Tri-Cities defeats Newnan in region final

SHARPSBURG-Struggles on offense cost the Newnan Cougars Saturday night as they were defeated 44-30 by the Tri-Cities Bulldogs in the finals of the Region 3-AAAAAA boys tournament at the John Thrower Gymnasium.
The loss dropped the Cougars' overall record to 17-10 as they will enter the AAAAAA state playoffs with the number two seed from the region and will host the Morrow Mustangs Tuesday night at the Max Bass Athletic Center.
The winner will face the winner of North Cobb and Coffee County this weekend.
The Bulldogs, seeded fifth in the region tournament, improved to 12-13 and have the region's top seed as they will host the Luella Lions Tuesday night in Fulton County.
The Bulldogs scored the first six points of the game before Doniel Dean converted a free throw to get the Cougars on the scoreboard but they fell into a deeper hole as the Bulldogs scored five more points to take an 11-1 lead with 4:17 remaining in the first period.
A 6-3 streak by Newnan cut the margin to 14-7 going into the second period and a 7-2 run concluded by a three-point basket by Kaceon Person gave the faithful hope with 5:35 remaining but Tri-Cities responded with a 6-1 finish to the half and took a 22-15 lead into the locker room.
The second period opened with promise for the Cougars as Jannson Williams rebounded a miss and scored a basket in the first seconds to cut the margin to 22-17 but the offense ran out of gas as an 11-5 run by the Bulldogs over the balance of the stanza gave them a 33-22 lead going into the final eight minutes.
The futility on offense continued for Newnan as they were limited to three free throws by Immanuel Griggs in the first 6:22 of the fourth period until Dean converted a pair of field goals in remaining 90 seconds.
Griggs and Dean led Newnan in scoring with 12 points each while DeAndre Slaughter led Tri-Cities with 11 and Charles Stokes contributed nine points.
Meanwhile, the final game in the East Coweta gymnasium for lady Indians head coach Paula Jones was not what she had in mind as the Westlake Lady Lions cruised to a 67-31 win in the consolation game of the rgeion tournament.
With the game tied at 2-2 with 6:22 remaining in the first period, the Lady Lions went on 42-6 run over the balance of the half to take a 44-8 cushion to the locker room.
An 18-12 third period gave the Lady Lions a 52-20 lead going into the final stanza.
Westlake (18- 9) will take the region's third seed to Newton County to face the Lady Rams who are the number two seed in Region 2 while East Coweta (6-20) will take the number four seed to Covinghton for a matchup with the Alcovy Lady Tigers Tuesday night at 6:00.  


  

National Signing Day and the stories that come with it

COMMENTARY

Once again, National Signed Day came and went as high school football players around the United States declared where they would attend college at least for 2013.
There were a lot of surprises and a lot who were locks and then a large number who enrolled for the semester in January.
There were a lot of stories connected with the day that were sad, some were funny and the one that has to be outright ridiculous.
That is the one that made shake my head or in the social media vernacular smh.
I offer the story of Alex Collins of South Plantation High School in Florida who ESPN has rated 57th among their top 150 prospects.
Collins rushed for 1,276 yards and 14 touchdowns last season and for a long time was headed to the U better known as the University of Miami.
In November he reopened his recruiting (I know that sounds like one of those terms that make you go hmm but hang with me) and a number of schools jumped back into the derby for his services like Arkansas, Florida, Wisconsin and Florida State.
After the usual courtship, Collins appeared on a recruiting program on FOX Sports South and decided to sign with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
"I like the fact that they run the ball," Collins according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. "I personally know the coaches, I have been recruited by them for two years now. ... I trust them."
Wednesday morning came when it was time to sign the letter of intent and fax it to Fayetteville, but there was a slight problem with seems to be a very simple plan.
The letter was missing and this was not a case of the family dog having it for a snack but mama ran off with the letter.
Collins’ mother Andrea McDonald showed up at the school for the obligatory photo shoot smiling at her child proudly except that didn’t happen as she grabbed the letter and took off like a bank robber.
According to whoever is to be considered reliable (most journalists go with a three-person confirmation) his mother wanted him to stay close to home and not attend Arkansas.
Comments galore have hit the blogosphere and online sites of traditional media on this story alone including a quote from South Plantation Mike Collins (no relation) who said that the family was not on the same page and wanted to think about it some more.
Really?
Looks like mama has made her decision, but there is one detail she didn’t think about and that is his age.
Collins is already 18 and doesn’t need a parent or guardian to co-sign on the letter of intent as per NCAA rules.
Also, it would occur to me that the university can fax over another form unless it is against the rules and I don’t believe that is the case.
Stay tuned for more of this farce as Fort Lauderdale’s finest try to find Andrea McDonald who should be considered something as she tries to hide somewhere in Broward County.
Do not try to apprehend as she could take any form you may have in your possession as well.
Oh well, I guess it is welcome to the world of football recruiting.
Remember this is the same class that will see a young man go to Alabama with an Auburn tattoo on his body and the story of Grayson High School’s Robert Nkamdeche who was going to Clemson and taking teammates with him only to hear from his mother who is a diplomat in Nigeria.
At that time I think Clemson head coach Dabo Sweeney didn’t realize the length of a order from a mama bear.
Nkamdeche elected to go to Ole Miss to play with his brother and make his mother happy and she didn’t run off with any paperwork as it headed to Oxford.
That is part of the beast that is National Signing Day in college football but what is sad about this day is several other sports signed players and there might be a mention in a corner of Thursday’s paper.
I doubt parents did not run off with letters of intent during those signings.

