Drugs in Sports

Today Alex Rodriquez went in front of the media to tell the world how young and stupid he was when he took steroids.

Now that he is sorry that he got caught, he is going in with Major League Baseball and will be a spokesman's for anti drugs.

As long as players are paid the salaries they are being paid, a way to cheat to get to the top will continue - especially if there is not going to be some loss of money.

The best thing that could happen is every team that has a player who has admitted using drugs or been tested and found to have used steroids should have their contracts dropped like a hot potato.

All this past week I have not heard one person say to Rodriquez or even the Yankees say, sorry Alex, but you defrauded us and you owe us $300 million in damages that have occurred to us.

That's where I think the real problem is. Baseball is part of the conspiracy. All they are interested in is how many fannies will sit in our luxury boxes or watch our TV network.

I think everyone is guilty in the steroid age of baseball.

Last night, SouthWest Edgecombe boys beat Northern Nash in the NEW 6 Conference tournament 64-62 in overtime to set up the semifinals for Wednesday Night.

Rocky Mount plays Fike in the nightcap at 7.30, while SWE plays Nash Central in the opening game at 6 p.m.

What a sad way for the season to end for Rick Ruffin and the Knights of Northern Nash. They won the Nash County Christmas Tournament and at one time were 13-2 on the season, only to lose two players to academics second semester. Even missing two players, the Knights hung close with everyone but couldn't win the close games. Rick Ruffin should be coach of the year for keeping his team competitive, but of course, he won't.

It will be an upset if Mike Mosley is not coach of the year.

Tournament Action

The Rocky Mount Gryphons continued their hot play as they romped over Southern Nash 87-52 in the opening game of the final NEW 6 basketball tournament being held at SouthWest Edgecombe.

The Gryphons came into the game as the No. 3 seed team in this year's tournament while Southern Nash went winless in conference play and was seeded sixth.

As the No. 3 seed, the Gryphons can still be knocked back to fourth in the conference seedings if someone other than Nash Central or Fike, the No. 1 and 2 seeds wins this years tournament.

As the Host and the #4 seed in this weeks tournament Southwest Edgecombe has the best chance to hurt the Gryphon chances as they are playing Northern Nash tonight. If they win they would play Nash Central Wednesday night

If Southwest loses tonight or Wednesday against Nash Central then Rocky Mount can be seeded no worse than 3rd. But, If the Gryphons should win the tournament they could displace Fike as the #2 team and possible get a home playoff game.

This is all possible since the Gryphons right now are the hottest team in the NEW-6 having won 6 games in a row.

The Gryphons wasted little time in establishing that they were in command from the get go. Tashawn Mabry lead the Gryphons with 26 followed by sharp shooter Nick Hahula who had 18 points including five three pointers. Philip Wilkins also contributed 14 as well as another strong game on the boards.

The Gryphons are now 14-10 on the season and face Fike Wednesday night in Pinetops in the semifinals. Fike and Rocky Mount split their games during the regular season but, the loss at Fike came during a time when the Gryphons were not at full strength as they are now.

I hope you had a chance to see the "Stretchlon Sports Show" last night featuring Brian Goodwin. In our world today when we see pro athletes who are only for me, me,me it is refreshing to see a youngster who is humble and has family values which is very prevalent is listening to and watching Brian's action.

I hope Brian can become the next great Gryphon on the national sports stage.

Today baseball practiced as the defending state champs the Gryphons of Rocky Mount high school started their first step in defending their 3-A title. First game of the season is March First against Greenville Rose.

Who Can Figure it Out

The ACC basketball race is about as confusing as Algebra 2 was when I was in high school.

The only spot that seems to some degree settled is first where Carolina has a one game lead. Not all that much of a lead.

Starting from third to about tenth could turn around by the end of next week.

Clemson, Florida State and Virginia Tech who I thought could go far in the NCAA, just might not make the NCAA's if they don't quit losing to teams they should beat.

There is probably not a better team in the country than N C State for thirty minutes a game. It's the other ten minutes that they are one of the worst teams.

This NCAA tournament could easily have six teams advance to the sweet 16 or only one. Who knows!.

I hope you have seen the latest" Gryphon Grapevine" there is a story about Travis Cobb.
Check out the "Gryphon Grapevine".

I have just as I am writing this received a called from Richard Sarmeiento and there will be a live Baseball show tonight on the "Stretchlon Sports Show" featuring Brian Goodwin and his family.
check it out at 8.00pm tonight and the replay at 5.00pm Monday afternoon.

