No Longer A Hand Shake World

DeAndre Jordan agreeing to leave the LA Clippers and join the Dallas Mavericks and  then as if moving vans pulled up at the Baltimore Colts and Cleveland Browns in the middle of the night and hauled freight out of town Jordan resigns with the Clippers.

He broke no laws but he sure has put the NBA into a frantic mess.  Jordan was rated as the second best free agent on the market during the NBA signing period or as it is now agreeing period.  The Mavericks satisfied they got their man needed no other free agents.  Other players now that both the top free agent Aldridge and Jordan signed started lining up to sign with other teams.  Would they have agreed with who they did if Dallas was still looking?

I think if anybody should be upset over this jumping ship by Jordan is the other free agents after the top two.  They may have lost money in the bidding war for players once the top two were out of the picture.  We now live in a society where people will burn down towns not relying on the truth.  So why should we worry about a handshake?

Ran across and article by a reporter for a top sports magazine and the article was about the five worse football programs based on who they were and never met expectations.  Five: Maryland- One of the few colleges in the DC/MD/DE area that played D1 football but  never  near top very often.  Four:Arizona ST- Always get top prospects and great weather  but flounder in middle of the pack.  Three: Mississippi-Southeastern Conference, few times in last 50 years having a winning record. Two: North Carolina- Always top 20 in recruits, major power in most all sports but football.  NUMBER 1: UCLA- To be in the glamour city of LA, in the heart of one of the best football high school power bases never a serious national threat.  No other comment from me.

The fourth of July was not a very good day for two professional sports stars who received injuries while handling fireworks.  I have never been into fireworks other than sparklers but sometime during the 80's as a member of the Ahoskie JC's we were in charge of the city fireworks display.  I volunteered to help not knowing one thing about what had to be done.  Setting up the launchers and then placing each item in the launchers.  When it was time to shoot the fireworks you would light the fuse  walk to the next one light that one and each one went off forming the display you see as you are a spectator.  The real worry is when a fuse goes out before it goes off.  Is it going to go off just as you are within inches of them or as you light it again go off before you can step away.  That was my last year helping.

Weather delay at the Open left Cousin Lauren Doughtie playing he 14th hole.  She got off to a real good start starting on hole 10 being even par after three holes and at 3pm she was on the score board in 23rd position.  Between hole four and nine she had two double bogies and three bogies and made
the turn in 42.  She played her last four holes of the day even to be 7 over having to play her final five holes this morning get about and hour break and then start her second round which was suppose to be 8:25 am.  Just a guess on my part but the cut line Friday afternoon or Saturday morning will be about three over.


*****Lauren played her five holes this morning  in one under par shooting 34 on the back nine for a 76.  She plays her second round starting 9:05.*****

NASCAR Thrills

I have not watched much NASCAR over the last several years.  There was a period of time when I did a NASCAR  show on WHIG - TV  and watched every race.  I was also a huge Ricky Rudd Fan and after his retirement I had no driver that I personally watched as my man.

I have over the years attended races at Darlington, Charlotte, Rockingham, Richmond and Dover and at one time with about 25 per cent of the races being short tracks where today about all the new tracks are Charlotte look-a-likes.  There was that push in the late 90's to go nationwide with NASCAR and in order to do that they dropped Wilkesboro, and Rockingham both considered short tracks.

I didn't see any of the race Sunday.  I flipped over there and Fox had programming on and did not realize the race was in delay.  Not many people hung around to see the after two am finish.  There is the old adage that people only go to the races to see the wrecks and not many people saw the finish and crash Monday Morning.

It is a real testament to the safety of the equipment that the driver walked away scratch less.  I don't know if you saw the replay but did you notice either a fan or usher who was standing in the walk way maybe twenty yards from the crash with debris flying all around never moved.  He was either scared to death walking in his sleep.

This afternoon at 2:20 pm cousin Lauren Doughtie tees off at the Women's US Open.  She will be playing with two amateurs.  TV coverage starts at 2pm and I have my recorder set just in case she hits a shot that is worthy to make TV.  I would probably pass out if she shoots a score that rates some of her shots get coverage.

Everyday in life we do things that we expect that we will do again in the future.  This is Lauren's third Open try.   We all would like to think her golfing life is on the rise and Opens will be a yearly event.  She may never get there again.  I'm hoping she makes the cut.  That would be the greatest effort she has ever done in golf if she finished 60th which would be in the money in the U.S. Open.

Telegram Awards Dominated By Northern

The Rocky Mount Telegram released their spring awards for the nine sports played during the spring and Northern Nash takes top honors in five.  Two baseball awards for the top hitter and pitcher.  Softball for the top hitter and pitcher.  Boys and girls track and field.  Golf, tennis and soccer.

