Midnight

Scott Boros is the agent for the top three draft choices of the Washington Nationals.  Whenever Boros has negotiated with the Nationals in the past none of his players have signed until the last minute. All three of the top prospects for the Washington Nationals have Scott Boros as their agent including Brian Goodwin of Rocky Mount High.

Part of Brian Goodwin's negotiated ploy was to send his letter of intent to the University of South Carolina as if he was going to go play college baseball in Columbia.  Midnight Monday night was the deadline either sign or wait to next year's draft. Once again Scott Boros works his bags of tricks as all three of his clients sign just before the strike of midnight.

According to the Washington Nationals Website Goodwin signed for a package in the range of three million dollars which all the rumors I had been hearing all summer was what he was asking for all along.  Rocky Mount Gryphon Brian Goodwin is a pro baseball player.

The New York Penn Rookie League is going down the stretch and Nash Central's Xavier Macklin is mired in his first slump of his pro career.  X is down to 229 in thirty nine games played but he has only maybe three hits in his last 39 at bats.  I suspect Xavier will head to Florida in the fall to play winter ball.

I told you last night about the Renegades the travel league team from Rocky Mount that is in Cooperstown New York this week playing in a 13 and under tournament.  This morning they lost their first game 10-2 which makes them 2-1 in the tournament.  Their second game scheduled for  4.30 Monday is in a weather delay.  In fact the entire tournament is behind schedule because of rains for most of the day Monday.

I told you yesterday they are in a tournament with 98 teams and a champion has to be crowned sometime Saturday because come Sunday another 98 teams will be in town playing another tournament.  Since they have to stay on schedule as much as possible it looks like they will not play before midnight.  Even as I write this I am told that has been pushed to 2 am.  I can assure you I will let you know how they do in that early morning game tomorrow.

Today is the first day that high schools can start their fall sports programs.  Rocky Mount girls tennis travels to Edenton while volleyball host South Central.  Talk about jumping right in the fire but Rocky Mount volleyball has never beaten South Central.

Bombs Away In Cooperstown.

If you have ever had the pleasure to go to Cooperstown New York, Cooperstown is a sleep village and if  it wasn't for the Base Ball Hall Of Fame there you would probably never heard of it.  One of the special items that the Baseball Hall OF Fame does is that they have a little league fields there where they invite teams from all over the world to come play in tournaments there just so your team can say they played in Cooperstown.

Every week of the summer Cooperstown brings in 98 teams to take part in a six day tournament.  You can imagine that little league teams from all over the world apply and very few get invited.  This weekend Rocky Mount has a team there called the Renegades who found out late last summer that they were in and all during the fall and spring you just maybe bought a cupcake or whatever that team members were selling in order to help pay for the cost. The Renegades are  loaded with Rocky Mount Little Leaguers and Sunday started their week of baseball.

The Renegades found the tournament was to far to go to be nervous  and play poorly when they arrived as they won their opening game Sunday by a 13-0 score.  Their second round game they won again by a whopping 17-1.  Between the two games they hit 14 home runs.

They are in action Monday morning at 8.00am and then another game at 4.30 Monday afternoon. You can actually follow  the action on the Internet if you go the Dream Park Cooperstown Little league tournaments.  I know of several of the players but until I have a roster of the team I had rather not talk about those I know without having a list of all.

This is not the first Rocky Mount team to play in Cooperstown as Richard Sarmeinto and the Stretchlon Stars have sent several teams in the past.  Softball and several other age groups have been there from our area in the past. One of the reasons that our local high school baseball has been so good over the last few years is the enormous amount of baseball playing against quality competition all over the USA.  Not one high school has benefited more than another because each of these all stars will eventually wind up in a high school in our area.

Sure would love to be there with them.

This Week Begins High School Sports

Public schools don't officially start classes until August 25th but this week is the beginning of the sports calendar.
You can look for soccer, girls tennis, cross country, volley Ball and football to Begin this week for real.  I will begin my seventh year as JV football announcer for Rocky Mount High on Thursday.

Looking at the stat sheet from the Chicago Bears 10-3 victory over the Buffalo Bills Saturday night you will not find the name of Travis Cobb any where.  No catches, tackles or receiving returns.  This probably is a sign that Travis has got his work cut out for him to make it with the Chicago Bears.