Local teams kept getting bashed and bashed and bashed and...

When the Atlanta Falcons dropped a 28-24 decision to the San Francisco 49ers this past Sunday in the NFC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome, it meant the end to a lot more than end of the seasons for the Falcons.
It meant the end of a year where every talking head or someone who portrays one on television could stop bashing any and all sports teams located in the Atlanta area.
There was all of the criticism about the Atlanta Hawks and star player Joe Johnson who couldn't brush his teeth without someone saying that he missed a molar.
When he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets last summer, I was disappointed but I wasn't surprised because it was time because of hitting that point where it isn't worth it and a change of scenery would be good.
I just want to know if he has met Beyonce yet at any Nets' home games.
Johnson was not the only Hawks getting drilled as Josh Smith, Marvin Williams and head coach Larry Drew were in the path of the heads.
Josh Smith is a good player who now and then will drive one to partake of liquid substances while I think Drew is a capable coach who gives off the impression of being mild-mannered but I am sure he doesn't put up with much as the recent suspension of Smith indicates.
Anyway, the attendance was criticized while those who showed up were drilled for rooting for the other team.
Last I looked, you can root for anybody you want. I spent several years in Louisiana and I continued to root for the Falcons.
With Johnson gone and the Hawks season ending, there had to be somebody else to drill and during the summer there were the Braves.
You remember those scamps, who won division titles for 14 straight seasons but only came away with one world series championship along with four other National League titles.
The starting pitching was not very good at the beginning of the season and they would have signed anyone to work in the rotation and they did when they signed Ben Sheets who helped tremendously during the summer.
When the pitching staff and their leader Roger McDowell (who I still think about in a grass skirt during one of MTV's old Rock and Jock softball games) wasn't getting the grease from the proverbial wheels, there was general manager Frank Wren, field manager Fredi Gonzalez and others to hoist insults toward.
I also do not want to forget the talking heads decided the fans were bad people because they attend all of the games.
First, most are on television and outside of the cable and utility bill there isn't much of an expense in watching from home.
Next, do I want to spend an evening driving on I-85, I-75 or I-20 trying to find a parking spot somewhere and then leaving.
I would go on but I think I have delivered the point since you have been admonished as bad people.
After baseball came the Falcons to rise up before the masses and for some reason, they were considered a bad team.
First game was a win over Kansas City, next was the Monday night win over Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos at the Georgia Dome and for six more weeks the Falcons won.
They lost at New Orleans and all of the heads came out with the horns of demons and laughed like crazy.
Well they won two more games to seal the NFC South and split the next four games on the way to claiming a top seed.
The feeling of the talking heads was that the Falcons had to beat the Seattle Seahawks to preserve the legacy of Matt Ryan and Mike Smith as well as that of general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
They teased us and blew it before defeating the Seahawks 30-28 but they won and nearly beat the 49ers.
Well there was Falcons criticism by the heads after each of those games and enough is enough.
The Atlanta Falcons were 14-4, came within yards of going to the Super Bowl and I for one am really thrilled.
The only sports I watched this week were the Hawks, the Austrailian Open tennis tournament and that was it.
The talking head craze wasn't limited to the pros as the Georgia Bulldogs and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets took their shots but I have painted enough of a picture of this mess.
It will be fun to see what 2013 will have on its plate.