Topping the list in soccer is Northern's Rebekah Beal.  Beal scored 39 goals and assisted on another seven to be the top scorer in the area.  The good news for the Knights is Beal who is just a junior will return next year.

Northern Nash senior tennis player Tremel Davis  went through the complete conference season undefeated in tennis to earn the top honors from the Telegram.

There is no doubt who would repeat of the Telegram Player of he year in golf.  SouthWest Edgecombe senior  golfer Cole Jeffery's the defending 2A state golf champion closed out his senior year winning again in 2015.

Any Time a freshman wins as the best you had better look out for the next three seasons as Nadir Thompson is the top boys track and field star.  Thompson finished second in the state 200 meter run and lost his first race of the season in the east regional? a great start to his high school sports career at Southern Nash.

The girls representative for track and field is Rocky Mount's Laneeja Sheppard.  The Gryphon   junior was part of both the 4x100 and 4x200 state championship teams in the 3A state championships.

Moving on to softball Northern Nash's senior Shelby Godwin is the Telegrams pitcher of the year.  It is easy to see why as she dominated on the mound producing a .42 ERA.  That works out everytime she pitched the opposition just got a 1/2 run per game.

Northern's Susie  Sykes not only hit near 600 on the season but practically every hit drove in a run  as she had 25 RBI.  Her slugging percentage for the year was 1055.  The senior shortstop will be a big hole to fill for the Knights next year.

Faith Christian lands a spot on the best pitcher in baseball  an it comes in the form of sophomore Landen Roupp.  Winning six games on the season losing only twice Roupp wins the Telegram top ace  on the mound.

The final award in baseball lands once again at Northern as junior Tyler Barrett takes top honors as the best hitter hitting 352 while driving in 16 RBI.  Barrett didn't hurt himself at all pitching for the Knights with 53 k's in 47 innings  and a rather nice 1.49 ERA.

Northern takes five spots with Southern Nash, SouthWest Edgecombe, Faith Christian and Rocky Mount all getting one top spot on the player of the year honors from the Rocky Mount a Telegram.

How Are They Doing On The Farm?

I express concern last week that Collins Cuthrell needed to show the power he displayed at UNC Pembroke if he was going to impress any Major league  team to pick him up.  Friday night he had a multi home run night for the first time.  His average is 321 but his home run total stands at four.  That is impressive enough when you consider four is second on the team in Florence Ky.  One player has five home runs but he has batted twice as many bats as Collins.  So far Cuthrell has knocked in 17 runs in only 78 at bats.

Brian Goodwin is slowly getting his batting average up as he has reach 239 as with the Fourth of July all minor league teams that started in April have reached the halfway point.  Brian has two homers, three triples which leads Harrisburg and has Twelve doubles.

Hobbs Johnson is 5-4 in Buloxi Ms pitching for the Shockers. His ERA is 3.36 with 72 plus innings pitch. He has struck out 63 but the WHIP has to improve.  That is walks and hits per inning.  So far he has allowed 57 hits and his walks are 34.  That's a whole lot of base runners per innings so Hobbs needs to get his walks down to about three per nine innings pitched.

Benton Moss in his third outing pitching for Hudson Valley got tagged with his first home run.  Three appearances he has pitched 5.2 innings given up three hits  walked two and struck out seven. That is an ERA of 3.18.  When you don't have many innings in the books one bad inning can send your ERA from zero to 3.18in no time flat.

Two other players who have  Rocky Mount connections.  Whit Merrifield playing AAA for Kansas City's team in Omaha is playing left hitting 285.  He has hit three homers, three triples and eighteen doubles.  You would think those type numbers would be numbers get you called to the big leagues but he is still not listed as a top twenty prospect for KC.

John Wooten playing in the Carolina League for the Washington Nationals in Potomac is hitting 241. He has five homers a triple and fourteen doubles.

Fast Out Of The Box

Carli Lloyd  scored three times in the first 16 minutes of the finals of the World Cup as all the mystery was gone and the USA win their third World Cup beating Japan 5-2. Lloyd's hat trick was the fastest ever in World Cup history  and it was the first ever in the final match.

Despite and easy victory Japan gave Hope Solo her toughest game scoring just before the half which broke 540 minutes since the U.S. had surrendered a goal. They had several chances putting pressure on the U S  defense after the U.S. Headed a  second half goal cutting the score to 4-2.  The seven games the U.S. Played they were scored on three times.

I enjoyed watching the Women's World Cup more than when the men played.  The men dribbled one on one too much where the women actually pass to open team mates which makes for a much more wide open attack.