I don't know about you but I saw most of the Panthers game last night if for no other reason than to see what Cam Newton was going to do.  His first time in the game he took the Panther right down the field to the eight yard line before the Panthers had to settle for a field goal.

My biggest impression of the Panthers is I saw a lot of excitement on the sidelines during the game last night. Losing 15of 16 games last year there was not a whole lot to get excited about when you are having trouble scoring points.  Jimmy Clausen threw a pick which didn't look to be his fault as he threw one way and the receiver went the other.  It seemed to me he threw with more velocity last night than any time last year which may signal he has more confidence in what he is doing.  It may also prove that he knows he must step his game up if he wants to win the quarterback job. 

To me in some ways that situation between Clausen and Newton is just like when Philip Rivers showed up in San Diego.  In order to hold on to his job Drew Brees went from a journeyman quarterback to and all pro just to keep his job.  Clausen knows if he plays like last year his NFL  career is on  the line.

Over all Cam Newton was 8-19 which is ho hum.  The rap against Newton like so m many other running quarterbacks is his passing accuracy.  In high school and college to some extent there are wide open people to throw to.  Pro football is more having to threw the ball in a barrel because in most cases the coverage is step for step with receivers.  You may have gotten  a glimpse that Newton is not accurate enough to throw it in a barrel especially when the barrel is moving like receivers with men all over them will have to do.  That does rule out that Newton won't be a good NFL quarterback some day, but I doubt it will be this year.

Trying To Make the NFL

Last night Tarboro's very own Shaun Draughn suited up for the Washington Redskins in his attempt to make a professional football team. Since the game was not televised in the local area  I like anyone else can only look at the stats in trying to figure how he did or where was he used by the Redskins.

I would think that Shaun chances with the Redskins rely on him being a third down back and a member of the special teams.  His chances of making the Skins are enhanced if he can do several jobs.  Last night he had two carries for two yards.  What can you deduce from that.  Only three other players carried the ball for the Skins so just maybe at this point he could be the Redskins fourth back.  He had no catches or tackles so for one game not much paper work to prove he's making an impression.  The real story is the film room where only the coaches and players know where everyone stands.

Tonight Rocky Mount's Travis Cobb will get his first shot with the Chicago Bears. He too like Shaun will have to do more than one thing to open the eyes of the Bears if Cobb wants to be on the same team as Southern Nash's all Pro Julius Peppers . Where Draughn is a halfback Cobb is a wideout and like Draughn making the Bears would help greatly if you see him returning punts and or kickoffs and doing a good job at it while making a couple of catches at wide receiver.  The Bears are home against Buffalo tonight.

I had told you earlier in the week that if you wanted to follow Gryphon scores in any sport this year you could go on line and sign up and RMHS will have people at each sporting event texting scores to a web address and they will be forwarded to you as they are sent.  The address has changed since Mike Gainey had announced on Monday.  Go to scoretrax.com and sign up for Gryphon scores as they happen.

Back during my golf days when I carried a 17 handicap I could help you standing on a tee box when you had a slice better than I could help myself.  Watching Tiger Woods these past two days play the worse golf of his life I think I know whats wrong.  Coverage of the PGA Championship, boy they have looked at Tiger's swing and use to at this point his hand were here and hips there and at point of contact  it is not like it use to be.  I think I can solve it all rather quickly.

It is his knees.  All of the experts for years would always make the point of look at the pressure Tiger puts on his knees as he flexes through a shot.  These past two tournaments I see a stiff legged Woods because of his knees can't drive through the ball the way he use to or wants to today.  Because of his injury he can't do what he use too so he is over compensating in other areas and his swing is terrible. 

All golfer go through periods of time when it looks as if they had never played golf before.  Dizzy Dean hurt his arm in baseball years ago and never recovered when he changed his motion to compensate.  Tiger has never been a accurate driver but with his knees he cannot now hit a iron as accurately and of course his putter has left him. I doubt Tiger will ever be a top ten golfer again. Having had the career that he has had, do you see him being a journeyman golfer  and when he's 50 play the Senior Tour?  I don't   If I was and executive with the Golf Channel or CBS Sports I would get him in the booth.  If Tiger is a ratings machine whenever he plays why wouldn't him talking on camera keep people watching?