2,000 and counting for Holman’s streak (COLUMN)

Newnan resident calls 2,000th straight game for the Hawks.

Atlanta Hawks broadcaster Steve Holman

When John Sterling accepted a job in 1989 to be a play-by-play announcer for the New York Yankees the following season, the sports broadcasting landscape in the Atlanta market would change dramatically and set history.
By accepting this job, Sterling would no longer call the Atlanta Hawks basketball games which was something he had done since 1981 and Atlanta Braves baseball games which he had worked since 1983.
Since that time, fans of the Bronx Bombers have heard his call of "The Yankees win! Thuuu Yankees win! The Yankees...win!" and “an A-bomb from A-Rod” as well as other calls.
That time period has also allowed one of the longest broadcasting streak to reach 2,000 games as Steve Holman hit that magic number Wednesday night when the Hawks hosted the Brooklyn Nets at Philips Arena.
What makes this streak of the Newnan resident is the 2,000 games is with the same team which is unheard of in the sports broadcasting field as announcer usually have two or teams on their resume before they reach the age of 40.
Holman has done NBA games for the Boston Celtics when the legendary Johnny Most was ill and for the Hawks for almost 30 years.
While the Hawks players haven’t always been consistent, the position of voice has been with the late Skip Caray serving from 1968 when the team moved from St. Louis to Sterling who took over in 1982 when Caray concentrated his efforts with the Braves until his passing in 2008 and now Holman.
Working as a voice for one team for a long time is remarkable for any team except in Atlanta as the aforementioned Caray and Pete Van Wieren served the Atlanta Braves for 33 seasons while Joe Simpson will be in his 22nd season and Sutton will be in his 23^rd year with the team which has a two-year absence to broadcast with the Washington Nationals.
However, the quartet missed games during the season for a variety of reasons
While it may not be considered to be on the level as that of Cal Ripken’s 2632 and Lou Gehrig’s 2130 in baseball, the 297 of Brett Favre’s in the NFL and the 1,192 of A.C. Green in the NBA, the broadcasting streak of the 58-year-old Holman’s will be hard to beat.
However, the NBA mark of 3,338 set by former Los Angeles Lakers announcer Chick Hearn remains pretty solid unless Holman wants to chase that mark and he might.
That would probably be something his father would not object to as he preached to him to be a hard worker.
Of course it might help if the team that he lives and dies for on the air (something many of us discover frequently and I discovered in an interview I did with him a few years ago) would play a little better or he may not make it to 3,338.
As for the man he replaced, Sterling has not missed a Yankees game since joining the club and called every pitch during the 2005 season.
That is definitely someone one of my brothers would consider to possess leather lungs when one does 162 games everyday for 23 years.
According to my math, that is approximately 3,700 games when one includes the strike-shortened 1994 and 1995 seasons.
Regardless, going to work everyday for years is an achievement in various avenues of life and what Holman, Sterling and Hearn have accomplished is pretty cool.

Here we go again! More bowl games and the return of the Sprawl Bowl to Newnan (COLUMN)

Today is Friday December 28 which is Day 14 of the 2012 college football bowl season with three on today’s docket.

