LCborn

LC eliminates Bearden and Farragut in the district tournament? Say, you think there's a change in the balance of power in 4AAA? LC needs to change their nickname from "Panthers" to "Dragonslayers." Or, maybe, to "Favoriteslayers."

According to the paper, Farragut plays LC at South Doyle this evening at 5:30.

I'm ignorant about Blount County. Are Maryville and Alcoa separate school districts from Blount County?

As the saying goes, "If 'if's' and 'but's' were fruits and nuts, we'd all be happy at Christmas." Of course, that aphorism dates back to the days when getting an orange or some walnuts for Christmas was pretty cool, steam engines were high-tech, and D-B was competitive.

I'm sure that LC is ready to kick some butt in the tournament; they've played a tough schedule that will prepare them for it. The recently took two from York Institute and they aren't any better than South-Doyle. According to CoachT, LC's schedule is ranked 99th out of 106 AAA teams; and that's with LC playing in the toughest district in the state. One wonders who LC would have to schedule to rank lower. Coach Vulture's win total looks good, though, no matter what the kids do in the district and that's what's important, right?

Any score on Lenoir City vs. South-Doyle?

I'm sure the dimwit who said all those things believes he could coach UT better than Delmonico. I'm also sure the dimwit who said all those things believes he's a good coach because he consistently whipped himself at Strat-O-Matic when he was 15. That's not really so bad; I've seen some of those Moms.

As they lost last year to the--what was it, third- or fourth-place team in district 4--I forget--I think they still have something to prove. I take that back; no, I think they have a lot to prove. Good luck to the little squirts, though. Steam engines are obsolete and I have no idea what "clinders" are.

Region 2 folks don't race to the computer to woof about D-B losing, either. It is, after all, only region 1. No point wasting a woof on the minor leagues.

There are some high school coaches who schedule patsies so that their win-loss record looks good (I know a 3-A team that has only won 2 district games in 2 years and that only schedules weak A and AA teams for their nonconference schedule--the coach likes to brag about winning 25 games per year); scouts know that and, actually, kids on those teams are penalized because the scouts know it and discount those kids' stats. Scouts know all about weak coaches and weak schedules. They look at kids playing in strong programs against strong competition; and they look at the kids' talent, not the stats. Stats are too easy for coaches to manipulate by playing lame schedules.

"Swept East Tennessee"? I think that "East Tennessee" starts approximately at Chattanooga. D-B may have swept the three northeasternmost counties in Tennessee, but that doesn't mean that D-B has "swept East Tennessee." I thought Knoxville was in East Tennessee. I thought Chattanooga was in East Tennessee. Perhaps we have different ideas about geography, about what a broom is, and about what a sweeping is. I'm not certain how football threads affect baseball. I thought they were different sports. I know they both have helmets, but in my part of East Tennessee, they use different rules and are played at different times of the year. Perhaps that's not so in Kingsport. Perhaps some folks have been all about cricket, but I thought this was a baseball thread. I don't think many high schools around Knoxville have cricket teams. Naturally, you "don't race to the computer to woof about Halls, Farragut, or S-D losing." You haven't, after all, seen them lose when they play D-B.

It's not bragging. It's a fact. It's history. "Bragging" is describing D-B's record in the "Big" 9.

Anyone who plays for Larry Works at Roane State gets a very special kind of education, in baseball and in life--not to mention expectorational accuracy and adult vocabulary. True story: pitcher gives up a home run in a critical situation on an 0-2 count because he grooved a pitch. Coach Works strides slowly to the mound, looks left, looks right, takes the ball, expectorates, pats the ball into his hand a time or two, signals for a reliever, and says, "So-and-so, you must be the dumbest mother------ in the whole ----ing world." At which point the whole infield--gathered around the mound-- puts their gloves over their faces to hide that they are laughing. Kidding aside, TN JUCO had one team rated #1 for some time and *another* team in TN JUCO won the national championship? What's that say about the quality of competition?

In a game that included a lot of defensive miscues, a shortstop made a really great diving play; and somebody yelled, "da-da-da; da-da-da." Someone else in the stands said, "It's about time we saw a web-gem, since we've seen so many web-turds."

