad face.

Great story!!!!   I'm assuming 'bags' is the same game that we call 'cornhole' in Kentucky

You got it, Al.  I think it's a regional thing.  I learned the game when I was at U of Illinois (in central Illinois), and they called it 'cornhole' as well.

I have never recruited anyone from my highschool. I have seen a few but they were D1 and i am in D3. I did however have a walkon one that came from my highschool. He never saw a minute on the court though.

I ran a search on all four worlds I'm currently in, and while years ago there were players from my HS, there are not any in those four worlds in the upcoming recruiting classes.