Monday, June 29, 2015

final round (maybe) of the blogspot.com classic

Three rounds were not enough to settle the BlogSpot.com Classic as three teams are tied for the lead at the end of the tournament. After consulting with all three teams, tournament commissioners @spennywilliams and @maconvolfan decided the only way to come up with a winner was to play one more round at the wonderful Golf Club of Macon course. So the teams of Jaime Kaplan and Kate Blankenship, Brent Thornton and Josh Grube, and Steven and Haley Gordon will tee it up at 7:30 am on Tuesday to determine a champion.
"We felt like we had to play a full round of golf to truly answer the question of who is the winner of this tournament, said @maconvolfan, who prefers to be known as @maconvolfan at all times. "We have had a great week of weather, and we have had so many interesting things that myself and @spennywilliams would give the fans what they wanted and that is one more round of golf."
Controversy was almost a bigger story than the golf on Sunday. The team of Wes Blankenship and Frank Malloy had issues despite playing a great final round of golf, shooting a 70 to miss the playoff by one stroke. But the team fell apart late as Blankenship missed two straight putts from less than three feet to cost  his team a victory. The usually mild mannered Malloy, who has been nicknamed "The Mayor" had seen enough of the young sportscasters antics, and had heated words to say to his partner, which led to a Happy Gilmore, Bob Barker type of brawl. Malloy knocked a kicking Blankenship down with a left cross, but Kate Blankenship, Wes Blankenships long lost sister, broke the fight up and stopped Malloy from seriously hurting Wes.
"I don't know, I guess I just boiled over, said the Mayor, who had four birdies on the day. "I like everyone and I like Wes, a little, but I have obviously forgotten more golf than he has ever known. We will be fine when we get back to the office.
Wes Blankenship issued this statement after the round was over. "Frank Malloy hit me hard and I didn't like it very much, but if it came from the mayor I must have needed it,"Blankenship said. "The man gave me my first job that didn't involve saying Can I take your order, so I have to respect him. I am sorry I let the team down, but hopefully I have gained some fans from playing in this event. "
There was some very hot and intense golf going on all through the day. The father son team of Steven and Haley Gordon came out of the middle of the pack to shoot a 71 to make it into the playoff. The Gordons, just off of a trip to Bora Bora birdied the first three holes to get in contention, but needed a birdie on number 18 to make it into the playoff. By this time Steven Gordon was clearly fatigued, but with the urging of her ex basketball coach Todd Whetsel, Haley Gordon used a 5-iron  to chip in for a three on number 18 to give them another round of golf.
"Coach Todd talked to me and told me it was just like basketball and that our team needed a three to tie," Gordon said. "If you think about it, a three is a three in any sport and when a three is needed a three must be had so when they said make a three I just made a three. Overall its just a number. I just thank god that I cant shoot twos very good. "
The team of Kaplan and Blankenship struggled early when they were penalized a stroke for  a rules violation. Evidently Blankenship saw Wes Blankenship on Friday at a restuarant and actually recognized him in public, which was a direct violation of rule 3 line 2 verse 6 paragraph 4 which states"NO one shall recognize Wes Blankenship ever. The team held on though to shoot a final round of 75 to make the playoff.
There was a question as to weather or not Kaplan would be able to play in the final round due to her celebrating the Wimbledon tennis tournament starting up this week. It has been rumored, that if she does not attend the event.  she holes up in her house with a bottle of Cuervo and plays WTA tennis on her xbox one. But Kaplan insisted the rumor is not true and she will be ready to go. "Not true, not true , not true, and I want all my Stratford friends to know that its not true, "said Kaplan, who admitted hobnobbing with Artis Gilmore and Andruw Jones last week. "I am a competitor and that's what I will do tomorrow. Kate and I will practice tomorrow at the Jaime Kaplan tennis center, which is named for me, and then we will talk to Russell Henley and Bubba Watson on the phone, and we will be ready to go."
Thornton and Grube fought their way into the final group with a 75, while tournament favorites Cater Pierce and Miles Pippin, both golf coaches were disqualified when Pippin drove a golf cart on to the first green.
The team of Jamie Dickey and Mark Farriba also played well shooting a 74, but bogeyed the last hole to fall out of contention. "No one will lose their jobs over this," a disappointed Farriba said after he had found that his team missed the playoff .It is disappointment but I pay Jamie to coach basketball and be my offensive coordinator not to win golf tournaments. We will just root for our tennis and soccer coaches to pull one out for Stratford, while our golf coaches sit and watch."

