Peppers The NBA And Soccer

When the news broke that Julius Peppers wanted to be traded a couple of months ago I questioned what in the world was Peppers thinking. Well all is well in Panther land now as Peppers has signed a one year deal worth $16 million. Julius Peppers will be a Carolina Panther for at least one more year.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are doing everything they can to convince LeBron James that he needs to stay in Cleveland. Next season is Lebron's last year of his contract and rumors are flying that the New York Knicks will land him next year. As long as the Knicks have the ownership they have now, why would anybody want to play for the Knicks? Money?

Despite the Shaq trade going to Cleveland, I think the best move of the week was Orlando landing Vince Carter. Orlando gave up a lot but they desperately need a person that can score when you need to score.

Eight players with North Carolina ties were drafted Thursday in the NBA Draft. The Charlotte Bobcats went for Gerald Henderson of Duke. Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player in NBA history. His decision making on the quality of other players he's strictly New York Knick management material.

I guess having a father who played in the NBA helped both Stephan Curry and Gerald Henderson. neither is ready for the NBA and I don't see where either will ever be as good as their dads.

I don't care what sport you are when ever you draft a player as a 1st round pick you should be expecting that those players will play for you ten years or more. i think this years draft demonstrates why there are so many foreigners are being drafted. American players come to the NBA too early, they are not fundamentally ready as well their skills are not developed yet.

Foreign players by the time the NBA scouts watch them they are developed, having good shooting skills are are far more developed than American players. Even though foreign players are not athletic generally they are far more superior in fundamentals.

There are a lot of people who don't understand why soccer has not taken off in the United States. I think the answer is simple. We have never had a generation of mothers and fathers that played soccer.

I grew up in football, basketball, and baseball so when my kids played soccer they were coached by the only guy who had a kid on the field that had ever played soccer. No longer is soccer a game where the guy coaching the team has no idea which end of the ball you kick.

Sunday American soccer can take a 1980 step like the hockey team had in the 1980 Olympics. I don't even know the name of the tournament that they are in now but already they have been beaten by Brazil 3-nil.

You know in 1980 before the Olympics the Russians beat the USA 8-0. If somehow the USA beats Brazil Sunday soccer just might be the most popular sport in America in twenty years.

You say it will never happen. Who would have thought the largest auto company in America is Nissan twenty years ago.

Post 58 Clinches Title

Coleman Pitt Post 58 needed tonight's win to take home first place in eastern division of American Legion Baseball. It took no more than the third batter of the game to get the ball rolling.

Xavier Macklin who has spent the last month playing for the Wilson Tobs joined Post 58 today which is the last day until playoff rosters are turned in. Macklin first at bat he sent a line drive down the left field line which was ruled fair and a home run gave post 58 a 2-0 lead over Tarboro Post 316. Leading off the third inning Macklin launched a drive that cleared the scoreboard at Northern Nash. Batting again in the third X hit a majestic fly ball high and deep in the left center gap that was caught by the center fielder leaning on the wall.

Tarboro pitching walked 11 batters and Post 316 defense committed six errors. This put ducks on the pond every inning and Coleman Pitt Post 58 slams Tarboro Post 316 26-1 in seven innings.

Macklin went three for five with four RBI's. Ben Fish was 2-4 with a homer and three RBI's and reach base six times.. Tyler Clark had two hits and a RBI. Mike Smith did not play the first half of the game but still collected two singles in four at bats. Gabe Brown had a triple and a single with a run batted in. Mike Williams had only one hit but it left the park giving him two rbi's. Collins Cuthrell,and Alex Pearce had singles.

Tonight closes out the regular season for Post 58. They finish at 8-2 overall and 7-1 in division play. Having started late due to the Northern Nash playoff run and coach Matt Bryan assisting coaching Eastern Wayne in the State championships Post 58 made their opposition pay as they tried to score runs for the games they didn't play. Post 58 scored 129 run in eight division games a whopping 16.2 runs per game. In the ten regular season games Coleman Pitt hit twenty home runs.

Brandon Denton pitched the first three innings by design as coach Matt Bryan had decided to give everyone a chance tonight to pitch an he almost did. Bill Clark pitched the fourth and fifth. T J Taylor the sixth and Alex Pearce got two outs in the seventh when Ben Fish came on to get the save HA HA. He struck out the only batter he face in pitching for the first time since he was in high school.

This is a really good Legion team that can go far in the playoffs. I would have no problem at all saying if this team had Tyler Joyner and Hobbs Johnson pitching they would be odds on favorites to win the state American Legion title.

Even without them they are going to go farther than any Post 58 team in quite a while. But when they finally lose out it will be because they don't have enough pitching against some team that is going to shut down our hitting.

Playoffs start Wednesday night at Northern Nash. It will be a two out of three first round.

Come watch this team play. They are fun to watch!

