Unusual Sports Spring

Let's face it this two week break right in the middle of the heart of spring sports has hurt every sport.  Yesterday the four County High Schools held a Nash County event and the sole purpose was to give the athletes a chance to get some competition before next week's Regional at Nash Central in track and field.

Rocky Mount swept both the boys and girls conference championships in track and field  two weeks ago and were heading towards the regional  with hopes of being able to qualify many athletes for the state event.  This two week layoff  has slowed their momentum but every Nash County athlete has lost that mo from two weeks away from the every afternoon routine at practice.

Northern Nash and Nash Central did not play their baseball game yesterday so they too are at least one game behind being on schedule to finish the baseball season next Saturday.

August first of last year Tom O'Brian the head football coach at N C State voiced his displeasure that Russell Wilson did not take part in any spring or summer football activities at N C State while off playing baseball. even two or three games into the season he kept saying words like not in football shape.  The warning signs were there that he was not going to let Russell Wilson do both this spring.

Yesterday Russell Wilson announced that we was leaving his one year of football eligibility at N C State and keep it in his pocket just in case this baseball thing doesn't work out.  Why would he do that?  If you look at his stats since he has been playing for the Asheville Tourist this spring will tell you why.

He is hitting a paltry 222 and is sharing the second base job with another player.  Baseball of all sports with the minor league system can sign a player to play in the minors just so they can develope.  They don't get paid all that much so if you have been hanging around A ball or AA for three or four years you are probably not going to advance much further.

Wilson was a spot starter while at State and never showed consistence hitting ability to be an everyday player.  Pro baseball will work with any player who has speed and tried to make him a ball player.  Thus far in the now full year of playing minor league ball Wilson doesn't seem that his hitting will ever get him to the AA level much less any higher.

Since State was tired of the practicing with one quarterback and when Wilson  showed up having to start all over with him the departing of the ways.  Tom O'Brien in just about every interview last fall said we are not doing this again next fall.  If Russell Wilson doesn't start hitting look about the middle of July that Wilson announces that he will play somewhere for one year in football and take his chances next year in the NFL draft.  That's probably where he should have already been at any way.

Baseball And Rain

Rain has done it again yesterday as the Northern Nash and Nash Central game was washed out.  They will try again tonight at Nash Central.

Northern Nash has tighten the screws on Rocky Mount and second place as they beat Southern Nash on Tuesday by a 6-3 score.  This makes the Knights 4-3 in conference while Rocky Mount is 4-2.  Nash Central stands at 3-3 and you would assume that the loser falls by the wayside but with Rocky Mount still having four games to play over seven days starting Tuesday four losses could easily get second in the league.

Last night the One Voice Talent Show was postponed due to Nash County Schools getting out early because of weather concerns.  I'll let you know when it is rescheduled.

According to the Nashville Graphics Northern Nash Senior Tavis Richardson has signed  to wrestle at Gardner Webb. Tavis was on the Stretchlon Sports Show earlier this year when we featured all the local wrestlers who made All State.

We now know the location for the American Legion tryouts that we told you about last week.  North Carolina Wesleyan College will be the site at 3.00pm on May 14 and 15.  Be prepared to run a sixty yard sprint, as well as fielding, throwing, batting and pitching.  You will need to bring your own gear for what ever position you plan on trying out for.  The age limit is you can not turn 19 before or on January1, 2011.

This Sunday night on the Stretchlon Sports Show we will be featuring the All Area Players of the Year from the Rocky Mount Telegram's winter sports.  If you saw the paper last week when they featured basketball, wrestling and swimming.  Only one athlete will not be able to appear and that is Montrezl Harrell the boys basketball player.  He is playing basketball this weekend in Myrtle Beach and will not be home in time to appear.  I wish I was with him. 

Don't forget the Nash County Relay for Life Tonight at the Rocky Mount Athletic Complex.  It starts at 6.00pm

Panthers Need A Safe Pick

Tonight is the NFL draft and the Carolina Panthers are on the clock as they will have the first pick in this years draft.  They are not getting  the first pick because of some slick trade that they made but because of futility on the football field in 2010.

The Panthers have gone down hill the last three or four years ever since they gave Jake Delahomme a multi year contract and his arm basically fell off.  That game where he threw five interceptions  on national TV  when at the time the Panthers were like 12-2 on the season has been up hill ever since.

Tonight it seems as if the tenth pick may be just as good as the first pick.  This makes this year not a very good year to have the top pick.  Who ever they pick will get more money than any other in the top ten but will not be any better.  Because it has been such a uphill battle for the Panthers the past few years they can not afford to put the franchise into a five year tail spin if they miss completely on the pick.  They are already spinning and can't afford another five added to the spin.