Friday, June 26, 2015

2nd round blogspot.com classic

Thank you to my faithful followers. Although they are few, I am determined to forge ahead and continue writing. I know that a lot of people are on vacation right now and that makes it more difficult to get people reading. Maybe I missed it with this topic, who knows, but we do have two more rounds of golf to play so here we go.
Cater Pierce is one of the most underrated athletes ever to come out of the Middle Georgia Area. He once scored 50 points in a high school basketball game, he was the quarterback of some pretty good football teams, and he was a proven overall athlete.
But now, he is just old and his athletic prowess is limited to golf.
The 64 year old Pierce showed that he still has some fire in the tank and he and what you can call his partner Miles Pippen shot a second round 76 to take a one stroke lead heading into the final round of the BlogSpot.com classic. Pierce used an odd recipe in a two man tournament, allowing Pippen to play only certain holes throughout the round, but the strategy seemed to work.
"Miles was so terrible in the first round that he was just making me mad and it was affecting my game, said Pierce, who was able to stay out of trouble on the course for the most part. "I decided that if I had a good tee shot, there was really no reason for him to hit. Thankfully I was able to keep the ball in play today and not need Miles too much. But when I needed him , he was able to help out."
Pippen was well rested going into the back nine at the treacherous Golf Club of Macon course. He only hit five balls on the front nine, and did not finish a hole. But with Pierce hitting the ball out of bounds on the par four 14th hole, which measures 420 yards, Pippen came through. He hit his best drive of the day, a 148 yard blast from his driver, and with over 270 yards to go, Pippen hit driver again, drilling a ground ball that would not quit rolling until it settled 30 yards in front of the green, Pippen chipped up using the ground ball method again, and  made a 12 foot putt for par. Amazingly, Pippen covered 420 yards with the ball never being air born.
"I have to play to my strength and that is keeping the ball close to the ground, "Pippen said."My ball seems to go all over the place when it goes in the air. I knew my team needed me and Cater let me rip, and things worked out. We know we, or he has to continue to play well to win the tournament, and I will be ready when my chance comes. "
The lowest round of the day was turned in by the husband and wife team of  April and Cass Cassell, who shot a 74 and moved into third place only two shots off the lead. April Cassell had the shot of the day on the par 3 number three, when she used a 6-iron from 140 yards to make birdie on the hole. The ball just missed going in off the tee shot. "For a second I thought I had made a hole in one, said Cassell, whose husband hit a 5-iron on the hole. "I got a great read from his shot since we used basically the same club, and was happy with the result.
Cass Cassell was strong on the course also with two birdies on the day, but the team was hindered when Cass Cassell hit a cow on number 16, which caused a double bogey. "I don't know where that cow came from,"Cass Cassell said. "I wish I could have been like that state farm commercial when they can make something disappear when they say the slogan. But the most important thing is the cows well being. I didn't mean to hurt it. God bless that milk cow. "
Frank Malloy and Wes Blankenship also had a nice comeback round. After shooting a disappointing 84 the first round, they shot 77 in the second round and that could have been lower, but Blankenship was penalized two strokes on the first hole for hitting from the womens tees."Hey I staked my claims about how I felt with the women hitting closer than me and I wanted to make a point, said the 24 year old Blankenship, who has yet to be recognized in any restaurant as a tv celebrity. "It happened again today with the FCA lady(Cassell) But we are in contention and that's really all we can ask for. "
The team of Jaime Kaplan and Kate Blankenship shot a second round of 80 and are one shot off the pace, while Brent Thornton and Josh Grube shot 79 and are tied for second. Jamie Dickey and Mark Farriba are lurking and only three shots off the lead after a second round 77, while the team of Steven and Haley Gordon shot 78 and are five strokes off the lead. Haley Gordon had two three's on the day.

