Who's The Best?

The NFL season is not yet 1/3 of the way but there seems to be a division this year of the cream of the crop from the bottom of the ladder.

The New York Giants, maybe the best defense and Eli Manning has become a very adequate quarterback( and I say that knowing he has one of the best lines in football and doesn't have to scramble very much).

Minnesota Vikes. I still am unsure of this team.

New Orleans and Drew Brees have been spectacular so far

The AFC the Colts are undefeated but you have to wonder what will happen if Manning gets hit and plays three weeks hurting.

Denver has impressed me and surely the biggest surprise of the year.

Cincinnati is the only team on this list that has lost and it was on a fluke play at the end of the game.

If I had to pick I would take the Giants and Colts in the Super Bowl or as it would be called the Manning Bowl.

In college Florida, Alabama and Texas seem to be the cream. Southern Cal will be near at the end and if they kill the Fighting Irish this week they will be back in the playoff picture.

If I had to pick today I'm taking Alabama and Texas for the BCS National championship.

October 23rd is the Tarboro-Southwest Edgecombe game. They are clearly the best two teams in this area. If everyone is healthy as of today I'm taking SWE in that one 26-14. A classic game of Power against speed. This game is close enough that speed can win it.

Southern Nash, Hunt and Rocky Mount are tied after the first week of Big East play. Hunt plays Rocky Mount Friday at Rocky Mount. I think the winner of this game takes the conference. I would suspect our #3 team if they win in the first round which is in doubt could draw Hertford County in week two and maybe our last team in may get them in round one. I'm not sure we have anyone in the Big east that will survive past week two of the playoffs.

If that happens just remember the first year of the New-6 all four baseball teams lost in round one. The next three years two eastern Finals as a state title.

Hunt-Rocky Mount Soccer Postponed

If you had any thoughts of going to watch the big match between RM-Hunt for first place in the Big East and sit in the rain, well you never had to do that. The game was postponed until Thursday October 22nd. What this does is that this could possibly be for the regular season championship because the 22nd is the last day of the regular season.

In order to make that game the championship the Gryphons must beat Fike at Fike this Wednesday. Then play three games in four days next week. Monday they will play Southern at Home, then Wednesday at Northern for what should have been the last game of the season and then Thursday Hunt at Rocky Mount.

The reason the game is being put off until next Thursday is Hunt has a Non-conference match this Thursday with Middle Creek. Next Monday they play Nash Central at home and finish up Wednesday/Thursday at Fike and then Rocky Mount.

So playing three games next week there is no advantage to anyone.

Tennis begins the conference tournament Tuesday continuing until Wednesday depending on how the weather acts. The tennis team will host a first round game at home next Tuesday Oct. 20th.

The Big East volleyball Tournament starts Tuesday at Southern Nash. Nash central plays Northern Nash and Fike meets Southern Nash. The Northern -Nash Central winner meets Rocky Mount Thursday at 5.00pm in the semi's . Hunt awaits the winner of the Fike -Southern match at 7.00pm Thursday.

The conference tournament championship game will be Tuesday at Southern Nash. In the past the volleyball tournament has been three straight days in a row but the coaches felt if the tournament finished this week that would be a week without playing for the #1 and #2 seeds. Rocky Mount for sure will open the playoffs on Saturday October 24th. Hunt will be the #2 seed as long as no one beyond the #2 seed doesn't win the tournament then they would get knocked out as only two teams make it this year.

Tennis starts tournament play tomorrow and if you don't already know they did beat Northern the other night 9-0, which means in ten conference matches our ladys had an overall match record of 73-10. they never gave up a single point to any team other than Fike. That is like saying the football team had eight shutouts during the season.

Baseball Needs More Replays

If you have had the opportunity to see the replay of the fathom foul ball in the Yankee- Twins series then you have to be a proponent of more instant replays in baseball.

Joe Mauer of the Twins hits a line drive down the left field line which tics off the glove of the Yankee left fielder and hits the ground about a foot in fair territory. The umpire who is in left field only ten yards away immediately signals foul ball.

I know that calls are made wrong a lot in life but in most cases they are bang bang could go either way until you use slow motion to review it. This play was never in doubt and slow motion made it even more clearer.

The cynic I am, my first thought was MLB had better check this umps checking account, someone has paid him off. Replay could of course prevent that.

I am very happy for Duke football. Last week they made Virginia Tech work hard for victory. Yesterday they were clearly the best team even when it was 28-28 at N C State.

All of you Carolina folks who were complaining that State only had two wins over FCS teams Gardner Webb, and Murray State a month ago looks like you caught State in wins against the FCS having now beaten Citadel who lost by 36 to Elon yesterday and Georgia Southern.