Who should they pick?  Experts say Cam Newton is the best and yet he is not even rated as the best quarterback in the draft.  Those ESPN guys rate him as the 13th or 14th best player.  Why then if he is rated that low would anybody even consider him as #1 pick?

There are too many red flags surrounding him.  The NFL is a passing league.  They want a quarterback that stays in the pocket and delivers thirty yards down the field.  Newton is  a run first if nobody is open.  The NFL receivers don't come open as soon as they cross the line of scrimmage but quarterbacks have to sit in the pocket and wait.

The reason there are only a few great ones that do that is it takes a lot of mental toughness to sit with your back to a freight train barrelling at you.  There are exceptions such as Michael Vick but there are very few.

The biggest gripe I have against Newton is he is very talented and already he has told the world that he was going to be a head liner.  He thinks his talent will get him by.  If you have seen any of this ESPN Gruden quarterback show the last few weeks when John Gruden has had one on one sessions with the top quarterbacks in the NFL draft, Newton could not even call out a play.

The Panthers need to make a safe move with a player who can play right away.  They don't need a quarterback who is going to be a backup for three years and learn from the #1.  Who is the Panthers #1 quarterback so who is going to teach him.

The state that the Panther franchise is at this moment I say stay away from Cam Newton and pick a defensive player or wide receiver.  They just can not afford a high price player that sits and may never get on the field.  They have got to get their monies worth with this pick. 

Those that say they should trade the pick.  Who wants the first pick.  This draft may be full of future Hall Of Famers but they are so close together in ability that it is hard to see any one better than the other.  That tells me that this no not the draft to have the first pick.

Who ever they draft needs to play opening day.

Try Again Today

Say it ain't so:   Gryphon Baseball washed out again.  Now listen to this, the game will not be made up until the Monday of playoff week.  Rocky Mount already has three games next week Southern Nash  next Tuesday , Northern Nash  on Thursday at Hunt on that Saturday afternoon and then Monday May 9th they will finish at home with Fike.  The playoffs start May 12th



The Rocky Mount Gryphons will try once again today to play their conference game with Fike at 5.00pm weather permitting.  This game has now  been postponed twice because of rain and with Fike.

This is a must win game for Rocky Mount in their quest to insure a spot in the playoffs or even better a home game in the first round.  Fike is in a must win every game until the end and see how everyone else does before they can think about making the playoffs at all.  The last time these two met at Fike Benton Moss set the Gryphon game record of 20 strikeouts in a game in Rocky Mount's 8-0 victory over Fike

Thursday night at the auditorium at Rocky Mount High School they will be having the second annual "One Voice Talent Show.This years theme is Hope For  A Cure.  All funds raised from the event will go to the Pediatric and Oncology Department at UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill.  There is a $5 admission and the event this year is in honor of Holly Fryer a Junior at RMHS who last summer spent  time there  in Chapel Hill while undergoing cancer treatments.

The students are selling tee-shirts with the logo Hope For A Cure for $12.00.  The event starts at 7.00pm Thursday night and should last until about 9.30.  Come enjoy Gryphon Talent on display for a worthy cause.

Sunday night on the Stretchlon Sports show we will be having the sports department from the Rocky Mount Telegram on talking about their All Area Players of the year from winter sports.  Two of the players are from Edgecombe County and with Edgecombe County out for Easter break this week we are having a difficult time arranging for their appearance on the show.

Northern Nash and Southern Nash were also rained out last night in baseball.  They will try again tonight at 7.00pm to make that game up.  Northern plays Thursday against Nash Central so if tonight becomes a rainout Friday would be as early as possible to make it up.

NCAA Growls

 A streak of lightening  went across the sky about 6.27pm tonight while both teams were warming up.  A mandatory 30 minute wait  while the lightening cleared out brought on a steady drizzle of rain which has caused the second postponement of the Fike-Rocky Mount baseball game.  They will try again Wednesday at 5.00pm at Gryphon Stadium.



Yesterday the NCAA Infractions committee came down hard on Ohio State Football coach Jim Tressel.  Those of you that have been away for six months or so, Ohio State announced just before the bowl game this year that five players have sold free gear that they receive as being a football player.  Once pressed on the issue coach Tressel informed the world he had known about the infractions well before the football season started but he didn't know who to tell.

Now do you think that I think that the man in charge of maybe the biggest football program in the country didn't know what to do when he was told he had players breaking NCAA rules.  If that is the case then Ohio State needed to fire him immediately because they had a blind man driving the bus.