LEADERBOARD
Cater Pierce-Miles Pippin          78-76- 154
Kaplan-Blankenship                   75-80  155
Thornton-Grube                          76-79  155
Cassell-Cassell                           82-74   156
Dickey-Farriba                           80-77   157
Gordon-Gordon                         81-78    159
Malloy-Blankenship                   84-77   161
Moore- Bryant                           81-81    162
Hiller-Whetsel                            84-79    163
Chambless-Oxford                     83-80    163
Hatcher-Jones                            85-80     165
Massey-Slocum                         86-82     168
Brown -Watts                            89-82     171
Walton-Trieste                           91-81     172

Monday, June 22, 2015

first round of the koknowsports blogspot.com classic

Good Morning faithful blog followers (all 35 of them)
Here is coverage the KOknowsports BlogSpot.com classic  featuring coaches from the Macon Area

Jaime Kaplan didn't know how lucky an injury to a partner could be..
When Terry Sowell injured her finger while typing a blog for Stratford Atheltic Director Mark Farriba, she never dreamed the cut would force her to miss the koknowsportsblogspot.com classic. But after several days of therapy, the cut would not heal and she had to bow out.
"We had to follow the proper paper cut protocol, said Stratford trainer Lance Hutchings. "Usually we can get an athlete ready to go in a few days, but this was a fairly severe paper cut that happened with Terry was picking up a piece of thick paper from Coach Fariba'a office to type. The force of the paper on skin caused a cut. It comes down to weather the athlete can play through the pain , and Terry didn't think she would be able to give her best."
Kaplan, the former WTA player who now coaches at Stratford, had to find a quick replacement, and after the governing officials of the tournament turned down Kaplans's first request(Russell Henley), she quickly turned to Kate Blankenship, the womens soccer coach at Stratford.
Little did she know that Blankenship has game.
Having the advantage of playing from the ladies tees,the team of Kaplan and Blankenship shot a first round 75 to grab a one stroke lead over the Westside team of Brent Thornton and Josh Grube. The team of Cater Pierce and Miles Pippin are in third, three strokes behind the leader.
"I was a little worried about my team when I lost Terry two days before the tournament, said Kaplan, who had three birdies on the day. "I mean, to be honest Terry is a terrible golfer, but she is so happy all the time that I thought we could get past her lack of golfing skills. But Kate brings my team to another level. She has ways to get the ball in the hole, because she is just an athlete."
Blankenship was playing golf for only the second time in her life. The ex college soccer player held her own though. Using only two clubs the entire day, (driver and putter) Blankenship got in a groove in the middle holes and put together three straight pars to keep her team in the lead.This was a key time for her team because Kaplan was on the phone with John Smoltz and missed playing two of the holes. "I think I got the hang of it"said Blankenship, who hit driver every shot on every hole until she got to the green."Golf is a lot like soccer. If I need to hit the ball as far as I can I swing hard. If I need a shorter shot I don't hit it as hard. Really I don't see what all the fussing is and why I would need all those clubs. This one worked fine. "
The first round was not all peaceful. Several teams did not understand why Kaplan and Blankenship got to hit from the women's tees, which are shorter. "I think it gives them an unfair advantage", said Wes Blankenship, who teamed with Frank Malloy for a first round of 84. "Those women were college and professional athletes and they had a big advantage because they were hitting from way closer than I was. How is that fair? The referees need to understand that.Just because I read sports on television doesn't mean I can hit it as long as real athletes."
Several other teams played well in the first of three rounds. The team of Jamie Dickey and Mark Farriba got off to a quick start, shooting even par on their first nine holes, but could not bring it home, shooting 8 over on the back nine. They were hindered by Dickey, who was wearing white shorts with a purple shirt and white shoes, to go with a bright blue belt. On the par four number 11, Dickey hit into the corner of the water hazard, and with his ball showing in the water, Dickey chose to play it. Things didn't work out well though, as Dickey could not get the ball out of the water, and ended up with very muddy shoes and shorts.
"I don't know how anyone could expect me to play well looking like that," said Dickey, who was denied a 30 minute timeout to change clothes. "We were on a good roll but the mud really got to me .Tomorrow I will definitely have a change of clothes in my bag."
His partner, Farriba was not pleased. "We play football in the mud all the time and it is something that Jamie has to overcome, said Farriba, who was the only player to wear football cleats instead of golf shoes. "I think being a head basketball coach has made him a little soft, but I know we will be ready to make a move tomorrow. "
LEADERBOARD
Kaplan-Blankenship (Stratford)         75
Thornton-Grube       (Westside)         76
Pierce-Pippin           (Stratford)          78
Dickey- Farriba       (Stratford)          80
Moore-Bryant          (FPD)                 81
Gordon -Gordon      (Tattnall)            81
Cassell-Cassell        (undecided)        82
Chambless-Oxford  (Covenant)         83
Hiller-Whetsel         (Tattnall)           84
Malloy-Blankenship (media)             84
Hatcher-Jones          (MDS)               85
Massey-Slocum       (MDS)               86
Brown-Watts           (Windsor)          89
Walton-Trieste        (FPD)                 91
Christian-Collins     (Rutland)           94
Dupree-Goolsby      (SW)                  98
Mullen-Grooms       (NE)                  101