I think the best thing every Division one team could do is not play a FCS team at all. I would like to remind State and Carolina NC Central is now Division one and just down the street.

I am sorry to have to tell you this but our first night on the web never happened. If you are a person that listens to our radio broadcast on any Friday night you know our quality has not been up to snuff this year.

We hope to try again next week for the web.

Wes Bradshaw is finding out as the executive producer of our radio games that there is more to it than showing up and flinging it.

We also need more support from am 1390 than just taking the money to be on the air. We have had numerous complaints of phones ringing in the back ground while we are on the air. That's the station not with us in the booth.

If you spin the dial every Friday night there are very few high school games on the air any more. The first reason for that is local radio stations no longer are training grounds for people just getting in the business.

The most important reason that is it more costly to produce a live program off site from the radio station than doing programing in the studio with a computer. That basically means they have to charge more to do ball games than they do to air one commercial.

In case you didn't know it, today's disc-jockeys don't have to sit in the studio for four hours and talk at the end of each record any more. Computers can be told when to play a song and when to air the recorded weather without the disc-jockey having to sit there continuously.

We are working hard trying to improve the broadcast quality. Sometimes it hard to tell.

Gryphons Are A Work In Progress

I think what you saw from the Gryphons last night is about what you are going to get this season. This team is not half bad, but when compared to the last two Gryphon teams who were undefeated in regular season there is just no comparison.

Hunt will bring a team here that I think is the Southwest Edgecombe game of the past four years. Hunt like us is no comparison to SWE of the past. If the Gryphons can win next week then there is a good chance for an undefeated conference record.

If you look at some of my past statements I told you this team was going to win games 28-14 instead of 42-14 like you have become accustom to. If this team does win out I think we will be a completely different team than what we are even right now and that will be for the better.

The past three weeks all I have heard was the players don't like Schock, he has no personality. What does that have to do with coaching football.

My senior year in high school Daryll Allen came to Ahoskie high as an assistant coach. 1971 he became the head coach. People were complaining that Allen had about as much personality as a rock.

As the years past, they found out that he was different once you knew him. It took me five years to get to where I felt like I didn't have to pry information out of him. Give Schock a chance. He has still only been here less than three months.

One thing people found out was Allen could coach football and that is all they really cared about any way.

Yes of course there is the following the legend syndrome. Schock will have to win a state title to to get out of the shadow of B W Holt. Just looking at what the JV's have coming up I don't think a state title is just around the corner. We are in a period where we don't have the great athletes like we have had the last five years.

But, we still have good athletes.

Our senior players have never experience three losses in bunches like we have experienced this year. They will be better football players because of it. Now hear me when I say this because I don't think it's possible. Wouldn't it be funny if we got all the way to the eastern finals or even won it all because we went through some bad times but they came out of it better people because they stuck together.

Sunday night on the "Stretchlon Sports Show"there is going to be a live segment at 8.00pm with Ken Sykes who is the travel league coach of the Nashville Cardinals. They are putting on a skill challenge in a few weeks and he will talk about some of the pro baseball players that will be here.

Following the live part of the show we will show the awards presentation the City Of Rocky Mount made to the Senior little league state champs. That's Sunday night at 8.00pm on WHIG TV.

They're Baaaaack

Those of you that root for someone other than Rocky Mount and for those of you who pull for the Gryphons that thought the world was coming to an end for Gryphon football I just want you to know that the Gryphons are right where I'd thought they would be 1-0 in conference play.

It only took one play for the Gryphons to find that step that has been missing the last three weeks.
Marquavis Alston's 74 yard run on the first offensive play gave the Gryphons the lead that they never surrendered.

Dominque Holloway torched Southern Nash for 180 yards last week but the only torch tonight was a 85 yard kick off return, Behind the line of scrimmage the Gryphon defense held him in check.

Two missed scoring opportunities in the first half made the half time score closer than the way the game was played. Gryphons lead 18-7. Each team scored once in the second half as Rocky Mount kept the Bulldogs at arms length the entire game.

Alston went over 200 yards rushing for the game. In the first half Collins Cuthrell timly passes to Brandon Jones and Cuthrells runs instead of throwing led the Gryphons showing any one who wanted to watch that they are not going to give a conference championship away with out a fight.

Gryphons 25- Nash Central 13

Next week Hunt travels our way and when they get here it will be two of the first place teams playing each other. Hunt shuts out Northern 45-0. I understand coach Mickey Crouch was tossed out of the game in the third quarter. If so he will sit out the next two game.