Legion Ball and NBA Draft Tonight

Tonight Coleman Pitt Post 58 American Legion team will go for the regular season title in the eastern division. A victory would give Post 58 home field advantage during the 1st round of the playoffs. The first round is a two out of three and if today all games were in the books we will start with Greenville Post 160. However that might change by weeks end.

Game time is 7.00pm at Northern Nash and Tarboro is the tonight’s opponent. Last week Post 58 beat Tarboro 28-3 at Tarboro.

1st round of the playoffs start July 1st at home and July 3rd will also be a home game if needed. The first round has to be finished by July 4th so hopefully no baseball on the fourth unless rain intercedes.

The second round is a three out of five would start July 6th.

Tonight is also the NBA Draft. Here are my thoughts on some of the locals.

Tyler Hansbrough- North Carolina… I don’t believe Tyler will ever be an all star in the NBA. I do think that fifteen years from now when he announces his retirement you will say. He was a good NBA player.

Ty Lawson- North Carolina… Ty is the mystery man in this draft. I doubt whether he will last any longer than his three year contract. Can’t play defense, too short.

Gerald Henderson- Duke.. I’m still trying to figure out why he is going pro early. Not a great shooter, not a great ball handler, Sounds like an NBA first rounder to me. Will play along time in Europe.

Courtney Fells- N C State… I think Fells has the NBA game. Maybe not an all star but a serviceable player. He may not be drafted but will make somebody’s team.

Wayne Ellington-North Carolina… Maybe best Carolina player for the NBA this year he will be an all star.

Danny Green-North Carolina… will probably start out in Europe But I think he will make it some day in the NBA.

Jeff Teague-Wake Forest… Is a super star waiting to happen in about three years? He is leaving two years early.

James Johnson Wake Forest…. His style is the NBA Style. Will be a very good NBA player for a long time.

Stephan Curry- Davidson…. There are guys cut out to be college players and some molded for the NBA. Great college player, but at six feet two inches he will need to be a point guard. Ball handling is not part of his game. He will be in the NBA at least for three years because he will be a high pick. He will get a lot of money for little results in the NBA.

I have no crystal ball to gaze into so who knows what the results will be.

Blogging

During my first English class in college, our teacher asked for everyone to write an essay about themselves and, of course, not only does the teacher know something about you, but about your writing skills also.

One of the last comments I made about myself was that I someday wanted to write a book. The teacher was Dot Powell who knew me in high school and her comment to me was I could do anything that I motivated myself to do.

I still haven't written that, but this daily blog is about as close as I will ever get to doing so.

Several people have asked me who is going to be the next football coach at Rocky Mount. I have no idea. I have seen the names .

I did know a week before it was released that Kent Cox was going to be named the new head baseball coach. I was asked not to say anything until after June 16, and I didn't.

If you look at all the bloggers out in this world blogging, not many have facts, but they write as if they do.

That is even evident just reading comments on the newspaper's website. Even when in the booth doing a game live, I have never, especially high school sports, tried to blame a player when he made a mistake. The pros - I don't mind eating them alive when they deserve it.

I have heard all the names, but like you, I have no idea who did well in the interviews. I have two names that I would like to see as the new Rocky Mount football coach.

We send our kids to school there everyday. Yet, I keep seeing all these comments in the paper about how the people making the decisions are not qualified to make those decisions.

Please let all that are involved in hiring the new coach do their job. If you look at who they hired in baseball and football the last time around, they did a pretty good job.

Rumors

Now that the deadline has passed in the search for the new football coach at Rocky Mount, rumors are flying about who is in and who is out.

I will tell you right now I have not talked to anyone in the decision-making process, so I know about as much as you know. I have my guess, but I am going to hold that for a day or two.

Rocky Mount had so much success under B.W. Holt that everyone forgets that before he came, the Gryphons were average, but not by any means down at the bottom of their luck. B.W. departs and everyone thinks the world is going to end.

Back during basketball season, I sat with him during a game and we talked about next year's prospects and I made the comment that I thought 8-2 would be a nice year after having lost his entire O-line.

He looked at me as if I was crazy and said, "Give me some credit. These guys in the weight room are working their butts off. Don't give me two losses before I ever hit the field."

I suspect we will hear Friday or Monday who the new man is.

Lucas Glover won the U.S. Open. I had a feeling watching him Sunday afternoon that he was very consistent. Chalk one up for the ACC as Glover played at Clemson.

Phil Mickelson once again managed to miss putts that I could make and finishes second for a record fifth time. I hope that David Duval is back and that this was not just a good week for him.

The NBA Draft is Thursday and I have no desire whatsoever to watch it. Luckily, I'll be doing PA for the Legion game at Northern Nash against Tarboro.

I am sorry to see this morning that Ed McMahon has died. Having been a Johnny Carson fan, Ed made a great living laughing at Johnny's jokes.