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Can Coaches Golf (a tongue in cheek)

I was watching some fairly good golf this week at the Macon Middle Georgia Golf Championships and while I watched Stan Gann Jr. outduel Travis Steed I started day dreaming about topics to write about on my blog. I have been working very hard at my real job (yes I do have a real job) and then I had 2 stories to finish, but now, finally, I am ready to put some thoughts on paper, and introduce to you where my thoughts took me on a sunny beautiful day sunday at Idle Hour Golf Club. I will remind you that I followed the leaders for 18 holes so I had some down time to day dream.
So I introduce to you the first COM(Coaches of Macon) Classic, a four ball team that will consists of local coaches divided into two man teams to see what school has coaches that can actually golf.
Now this is a tough field to set and I am sure I will leave out some great golfers and people, but in order to keep it as simple on me as I can, I will only permit so many teams from so many schools.

THE TEAMS
MOUNT DE SALES
Jim Massey- I know he plays or used to play
Robert Slocum- I don't know if he plays or not
Synopsis of team- a fairly even keeled Slocum may have to be dodging flying clubs from the fired up Massey, who has a little bit of game, or at leas the did when I played with him 20 years ago. Slocum will have to help out or this team could be near the bottom.

Keith Hatcher
Iain Jones
synopsis of team- I think  that Coach Hatcher plays golf because I saw a Keith Hatcher listed in the Macon Middle Georgia- it may not have been him, but at least the name plays golf. Coach Iain may play but I am not sure. It doesn't matter though because these guys have great inspirational talking skills so I am sure they will be ready without any practice

FPD
Greg Moore
Denny Bryant
synopsis of team- Coach Moore looks like a country club guy and looks like a golfer. and could be in for the best dressed award (watch out Coach Dickey)but I am unsure of his game. The same can be said about Coach Bryant, I know baseball coaches usually have golf swings like baseball swings, so my hopes for this team are not great,

Michael Walton
Josh Trieste
Synopsis of team- No idea what they have when it comes to golf. Trieste coaches a sport that plays on a big field which should help him with measuring his shots on the course, while Coach Walton used to coach at Wesleyan College, which has a big field in front of the school with golf flags on it. He could be a sleeper

Stratford
Cater Pierce
Miles Pippin
synopsis of team- I know Cater Pierce has game, major game, major major game, and that is why I stuck him with a crappy partner. Coach Pippin is the assistant golf coach I think, which means he drives the bus to the tournaments. I have no idea if he has game or not. maybe he does, But I can see Cater getting mad about halfway through and telling Miles to not even hit a shot on this hole. "I got it MIles I got it"

Jamie Dickey
Mark Farriba(Fariba)
Synopsis of team-Coach Dickey comes out in a sylish Pink button dowb and some light blue shorts to go with his matching blue golf shoes and assures me he will accentuate the colrs even better for tomorrows second round. While he is on the course, before he tees off, he tweets a picture out of him and the ultra rugged Coach Fariba Farriba comes out in his Bill Bellichik sweatshirt and cleats. A very interesting team.

Tattnall Square
Joey Hiller
Todd Whetsel
Synopsis- I really have no idea if these guys can play or not but maybe I will be able to find out before they tee it up. Hiller has the baseball guy swing I am sure and he has kids that play travel ball so I doubt he plays much. Coach Whetsel will have to figure out what color sweater vest to pop out for golf, and probably wont worry too much about the game.


Steven Gordon
Haley Gordon (of course)
Synopsis-Look I am not stupid. The ghost writer story got 90 hits, and the last two things I did got 30. I obviously had to bring Haley back in the mix here, and I have her playing golf with her daddy, who is actually a softball coach. Dad Gordon works at Geico which means he has plenty of time to play golf, and Haley probably has never played before. But she is a 3 shooter, which in golf means a birdie on a par four, so that could be good.

Westside
Brent Thornton
Josh Grube
Synopsis- Brent can play, hes plays in tournament, Coach Grube is temperamental, which is whay I teamed him with Brent. Once again dodge the club when its in the air Brent.

