Stern Takes Action

Yesterday NBA Commissioner Stern's took action in the Gilbert Arenas case of bringing guns into an NBA locker room. Arenas has been suspended indefinitely. I hope that means his career is over.

Arenas says that the reason he took the guns with him to work was he thought it was unsafe to have them at home. If they are unsafe at home what makes him think they will be safer at work. Guns and being stupid don't mix.

I am a believer that every citizen has a right to protect himself in his home.

If you look at our local news over the past several weeks there have been shootings involving teenagers just about every other day. I don't know whether these teenagers are still in school or not, but if they are, do you think I think when they arrive at school every day they lock the gun in the glove compartment of their car? I don't think so.

I know having a child at RMHS if there are guns in school at some point in time they will be used. I have no problem at all if the Board of Education ordered one day for all Junior high and high schools to be locked down and and a complete search be done.

I think this has happened in the past in one or two schools but never as a County wide sweep.

Our area right now has way too much teenage violence's not to think guns are not in our schools. Let's find out.

I know the civil liberties people will come out of the wood work talking about rights of individuals. That's what I'm talking about too the right to send my child to school knowing that she will not be hit by a flying bullet aimed at someone else.

If that means the metal detectors need to be set up for everyone who enters a school so be it.

Winter Sports Start Rolling

One of the biggest obstacles for any coach that coaches a winter sport is the Christmas Holidays. You play three or four games and then school is out for a couple of weeks and everyone's routine is broken. You come back after Christmas and try to get into a new routine and then exams.

Tonight the Gryphons get back to the hard court as they travel to Ahoskie to meet the Bears of Hertford County.

The Lady Gryphons start the new year with a 7-2 record. They are relatively healthy as they begin the new year.

The boys have a couple of issues with injuries and personal reasons hindering the start tonight. they will begin the new year 8-1. Another issue that the boys face is HC had two football players who when we played them before Christmas were out with football injuries suffered in the playoffs and did not play the first time around. Tonight HC will be at full strength.

Friday night begins confernece action as the Gryphons will travel all the way to west Rocky Mount to meet Nash Central in both teams conference opener.

Still undecided is the makeup game with Rose which was postponed before Christmas when it looked as if we were going to get that snow which never happened.

The Gryphons lead the Wachovia Cup standing in the Big East after the falls sports and both basketball teams seem to this point in the early season to be the favorites to win in basketball. There are a lot of loose ends that need to be addressed as basketball get rolling in 2010 before we can say that the Gryphons are the clear choice in basketball.

The NFL Playoffs 2010

The NFL playoffs begin Saturday afternoon or did they begin last Sunday since three games played then will be repeated this weekend?

The New York Jets who won their last two regular season games with the help of two teams that decided to rest players will now face a team that is serious about playing. The Jets are the #1 Rushing team in the league and #1 in defense. I have for the past five or six weeks thought the Bengals were a one and done team in the playoffs, however the Jets really didn't earn their way to the playoffs.
I'm going with the Bengals 14-13. Regardless of which one wins they will be out next week.

There has been so much hub bub about Dallas and their December record that people have failed to see Tony Romo had a solid year at quarterback. Yes, he is a gun slinger in the Brett Favre mold but since he has been the starting qb for Dallas going on four years now he has the second best qb rating of all active quarterbacks behind Philip Rivers.

Dallas spanked Philadelphia this past Sunday and I see no reason why they will not do it again. I do see a closer game this time and Dallas will win their first playoff game in 14 years. Do you realize that in 1996 Dallas won their wild card game and lost at Carolina and have not won since? Pat Summerall was at that time doing the game for CBS when the Panthers won that day. That was a long time ago.

I'll take Dallas 23-17 over the Eagles.

Sunday's games will start out with Green Bay traveling to Arizona. Boy this is a tough one to pick. Do you realize that Green Bay has a better record than Arizona. The Packers drubbed the Cardinal's this past week in Green Bay. This is a game in which I should go with the Cardinals but I won't. Green Bay 27 Arizona 23

The final game of the wild card games will be the most up in the air game of the weekend. Now that Welker has been lost for New England how much offense is gone with him? I just don't think Baltimore has enough offense to make much noise in the playoffs but to me they are the most dangerous team in the playoffs. I'm going with the upset. Baltimore 17 New England 13.

Dick Enberg who this past Sunday did his final NFL game for CBS. Enberg now 74 has signed on to be the play by play voice of the San Diego Padres so in the fall baseball and football are played on the same day the first month of the season so that is hard to do football.

I met Enberg way back in 1984 of all places in the bathroom of Reynold's Coliseum. We arrived at the door to the bathroom at the same time so since I recognized him, held the door for him to walk in. I carried on a conversation with him the whole two minutes we were there. The one thing that struck me was his height. Those of you who know me, know I would be considered short at five feet eight. I was about three inches taller than him. That is one thing about TV, everybody looks six feet tall.

Making The Schedule

Last summer when everyone had a chance to look over the ACC football season schedule Tom O'Brien at N C State spoke up and said that he did not like playing Carolina the last game of the season.

When all they yeah "you don't want to get your butt kicked the last game of the season" talk was over O'Brien had a legitimate reason. He saw the possibility that when ever an Atlantic Division team played a Coastal division team the last game of the season there was that rare chance that they might have to turn around and play each other again the next week in the ACC championship game.

The short ACC championship game history has not had that problem yet, but if you continue scheduling games in that manner it will happen some day.

The NFL finds themselves having played three games yesterday which will in turn be played again next week in the first round of the playoffs.

