The Economy Still

This weekend the best two teams in baseball are playing a three game series in Tampa. The Rays sold out a three game series in advance of the series starting for the first time in their history. That is the good news in major league baseball. Attendance is off 15% and sports announcers swear attendance is down because of the lack of home runs. There have been five no hitter or perfect games pitched this season. Those announcers will tell you people want to see a home run not a strike out.

I think most of those experts are the people who drive into the stadium and never dole out $20.00 to park. When they enter the gate they have a pass which they dont' pay another $20 or more to get one seat much less the rest of the family. These experts are also the people who have buffett in the press area and don't shell out $7 one one hot dog.

I understand that people want to see winners over teams that lose. During the heyday of Braves baseball on WTBS the crowds in Atlanta would wait to see Dale Murphy bat for what they thought was the last time in the game in the bottom of the eighth and then go home.

The real reason people aren't going to the games is they can't afford to go. Yes those that go one time of year still go. The guy who goes ten times a year is down to twice a year.

The Yankees still have not sold all those high price luxury boxes in the new Yankee Stadium. The Jets new football stadium is a long way from selling the PSL's.

If you talk to a Carolina fan they think they just might play in their first BCS football game this Christmas holiday season and yet they are advertising right now tickets available to football games. It effects anybody that has a product to sell and seats to fill. People just don't have the money they had five years ago.

The local level will be affected also. Rocky Mount High school has but four home games this year. Why is for another day to discuss. Seven road games puts a stress on the budget which will mean those four home games need butts in the seat to watch the games. If we go see a team play more when they win or losing Rocky Mount needs to get off to a good start this football season.

There are special days in any calendar year which need to be a holiday. First day of hunting season etc. First day of football practice is the same. Monday all high school sports start preparing for competition.

Tonight on WHIG-TV at 8.00pm "The Stretchlon Sports Show " will salute the Midget League State Champs. Jeremy Stewart and his team will be live on air tonight.

Opportunity Knocks

Wally Pipp was hit in the head while batting way back in the 1920's. The next day while he still had double vision a rookie named Lou Gehrig got his chance and never came out of the lineup until near death.

If you go on the Dallas Cowboy website they will tell you that the deepest position that they have is wide receiver. There is talk of keeping six wide receivers when the season starts. Terrell Hudgins is not one of the six names being mentioned.

Friday during training camp at Dallas Dez Bryant the guy who will not carry the veterans bags sprained his ankle an is expected to miss all of the preseason. Opportunity knocks for Terrell Hudgins. The high price that Dallas paid for Dez Bryant Terrell is not trying to take his job. His goal is to beat out the #five or six receiver to make the team.

I am sure we will get to see Terrell often whenever Dallas is on a network preseason game. Once the first quarter is over the rookies get their chance to shine. He needs to catch every pass that comes his way. Once it is caught he will need to break tackles and run for extra yardage.

I have talked about Jimmy Hunter many times and even spoke of him yesterday. His rookie season was 1965. He spent 1964 rehabbing his foot which he nearly shot off during Christmas of 1963. Once he signed his contract on the top of the dugout at Memorial Stadium in Greensboro after his high school team had lost the 1964 state championship game, Charles Finley sent him to the Mayo Clinic and they removed all the buckshot they could from his foot. The remainder of 1964 he stayed in Charles Finley's home in Chicago.

The spring training of 1965 Kansas City was going to assign him to their minor league team when two days before camp broke Lew Krause who was a starting pitcher got hurt and had to be put on the disabled list. Hunter took his spot and never went to the minors.

Sports you hear all the time about players who take advantage of a break. Most of the time those breaks are injuries to other players. Terrell Hudgins has four preseason games in which to impress and turn heads of Jerry Jones and the Dallas coaches.

Joyner Makes Summer league All Star Team

Former Northern Nash Pitcher and now ECU Freshman Tyler Joyner recently made the New England College Baseball Summer League all star team playing for Laconia Muskrats.

Only pitching just over an inning for ECU in the spring Joyner needed work this summer and he has gotten it. He leads the Muskrats in innings pitched 45. He has struck out 53 in those innings. He has a 2-2 record and a great 1.97 era.

How silly is it for any news media put out a preseason all conference team. I was looking at the list the media voted on for the ACC preseason all conference team and there are two players on the list that might not even play.

There is the Carolina player whose eligibility is in question by the NCAA whether he has been receiving gifts and money from an agent. State has a player on the preseason picks that has a pending trial.

Seems to me there are a lot of people who don’t have anything to do but make stuff up. A preseason anything team is one of those made up deals.

I would like to pass only my congrats to Benton Moss and Hobbs Johnson who were named to the all state baseball team last week.