Rutland
Ron Christian
George Collins
synopsis- two very athletic guys who have probably not spent too much time on the golf course. But they had to be in here cause I like both of them.

Southwest
Joe Dupree
Willie Goolsby
synopsis- NO idea
Northeast
Bruce Mullen
Kevin Grooms
synopsis- NO IDEA

Windsor
Tyler Brown
Coach Watts
synopsis- This was set up before coach Brown( who owes me) left Windsor, and Coach Watts decided to keep him as his partner. Tyler keeps wanting to hang around his Stratford people. Coach Watts gonna be body slamming

Covenant
Matt Chambliss
Chris Oxford
synopsis-These guys are glad to be asked to the dance and walk around making challenges to all the other schools in other sports. I am thinking that the Covenant golf team probably won state this year and surely these guys were coaching it. So watch out for them

Special exemption teams
Media Team
Frank Malloy
Wes Blankenship
synopsis- The mayor and one of his pupils. Frank Malloy is a legend in this town and I am sure he has talked his ways on to some golf courses through the years, while the young Wes Blankenship, who by the way is only 19 years old, will fit the Malloy team well with his squeaky clean persona. No cussing or yelling with this team

Jaime Kaplan
Terry Sowell
synopsis- anything I put on will include the Queen of tennis, and I am betting she has a little bit of a golf game. But I am afraid her partner may not be up to her standards. But I could be wrong

Cass Cassell
April Cassell
synopsis- had to do it for the conversation that will be going on when Cass misses a putt.

17 teams battling for the championship and I will write about the first round when I get 50 readers on this one. Help me out you guys,I am writing for your entertainment

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Here is my first ghost blogger. These are not my thoughts and I don't agree with all of them, but I have had several folks wanting to ghost blog.
It is amazing how many others have things to say but don't want to go public with it. Let me know what you  think
GHSA First World Problems (For Private School Parents)

I’m a Guest Blogger!  I’m a Ghost Blogger!  Definitely unqualified for this dubious honor and since I barely like sports this should be interesting.  Or not.  So here are my unsolicited but highly accurate (in my opinion) thoughts on all the parent chatter in macongaville regarding the “negative” side of private schools moving to the GHSA that parents didn’t see coming.

With the creation of the GOAL Scholarship, the “Big 4” Central GA private schools moving to GHSA and the always prevalent rumor mill surrounding recruiting and free rides for athletes; what has resulted is the growing unhappiness of parents whose children are now sitting the bench come game time and guess what??  They ain’t happy about it.  They pay 12 grand or so a year and many have done so since 4k.  “It isn’t fair” they say.  And maybe it’s not.  Or maybe the only thing about it that isn’t fair is when the athletes who have been allegedly recruited and scholarshipped up are not held to the same academic/moral/behavioral/honor code standards as the rest of the student body OR are provided new shoes, clothes, rides and phones to stay at a school.  And yes, that is happening at certain schools and is creating havoc and growing a very discontent parent mass.  What do the school heads say about it??  Double talk denial is what. What does the GHSA say about it?  They are supposedly investigating illegal shenanigans at the schools in question. But I digress.  What I have to say about those who aren’t happy about their kids now sitting the bench is this:  When they go off to UGA, Auburn, Tech or where ever, are you going to be bitter when they don’t get to play with the football team every Saturday??  I mean, your kids will be paying full tuition unless the gods of intelligence blessed your child with the smarts to get an academic scholarship while most of the football and basketball team will be enjoying a full ride or close to it.  So I ask you, what’s the diff??  Why is it ok in your minds for colleges to recruit and offer full scholarships to college athletes and not high school athletes??  Let’s face it.  We live in the Deep South where sports are everything and football is king.  Much to my chagrin, football sells a high school just like it sells a college (in the south).  And guess what?  The Atlanta private schools recruit and offer scholarships to athletes and have done so for years.  I know, I know the GHSA prohibits certain activities but there are plenty of legal ways a school can retain a student who possesses certain athletic prowess.  And hear this:  schools now a day have a sport or some other extracurricular activity to fit every student’s interests.  But if sports are your particular brand of vodka, then you always have travel teams, little league and church leagues your kids can play with.  Now; allow me to do a little flip-flop for a second as a point of clarification.  I mentioned early on that I barely like sports.  That is unless my kids are playing on the team.  You see, I am also a parent whose kid has not received nearly as much playing time as BG (before GHSA).  It does hurt a little when your child expresses frustration about this.  My response is to work harder.  Try harder.  If it’s worth having, it is worth working hard for.  In the end, they still may not play much but can hopefully feel good about their effort. 