The Pounding Has Begun

Tonight the Rocky Mount Gryphon football teams gets to knock heads with someone besides themselves for the second time this week. . It is really hard to tell as a fan watching scrimmages what coaches are actually trying to accomplish in these events.


If you are a coach that is really loaded you may want to tone down the outcome to not make it so obvious how good you really are. A coach has to have some idea of the mental make up of his team. You don’t want them to get the feeling coming out of a scrimmage they are unbeatable but you also don’t want the opposite to happen either that every player walks off the field feeling like the season is already lost.

Wednesday the Big East Conference coaches met and in that meeting they all vote for who they think will win the championship. I wonder how many really vote the way they think. I am sure they try to down play their teams ability and uplift others in order to put the pressure on somebody else.

Most of the expectations of pressure have fallen on Hunt as they have been voted the preseason favorite. They won the conference last year and historically are good every year so Hunt is a good pick to be near the top because they always are. Southern Nash, Northern Nash and Nash Central have been voted 2-3-4 by the coaches. Rocky Mount and Fike were tied bringing up the rear.

Since Nash and Wilson Counties came together as the NEW Conference and SouthWest Edgecombe was part of the league not only are the schools close together by mileage but they have been hard to separate from top to bottom. Rocky Mount and Southwest you pretty much could pick to fight it out at the top.

Since Hunt joined the Big East taking SWE spot they have maintained that expectation SWE had of fighting for the top. Rocky Mount has fallen back into the want-a-be category. One thing has proven out ever since our counties joined together that is doesn’t matter where you finish that this league or leagues were good enough to get a team in the Eastern finals year in and year out. Come to think of it that is true in all sports in this league.

Northern Nash returned with their best team in several years last season and like all teams that hit the skids once they return to the good times they are going to do everything they can to be playing again on Thanksgiving Friday. It always helps to have a returning coaching staff that was has shown the way in the turn -a -round.

Southern Nash may be didn’t live up to their expectations last year after their turn-a-round season in 2009. One problem any team has who in most years can only say they have been average at best. It is a different world when you are the hunted instead of the hunter.

The Big East coaches voted Nash Central 4th. If they were in any other conference other than the Big East the Bulldogs might be the conference favorite but Big East football as shown last year was first tonight and fourth next week just because of one loss.

Rocky Mount had as good of defense as any  in the league last year but could not score a lick. They had only two games all year that they were out of the game by the fourth quarter. This year their offense will be better but just could be the defense is not quite as good as last.

Fike has a new coach and with any new coach comes change. The past couple of years have been heart breaking for many who expect Fike to be a contender every year.

I see no reason why this Big East football season will not be like the others have been. One major injury to a contender and they become a pretender. If there is a surprise team then that will send someone to take their place and they will become the disappointing team.

It's Finally Here

It has finally gotten here.  No not the telephone book as Steve Martin rejoiced for in the movie 'The Jerk' when he saw his name for the first time in the telephone book. Starting Thursday night NFL preseason football is back. What better way than to see my guy Philip Rivers for maybe ten plays on ESPN. I will be interesting to see how the teams handle the preseason over the normal routine of years past. Now that hitting is down to a minimum during the week you may see starters in longer over other years getting use to the contact. Then again who knows.

Last year I only correctly picked six of the 12 teams that made the playoffs. This off season there have been several teams that have made splashes but I am not sure how good the splash was. Philadelphia seems to have had the biggest cannon ball but everyone is handing them the NFC championship but I will not go that far. I do like the fact that they have Vince Young. Players for whatever reason get labeled. Vince Young’s case if you look at his winning record at Tennessee he was more than adequate. I think he never got his coaches confidence in Tennessee and now as a backup I think Philly will not be hurt if Vick goes down for any time. They are basically the same style player so the Eagles don’t have to reshape the offense if they need another quarterback.

All I have heard all off season is Green Bay had 12 players on injured reserve and with those player healthy they could repeat as Champs. Did you know that the Packers are the only team during the lockout that did not have team practices. Sounds to me like too much celebrating last year’s Super Bowl. If I remember correctly if somebody else had of won the last game of the season the Packers would not even made the playoffs.

