Staying The Same Is Backing Up

Last June after both Carolina and NC State both assumed that the road to return to Omaha was a fore gone conclusion they have found this year to be a different.  Both this weekend lost two out of three games.  Yes, Carolina lost to the top team in the country while State lost the the last place team in the league.  State was starting a 15 game home stand that would catapult them into the ACC Tournament.
Carolina at 10-11 in conference play is in the midst of their hardest stretch of games they will play all year.   They have their finger nails dug in hanging and clinging to a spot to make  ACC Tournament.

The Pack losing two of three puts them in a position where they really don't need to lose another conference the rest of the way.  They are 7-14 and are closer to 14th spot than 10th to get in the tournament.

We live every day with expectations of what we want to accomplish and we set goals to reach those expectations.  Who in the world would expect Duke and Wake to be vastly improved.  Who would expect Carolina and State to be such average hitting teams.  Neither is getting hits when they need them.  It's called getting a big hit and neither is getting them this year.

Every time two teams take the field one wins and the other loses.  When you add all the wins and losses up they come out to 50-50 wins and losses.  Duke and Wake have improve their win totals greatly.  State and Carolina have basically flip flopped records this year.

Virginia, Florida State, Are top five teams.  Maryland who was awful in the past is top 30 along with Miami.  Clemson and Georgia Tech are top forty.  There are six teams right there ahead of State and Carolina and that list doesn't include Duke and Wake.

Every year in baseball juniors get drafted  and both Carolina and State lost their share.  Each had valuable seniors that the newcomers have not replaced them  as they played a year ago.  Regardless of the sport you had better be improving or somebody is going to pass you who is when you are not.  Looks as though if the ACC gets a team or teams back in Omaha it will not be two from the Triangle.

It Is A Matter of Timing

Last season North Carolina won 38 out of their first 39 games. Once they lost their second  game of the year they had a struggle all the way to Omaha.  Heard today a stat on Virginia that they have given up more than three runs in any game only five times all year.   If they keep that up they will be Omaha bound.

Benton Moss has caught the Carlos Rodon disease.  Saturday Benton had his second longest outing of the season gave up only three hits and lost.  Carolina scores only once and loses three to one.  This drops the Tar Heels to 9-11 and they like NC State just might not make the ACC Tournament.  The rainout from the other night between the Pack and the Heels just might not be made up. There is possibility that if both do finish at least in the top ten in the standings they just might square off in either the 7/10 or 8/9 winner take all first round ACC tournament.  Wouldn't that be a high pressure affair.  I don't see either one at this time making the NCAA playoffs without making the top eight who will play in ACC tournament.

Today is Easter which is the highest day for church attendance every year.  I hope if you are a Christer who only attends church Christmas and Easter then today is your day to attend either a sunrise service or a regular services.

There is nothing in our lives that is guaranteed.  If you are not a believer I don't know why you would waste you time to even go to church twice a year.  I would suspect that going twice a year is because you are guilty  and know you should do better.

Today is a good day to start.  One thing that those who don't believe  have trouble with is they believe   That Jesus freaks are suppose to be sin free and they watch those who claim Jesus sinning and think  they they are only trying to fool them.  All of us who believe that Jesus Rose on this day sin every day.  Though we try not too we ask for forgiveness when we do sin.

If you trust that you will be here Christmas so you can go to church again then you will not have an everlasting life in Heaven as Jesus promised.  If you are planning to go to church Christmas then deep down in your soul you believe but some where you have lost in your heart that love of Jesus.  I invite you today to go to the alter  during the invitation today and make sure that Jesus has your heart.

Two Weeks To Make Season

Everyone has put the Easter Tournament games behind them and very few wins were feasted by Big East Baseball teams during the week.  First impression would think the three teams who play the best the next two weeks and wind up being the three teams who make the playoffs will not last long unlike the other two major sports football and basketball.

Hunt travels to Rocky Mount and for the Gryphons it will be their last stand should they lose.  They stand fifth and and have everyone ahead of them except Nash Central so should they finish 6-4 by winning all four games left.  If they can pull off that feat they just might slip into third.  Hunt part of the four way tie at the top needs to win to make the top three.