Thank you, Ghost Writer Out.

Monday, June 8, 2015

my views on alot of subjects

It is sometimes difficult to think of topics that will gran an audience. I have pretty much figured out what will get  me 80 and what will get me 30, but I am trying to figure out is it better to get steady 30 that a now and then 80. I surely don't have a clue.
I am going to blog today about several things and some of my views might not be "the norm" Feel free to tell me your views.
## Travel Ball- To me Travel Ball for baseball is the worst thing that has ever happened to the youth of today. First of all I believe that most travel ball teams give dads an outlet to get to coach their children during the summer,and I don't really think that is good. I believe the parent role in the development of an athlete is to sit back and watch the coaches work with the kids. That is why we pay the coaches. The lower stages of travel ball is just a bunch of dads coaching a bunch of kids and I don't see much good in it. The wear and tear of  the body is not  made for year round baseball and that is why Tommy John surgery is way better known than Tommy John the pitcher. I am not saying that all dads are overbearing and don't know the game. Some of them do. But unfortunately they don't always know what's best for their kid. I am a living example of that because I had my kid tell me if I went to one more practice that he was going to quit. I never went to another practice and they kept going to college careers. Parent need to make sure their child loves the sport, because if they don't , they will quit sooner or later.
## Braves baseball- I saw a Pirates pitcher drill Freddie Freeman and Andrelton Simmons and then try and hit Jace Peterson, and virtually nothing was done about it. Gerritt Cole came up twice and Alex Wood didn't put a ball near him. Finally an inning later,a reliever threw a pitch behind McCutcheon, but in my view this is too little too late. The man needed to hit a kneecap. The Braves want to be aggressive and this was the chance for them not to be bullied. They failed and I blame the boss man for all of it. They are a better team than the record.
##Lebron James is no Michael Jordan. - I know that  the CAVS won last night but I saw Lebron have a chance to end the game in regulation and failed to finish at the rim. Michael finishes that and the game is over. Golden State wins that series in six games.
##I am ready for high school football
## Interesting stuff done today on Hayley Tierce from HOCO and Sabrina Doucette from Perry High heading to the GACA All Star game. Both of them played for world champion little league teams. It would be interesting to know where all this little leaguers ended up.
## Its a great sports TV night with the USA women playing at 6:30 and the Braves playing SanDiego tonight. BJ Upton makes his debut tonight. God how I hate that man

Have a good week and encourage readers to come to this blog please

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

time for a thank you list

I have been blogging a little over four months now and I would say I have had some success with it. I have had 4200 hits so I cant be too disappointed with that. But my last story only has 17 hits, which is way lower than I expected. But I have learned not to expect anything.
I am hoping that the blog takes off big time, and summer months could be difficult because I cater to a high school audience and high school is slow. But I will continue to find things to write on. I have already had two people ask me to "ghost" blog and one of those is coming up. I thank you for your support and feel free to tell me what you want to read.
Now my thank you list (with an attempt at humor added)
@macon_volfan- the first person who actually commented on my blog in a public place. He came up to me at a soccer game and asked why I never finished the battle of Macon basketball tournament. I kindly told him that at the end, I felt like I was writing for three people, so I didn't see the importance. I guess he was one of the three, and he urged me to finish it, (I have a fan ) :)
@spennywilliams- came up to me at the state soccer tournament at mercer and introduced himself to me and said that he enjoyed my blog and he had also wanted me to finish the battle of Macon. Imagine the odds of meeting two out of the three people that were reading those things. Anyway I greatly appreciate anyone who retweets my blog, because I am sure some of the friends might read it. I guess that is how I grow it . This guy is a Mercer student who went to Stratford, I think and I am glad I got to meet him.
@jamiedickey- retweets everything I put on here. Sometimes he will make comments, which tells me I wrote something good, and sometimes he just favorites and retweets it, which means it probably was not so good. But the effort is what counts. I am hoping that he can teach other coaches(FAR FARRIBA)  how to also retweet. But thank you so much for following my blog.
I have had several people text me and want me to blog on them which I think is kind of cool, but you have to tell me what you want  me to talk about. I mean my topics are way out there sometime. I have a anonymous complainer who hates me blogging on Stratford all the time: well give me something interesting to write on and I will. I am always digging for topics.

