Let's See If It Rains This Week

The Big East girls soccer tournament is Monday-Tuesday and Thursday.

Track and Field Regional is set to take place Saturday at Nash Central

If baseball and softball are  lucky enough just maybe come Monday May 9th maybe the regular season will be over.

Lady Gryphon softball has four games this week.  Tuesday at Southern Nash.  Thursday home against Northern Nash and Saturday a doubleheader at Hunt.

Nash Central and Northern never did get their baseball game played last week and they will join Rocky Mount playing on Monday May 9th to end the regular season.  That leaves three of the four teams who will make the playoffs playing for pecking order the week the playoffs start.

Top Gun Hunt is 7-0 they begin the baseball week at Nash Central 3-3.  Should Hunt lose all three games next week then there is going to be a mess trying to decide a conference champion.  Thursday Fike1-5  travels to Hunt and Saturday afternoon Hunt host Rocky Mount.  If any of these games get rained out, Oh brother!

Rocky Mount 4-2 starts Tuesday at Southern Nash 1-7 , then host Northern Nash 4-3  Thursday and travel to Hunt 7-0 Saturday.  They follow all that up Monday hosting Fike 1-5.  If it rains Tuesday they can make that up Wednesday.  If it rains Thursday they try Friday, but Saturday may get slung all the way to Tuesday.

Northern only has two this week.  Tuesday at Fike, Thursday at Northern but they linger till Monday to play Nash Central all three on the road.

Nash Central starts Tuesday Home to Hunt, Thursday home to Southern Nash, Friday at Fike and finish up Monday the 9th hosting Northern.

Fike starts the week at 1-5 and if they could pull off and win all four games they still could make the playoffs.  Their task to win all four is daunting as they play all four teams ahead of them.   Playing the teams you have to catch is an advantage if you win  over hoping somebody else will help you. They host Northern Tuesday, travel to Hunt Thursday, Host Nash Central Friday.  They finish up on the 9th at Rocky Mount.

Southern 1-7 is the only team with only two games this week and they are the only team that knows for sure they will not make the playoffs.

The top four teams have at least three games to go and some four and they have at least two games against each other.  There is a good chance that Monday May ninth will be over before we know where everyone stands and where they will go in the playoffs.

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.