Can You Believe That

The D3 All American football teams are being announced and so far not one has the name of North Carolina Wesleyan wide receiver Malik Adams from Selma.  He has been named to the All South Region team.  If nothing else this seems to me to be a slap in the face of USA South Athletic Conference who does not get one player on 1st, 2nd or honorable mention All American.

All South is swell for Adams to receive but when he graduates he will be the all time touchdown catching receiving in the history of the USA South with 47 touchdowns.  Just this year alone he caught 53 balls in nine games for 881 yards which works out to 16.6 yards on every catch.  11 went for touchdowns. 

There have been some NFL scouts on campus sniffy around check Malik out for a possible future in the NFL.  They must know something that the All American committee doesn't know.

Both Rocky Mount Prep basketball teams played in Ahoskie against Elizabeth City Northeastern Monday night in the Herald Christmas Tournament.  The Jag boys lost for the first time this year losing to the Eagles 82-44 while the girls were beaten 58-11

Rocky Mount boys met 4A Sanderson High of Raleigh in the Cleveland High Christmas Tournament and trailed by 10 at the half and by 20 at the end of the third?  A small rally cut the final score to 68-54.

Northern Nash found the step up in the tournament play against Wake Forest to be the same as the Gryphons found the result as they were outscored by 14 in the second quarter and the result a 75-60 loss?

The Bulldogs of Nash Central tried their own luck with a 4A Raleigh school as they played tough but came up short against Athens Drive losing 68-62.

The only winner in boys action Tuesday was Southern Nash as they knocked off Bunn Wildcats 68-51

Rocky Mount used the Pam Gainey defense to hold Kinston to single digits in all but the 4th quarter and then gave up only 11 while the Rocky Mount girls produce 42 themselves and win 42-28 over Kinston.

• The ACC is 3-0 in Bowl games as the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest win the Military Bowl 34-26 over Temple.

Pack Avoids Losing Season

I hope you know that as bad as I hate the five game playoffs in the high school  football playoffs there is  no reason for any college football team to  get to a bowl game when they have lost as many as they have won.  So for any team that thinks winning five and losing seven  deserves more than spring practice is right after Christmas is all you should get.

One of the biggest issues for any team playing in a no name bowl game getting their players motivated whenever the stadium is more than half empty.  If you are playing for  the national championship
You should have no trouble motivating people in practice.

If there was more than 2O,000 in the stadium they didn't pay to get in.  The Wolfpack avoided a sluggish first quarter to send Vanderbilt to a losing season 41-17.  The ACC won twice yesterday with BC dumping Maryland 36-30.

The Demon Deacons of Wake Forest are next up for the ACC playing at 3:30 this afternoon in another no name bowl.

Just before Christmas First Flight High School set a North Carolina high school record making 28 three-point baskets in a high school basketball game.  Oddly enough the basketball team from Dare County lost to Bertie 120-107.

Now girls basketball:

Another state record fell last week when Clinton's Mikayla Boykin scored 62 points in a girls basketball game breaking the record by one.

The Rocky Mount Lady Gryphons  will join their boy mates from school in The Cleveland High Tournament as they will take the court today as they will play Kinston.

Southern Nash 2-6 has a non conference game during the first week of January against Smithfield Selma before they begin their own conference schedule against Rocky Mount at Rocky Mount.

Both Northern Nash 5-5 and Nash Central 3-4 are off until conference play begins in January.

Post Christmas Basketball Tournaments

If you have plans on watching any of the  public high school boys basketball action this week you will travel in order to see any as all your public high schools are in tournaments some where else instead of Nash County.  Both tournaments begin on Tuesday

Northern Nash 10-1 will take part in the Bunn Tournament where their opening game will be a step up to 4A when they will take on the team who won the 4A football championship Wake Forest 5-6. Already having played 11 basketball games you can see the difference when you have 2000 students compared to 1200.  Plenty of players to play both sports at the same time.

Southern Nash 4-5 will also be in Bunn where they will also be in the Bunn Tournament  and they will get to play the home team opening night in the Wildcats?  So far this season the Bunn Wildcats are not quite as good as their football team as they stand at 1-7.

Nash Central will head west as they will be heading to Clayton to take part in the Cleveland High Tournament.  The Bulldogs 7-1 will step up in class facing Athens Drive of Raleigh?  Athens is 6-3 so far this year?