From Albuquerque to Boise to Charlotte, we have had a bevy of bowls with sponsorships for t-shirts, potatoes, a flower, a restaurant, a truck carrier and a southern based department store chain.
Today we will have sponsors of athletic apparel, auto repair and health wellness for the bowls but there will be other bowls with other sponsors.
The count of bowls for this season is 34 and we didn’t count the BCS title game which is considered a bowl until it’s extinction after next year’s bowl season.
Of the bowls that will appear on television, ESPN/ABC will broadcast all but two of these games as FOX will handle the Cotton Bowl and CBS will delve into the Sun Bowl on Monday between Southern Cal and Georgia Tech.
Years ago I wrote about having a bowl in Newnan called the Sprawl Bowl as the City of Homes was growing a lot and a number of shopping centers and business were putting down roots.
I had this well-coordinated with a parade and all sorts of ceremonies and yes I was having way too much fun with this and eventually the Sprawl Bowl went into hiding.
Until now.
I am having to bring this back just to show how crazy bowl season is to the masses.
I am going right to the parade which will begin at Jackson Street and travel to Newnan High School.
Danny “Boomer” Bishop has been shown a lot of love lately and that should continue as he is the grand marshall for the parade.
Boomer will ride in a car that will have his favorite teams’ logos as Braves, Newnan Cougars and Georgia Tech stuff will adorn the ride.
I guess the bands from East Coweta, Newnan and Northgate as well as their competitive cheerleading squads can appear as well as bands and cheerleaders from the respective middle schools.
We will have to remember one important detail and that is to not have these groups behind the horses.
We will try to schedule the parade around sporting events.
We need a big luncheon like the other bowl game so I am thinking of Sprayberry’s on Jackson or the Redneck.
At the luncheon, Newnan mayor Keith Brady will present the coaches with keys to the city and the teams will have some things to say about the game.
There will be other activities involved with the bowl such as a trip to Senoia to visit the set of “Walking Dead” and a special edition of the Turin Tractor Pull.
I don’t want to disrespect the pull because it is enjoyed by all who attend but my idea of a pull is some of the players from team can pull the tractors.
There will be other activities but I am not that creative and this would take too long to list in this column.
We still need a stadium to play this in and to assign a network to broadcast said game with the most important aspect is to invite a pair of teams.
I think we play one quarter each at Drake Stadium (Newnan), Shoemake (East Coweta) and Seldon (Northgate) with the final stanza to be played at the Temple Avenue recreation facility.
The game will be sponsored by the Cancer Treatment Centers of America who has their new facility in Newnan.
The combatants will be Louisiana Tech who was spurned by the bowls and Marshall University since the “We Are Marshall” movie was filmed here.
The final touch is to select a network and since ESPN has a huge plate, we need to go elsewhere like FOX, CBS or NBC.
I did think of TBS but they are very funny and this bowl is very ridiculous so I think we will go with NuLink cable channel 10 to handle the broadcast.
There we go. I have presented the ridiculous and sublime of a bowl and I have shown it can be played anywhere, sponsored by anybody and broadcast by any station.
Enjoy the games as there are more to come.

The world of sports can be medicine for what ails the real world (COLUMN)

Victoria Soto was a big fan of the New York Yankees and her favorite player was probably star shortstop and team captain Derek Jeter.

When the 2013 baseball season begins in April, the 27-year-old teacher will not be among the throngs at the team’s home opener as she was one of the 28 people who were killed last Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Soto was killed while trying to protect students in her first-grade class.
Laid to rest Wednesday, Soto’s mother Donna Soto received a telephone call on the same day from somebody affiliated with her daughter’s favorite baseball team.
It wasn’t someone with the public relations department or a representative of the Steinbrenner family who placed the call.
It was none other than Jeter himself who called Donna Soto on one of the worst days in her life to offer his condolences and speak with her a moment.
James Wiltsie, a cousin of Victoria Soto, told the New York Daily News about the loyalty she had toward the Yankees and what it meant for Jeter to call.
 "Vicki loved the Yankees -- that was part of her eulogy," Wiltsie told the paper. "No one in the family reached out, so (Jeter) must have heard about it and ... reached out.
Nothing is going to fix the fact that Donna had to bury her daughter today, but I'm happy that it brought some comfort. and people like Jeter have reached out. It brings some comfort to know that people recognize Vicki as a hero."
Amen to that Mr. Wiltsie.
Your cousin was a hero when she didn’t need to be but there are some six-year-old children who will get the chance to play for the Yankees or become a teacher like Victoria Soto.
I am not a huge Yankees fan since I am deep into following my beloved Atlanta Braves, but one of those who is a favorite of the other clubs is Jeter.
He may be a bit of a player in the city that never sleeps, I don’t read about those activities and SportsCenter is not telling me that he is suspended for 60 days for juicing and he is not sitting in a Manhattan jail for killing someone.
What Jeter means to me is the good that is in sports when we read or hear about the domestic disputes, the DWI stops or the cheating to hit 8000 home runs.
Jeter is part of a medication designed to help try to make the world feel better despite all of the problems that exist.
Another person that can used for medicinal purposes is Chuck Pagano who is the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
Pagano was hired by the Colts to steer the club through the beginning of the post-Peyton Manning era and the record was of no concern to the club as they were in rebuild mode.
The Colts were off to a 1-2 start and all was well in the Hoosier state until news broke during the team’s bye week.
The club reported that Pagano was diagnosed with non-life threatening Leukemia and would have to take a leave of absence as head coach for chemotherapy treatment which would last for several weeks.
Bruce Arians was named interim head coach and the story of the 2012 season for the Colts and their fallen leader.
In the first game under Ariens, the Colts came from behind to defeat the Green Bay Packers 23-20 in an emotional game for a movement that became known as “Chuckstrong”.
The Colts lost a 35-9 decision to the New York Jets the following week, but went on a four-game winning streak that gave them a 6-3 record and made them relevant in playoff talk and later two of the team’s cheerleaders paid tribute to the coach by having their heads shaved.
This act of kindness followed an act by most of the team to become hairless including star quarterback Andrew Luck a couple of weeks sooner.
By the way, the cheerleaders are prettier than the football players.
A 59-24 loss to the New England Patriots tempered the situation for the Colts but this weekend they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 20-13 for their fourth win in five games and a trip to the AFC playoffs which was something that was not expected.
The playoff spot was not the only good news for the Colts as Christmas Eve day marked the return of Pagano to the office to prepare to coach next Sunday when they face the Houston Texans on the road.
The outcome will be irrelevant but I would like to see Indy win it for Pagano and go into the postseason “Chuckstrong”.
Good luck coach.