Rocky Mount is paired up with Southern Nash in the opening round of the NEW-6 Basketball tournament. Northern Nash will play Southwest Edgecombe. If Rocky mount wins Monday they draw Fike on Wednesday.

The lady Gryphons are idle until Thursday's Semi finals all being played at Southwest Edgecombe.

The Way You Want To finish

Last night ended the regular season of high school basketball. To say the least this has been a trying season for the boys basketball team.

What Mike Gainey has become accustomed to is not having his full team through most of December. Two of the last four years the football team has played December playoff games. This year five football players joined the basketball team when football ended.

That's tough already five or six games into the season and one third of your team is just starting practice. By the time everyone is getting into basketball shape the Christmas Holiday break occurs.

Just when the football players are getting use to the round ball your best player is injured and sits out two games. After Christmas two weeks worth of basketball is interrupted by a week of exams and then academic causalities.

Through the first round of conference play Coach Gainey played 10 and 12 players looking for the right combination. As the second time through the conference play started all the academics and injuries out of the way he was able to settle on the first eight players. No team played better through the second round of games.

Tashawn Mabry is the leading scorer. Philip Wilkins the leading rebounder. His last three games he has pulled down 12,13 and 15 rebounds. The bug a boo for this team is turn overs. They make them in bunches. If over the next couple of weeks they could cut their turnovers in half they might be able to make a run in the playoffs.

The conference tournamnet starts Monday at Southwest Edgecombe. The Gryphons will have to win three games next week to be conference tournament champions. I would not put it past them.

Two years in a row now the Lady Gryphons have gone undefeated. They carry an 18-4 record into their Thursday night semi final game in the tournament.

If there is one thing that this area produces is speed. Whether it's football or basketball Rocky Mount athletes are fast. That includes the girls. One thing this area doesn't produce for girls is height.

Pam Gainey is a full court defensive coach that loves defense. This years team has struggled at the offensive end to get points in the hole. I think without a doubt 40% of this team scoring is defensive related. They score when their defense is suffocating.

If you look back at Pam Gainey's career at Rocky Mount she has struggled in the playoffs because the teams that win the state championships have a 6'2" girl in the middle which Gainey has always lacked.

Our conference doesn't have any big girls in the middle this year and Pam Gainey's style has flourished having to play a small lineup.

I have watched Gryphon basketball for ten years now and this years girls team is no where near the best during that time.

And yet, Pam Gainey has them at 18-4 and they will get at least one home game during the playoffs.

Lady Gryphons are perfect, boys were too!

Friday was the last evening of play for the regular season in high school basketball. If you have a road game, it means you are catching the home team in the middle of their Senior Night.

That is what happened tonight as the Rocky Mount Lady Gryphons put a cap on a perfect conference season as they beat Nash Central in the Bulldogs' home gym 52-48.

The Lady Gryphons will head into the NEW 6 Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed and 18-4 overall.

Tonight was the 10th win in a row for the ladies who have not lost a game since Jan. 6 in a non-conference game at Beddingfield.

It was also payback tie to Nash Central which won the Nash County Christmas Tournament on its home court just before Christmas. It probably was their worst game of the year for the Lady Gryphons in losing 52-40 to Nash Central.

The Lady Gryphons get a bye in the first round of the conference tournament and are already in the semifinals Thursday.

Nash Central's boys had the same opportunity to go undefeated in conference play on their home floor tonight, but an ever-improving Gryphon boys team prevailed 67-52.

The Gryphons played possibly their best game of the year as a team. They withstood a furious second-half fullcourt press from the Bulldogs. At times, the defense worked but more than not the Gryphons outlasted the Bulldogs.

The icing on the cake was a missed shot slam dunk put back by Tashawn Mabry with just under four minutes to play which inspired the Gryphon fans and really let the air out of the balloon for the Bulldogs.

Mabry led the way for the Gryphons with 26 points, but tonight was a team effort and the fifth win in a row for the boys. They find themselves 13-10 after the regular season and 6-4 in conference play after going the first cycle through the conference at 1-4.

Head coach Mike Gainey was so proud of the team's effort tonight that he cleared the bench with 20 seconds to play and only a 12-point lead in order for his starters to hear the appreciative Gryphons fans acknowledge them.

Got a chance to see the UNC's new Boshamer Stadium tonight on WRAL-TV . After having to travel to Cary last season and play all of its home games at the USA Baseball Complex, Carolina opens their referbished stadium next weekend .