The Rocky Mount Gryphons 1-2 will also be trying to uphold the Big East in the Cleveland tournament.  They will meet Sanderson in their first game 4-6.  Rocky Mount having  played only three  games so far because of the extended football playoffs can expect several weeks of three games a week to catch up on games.

Rocky Mount Prep off to a 7-0 start will be heading to Ahoskie and Hertford County High school to take  part in the News Herald Holiday Tournament and they will step up taking on 2A Elizabeth City Northeastern 4-0 which if records are any indication this should be a real test for the Jags.

Both Faith Christian 8-5 and Rocky Mount Academy 2-4 are off until the first of the year when RMA resumes play on January 3rd at Grace Christian in Raleigh and Faith waits until the 5th when they travel to Bethel Christian.

Merry Christmas 2016

Today Christians celebrate the day recognized as the birthday of Jesus Christ.  Regardless of your thinking of religion I will celebrate today in the belief that Jesus was born of a virgin mother Mary.  He died on the cross to forgive all people of their sins and he came back from the grave before he ascended into heaven where one day he will return. 

Jesus died for all our sins but in order for us to be accepted into heaven we need to be the very best people we can be in life.  No one is perfect and we are all sinners.  What makes a Christian different from those who don't believe is when they sin they don't ask for forgiveness because by being a non- believer they don't even know they sinned.

Please have a happy and joyous day to rest, open gifts, celebrate with family and give thanks to your lord.  He died for me and you and he is waiting in heaven for those who believe.  If you have no idea what I am talking about find a person who can tell you the story of the Bible.  There is not one passage in the  Bible  that has ever been proven  wrong. 

Don't miss out on the chance to live  eternal life in a place called Heaven. One day we  will all be gone from this earth.  Where will you be?  Instead of broadcasting sports I be blogging what a great place heaven is.  I hope you are there to read it.

Merry Christmas

Broadcasters If They Are Any Good Are Prepared

It is a sad state to think a person working on the broadcast of Wake Forest University football because he was not retained by a new coach would do all in his power to help that new coach fail.  He was hired to be the color man on the football coverage.  He either told other teams of the expected plays Wake was going to run against certain teams when they played them that week or he was paid for the knowledge.

There are plenty of teams willing to spy or to send fans to practices to watch what plays you are running for that week.  There is no doubt if I know when you line up in a certain formation what you plan to run is a big help.  There are not many colleges or pro teams these days that allow open practices where fans can come watch just because of the potential of spies learning all the knowledge they can find out on your team this week.

If it didn't help get your team prepared this week why have teams like the New England Patriots been caught taping other team's practices.  It wasn't because they were testing  new camera equipment.  Now days even in high school players are given DVD's to take home and watch last week's game and look at the person you will be going up against.  If you know what a tendency of a player is or a team what they will do in this formation it helps your preparation..

I had the great pleasure to do play by play for 16 years at Ahoskie High and Hertford County for Daryl Allen  and then the first four years B W Holt was at Rocky Mount.  Both those coaches gave me access to come watch film with their coaches most of the time on Sunday nights after you have met with next week's coach of the other team to exchange film.

There were not many Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday's that you would not find me at practice  watching the team work on what each coach thought they would need to do that week to win.  I knew who was hurt, where each wanted to attack that week and even what they planned to do to stop the other side.  I wanted to know as much as possible to be able just like a player recognize what formation a team was in and what to expect as the play unfolded. 

When you cover one team you can do all that but as my radio life turned more to games of the week it is harder to get to both schools or to even a coach allowing you the access you have when one team  is all you are covering.

I knew some very important information which I had been given privilege  to know by both coaches and I had been trusted to not tell everyone I knew about what was going to happen.  The world of college coaching when a coach is relieved of his duties as a coach most of the time his assistants are also relieved.  Why a person would feel he should be retained when all others were not is a mystery.

When you see those guys on TV on Sunday's and all they do is describe what they see remember this that they have spent all week learning to pronounce names, look at films of both teams they are covering that week.  They too have been given access to teams practices, locker rooms and knowledge of what they plan to do to win the game this week.  It is only a game but to those who play in the game they surely don't want some media person giving away secrets about what they plan to do to win this week.

Our First Look At Girls Basketball

If there has been one impact moment so far this season is the injury to Big East girls player of the year 2015 Robbi  Allen of Nash Central who probably been lost for the year.  The Lady Bulldogs were conference champs last season and will struggle without Allen.