The one thing that I do hold against Ed, though, is he never came to my door with a $1 million check.

Legion Finish Six days In A Row

Sunday night, Coleman-Pitt Post 58 ran out to a 10-2 lead by the middle of the sixth inning. In the ninth inning, Edenton got a two-run homer to edge Post 58 11-10.

Ahoskie was in town at Northern Nash tonight and Post 58's first hitting slump of the season pushed into the fourth inning before the bats got going.

Including the last three innings last night and the first three tonight, Post 58 had gone six innings without scoring. For a team that had scored at least 10 runs in its last six games, six innings was a long slump.

Nick Hahula got the start for Post 58 and right away, Ahoskie pushed three runs across the plate in the first.

In the fourth inning Mike Williams reached on an error, A Grant Johnson hit, a hit batter in Mike Smith and with the bases loaded, Alex Pearce coaxed a walk to plate Coleman-Pitt's first run. The walk led to an RBI-single by T.J. Taylor and a throwing error plated two more runs. Ben Fish got an RBI-single and before the fourth was over and six runs had crossed the plate.

Hahula would not survive the fifth inning as he was relieved by Gabe Brown, who gave up a three- run homer and he failed to last the inning as Ahoskie took the lead 9-6.

Post 58 scratched one back in the fifth to cut the lead to 9-7. Bill Clark came on in relief and managed to hold Ahoskie at nine runs.

The highlight of the a four-run sixth inning was a Williams two-run homer that landed on the softball field and gave Post 58 an 11-9 advantage.

Williams also came on in relief in the seventh, but in the eighth, Ahoskie pushed across two runs after an error got the ball rolling for Post 102. In the ninth, Williams got Ahoskie out with no runs and that set up the bottom of the ninth's heroics.

Williams stepped to the plate as the lead-off batter and he sent his second straight ball over the fence as Coleman-Pitt Post 58 survived another donnybrook - beating Ahoskie 12-11.

You could really tell that playing six straight days had pushed Post 58's pitching to the limit. With the win, Post 58 is now 7-2 and 6-1 in division play. It can win the regular season eastern division first place with a victory over Tarboro Thursday night at Northern Nash.

Williams was not only the hitting hero getting the walk-off home run, but he was also the winning pitcher.

Williams was 2-for-5 with two homers and three RBI. Tyler Clark, Ben Fish and Grant Johnson all had two hits. Taylor and Collins Cuthrell contributed hits.

Ahoskie outhit Post 58 14-10, but walks and errors did not help their cause.

Through all seven division games, Post 58 has scored 15 on Edenton, 28 on Tarboro, 12 on Wilson, 11 on Ahoskie, 14 on Wilson in its second meeting, 10 last night in the loss to Edenton and 12 again tonight. Post 58 has plated 102 runs in seven games for a 14.5 per game average!

This team is certainly entertaining. It can clinch home-field advantage with a victory over Tarboro Thursday. Area 1 first-round playoffs start July 1.

Gryphon Population Grows

This has been a pretty good week for Kent and Emily Cox.

Early in the week, the announcement came that Kent had been named the new head baseball coach at Rocky Mount. Friday, the news got even better in the Cox household as Caleb Patrick Cox was born - their first son. I heard this morning in church that Kent had Caleb in the batting cage yesterday.

Congratulations to Emily and Kent!

There have been so many rumors about Rocky Mount football before B.W. Holt resigned. One of those rumors was that Chad Smith would would be an assistant on the staff again next year. Holt's resignation kind of blew the doors off that rumor and I see through the Gryphon Grapevine that Smith is returning to near his home in Pickens, S.C.

Chad maybe was not ready to be a head coach of a program that was as down as Northern Nash's was at the time he took over, but Chad is a football coach and he will get another chance at some point.

Right now, Post 58's players are coming off an outstanding five-game stretch. All five have been conference games and in all five, they have scored at least 11 runs and as many as 28.

Since Thursday, Post 58 has hit more than 10 home runs - including a shot Saturday night by Tyler Clark that cleared the score board at Fleming Stadium. Anyone who has ever seen a game at Fleming knows that is a poke.

Tonight they are in Edenton playing Post 40. If they can win tonight ,they have a conference game at home Monday against Ahoskie and another Thursday against Tarboro.

A victory would clinch first place in the regular season for Post 58 if they win in Edenton Sunday. Two victories would give them first place when the playoffs start.

They are now 7-1 on the season and 5-0 in conference.

If there was one good thing about all the rain at the U.S. Open Golf Championship, I got to watch golf until dark both Saturday and Sunday. There should be a new champion of American golf around 2 p.m. Monday.

I really like that the U.S. Open Men's and Women's Championships will be at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014 in back-to-back weeks. But, if I am a woman player, I would not like the idea because several players come early the week before to practice and if the men are there, they will not get practice at he course.