Southern Nash rebounded from their first loss of the season as they beat Fike 28-6. Right now the Firebirds,Warriors and Gryphons have the lead after the first round of Big East Conference play. Unlike golf where you only play four rounds there are still four rounds to go to win the Big East.

Tarboro finally had a battle on their hands but beat Greene Central 21-7. Southwest Edgecombe beat Beddingfield 52-22

Hertford County beat Currituck tonight 68-0. Rose beat Ashley 33-21 so the three teams to beat Rocky Mount now have a combined 20-2 mark on the season.

Coach B W Holt was in the house and after the game as we were all leaving from the parking lot Holt who stood in the end zone all night shook hands with Dickie Schock and looked right at Dickie and said"People have got to realize that twelve players who played on this field last year are playing Division 1 football this year." Meaning it takes time to replace those type of players that we don't have this year. But I can tell you the Gryphons are coming.

Tennis Wins Piece Of The Pie

All during the NEW-6 years Fike girls reigned supreme in Girls tennis. Rocky Mount has always had good teams but not good enough to beat Fike. This year started out the same, in their first meeting Fike whipped the Lady Gryphons 7-2.

Any time you play a team you hope when you lose in tennis you would hope for a 5-4 score. 7-2 is a right good thrashing. So the Lady Gryphons even though they have completely dominated every other team in the Big East still faced Fike at their place. I am not sure any one in Wilson had any idea they would lose to Rocky Mount.

Last Thursday the Lady Gryphons got revenge with Fike winning 6-3 at their place. Tonight the Lady's did their part in sharing the conference regular season. I stopped by on the way to pick Morgan up from the RM-Northern Volleyball game to take her to Tar River practice and after the singles were finished Rocky Mount won all six matches 6-0. They were in the process of playing the doubles when we left but the the six points was enough to grab a share of the conference regular season championship. If by some miracle Fike lost to Hunt today then the Lady Gryphons would win the conference out right.

The volley ball team put a capper on a perfect regular season as they beat Northern Nash in five sets. The fifth set was 18-16 a Rocky Mount win.

What a fall the Lady's sports program has had both volley ball were 10-0 and tennis 9-1 in conference WAY TO GO GIRLS.

Yesterday cross county ran as all members of the conference met for the fourth time this year. The girls finished second to Fike and the boys second to Nash Central.

Monday night is a big night in soccer Hunt 6-0 in the league comes to Rocky Mount 5-1. Hunt beat the Gryphons 3-1 at Hunt the first time around. If Rocky Mount has any thoughts of winning or sharing the conference title they must win Monday.

Football Friday finds the Big East 3-A playing conference games for the first time. Rocky Mount host Nash Central. Northern has a home game with Hunt and Southern Nash visits Fike.

Both Fike and Nash Central have made quarterback changes in mid season which have helped both squads.

AM 1390 coverage of Gryphon football goes on the web at 7.00pm Friday night.

Gilrs Tennis #5 In State

Tuesday the Lady Gryphon Tennis team played their final home match of the season and blanked Southern Nash 9-0. Thursday is the final regular match of the season and with a victory it is possible for a tie for first place with Fike. The only problem Northern Nash is the team we have to beat and you know Northern enjoys beating Rocky Mount especially if Rocky Mount can lose something like a championship if Northern can knock them off.

Their win last week over Fike has propelled the Lady Gryphons to #5 in the latest tennis rankings.
They are now 15-3 on the season. In conference play the lady Gryphons have played 69 individual matches and doubles matches. They have won fifty nine and lost only ten. In the head to head competition with Fike in two matches they have lost 10 matches while winning eight. That means our girls have not loss one point to any other conference team. They have all been shutouts.

Tennis begins the conference tournament at Barton college next Monday.

Today the soccer team beat Nash Central 8-3 at the soccer field. They are now 5-1 in conference action and they host Hunt Monday. Hunt put the one in the loss column on the Gryphons earlier this year so Monday is a biggie if the soccer team has any thoughts of the league championship. Hunt remains unbeaten in the conference. Their victory today is #14 in 17 tries. They have only one lost and two ties.

JV Football travels to Nash Central Thursday night, Varsity host Nash Central Friday. This is the first conference game of the season for football so the three straight losses will be a distance memory if they can get back on the winning track for the rest of the season. I think you will see more long gainers like you have come to expect from Gryphon football, mostly due to to the Big east is down in football from top to bottom.

Only Southern Nash has a winning record. Hunt is 3-3, Rocky Mount 2-3, Nash Central 2-4, Fike 2-4 and Northern 0-6.