Hunt 9-0:  Scoring average is 48 per contest while yielding 39.  They are led in scoring by Tatiana Smith scoring at 8 points per game.  Destinee Kent 9.6 and Kayla Kent 9.3 score almost as much.  Kent leads the Lady Warriors in rebounding 5.4.  The assist leader is Brianna Tucker at 1.4 per game

Rocky Mount 5-1:  Football hasn't effected the Lady Gryphons like the boys basketball team has.  Keyanna Spivey  leads in point production averaging 19.2.  Ashley Hatfield follows at 9.7.  Spivey is also the leading rebounding grabber pulling down 10 a game.  Shelby Meeks has proven to be the best passer collecting 4.8 assist per contest.  The Gryphons are scoring 59. 5 per game and the Pam Gainey defense is holding others to to 32 every time out.

Fike 7-2:  Golden Demons averaging 52 while holding opponents to 42.  The leading scorer is Jada Lee at 16.8 Aniya Thigpen 11.3 is second on the squad.  Lee leads in rebounding 5.6 and assists 4.8.

Northern Nash 5-5:  The Knights scoring at 32.5 points per game while holding others 36.4.  The Lady Knights are led in scoring by Markela Avent at 11 per game.  See is followed by Tyra Cuthins  at 8.4.  The top rebounder is Kristan Johnson snatching 5.7 per game.  Avent is leading in assist at 2.9.

Nash Central 3-4:  They are averaging 46 while allowing 50.  The one game she played Robbi Allen scored 23 points so the Lady Bulldogs have lost their main scorer as well as their top assist person in Allen at 4 per game.  Michaela Nelms has picked up the slack scoring 19.6.  Anna Shaye Thompson is now second on the team at 8.  Nelms is now the leader in assists at 3.7.

Southern Nash 2-6:  Opening night the Lady Birds broke their two year losing streak and since has won another.  Struggling on offense scoring only 23 points per game.  They are giving up 42.  Jessy Lucas leads in scoring at 10.1 which is almost half of the teams scoring.  Jalisa Williams collects rebounds 5.1.  Trinity Newkirk get one assist per contest.

• Most teams will be playing after Christmas both boys and girls getting ready for the start on conference play come the second week in January.

Mostly Saturday NFL

Christmas is Sunday and only two games on the NFL slate as most are Saturday as well as the Regular Thursday and Monday night games.  Last week went 12-4 to push my record for the year to 155-72  Let's get the Ho-Ho Ho games under way.

Giants @ Eagles:  Giants defense is playing well, Philly not doing so much but it is time to beat somebody.  Eagles 26 Giants 23

Dolphins @ Bills:  No telling what kind of conditions the field will be in Buffalo.  Don't see the fish playing well in the cold.  Bills 27 Dolphins 16

Jets @ Patriots:  I Don't give the Jets much of a chance.  36-23 Pat's

Titans @ Jags:  Tennessee is not out of playoffs.  Jags been out of playoffs for a while.  Titans 23 Jags 20

Vikings @ Packers:  Vikes heading down while the Packers still in playoff hunt.  Packers 36 Vikings 24

Chargers @ Browns:  If the Browns are going to win one this is it.  Chargers somehow or other stay close against most and they just might win this one.  Chargers 30 Brown's 20

Redskins @ Bears:  Why would I think the Bears can win this one but I do.  Bears 26 Skins 24

Colts @ Raiders:  Colts have their act together while Raiders are very close to being best in AFC. Oakland 36 Colts 32

Falcons @ Panthers:  I think Panthers defense just might hold down the Flying birds.  Carolina 27 Atlanta 26

Bucs @ Saints. This is a real football game.  Saints can score but they give up plenty.  Bucs probably can hold hold the Saint offense.  Tampa 31 New Orleans 28

Cards @ Seahawks:  Cardinals just not the team they were last year  while Seattle is a different team  at home so I suspect a 26-14 Seahawks victory.

49'ers @ Rams:  Dud game of the week.  Is it possible for a 0-0 tie.  Rams 17-10

Bengals @ Texans:  The Texans need this more than Bengals.  Texans 27-23

Two extra special Christmas Day games.

Ravens @ Steelers:  Ravens are sneaky good.  Steelers are tough at home.  Playoffs on the line.  This is when the NFL gets good.  Steelers 26 Ravens 23

Bronco's @ Chiefs. Denver can't score enough to beat good teams with a defense.  Chiefs 17 Denver 10

Lions @ Cowboys:  I could see the  Lions giving Dallas a game but I can't see a Detroit win Boys 27 Lions 21