I have not been able to get to the blog for almost a few weeks now and I know, this is the way that Blogs die. I mean Macon is a football and basketball town and it's hard to figure out what I should be writing about right now. My last blog about my basketball brackets, fresh with three local sportscasters predictions, was my biggest bomb of the year. I mean I don't even think they read it . I thought it was actually somewhat comical , but I guess next time I will have to go for the legends of Macon. I bet if I got Frank Malloy and Marvin James, I would have been a big hit. But those guys,esp Frank are legends and Marvin is making a name for himself and heading towards legendary status. Wes, my friend, I can get readers writing about you, unless I have Frank too. See what you can do for me.
I was sorry to hear about my friend Jim Massey , get replaced at Mount de Sales as the head basketball coach . I have known Jim since his Monroe Academy days when he worked with my brother and he is a great coach. But one can be only as good as his talent, and while he has had talent, he has not had anyone who could give him a consistent outside threat. It's a three point shooting type of game now, and Jim was never lucky enough to have a good shooting team. I wish him well in whatever is next for him.
Now his replacement is another friend of mine who I have known since his, well his Monroe Academy days. Duane Hunter has been a winner at the high school level and I hope maybe he is blessed with a few shooters that will give him a chance to compete in a very tough basketball region.
I have been able to see several high school baseball game lately and I have not seen anyone as of yet that can compete with Tattnall Square. Joey Hiller is loaded, but he is always loaded because Tattnall does a better job of developing baseball talent than anyone in Macon. Cory Bartholomew, Nick DiPonzio, and the Simmons brothers are all college level talents, and I think they will have another great season and probably compete for a state championship. Everyone else in Macon is chasing them, but I really don't see anyone else challenging them.
One of my favorite guys to watch is Jackson Pyles from Stratford. This guy has already signed with Georgia College and everytime he pitches,Stratford has a chance to win. What makes him special is he battles all the time. He is not very big and I am guessing he couldn't weigh more than 160 (that's a reach) but he had 9 strikeouts against a very good hitting Tattnall team. Stratford also has some young arms, but I think they are probably a year or two away.
The closest thing we have to professional baseball is the Mercer Bears. I had the honor of watching them play twice over the weekend and they have a great team this year. Kyle Lewis is a guy who must be seen by Macon baseball fans and you better see him this year, because he will be a high draft pick this year. The guy is hitting 470 and he is a five tool guy. If that pitching staff continues to grow, Mercer will make the NCAA tournament yet again.
The Macon high school look will be different next year with Derrick Evans, Quintez Cephus and O'Showen Williams all going off to college, but we will have some knew names step up and be almost as good. But that's a tough group to replace. I know we have many more great players, but these three guys are two sport athletes who excel at both. Keep an eye on those college careers because they are that good.
I just heard on the way home that Fort Valley State has not offered Donald Pittman a contract, and MY first though is what else was this guy supposed to do . He put up a competitive football team on the field every single year, and he was doing it with a nickel and dime budget. I am sure that Fort Valley State will look for a younger guy, but it will be difficult to match Pittman's success on the shoestring budget that they have right now. I hope that Coach Pittman can enjoy his non football years because I always enjoyed the guy.
In closing I will urge everyone to get out and watch the excellent Mercer baseball team play this Tuesday and Wednesday, and if college baseball isn't your thing, get out and watch something.
And remember, Laura Conway, the trendsetter for Macon swimming, for the Macon Hall of Fame.
See you guys outside somewhere
Monday, March 28, 2016
Friday, March 18, 2016
tournament crazy time and the battles ahead
I will say that I have been doing a basketball pool for the NCAA tournament for the better part of my adult life.
Through the years I have dropped the things I have done to the NCAA and a masters pool. In my younger days I would have a pool for almost every sporting event. That could include Bowl Season, weekly football pick-ems, golf fantasy league, baseball fantasy league, football fantasy league, bowling fantasy league, and a few others that I am probably not remembering. Yes I was an addict.
But now all of that is down to two.
MY NCAA brackets challenge is a bit different this year. I actually was able to get some pseudo celebs to play. My 37 players include representatives from each of the news stations in town, and with me representing the Telegraph, I have three television stations and the newspaper in my pick-ems.
So lets talk about what they are saying.
The first one to say yes was channel 13's own Wes Blankenship. Wes has been mentioned in this blog before in my make believe golf tournament that ended up with Frank Malloy beating him up. Wes makes a return to my blog and I have a huge new respect for him. Why? Well Wes is a facebook friend and I have seen pictures of his future bride and right away I realized I was missing something. Wes is not the dork he looks like everyone. He cant be. Not to get the girl he is marrying. This young lady is beautiful. So Wes now has street cred in my book.