Could somebody please tell me how eating hotdogs is considered a sport.  I think there are many people that have seen me eat quite a bit in my time  but watching someone eat 62 hot dogs in ten minutes is not my cup of tea.  The winner consumed over 17,000 calories.  The one question I have is why are the winners always skinny people?

Latest update on Wilson Post 13 American Legion  season. Rocky Mount's Blake Helms suffered his first loss of the season in the final regular season game 5-3 to Kinston.  Post 13 finishes the season 14-2 but most importantly 10-2 in division play and that creates a three way tie for first between Kinston, Wayne County and Wilson.  Wayne County wins a draw to be top seed and Wilson gets second.  They both get byes in the opening round Kinston gets third and play Windsor in a two out of three with the winner playing Wilson Wednesday night in the semi-finals.

Women's Open This Week

This week the Women's US Open will be in Pennslyvania in Lancaster.  In our household we will pay more attention than ever before because cousin Lauren Doughtie will play in her third open.

What does it mean to play in just one.  During my golfing days when living in Ahoskie and a member of Beechwood Country club our pro was Dan Herring.  He was the club pro but anytime around the men's US Open the membership would always ask Dan about the club pro Dan Herring  that had qualified for two Opens.  He actually made the cut in the 1954 Open at Baltusrol. He also qualified for the first U.S. senior Open.  I heard him say more than once that just qualifying for the Open was what it was all about.  It was our countries National Championship.

Lauren will be playing in the Open for her third time.  While a junior at NC State  she qualified for the open for a top finish in one of the national amateur championships sponsored by the USGA.  She failed to play the weekend but the highlight of that Open was playing a practice round with Annika Sorenstam who in 2008 was the number one women's golfer in the world.

Her senior year at State she won one tournament and at the time she graduated State she was the best golfer there in the short history of women's golf at NC State. She joined the Futures Tour mid year 2009 and spent two full seasons in 2010-11 learning all about the weekly grind of a pro golfer.  Out of the blue in 2011 Lauren qualified for her second Open  by having a spectacular 36 hole day and failed to make the cut .

2012 she won her one and only pro event shooting 66 in the final round by making birdie in the final hole to tie and birdied the first playoff hole to win.  She then in the LPGA qualifying tournament at the end of 2012 tied with eight other people for the final spot  and won the spot to join the LPGA tour.

Her one year playing with the big girls didn't last as she failed to finish in the top 100 and she lost her card and rejoined the Futures in 2014.  All of 2014 and almost half of this season her scoring average has hovered near 74.5 and those scores don't put money in your pocket and doubt in your mind about if this is the end of the road in professional golf.

Then another qualifying US Open qualifier in Chapel Hill when she tied for first.  Her two tournaments since she finished 11th and 14th.  She is playing over the last six weeks her best golf since turning pro.  It gives all of us in the Doughtie clan that she might being playing well enough to play the weekend for the first time in the Open.

I will be watching closer than ever this Thursday  and Friday as Lauren tries to take another step in her golfing future.  To say the least her career at this point can be labeled as a journeyman.  Journeyman can't afford to live on any tour very long.  A weekend of golf in the U S Open  just might spark her to move up in confidence and money to play a little longer.  There is hope this week like no other Open because she is playing great golf right now but we all know, This is the Open.

Today We Celebrate We The People

July 4th, 1776 the congress of the United States agreed to the writings of Thomas Jefferson and it was called the Declaration Of Independence.  It was read publicly on July 8th, 1776.  It was an announcement of the American people that they would no longer live under the rule of England.  Those fore fathers fought for to give our country freedom.  Since then many have died defending our freedom.

During the Cold War in the late 50's or early 60's Nitika Khushchev told the American people that America would topple from the inside out.  It has taken nearly 50 years but his prediction gets closer every day.  A document in 1776 base on religious  freedom gets closer and closer everyday to be a mockery of the foundation of our country.

Our country has gone social media crazy.  If I were to ask a generation under thirty five years of age who the Vice President of the USA is they would not know.  If you asked them who the Lt governor of North Carolina is they wouldn't know.  This generation are the people electing people to office and they have no idea what the politicians stand for.

They also are the generation that has no idea about the word of God.  They smother their bodies with tattoos after the word says honor your body it is in the image of God.  We all have become the me generation.  I will do what I want to do regardless of the right or wrong of it.

Somewhere our country has lost it's way.  We no longer have leaders who believe in God.  They have allowed the basic principles to fall by the wayside.  Everyday that we let slide another principle's collapse  we lose just a little more of the Favor in the eyes of God.

As we celebrate our 239th anniversary of the Declaration Of Independence we the people if we want to celebrate the 300th have better turn back to our fore fathers wishes.  Bring God back to the forefront of our lives.  Without him the United States Of America is slowly  becoming a non factor in the world because our citizens are all about me instead of God.