Sports involvement with the number 12 (COMMENTARY)

COLUMN

Today is the 12th of December in the year 2012 and according to the Mayans (the folks who have declared the end of the world nine days later) this date is quite significant.
It is the last time this century that the month, day and year will be similar with the next time coming on January 1, 2101 when I will be 138 years young and laying claim to being the oldest human on the planet.
Weddings, a few births, parties and other events are being conducted on this date and in some cases at 12:12 pm if they didn’t happen this morning at 12:12 while a number of events are happening only by chance.
The world of sports is not shutout from the number 12 or the date 12-12-12 as the two digit number is associated with everything from jersey numbers to home runs to points.
There are a lot of famous number 12’s including the quarterback trio of Terry Bradshaw, Roger Staubach and Tom Brady who have won a combined eight Super Bowl titles while Ken Stabler, Aaron Rodgers, Bob Griese and Joe Namath garnered one trophy.
The number 12 is famous in our part of the world when Sid Bream score the winning run in the deciding game of the 1992 National League Championship Series as he wore number 12 during his three years with the Atlanta Braves.
Wade Boggs wore number 12 when the New York Yankees won the World Series in 1996 which had to do something with the 26 he wore with the Boston Red Sox as two times six is…12.
Michael Jordan was known for wearing 23 during his career at North Carolina and the NBA but he wore 45 during his baseball “career” and the first few games during his second stint in the association but there was one game where he donned the number 12 jersey in a 1990 game in Orlando as his normal jersey was stolen.
The number 12 is even significant in the sport of golf as the shortest hole is located in the heart of Amen Corner at Augusta National Golf Club. The 12th hole is a par-three, 155-yard hole which has a deep bunker in the front and azaleas, pine trees and two bunkers in the back.
Of the pros who have toiled on it, Jack Nicklaus called it the hardest tournament hole while Tiger Woods felt comfortable on the tee of the hole only on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday which is not good when you consider tournaments are played Thursday through Sunday.
However, the pro with the worst luck on the 12th hole was Tom Weiskopf who shot a 12 in 1980 which is probably not good.
One former athlete is taking the number 12 to unique heights as baseball hall of famer Roberto Alomar was getting married today at 12:12.
There are a lot of people getting married today but during his career, Alomar wore the number 12 except for one stop but 12 for him was like 44 for Hank Aaron or 33 for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Good luck to the happy couple for at least the next nine days when the world is supposed to be ending.
There are a lot of sporting events planned or otherwise for today including the 12-12-12 marathon being run in Sarasota, Florida and the NBA has scheduled not 12 but 13 games for tonight including the Atlanta Hawks travelling to Orlando for a game with the Magic (hmm) who once had a guy named Dwight Howard that wore number 12.
I would go further into the involvement that the number 12 has in sports but this is exhausting alone as we are 12 days left until Christmas shopping is completed.
Hope your day went well on 12-12-12.