Wes waited until the last minute to turn in his picks but he went with Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Michigan State as his final four, with Oklahoma and Michigan State in the championship game, We will leave his champion for another day.
Tucker Sargent already had street cred with me, because even though he is 5'3 or so, he also has a totally beautiful wife. I am not sure how these guys get these girls except to tell them they are celebrities and then get married before the girls realize they really aren't.
Tucker went with Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Michigan State, which kind of shows that he is a safe type of person and not a true gambling man. But I like his picks.He has the same Oklahoma and Michigan State in the finals. TV Guys think alike right ?
That's what I thought until I got the picks of Luke Hetrick, the new guy in town. Wes was not happy to hear that Luke was in the contest. Wes said"He's a yankee John, he knows his basketball. He will beat all of us". First of all is being from Pittsburgh considered being a yankee ? I am not sure of that.
Luke is a wild man and he and his new partner Mason,(not that kind of partner pervs) have attacked every sporting event in the area. I saw them covering a youth league baseball practice the other day .
Luke goes a bit different with his picks. Miami, Baylor(uh oh) Xavier and Virginia are his four and yes he already lost Baylor. But he can bounce back right ? He has Miami and Virginia playing for the championship.
As for me, I go with Kansas, Oregon, North Carolina and Virginia with Oregon and NC playing for the crown.
As I sit here Michigan State is losing which would kill a lot of folks here. Make sure to follow the madness.
Through the years I have dropped the things I have done to the NCAA and a masters pool. In my younger days I would have a pool for almost every sporting event. That could include Bowl Season, weekly football pick-ems, golf fantasy league, baseball fantasy league, football fantasy league, bowling fantasy league, and a few others that I am probably not remembering. Yes I was an addict.
But now all of that is down to two.
MY NCAA brackets challenge is a bit different this year. I actually was able to get some pseudo celebs to play. My 37 players include representatives from each of the news stations in town, and with me representing the Telegraph, I have three television stations and the newspaper in my pick-ems.
So lets talk about what they are saying.
The first one to say yes was channel 13's own Wes Blankenship. Wes has been mentioned in this blog before in my make believe golf tournament that ended up with Frank Malloy beating him up. Wes makes a return to my blog and I have a huge new respect for him. Why? Well Wes is a facebook friend and I have seen pictures of his future bride and right away I realized I was missing something. Wes is not the dork he looks like everyone. He cant be. Not to get the girl he is marrying. This young lady is beautiful. So Wes now has street cred in my book.
Wes waited until the last minute to turn in his picks but he went with Kansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Michigan State as his final four, with Oklahoma and Michigan State in the championship game, We will leave his champion for another day.
Tucker Sargent already had street cred with me, because even though he is 5'3 or so, he also has a totally beautiful wife. I am not sure how these guys get these girls except to tell them they are celebrities and then get married before the girls realize they really aren't.
Tucker went with Kansas, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Michigan State, which kind of shows that he is a safe type of person and not a true gambling man. But I like his picks.He has the same Oklahoma and Michigan State in the finals. TV Guys think alike right ?
That's what I thought until I got the picks of Luke Hetrick, the new guy in town. Wes was not happy to hear that Luke was in the contest. Wes said"He's a yankee John, he knows his basketball. He will beat all of us". First of all is being from Pittsburgh considered being a yankee ? I am not sure of that.
Luke is a wild man and he and his new partner Mason,(not that kind of partner pervs) have attacked every sporting event in the area. I saw them covering a youth league baseball practice the other day .
Luke goes a bit different with his picks. Miami, Baylor(uh oh) Xavier and Virginia are his four and yes he already lost Baylor. But he can bounce back right ? He has Miami and Virginia playing for the championship.
As for me, I go with Kansas, Oregon, North Carolina and Virginia with Oregon and NC playing for the crown.
As I sit here Michigan State is losing which would kill a lot of folks here. Make sure to follow the madness.
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
NOT Happy this week
I admit it, I am not happy this week.
I have several reasons and I will discuss some of them in the blog. No, it isn't my wife, my job, my kids, my dog, my car or anything else like that.
It's what people say or do that just doesn't make any sense.
Look, I know that I am a small time blogger. I mean, I get 60 to 80 hits on most things, and I have hit up to 300 on some stories (thanks Haley) But sometimes I write just to get what I think on paper. Sometimes it matters that people read and agree, but sometimes it does not. So I am going to tell you a few things that I am not real happy about.