Recent baseball history is that no matter what D-B's record is, when they hit Region 2 (Knoxville-area) teams in tournament play, the Tribe retreats back to the wigwam to get ready for next year. No matter how much anyone peeps about them. Perhaps the "Big 9" is more "9" than it is "Big." Perhaps a good record in the "Big" 9 isn't peep-worthy.

Watch out for Lenoir City in the district tournament. They are preparing by playing powerhouses Kingston (2A, 7-11), York Institute (2A, 10-11) and Clinton (3A, 9-17) this week. That scheduling should prepare them to go into the tournament on a roll. And they just won their first-ever district game over Heritage, which should be a real confidence-builder.

My personal experience is that "EC" would appear in the scorebook--especially if one expanded that definition to include bad decisions about the lineup or pitch selection--a lot more than "BC" (bad call). Or, in other words, there are coaches who are not nearly as good as the umpires they complain about.

Anybody know the Heritage vs. Lenoir City score tonight?

Oh, yeah, LOL, dream on.

All from the same coach: On a road trip: "You don't need maps; if you get lost, just follow me." To a future all-stater: "You don't have what it takes to be a good high-school player." About his shortstop: "He's too slow to play anywhere else, so he's gotta play shortstop." About his hitting philosophy: "Hit ground balls and they won't get us out--choke and poke." About his pitching philosophy: "Make them hit ground balls and we'll get them out--make them choke and poke." About motivation: "If we lose it's all your fault and I'll put your gear in the parking lot." About job security: "My Dad is big in local politics." About winning and losing: "We won 28 games agains weenies so our 0-16 conference record doesn't represent what a good job I did."

I did the math. The electric car goes 50 miles on a charge. A "charge" means overnight. Therefore, to go 3600 miles with the electric car requires 72 days. Or, in other words, you only need to add (on average) 42 days to each month for the electric car to meet your needs.

Without A/C. And every time he sticks a Peter, Paul, and Mary CD in he loses 5 mph. And the electricity comes from *gasp* coal or a nuke, most likely.

Oh, gee whiz! Insults that may or may not have been uttered by an Italian soccer player are attributed to the influence of the White House? And that got published in the LA Times? Go ahead, tell me that there's no left-wing bias in the media...well, OK, to be specific, at least tell me it doesn't exist in the LA Times. On another level, I think it's terrible that a soccer player should be accused of a head butt. It's clearly sports-profiling to use the term "head butt" and, since most soccer players are Latinos or Europeans or Africans, it's pretty clear that sports-profiling a term like "head butt" is equivalent to race-profiling! That the act was caught on televison is just proof that television is an invention of the white imperialist demons. Free Zidane! Ban the Bush-crony Italian soccer team from international competition! The Italians should be stripped of their World Cup because of their failure to apologize to the United Nations for their egregious irresponsibility! They didn't accept Zidane's "head-butt" as a fair response to their (no doubt Republican-inspired) imperialism, and they shouldn't be allowed to get away with that!

Anybody else read this story and feel a bit discomfited? The Hezbollah UAV

The State Department would be working on a deal where we gave North Korea all our missile technology if they really, really (cross their heart and hope to die) promised to never use it, if'n they'd only agree not to fire their new missiles on July 4th again. The New York Times would be publishing editorials about how it was really Republicans behind the violence in Iraq. We'd flip a Tomahawk at Zinadine Zidane. It would miss and accidently blow up the Louvre, but that's OK, intentions were good. Barry Bonds would retire from baseball so that he could accept his appointment to the Supreme Court. Ron White's "You can't fix stupid" DVD would be banned because it's hate speech. We'd be preparing to invade Mexico again to make sure that Obredor gets a fair chance to invalidate a fair election (Algore would be appointed to command the operation). Dubya, Bubba, Hills, and Laura would be involved in some freaki-tiki evenings in the Lincoln Bedroom. Mr. Cheney would have his 96th coronary while going Postal with his grouse gun in the White House. The Secret Service would simultaneously apply the heart attack paddles and shoot him. Everyone in Guantanamo would be granted citizenship and be enrolled in the witness protection program. Other than that, nothing much would be different.