Big East/New-6 Does It Again.

I know we can argue about how accurate this statement is until the gulf oil well freezes over but for the fourth year in a row the Big East will have a baseball team playing in the Eastern finals in the State 3-A playoffs.

I know the Big East is in it's first year but lets be realistic, all the Big East is, is the New-6 renamed with one new team. That one new team has made it to the Eastern finals as they beat Eastern Wayne Tuesday night 7-3 to advance to the two out of three Thursday where they will play Chapel Hill who beat Western Alamance 4-1.

Nice Turnout last Saturday for the Nash County legion team. I hear 28 were there including some from Tarboro who are eligible to play for Nash County since Tarboro will not field a team this year.

Members of the media are upset that the NFL awarded New York the Super Bowl in 2014. Seems New York is too cold for those who would rather be in 80 degree Florida in February. Just goes to show you the media are not really working people are they?

Let Me see if I can figure this ACC tournament out. The ACC coaches changed the format because they were running out of pitching by the championship game when it was a double elimination tournament. Now all teams play three games and the two with the best record in their bracket plays a fourth game for the championship. Name one team that has enough pitching to hold another to less than ten runs by the fourth game.

If I understand this right, If State beats Clemson Wednesday night then Georgia Tech Beats Clemson and State beats Georgia Tech then State get to the championship even before they play their third game Saturday against Virginia Tech.

If State loses to Clemson Wednesday and Clemson beat Georgia Tech Thursday, State is eliminated even before they play their Friday game. Can someone explain to me how this system is better?

Sure seems to me if all twelve teams play a single elimination tournament at least everyone is still alive while they win. Think about this, Start the tournament on a Monday and play three days of double headers. Thursday all six winner from the first three days play a triple header. By Friday there are three teams left. The three remaining teams have a drawing for a bye. The other two teams play Friday night with the winner playing the team that got the bye on Saturday for the championship.

Only one team played four games and two played three. everybody else went home as they lost. it sure would make it more interesting than this mess they have now.

This and That

We have had a lot going on in the past few weeks and sometimes I want to comment on an item but due to space run out of time.

Ralph Sampson’s Son Robert has signed to play basketball at ECU. My take on this is I bet Terry Holland having coach Ralph at Virginia was a big reason this happened. 6’8” tall I don’t think Robert had that many offers.

The Associated Press did a revote on defensive player of the year. Brian Cushing had won the award but during the season had been hit with a four game suspension which he appealed. The appeals process ended when the NFL announced a couple of months ago that he will sit four games next year over what happen last year.

The Associated Press revote Cushing still won. My question is, if they voted to take the award away because he cheated why was any one allowed to vote for him the second time? It just goes to show that we all don’t care how you got good, just be good and we will forgive anything. If you are just a Joe Smo we will throw you under the bus.

Who is the Associated Press any how? When I first got into the business in the early 70’s everyone had an Associated Press machine where you read the news from. Everyone who voted for the award was from ESPN, CBS, NBC, and FOX. Does any body know an Associated Press person these days? I thought they went out of business.

I was told a long time ago that we all need a kick in the butt every now and then to keep us on the right path. The Florida Marlins shortstop Hadley Ramirez got a kick after not hustling after a loose ball in which he had booted. Ramirez mouth got him into deeper trouble but a couple of old Hall Of Famers had personal talks with Ramirez. Tony Perez and Andre Dawson. They both told him because of his ability he had to do more in showing examples to others.

I watched the Carolina softball team in the regional in Washington State over the weekend. I wish they would do something to give the batters an even chance. Pitchers especially really good ones dominate the game too much. Give me a 6-4-3 double play every so often. Carolina won one game while their pitcher was pitching a no hitter but Carolina had not scored either.

What girls softball needs is a good 8-7 game on a regular basis.

I heard the other day from an unofficial source that Rose High School athletic gas bill now that they play in the 4-A league with the Wilmington schools had gone up 50% from $14,000 a year in 2009 to $21,000 this school year. This increase is due to more miles driven to get to conference games over the price of gas going up.

Sly old Ron Vincent beat New Hanover in round three in Wilmington and now returns to Wilmington in round four. Both Hunt and Rose are still alive in their respective playoffs. Rocky Mount was 4-0 against both these teams this year but the equipment is packed up and put a way and they are still playing.