The NCAA yesterday plainly says that Tressel lied to them during their investigation.  Look no further than Bruce Pearl as to what the NCAA expects to happen.  Fire the coach or we will nail you to the wall on infractions.  Even firing Tressel The Ohio State will probably have to forfeit last years wins and bowl game.

Tressel has lived off the mold  of he was clean as a whistle.  Yet, when confronted with possible cheating he swept it under the rug hoping it would pass but it did not.  My Grand Ma use to say this all the time : If you tell the truth the first time you never have to change your story".

How can anyone who supports Ohio State defend this action? How can Tressel walk into my house and tell me that he will teach my son the correct way to live life?  He is labeled a cheater from here to eternity.  Yes everyone makes mistakes and we must pay for them.  Jim Tressel needs to pay for his by removing himself as head coach and Ohio State and try to get a division 2 or 3 job.

Now the latest on Carolina:  I don't know whether you saw ESPN's Between the lines segment Sunday or not but they interviewed former Carolina player Marvin Austin.  The interview started out  how you have made it not having football for a year.  Somewhere in the middle of the interview Austin started a forest fire that can't do anything but bring sanctions on UNC.  The bottom line he confessed to being paid to play for UNC.

It seems that college sports is in shambles, every which way you turn somebody is cheating and getting kick backs.  What alternative do we have?  Do away with scholarships all together.  If we went totally no funding  for ahtletes you play for the enjoyment there would still be the $100 handshake. 

We live in a world today it's me first, at least the NCAA is trying to control it to some degree maybe not very well but there is some control and like the highway patrol they catch some body every now and then.  Which makes some of us slow down for a while.

Down The Stretch They Come

There are two weeks left in the baseball regular season.  Wilson County is out this week for Easter so there is no action going on this week in conference play between Nash and Wilson County schools except for Tuesday.

Rocky Mount and Fike had a Friday makeup game rained out a couple of weeks ago.  They were not able to make it up any other time other than this Tuesday night.  Both were off because of this crazy two week Easter break.  This will be the only game this week for the Gryphons.

Expect to see the entire pitching staff get work in this one.  Coach Kent Cox needs a win against Fike so I suspect Benton Moss will get the start.  How far he goes will be determined by the score.  If the Gryphons get control of this one early you may see several pitchers get an inning in order that they not be rusty when Rocky Mount starts the three game final week next week.

 Northern has the  better finishing schedule. They play twice this week against Southern Nash and Nash Central.  The Thursday game with Nash Central will have plenty of  seedings for  the playoff implications.  The top two in the Big East are guaranteed a first round playoff game while 3rd and 4th will be on the road during their entire run until the regional should anyone last that long. 

Between Rocky Mount , Northern and Nash Central they should finish in some order 2/3/4 unless Hunt has a total collapse.  That would mean only one of the Nash County schools would get a home game in the playoffs while the others would start out on the road.

This spring the spring sports have had to do what winter sports go through every year when school is out two weeks for Christmas Break.  This spring break deal coming so close to the end of regular season it is not very good for any one wanting to have a rhythm going into the playoffs.

"Telegram" Announces All Area Teams

This past week the Rocky Mount Telegram has been displaying the winter sports all area team.  Since Wednesday they have covered swimming, wrestling and basketball.

One sport which is hard to follow is swimming.  There are no rosters that when the swimmers steps up on the starting block you can look for his number.  Just as soon as one event ends another starts and even doing it as fast as possible it take three hours for one afternoon.

This year Tarboro's Chandler Harris and Rocky Mount's Zach Vestal are the area's best swimmers

They say  that football players wrestle in the winter to stay in shape  for football.  Being a senior he no longer needed to stay in shape.Northern Nash's T J Marshall was a little bit better than staying in shape. He went through the entire regular season and did not lose a match.  He made it through the regional still undefeated.  T J lost for the first time all year in the state tournament.  That is good enough to make any player the wrestler of the year and the Telegram  has T J as Area Wrestler of the year.

Turning to basketball  Rocky Mount's J'Kyra Brown was voted area girls player of the year.  Brown just a sophomore will have scouts hounding her the next two seasons wanting her to come play for me.  When she had to she could play all five positions for Rocky Mount but colleges will be looking at her for shooting guard.

There will not be a host of scouts showing up for every game at North Edgecombe next year as the Telegram boys player of the year has already declared for Virginia Tech.  Junior Montrezl Harrell  is six feet seven inches tall but his bulk makes him look bigger.  You can bet there are not many teams at any level that want to play North Edgecombe next year.

This week  we will be trying to line up Jesse Nunnery and the sports gang at the paper and  will be shooting to have a live show on the Stretchlon Sports Show next Sunday night with the All Area team. 

Hope it happens!