Philadelphia must return next Saturday night to Dallas. Green Bay instead of hosting Arizona must now head to the desert. Finally, the New York Jets must go to Cincinnati.

Philadelphia lost at Dallas yesterday and I see no reason why they will not lose again. The first game of the NFL playoffs Saturday afternoon will be the Jets at Cincy. Flipflopping the game from New York to Cincinnati will make a big difference in the outcome next week, as well as Green Bay leaving the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field to play in eighty degree Arizona.

The ACC needs to make sure the last game of the season is against teams from your division while the NFL needs to make sure the season ends playing opposite divisions. Then we will not have to watch such games as Philadelphia and Dallas play two straight weeks.

The rule never put the team behind on the foul line while you are ahead stood tall yesterday as N C State fouled Florida twice in the last ten seconds to keep Florida from trying to shoot a three pointer to tie. What happened was Florida scored seven points in the last ten seconds to win.

It's been thirty years since N C State won a football championship, and twenty three since a basketball title. Ever since the Jim Valvano firing, State has tried to live by the Academics over athletics which I totalaly believe in. However I don't think that means you can't find coaches who understand in order to win you must have more points than the other team.

Blindside

The Sugar Bowl on Friday night was so bad that I was channel surfing while the game was going on. Most of the time if I am watching any game I'll check the other channels out during the commercials.

I ran across ABC's 20/20 show about Michael Oher and if you didn't see if it was worth watching. Michael Oher is the black kid from the wrong side of Memphis who was taken into the home of a rich Memphis white family when he was in the eighth grade. Oher through their help qualified for College and became an All American Left tackle from Mississippi. April he was the first draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens who gave him a five year 13.5 million dollar contract.

20/20 dedicated their entire show to him Friday night. Saturday afternoon my entire family took in the movie and I highly recommend it to all.

I pulled hard for ECU tonight but I would have to say that as weird a game as you will ever see. The temperature was hovering near 25 degrees and all the kickers had a hard time kicking the ball whether it was kickoffs,punts or field goals. ECU lost when they missed three field goals, two in the last two minutes of the game and then one in overtime.

You know you think of Bowl games as rewards for good play but to have to play a game in 25 degree weather as ECU/Arkansas or in the mud like LSU/Penn State isn't much reward.

Sunday is the last day of the regular season of the NFL. WRAL.com has had a pickem contest during the NFL season for several years. Looking back I am always near 62% on picks every year. Most years that put me in the top 30% but not this year. Going into the last regular season game tomorrow I am at 63% but this year I'm in the 70% range. Where has everyone else got so smart.

Desert Anyone

Now I think I have heard of everything. Coach Skip Holtz of East Carolina has suspended two players from today's Liberty Bowl due to the fact they had a fight during the Liberty Bowl Banquet. Why were they fighting?, over desert.

Former Greenville Rose player Jonathan Williams and Leonard Paulk will miss the game. You know there are lots of reason to mess up like miss curfew, shoplift, academics, but I think fighting over a desert in front of the opposing team as well as all the dignitaries there for the banquet is about as embarrassing as you can make it for the people who let you wear the Purple and Gold.

You would never know that he was fired from his job. Bobby Bowden took about as high a road as you can take today in the news conference following Florida State victory in the Gator Bowl.

I don't know why but I just got a feeling he may coach some where else next year.

The all- state high school football team has been announced and there are not any local players at all on the team. There are only two players that Rocky Mount played this past year even on the team.

Place kicker Warren Harvey of Greenville Rose made it. His three field goals and the fifty yarder late in the game helped beat Rocky Mount 16-13 was enough for me to think they made the right choice for place kicker.

Wide receiver Dee Williams from South Johnston is another player who the Gryphons faced who after we played them I can see he is deserving to be on the team. The west dominated the all state team, besides these two players there was one from Havelock and Wilmington and all other players are from the west.

Finally today I want to leave you with maybe the best quote that I heard during football season. Mid season when B W Holt came back to Rocky Mount to watch the Gryphons play Nash Central I ran into coach after the game in the parking lot. I ask him how's retirement? Holt's answer "Great everyday is Saturday"

Happy New Year 2010

We have already had discussion around my house this morning whether this year is 2,010 or are we going to call it twenty ten.

Just a follow up to yesterday's blog talking about having dinner Wednesday night with Gene Taylor. I signed the plaque that he had to give to the Cockrell family but he also had a copy of the hard back book that Elizabeth Cockrell has done concerning the 2005 Babe Ruth All-star team that played for the world title in Quincy Massachusetts.

The book is called "Keep Digging" which was the motto of that team all during their two month long road to the finals. I don't know how many pages it was twenty five to thirty. It is well done and surely every member of the team coaching staff and family members will want one. I put my name in the pot for a copy.

I got home from dinner Wednesday night just in time to turn on ESPN to watch former Rocky Mount high football player Travis Cobb return the opening kickoff back for Arizona against Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl. He had two returns on the evening for 34 yards.

Saturday is the Liberty Bowl for ECU. They will meet Arkansas 4.30pm Saturday on ESPN. Bowl games are a lot of fun for both the team and the throng of Pirates fans there for the game. Yesterday the team went to St Judes Children's Hospital in Memphis to meet and greet the children not as lucky as them who can't play football.

I would almost bet that when their trip is over, the visit to the hospital will last in their memory as long as the game itself.

Well it is time to sit back and watch parades and football. I doubt that I will watch anyone game all the way through. If I do watch one it will be the Gator Bowl and Bobby Bowden's last game.