New York Jets seem to be losing all their free agents and all the ones they thought they were going to get have gone somewhere else. Old sly New England seems to have stocked pile another good team. You know when the Jets coach comes out and ask somebody else help him beat the Patriots , first he probably knows he can’t do it and deep down a coach always knows how good they really are and deep down Rex knows he is going to have to talk a lot this year to get the Jets into the playoffs.

Mystery teams like the Dallas Cowboys who seem to be almost the same team as last year except the coach but of course he was there last year too. San Diego will have Vincent Jackson and Malcolm Floyd for Philip Rivers to throw too from the get go this year. I admit I like the Chargers but I feel like one problem the Chargers have had since Norv Turner has been coach is he hates to hit. I think one of the problems for them in the past losing so many early games has been they had to take four or five games to get into hitting shape while others had already been doing it in preseason. Now that everyone is limited on hitting maybe the Chargers will not be slow starters. I will also say this that I think they have been fresher in late season when others tired as the season wore on and that helped them win so many games late in the season. I guess this season they will win early and lose late.

Let’s talk Cam Newton for a minute. I am not sure he is a first round pick but I do see him as a Vince Young over Demarcus Russell and I have already said here that Young is better than his reputation. Carolina has made some good moves this off season but until they get a steady QB under center they will be hard pressed to win five games. Just look at Jake Delhomme when he was the Panthers QB. He was steady and steady is one thing the Panthers never had at any time last year. It would not surprise me if Carolina doesn’t go through three or so quarterbacks just like last year before this season is over.

It's Official Brown Wants To Be A Pirate

Rocky Mount rising Junior J'Kyra Brown told ECU Women's basketball coach  Heather Macy on Monday that she wants to be a Lady Pirate in  the fall of 2013.  Brown who has had college coaches swooning since eight grade decided that ECU was the place for her.  Brown who suffered a major knee injury before her freshman basketball season says that ECU was the only school that stay in contact with her while she was rehabbing.  She has always loved ECU and why not play where you love it.

NFL football teams have started making cuts even before the first preseason games that start on Thursday.  There is good local news.  Washington Redskins still have Tarboro's Shaun Draughn listed and jersey #23 will be his number when the Redskins host the Steelers Friday night.  Former Gryphon Travis Cobb was not among the 12 players released by the Bears on Monday and Tuesday so he should be on the field for the Bears  this weekend.

If players have been to practice  the required amount of time then Tuesday was the first day most high schools could start scrimmaging , praise the Lord so far North Carolina has no known deaths Related to heat stress.

I guess most of you have heard by now the football player from Hobbton High in Newton Grove who has Downs Syndrome.  He just turned 19 recently and by rules of the North Carolina Athletic Association no player is eligible if he turns 19 before August 31st of each school year.  Brett Bowden who has been on the Hobbton varsity for the last two season can not play this season.  I support the rule.  There are just sometimes life doesn't seem fair and this seems to be one.

Wednesday the Big East coaches will be meeting at Fike High School  during media day.  All sports coaches will vote on who they think it the best in the league from Football, Volleyball, Tennis, soccer and cross country.

I haven't had a chance to congratulate former North Carolina linebacker Chris Hanburger who was inducted into the NFL Hall Of Fame over the weekend in Canton Ohio. I never met Hanburger but  in one of those odd sort of way our paths crossed.  If you are a regular reader of this blog I told you of the death of one of my favorite Ahoskie High football players who died in the spring of 2010.  Spencer Barrow.

Spencer was an All State football player from Ahoskie and Chris played at Fame Hampton High in Hampton Virginia.  Hanburger was drafted in the army and entered UNC after his tour and was a freshman center/linebacker for the Tar Heels the same year Spencer arrived in Chapel Hill.

  Summer practice of their freshman years there is a one on one tackling drill where Hanburger is the tackler and Barrow the runner.  They collide and as Spencer tries to wiggle free  he breaks his leg and never plays another play for the Tar Heels.  I had a personal hatred for Hanburger as a nine year old  until he was drafted by my beloved Redskins and all was forgiven.