I’m stills scratching my head after Matthew Berry failing to make all conference in baseball this past high school season. He hit right at 450 on the season. Just to prove it wasn’t a fluke Matthew hit around 425 for Post 58 legion team. He’s a hitting machine.

Monday is August first and high school sports are officially practicing. The first games of the fall are around August 15th depending on what sport it is.

The oil well is finally capped in the Gulf and hopefully we can finally say the worse is over. It may still happen but it seems that what we all envisioned as oil washing ashore in North Carolina will not happen.

There are reports that BP and the Coast Guard are saying that their skimming operation has taken all the oil on top of the water and it is gone. We know some of it has come ashore along the Gulf Coast. Just how much has sunk to the bottom and we might not know about for fifty years is a big question to me.

Will there ever be fishing again in the Gulf? Just five years ago New Orleans was flooded and people were moving from the area in droves. We deal with life every day. The next problem is just around the corner.

TOO Many Agents

Heard on ESPN a couple of days ago that there are 3,000 agents which are approved by the NFL to negotiate on behalf of any NFL players or perspective players. That to me is the problem with agents.

The are 32 teams who have approximately 60 players on each roster which comes out to 1920 players in the NFL. 3,000 agents, 1,920 players, seems that the ratio is backwards. There should be 1920 agents and 3,000 players. There are just plain too many agents who don’t have a client out there drumming up business by trying to be the first to contact a player.

We have all heard the old saying "Too many chiefs and not enough Indians". This case is clearly "too many agents and not enough players".

I had a close up experience in my life way back in the day when an agent made contact with a player. Back then there was no such thing as an agent. I was in a car heading to an American Legion game and riding in that car with me was Jimmy Hunter the top high school pitcher in North Carolina back in 1962 and 1963.

The driver of the car was Carlton Cherry who was a tobacco chewing country lawyer from Ahoskie who was a Legion member driving the car heading to a game. Since I was the batboy I was in the front seat and Jimmy Hunter sat beside me as we traveled down the highway.

Like any time you get in a car with a group of people there had been many conversations during our trip. There was one about all the scouts that were flocking to Hertford to watch Jimmy pitch and at that time he was only a junior in high school. Cherry said to Hunter that at some point in time you will be in need of someone to look after your affairs and I want you to know I will help you if you would like me too.

Twelve years later that country lawyer who had a spit cup in his car for his tobacco chewing made Jimmy Hunter the first millionaire baseball player in major league history.

There was never any money passed only a conversation of interest by one party to another. Those were the simply days.

Last night Kernersville won the State American Legion State championship in Asheboro beating Whiteville. Earlier Cherryville had knocked Kernersville from the unbeaten ranks but then lost to Whiteville to play in last night’s final game. Kernersville will now advance to the Legion Southeast Regional in Columbia Tennessee.

Sunday Post 58 was knocked from the tournament by Kernersville by ten runs. It is never easy to lose but it is comforting to know when you get waxed by somebody that they are the best. The Southeast regional begins August 5th and Kernersville will be representing us as well as all of the State of North carolina .

"Baseball" Heads To College Coaching

Former Rocky Mount High school football and baseball player Britt Johnson has accepted a position of assistant baseball coach at Division II Lander College in Greenwood South Carolina.

Since his graduation from East Carolina where he was a walk-on football player Johnson has served as an assistant coach in football and baseball at Nash Central. He has just completed his first summer as assistant coach of the Post 58 American Legion team who for the second year in a row made it all the way to the State Tournament.

I think that those of us who have known Britt over the years have seen that he has a great future in coaching. His Senior season playing Gryphon baseball was my first experience with Britt. His lack of playing time did not slow his passion for the game. Since then he has been involved with Babe Ruth coaching and has been part of teams that have made it to the World Series.

Lander College has about three thousand students and is located about forty miles south of Greenville SC. The Bobcats play in the Peach Belt Conference which is the same conference as UNC Pembroke.

Johnson who just turned 26 earlier this month has the opportunity to now explore to see if college baseball is where his life was intended. College offers don't come everyday to high school coaches and Britt is young enough that it is easier to return to high school coaching later than it is to get into college coaching later in life.

Good Luck "Baseball"

News from the NFL: J J Arrington is trying to find a home with the Denver Broncos. Having had Knee Microfracture Surgery in 2009 the former Northern Nash Knight will be wearing number 26 for the Broncos.

Southern Nash product Julius Peppers is in a new home this summer having signed in the off season with the Chicago Bears. I think the former all pro will be in the starting lineup for the Bears and he also is wearing his old number 90.

Terrell Hudgins is still in his first week of summer football camp of the Dallas Cowboys. When ever Dallas plays during the preseason on TV Terrell will be wearing number 14.

I just found this out tonight by going on the Buffalo Bills web site but Stephan Virgil was cut by the Bills at the end of one of those off season weekend workouts. Stephan is looking now for a new team to try out for.