Random thoughts to close in my opinion
Who is the one coach in every sport that I would want coaching the biggest game of the year


Baseball- Joey Hiller- Tattnall Square- a no brainer at this time
Softball- Jeff Treadway- a no brainer at this time
Boys basketball- Andre Taylor- edges out a few young guys
Girls Basketball- Johnny Dixon- edges out a few older guys
Football- Barney Hester- still the best
Boys Soccer- Iain Jones- Ian Hayley gets consideration
Girls Soccer- Josh Trieste- Kate Blankenship  getting close
Tennis- Queen Jaime- duh
Swimming - Me- duh
I love feedback and I love retweets

Monday, June 1, 2015

Observations from the weekend

I observed a lot actually, some from the comforts of a lawn chair in Monticello, and others from the comfort of my couch, and some places even in between
So in honor of David Lettermans retirement about two weeks ago, here are my top 10 observations from the weekend.
10- I don't know who half of the tennis players are in the French Open. I know the big names and I know the professionals that play in Macon, but the rest of em I have no clue about. Tennis seems to be all about pure power now. I don't think you have many 5'5 female players or 5'10 male players. Its the people who can hit the ball hard and win the points fast. No Chris Evert's or Jimmy Conners anymore

9-My pool is still cold and it was 88 degrees yesterday. We have a lot of tree cover for sure, but that was cold yesterday. The pool at our house is without a doubt the most unused part of the entire place. Sure the cats and dog will lean over and get a cool drink of water in the shallow end once in awhile, and my wife will sit outside BY the pool and read a book, but no one actually enters the water. Its been that way since we moved in the house. MY kids didn't even use it when they were young because they, to this day, see a pool as something to work in , not relax in. Those memories of CAMP KOSATER will never go away.

8-I watched a movie about a horse on Saturday. Mine That Bird, won the Kentucky Derby, congrats to him, but as far as horse movies went, this wasn't great. I kept waiting for the horse to break a leg or the jockey break a leg or something like that.

7-Hooters still has the best wings, even my daughter thinks so. But Monday morning is not so good after eating them. Back to healthy choices this week.

6- The Braves are a 500 baseball team this year, which is not too bad. I still like watching them play and they are at least entertaining this year. I want to see Bethancourt every day , and I want them to settle on some positions, but this team had a great weekend in San Francisco, winning 2 of 4, and Jace Peterson continues to look like the real deal.

5-My wife and I bought one of those vacuums for the pool that basically just vacuums the bottom and sides of the pool on its own while no one is watching. I just really don't get it. My wife seemed perfectly happy being out there with the pole in her hand vacuuming for hours. I feel like I just got her a housekeeper for real. She best not be complaining about anything.

4- What an effort Windsor gave this weekend against Piedmont in the GISA Class AA baseball championships. The effort was there but sometimes a team is just a bit too talented and that's what happened to Windsor. Piedmont was a little deeper on the mound, and that's why they ended up winning two games in a row.

3- Travis Cumbie walked 11 batters in the game and pitched into the seventh. What a super human effort that was. The guy walked five batters in one inning and survived the inning, because he basically told his coach, Tyler Brown, that he was staying in the game. He kept Windsor in the game and impressed me to no end because of the fight he had in him.

2-So now I am on the Stratford payroll according to one of my many many readers/ While it is true that I have a new  car that is a convertible, a new pool vacuum, a 19 year old that's heading to Spain for  a siesta in 27 days, a son that just graduated from a private college, a wife that drives a sports car, and a dog that eats special dog food, I assure you I am not on the Stratford payroll. Stratford people don't go to yard sales do they ? By the way , my kids went to good old Mount de Sales.

1. I will be doing a story on Tyler Brown, who is heading to Stratford :) this year to take over the baseball program. I think that will complete my list of Stratford coaches to interview. Look for it in the paper sometime this week, but I am not sure when it will run. Tyler is vacationing in the Caymans at this time and he emailed me saying I needed to talk to his agent and traveling secretary as to when he could talk to me. I will get it sometime this week though

00- Three weeks until my favorite former high school basketball player hits the beaches of Bora Bora. Someone please tell me, is that near Tybee Island ?

Have a great week everyone