Lets talk about the Macon Coliseum debacle at the GHSA state basketball tournament. I was not present, but I have been to the tournament almost every year over the last six years. The place is no longer beautiful and needs some things fixed. The fact that the distances were screwed up for the shooters is shocking and someone does need to get fired for it. However, where else can hold 8,000 people and park that many cars in the state of Georgia ? Think about it. It narrows the playing field down to very few places. The errors that were made are fixable. The cleanliness of the building is fixable. The tape on the backboard is fixable. Poor wi-fi is, well, fixable. The court issues were fixable and should have been noticed by GHSA officials way before they were.
I feel sorry for Nicole Miranda and the other teams that lost, and may have lost because of the court distances. It is a travesty and like I stated, people should lose jobs over it. But none of the problems at the Coliseum can't be fixed.Some are even calling for the place to be torn down. Well I could not disagree more, and I suggest these people may just be looking to cause a bigger stir. The fact that the place needs some work is unquestioned, however when I watched the Globetrotters on Tuesday, I noticed that many of these issues have already been fixed.
In closing I will state that Macon is where I have spent the last 35 years of my life, and I will not just sit back and listen to people trash the people of Macon and our facilities.
I have seen some all state teams posted and any all state list that does not include Quintez Cephus on the first team and O'Showen Williams on the second team is not really worth my time. They were on the third best team in Class A and that warrants a showing. I love the fact that Justin Slocum made a first team all state, but Khavon Moore on a second team ? It's all good. I don't have to agree with all of the picks (Derrick Evans honorable mention) and I will always be partial to Middle Georgia guys.
My last rant of the day has to be for a swimmer who so deserves to be in the Macon Hall of Fame. Laura Conway,a Central and Swim Macon product, swam in two Olympic trials, was an all American at UGA, a national champion at UGA, and later swam for the United States in the World Games. I was saddened to see her overlooked for this years Hall. I am definitely not saying that everyone that got in is not worthy, but Laura Conway cannot be overlooked. The Hall currently has 0 swimmers in it. And I am not even going to talk about the coach who won 14 state championships, basically built two pools in Macon and sent 40 kids to swim in college.
Wow I feel better for venting out loud. Thanks for listening and reading
I have several reasons and I will discuss some of them in the blog. No, it isn't my wife, my job, my kids, my dog, my car or anything else like that.
It's what people say or do that just doesn't make any sense.
Look, I know that I am a small time blogger. I mean, I get 60 to 80 hits on most things, and I have hit up to 300 on some stories (thanks Haley) But sometimes I write just to get what I think on paper. Sometimes it matters that people read and agree, but sometimes it does not. So I am going to tell you a few things that I am not real happy about.
Lets talk about the Macon Coliseum debacle at the GHSA state basketball tournament. I was not present, but I have been to the tournament almost every year over the last six years. The place is no longer beautiful and needs some things fixed. The fact that the distances were screwed up for the shooters is shocking and someone does need to get fired for it. However, where else can hold 8,000 people and park that many cars in the state of Georgia ? Think about it. It narrows the playing field down to very few places. The errors that were made are fixable. The cleanliness of the building is fixable. The tape on the backboard is fixable. Poor wi-fi is, well, fixable. The court issues were fixable and should have been noticed by GHSA officials way before they were.
I feel sorry for Nicole Miranda and the other teams that lost, and may have lost because of the court distances. It is a travesty and like I stated, people should lose jobs over it. But none of the problems at the Coliseum can't be fixed.Some are even calling for the place to be torn down. Well I could not disagree more, and I suggest these people may just be looking to cause a bigger stir. The fact that the place needs some work is unquestioned, however when I watched the Globetrotters on Tuesday, I noticed that many of these issues have already been fixed.
In closing I will state that Macon is where I have spent the last 35 years of my life, and I will not just sit back and listen to people trash the people of Macon and our facilities.
I have seen some all state teams posted and any all state list that does not include Quintez Cephus on the first team and O'Showen Williams on the second team is not really worth my time. They were on the third best team in Class A and that warrants a showing. I love the fact that Justin Slocum made a first team all state, but Khavon Moore on a second team ? It's all good. I don't have to agree with all of the picks (Derrick Evans honorable mention) and I will always be partial to Middle Georgia guys.
My last rant of the day has to be for a swimmer who so deserves to be in the Macon Hall of Fame. Laura Conway,a Central and Swim Macon product, swam in two Olympic trials, was an all American at UGA, a national champion at UGA, and later swam for the United States in the World Games. I was saddened to see her overlooked for this years Hall. I am definitely not saying that everyone that got in is not worthy, but Laura Conway cannot be overlooked. The Hall currently has 0 swimmers in it. And I am not even going to talk about the coach who won 14 state championships, basically built two pools in Macon and sent 40 kids to swim in college.
Wow I feel better for venting out loud. Thanks for listening and reading
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