Northern  should have the easy game of the night as they travel to Southern Nash  Tuesday.  Southern gives up ten runs to everybody but Fike but if they can somehow slowdown somebody they can cause trouble the last two weeks.

The big game of the night has Fike meeting Nash Central.  The loser will drop out of third unless any one of the other two loss teams join them.  Once Tuesday passes then there is the second game of the week.

UNC lost   3-2 Friday to UVA and if the Carolina pitching rotation stays as it has Benton Moss will be the pitcher on the mound should they play the game at 1pm Saturday.  Rain is expected.  It is schedule for the ACC network.

The Pack finally scored some runs for Carlos Rodon and they beat BC Friday.

A couple weeks ago I told you here of the situation where a Fike batter thought he had walked on ball three and the runners on base slowly walked to second and three and the umpire made them go back to their original base when he made the batter go back to bat, well in a Florida State game this week the same thing happened and the dugout urged the Seminole defense to tag out the runner slowly walking to second to end the inning.

Gainey Wins NCHSAA Toby Webb Award

Rocky Mount High School Athletic Director and basketball coach Michael Gainey will receive the Toby Webb award as the male outstanding coach of the Year in North Carolina during the NCHSAA year end awards on May first at the Dean Smith Center.  The Smith Center is the site of Mike Gainey's  greatest triumphs with two 3-A basketball titles in 2010 and 2012.

The last 41 years I don't have the exact numbers but I would suspect that Rocky Mount High school has lost more baseball games to Rose High more than any other team in that span.  The main reason of course is Ronald (RV)Vincent who has been the baseball coach there since 1973.  Vincent has won six state titles and about two weeks ago he was inducted NCHSAA Hall of Fame.  The winningest coach in the history of North Carolina isn't slowing down one bit.  His 2014 Rampants are undefeated   And have a real shot at title number 7.

Ragsdale High from Jamestown won the 1st annual Golden Leaf Challenge beating Hunt in the championship game 12-1 in five innings at Fleming Stadium in Wilson.

I have taped the three night special on the Golf Channel of Arnold Palmer.  You know Palmer who was a go for broke player won the hearts of those who saw him and became part of Arnie's Army. During his playing career he made less than five million dollars on tour but his net worth is near 3/4 of a billion dollars.

I had forgotten about Palmer becomig the first person to circle the globe in a Lear Jet in 1976 in 58 hours.  He also had a boy hood friend back in his home in Latrobe Pennsylvania.  His friend who lived down the road was Fred Rogers who would become famous in his own right for his neighborhood.  Mr Rogers neighborhood on PBS.

The news of Jabari Parker leaving Duke is no surprise but a shocker just eight miles down the road when the national womens Freshman player of the year Diamond Deshields  announced she is transferring from Carolina.  How odd is it that both the National freshman players of the year are leaving.  At this point head coach Sylvia Hatchell is at a lost for words as why Deshields  is leaving.

Gryphons Fall In Wilson

Day three of the 1st annual Golden Leaf baseball Tournament came to a close today for the Rocky Mount Gryphons.  The first game of the day the Gryphons faced off against 4-A Ragsdale who coming into this week had lost only three times all year.  The Gryphons fail to score and lose 7-0.

The Gryphons drop to 5-10 on the season and now with only four games left in conference  their hopes for the playoffs now totally depend on as of now fifth place in the Big East they must win probably all four games to climb to third. They have Hunt, Southern Nash, Fike and Northern Nash left on their schedule.  The Southern game will be the only one they will be favored in.  However, the way this conference season has gone anything is possible.

UNC held their year end Rammy's  which is the all sports banquet. Gryphon Benton Moss who as a Morehead winner as well as varsity pitcher was voted the athlete most likely to become famous in something other than the sport he plays.

His career in Chapel Hill has produced 17 wins while losing 5 times.  There is the possibility that after his junior year he just might be drafted this year in the baseball draft.  As a Business Major and his high grade point average  any one who has been around him can see he has many talents other than baseball.  During this years Rammys Benton played his guitar and sang  as part of the student entertainment.

Brian Goodwin has started swinging a better bat after his first week where he was averaging 100.  He has worked his average up 229.    His rate of strikeouts per at bats his improved as he is making better contact and making contact with his speed means hits.