The new stadium will seat over 4,000, which is about an 80 percent increase in seating capacity over the old stadium. The only disapointment I see is the seats are Green not Carolina blue. What gives with that?

The North Carolina/South Carolina Basketball Classic All-Star game will have a local representative. Nash Central's Trey Sumler has been selected to play in the game that will be held March 21 at Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Sumelr joins Whit Barnes of Rocky Mount High School, who played in the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas football game in December, in representing the NEW 6 Conference in interstate sports clashes.

Refreshing

Last night after the Carolina-Duke game coach K said the Duke played well. It is very refreshing to hear someone say that instead of we played poorly.

One of the biggest faults all of us is never giving the other side their due when they win whether it's in sports or on the job.

Practically every player Duke puts on the court was labeled a 5-Star athlete while the recruiting process was going on. When coach K says they were better what he is telling you is their 5-star athletes are better than Dukes.

If you line up the starting five for Carolina and Duke the biggest difference between the two is the big man.

Coach K's style is he plays chest to chest defense once you cross the mid court line. Teams with poor ball handling skills have a hard time being able to set up to shoot a good shot before the end of the time clock.

For those teams that are able to attack the basket Duke does not have a big man to defend inside. In coach K's style they need a big man like Singler who can cover the court but in order to cover the court he is not strong enough to win inside defensively.

So Duke's shortcoming is they need a big man say a Ben McCauley who can play strong inside. If Duke had a Ben McCauley to play inside the score last night might have been different. The bottom line is you have to play with what you have.

Looking at N C State if they has a Greg Paulus at point guard they would be one of the elite teams in the country. But they don't.

So when Carolina matches up with just about every team in the country they are as good as any one. The problem for elite players is the hunger to play at your maximum on every play when you are ahead by 20.

That expectation of winning by 20 every game makes it possible for players to be lulled into thinking they can do whatever they want any time they want.

Taking last night as an example when Duke plays to their maximum like they did for a major part of the game, it means Carolina must play at a high level to match it.

Just a few weeks ago I thought Wake Forest was a very elite team. Last night Jeff Teague scored only eight points against a very frail back court for N C State. For Teague it is a matter that he has to show up all the time. When he plays well the entire Wake team well.

Any team that you wonder which team is going to show up will never make it in the NCAA tournament because one game they won't show up and they will be out.

There are several teams in college basketball who have a shot at the National Championshhip including Oklahoma who has possibly the best player in the country.

All the Duke fans today that feel like the world had ended need to just think about this . You are only a big man from being as good as any body.

Rivalries

Tonight Duke host North Carolina in what the national media is calling the best rivalry in college basketball.

I heard Collin Cowherd on his ESPN radio show one day this week say that the only way to have a rivalry was when neither team dominated a series.

I think Collin is one of the best national radio host in America, but he is out in left field on this one.

I guess we have to determine what makes a good rivalry?

There has to be the element that if you win only one game all year that this is the one. Let's look at this past football season. If Northern could have beaten Rocky Mount would they have cared whether they had won only two games? On the other hand , it would have been disaster if Rocky Mount had of lost that game. Even though they would have been 12-3 on the year.

The Carolina-Duke game is big but, do you think Carolina wants to lose to State. If you look at State-Carolina series in football and basketball Carolina has dominated both. There is no better celebration for a State fan than winning against Carolina.

Locally since their inception Rocky Mount has dominated Nash Central, but how sweet it is for Nash central to beat Rocky Mount in any sport.

In order to have a rivalry there must be inter mingling between the schools and fans. People at work pull for the other side. Players play little league with each other. That inter office banter that my team is better than your team.

Any rivalry works better when the loser either loses the championship or is knocked out of the playoffs by their arch rival. So the team that is down spoils the team that is up with great pleasure.

A key component to any rivalry is that both sides care. If one side feels it life or death and the other could care less then it is hard to have a rivalry.

A rivalry can occur just because there is a mutual respect for each other. Last night during the Fike-Rocky Mount boys game Tashawn Mabry and Jeremy Adkinson for most of the game played man to man against each other. When all is said and done one of those two players will probably be the player of the year in the NEW-6. You could see it in their eyes as they went against each other that they wanted to prove to the other which one was best.

Finally the best rivalries are the ones where you have fun with each other between games. There is nothing better than thinking that you have upped someone for a whole year or

UNTIL THE NEXT GAME.