I haven't given you and update lately on Lauren Doughtie who has now played in 13 events on the Futures Tour. She sits 104th on the money earnings and if she finishes at 90th or better she will be exempt next year on the Futures Tour. She has shot a 67 as her best score of the year but she has had a couple of rounds in the low 80's. Her average per round right now sits at 74.34 which has improved over the last few tournaments. She needs to get to where she shoots 70,71 and the bad round of the weekend is 74. Here lately she has done that better and has been in the money five times on the year. She has four tournaments left this season to make that top 90.

The Lull

Summer baseball has come to an end and we have a period of about three weeks before schools crank up and we are back into the sports business.

Wes and I are trying to sell Gryphon football. This year we are hoping to be on 1490 ESPN Radio. Wes has a new job which has taken him to an area of "there is more to life than sports" and right now my work is humming. We are having a hard time getting to see the people to sell ads for football. If you have been on in the past contact either of us if we have not already made a call on you. If you would like to be a part of Gryphon football for the first time this is a good year to advertise. There are seven road games and only four home games during the regular season.

NFL football camps have started and news already out of Dallas about Dez Bryant the rookie who would not carry the shoulder pads of some of the veteran players. It seems silly such a small item but if you ever played sports there is a bonding process that either rookies or freshman or whoever is the new guy in town. There has to be a respect for the game and Bryant doesn't have it . My guess he is the new T. O. of the NFL.

Terrell Hudgins is in camp at Dallas. Dallas is a good place to be since they throw the football a lot. An obstacle that Terrell has making the team is with all the money they paid Bryant that is a spot being taken by a rookie that Terrell could have gotten. Our hope is Terrell shines so brightly that Dallas keeps two rookie wide receivers.

All this talk about sports agents and contact with players is easy. There should be no contact until a players eligibility is up. PERIOD.

Monday is the official start date to football practice and any other fall sports in high school. Now a days with all of the training that goes on year round there really is no longer an official first practice day.

Sport Complex Was The Big Winner

Yesterday before the Senior Little League began their Championship games, the Breakfast Optimist Club of Rocky Mount Presented their award for the top performers in Rocky Mount Senior Little league as well as off the field in the class room and church. It is called the Melvin Newell Award, given for long time little league coach and recreation supporter.

There were four nominees and each was presented a trophy by the Breakfast Optimist and the nominees were Christian Tafoya, Kyle Holland,Tyler Barrett and Forrest Bell. There was a tie for first place and the two winners received a plaque for their efforts and the two winners were Tyler Barrett and Forrest Bell.

There were four division winners yesterday in the Tar Heel Little League State Championships held at the Sports Complex. One of those winners was the American League team from Rocky Mount in the Midget (9/10). The real winner of the weekend was the facilities. Despite the oppressive heat the Complex handled the crowds and 60 games with ease.

Talking with some of the Tar Heel officials Rocky Mount very well might be offered to be the permanent home of the Tar Heel State Championships. That is truly an honor considering this is the first time ever that all four divisions played at the same site and there were very few hiccups.

Omaha Nebraska is the home for College baseball's World Series. That is an outstanding place to have it due to the fact very few teams from Nebraska ever make it to the World Series.

Shelby North Carolina has made an offer to become the permnanent home of the American Legion World Series. They just held it there in 2008 and it was one of the best attended ever. Shelby will host again in 2011 and have offered to keep it every year through 2015. Then in 2015 decide whether it should stay in Shelby.

Hosting the Little League is different because the host city gets and automatic team in the tournament. Will other Tar Heel towns go for one of the best cities for Little league Baseball get an automatic bid every year?

If the tournament was here every year our players would lose that experience of going to Hickory or Valdese. Those are special memories going for four days to the mountains trying to win a State championship.

There is no doubt that the Tar Heel Little league incorporated would be better off with every thing at one site. Unless someone who was here this weekend looks at what we have and says we want that too, there is no other complex in the state that can put on a tournament with 32 teams and get it done in four days as we did.

The City officials who gave the go to build the complex to those who run the recreation department from Lynn Driver on down to the man picking up the trash. Rocky Mount came out the big winner this weekend.

The sad thing about all this as great achievement as this was for our city. There was not one mention about it in the paper, no radio coverage from the area and even local TV which I was a part off didn't even tape the championship game with Rocky Mount in it.

It is a sad state of affairs when something as great as what happened here this weekend went unnotticed by those who could have told others. If there had of been a murder on the property we would have made national news.

Whether it is the radio or newspapers they scratch their heads when they wonder why revenues are down. Our local news media has forgotten a basic principle of their business. The local folks want to know whats happening here not Greenville or Raleigh. They missed a big Public service to the community this weekend.