Hobbs Johnson's second start for Brevard Fl was no where near as good as his first start of the season.
Hobbs goes five innings giving up five runs and he takes the loss for the first time in the upper A ball.  His record now stands at 1-1 and his ERA ballooned to 4.77.

Former North Edgecombe basketball player Montrezl Harrell announced this week that he will return to Louisville to play his junior  year for Rick Pitino.  I surely believe that NBA teams have more money than they have basketball sense.  Throwing millions to players who hardly can make free throws and in some cases can't even play basketball all that well they are just big and tall.

Sports only last for some only to about the age of 35 and most who don't stick around to get a degree especially business degrees have a hard time holding on to their money and most is gone by the time they retire from basketball.  Harrell' decision to come back for his third year of college gets him that much closer to staying in school to get that degree.

Never Got Inside

The North Carolina State-North Carolina baseball game, a game six months ago figured that two top teams in the country would be squaring off but on a rainy night neither team looks like a return to Omaha is possible.  It was as if neither one wanted to play because at this point the loser will be hovering just above 500 on the season and the other not much better.

Finally just after 7:30 it was official the game was postponed until April 30th.  By then they will either be playing better or bumbling along as they have all season. Both need to get in gear down the stretch if they think they can be an impact in the playoffs.

It is hard to believe there are people in this world that hate this country enough that they would harm anyone who calls themselves an American.  Tuesday almost in the same spot where bombs were placed last year during the running of the Boston Marathon two other back packs have been found and at this writing one has been exploded by the Boston bomb squad.  One man has been arrested.

What have we done to the world that makes them hate us so much?  Tuesday was the one year anniversary of last years bombings.  Luckily this year the Marathon is next Monday  which puts doubts whether it should be run.

I say we as Americans still need to go to where ever we want to go.  We can not cower down and not go and run in the marathon.  We need to go stand at that finish line and say see I am here.  You as haters of our great country can't scare us into a closet to hide.

The Rocky Mount Gryphons game at Fleming Stadium in Wilson was rained out Tuesday against SW Guilford.  Their third game of the tournament against Ragsdale will be played at 9:00 am Wednesday morning.  The rained out game with SW Guilford will not be made up.

Well Worth Watching

If I am at a sporting event at night most of the time just after that game I come home and write my blog and I will hit publish so it will appear as soon as possible.  This blog I wrote about 9pm last night but did  not publish it until early this morning. Sunday night right after the Masters I wrote that Monday article at 9pm.  I spoke about being part of Arnie's Army.  10pm Sunday night the Golf Channel ran the hour special of a three hour documentary about Arnie.  I have to say it is well worth trying to record all three as it was in just the first hour one of the best features I have ever seen on any body. I know any thing positive about a hero is on you will like it a lot better than one that has criticism of them.

I am sure that after winning the Masters on Sunday that Bubba Watson had interviews well past 10pm  Sunday night.  Augusta Georgia is not the Capitol of eating establishments.  I know in New York City  the world is just waking up at ten at night. By ten Augusta is beginning to roll up the streets.  So where does Bubba go out to dinner to celebrate his second Masters?  The Waffle House.  Can you see Phil or Tiger going to a Waffle House.  Really helps with the image of being a good old boy.

Monday the summer Olympic world heard the news that Michael Phelps is coming out of retirement and will try two win more swimming metals in his already record holdings of Olympic Metals.  You know I would suspect money has a lot to do with his return.  The world can be rough on people who only know how to swim.  To me Michael Phelps  and Tiger Woods are a lot a like.   Both think they can lay off for periods of time and be just as good as before when events they  show up to perform.  The more time you take off the harder is each time to reach the level you once were.

The Rocky Mount Gryphons baseball team has three games lined up this week and these three might be the  toughest three all season.  Monday night at Fleming Stadium  the Gryphons played  Pinecrest of 4-A and after five innings the Gryphons were holding their own trailing 3-1.  This teams doesn't have enough pitching depth to play three rather good 4-A schools in three straight days.  The sixth and seventh the Gryphons gave up seven runs losing 10-1.  Tonight they play SouthWest Guilford.  Going in to last night games SWG was 7-7 on the season.   This game could be the best chance they have all week.