gal...I would agree with your statement 100%. What my issue is with the same posters year after year for the last decade taking what I consider to be cheap shots at certain schools. There is no "denial" on my part, I understand the frustrations of many posters with the system, and I would be right there with them if the proverbial shoe was on the other foot.
I've had to purchase 7 state rings for my daughters and not once have I ever gloated about it nor have you ever seen any Bishop fan on this site gloat. We understand that we have an advantage and that the playing field is not even. Every single Bishop fan on this site has said the same thing for years.
Our conference, the NW1A is more or less at the epicenter of this issue because we have the two most prominent "advantaged" schools, Bishop and WS Prep. We also have the public school, Mt. Airy, that is incredibly "advantaged" because of how they attract athletes from other districts and from Virginia. Heck, the local school that has the most right to complain is East Surry. Had Bishop not been in the picture they would have a bunch more banners in their gym. Even though they are in the same county as Mt. Airy their transfer rules are significantly more stringent than Mt. Airy and it has hurt them in many sports for years.
My issue and many other's issue from this area is when Mt. Airy posters, photo, buzz/bearman come on here and cheap shot Bishop and/or WS Prep knowing that there is not a level playing field for them either as many of their football and basketball players are playing out of district. It is all too common in this part of the state and has always been "looked the other way" because it was the old time classic public schools. When a Starmount coach gets the best player in Starmount history from Puerto Rico to live with them for 4 years and lead them to state championship games not a big deal, just business as usual in this part of the state. There has never been a level playing field long before Bishop and Prep came into the picture. The idea that many public schools, at least in this neck of the woods, are "boundary schools" is a complete fallacy.
Bishop was involved with drafting the proposed amendment to move our girls team (and also our golf team) up in classification. No Bishop parent or fan had any issue whatsoever with that arrangement, it made a lot of sense. That same amendment would have also move up WS Prep boys to 2A and if they won 2A they would move up to 3A. That amendment was not passed but posters have come on here an erroneously said that it would have passed except schools just didn't vote. That is simply false. Other posters have said it is about the money which escapes me completely.
Even though my kids are out of school I never miss a game, home or away. If Bishop is not playing I am in WS, Pilot Mountain or Mt. Airy watching games. All of these schools have great kids and great fans and even with the frustrations I have also been treated kindly. Bottom line, Bishop does not recruit, we do not give scholarships, the great majority of our players as shown on our website are Catholic kids not kids from wherever, and those who are not are willing to pay tuition and spend every day in Catholic religion classes and attend Catholic masses. Not a lot of non-Catholic parents can/will do that Several very good non-Catholic players initially came to Bishop and left because of the cost. Those players are also shown on the website.That all being said, there is no doubt that Bishop has built in advantages.