GovMan

JPat, If it were all just about "talking" who's gonna have the best defense and the best team and the best freshman qb, teams like Mo West and Jeff County would have their trophy cases full of big, gold footballs. Unfortunately, at some point, you have to suit up and walk onto the field and win the big games. Maryville has done that quite convincingly. They're building new trophy cases now to make room for all their hardware. It's about "walking the walk" not just "talking the talk." Not a huge Rebel fan, just a realist. GovMan

In the end, oddly enough, probably the best thing that could have happened to William Blount would have been to have lost last Friday night to Maryville. I believe the Gov's could have handled Clinton and O.R. easier than they could Bearden. Maryville may have gotten a break and not realized it when they lost to the Gov's in district finals. Bearden is playing very, very good ball. Maryville will haave to take care of business and take a lesson from Blount. If you get the Dawgs down, you better put 'em away because when they come back, they come with a vengeance. GovMan

Nah, Splain, I have to say that SCFreak's use of the word "monumental" is pretty fitting. I mean all year, all the talk has centered around O.R.'s girls. More than one person has said "this might be Coach Prudden's best team ever." They went out west and beat some of the top teams in the country. I think they were nationally ranked. Sevier County, while everyone knew they were good, didn't get that kind of hype. For them to knock off the Lady Ridgers in the fashion that they did so ... I'm gonna allow "monumental." GovMan

Well, not to the suprise of a lot of folks, but I believe one can now safely say that this year, District 4 was the stronger district vs District 3 in AAA Boys. All along I has expected an all District 4 final, even though I thought WB would represent instead of Bearden. But dadjimit, you gotta give it to the Bulldogs. Obviously, Coach Blevins can get it done and his players (8 or 9 of them) have played so well together. What's really scary is what all he brings back. I mean, I know at 2 freshman and 1 sophomore and several juniors are getting serious p.t. No cryin about refereeing or anything--unlike other teams tend to do when they lose--Bearden just seemed to want it more and they executed. I was proud of the Governors for the way they at least made it interesting at the end. Congrats to a great group of seniors at W.B. who have given us something to cheer about for the past three years. Next year will be rebuilding, but I'm convinced we DO bring back one of the best juniors around in Aaron Eakins. I trust the Coach Baumann will get some others ready to play around him and that the Governors will stay at their high level of competition we've come to expect. Bearden and Maryville ought to be a great one. Wouldn't it be something if Bearden pulled it off and won the whole thing. You couldn't write a better script in Hollywood!!! GovMan

Redrage, You make a good point about Blount ... their seniors must play like seniors for them to win. Against Karns, and really in their last 3 or 4 games, they've made lots of mental mistakes toward the end of their games. Senior dominated squads shouldn't be making that many mistakes. They've got an experience advantage over Bearden ... they'll need to make it count for something in order to advance. GovMan

Well, I'm not sure what William Blount has to do to get you guys to realize they can play, but that ok ... keep picking against them. Beardens' huge margin victory over Powell was impressive but it had as much to do with Powell absolutely stinking up the gym as it did with Bearden playing great. William Blount is no Powell. I've got a feeling Blount wan't make the mental mistakes they made last week against the Bulldogs. Wouldn't be surprised to see W.B. win in a convincing fashion. GovMan

Hey, what's up with Humphrey's free throw shooting? He uncharacteristically miss several against WB and evidently he missed some against Clinton. I was shocked in the WB game. I mean, nobody's perfect, but you don't expect to see Lee miss more than 1 or 2 free throws a night. GovMan

Mr. Blonde, Not sure what message board you're reading. No one on this thread has "dogged" Coach Marsh. I think it's great if a school wants to take care of one of "it's own" and certainly Micah, along with a whole boatload of other Marshs would qualify. David was a great coach, Micah will be also. The coach you mentioned from Knoxville is not in trouble. He's got his team playing better right now than ever before. And they're young ... Alcoa would not have gone wrong with him or with Micah. One brings a wealth of experience and knowledge and a great work ethic; the other brings youth, excitement, college experience,loyalty to his alma-mater and "tradition." Don't be so defensive. GovMan

I was the first person to use the word "cheating" and I would advise everyone to read my post before they get all in a tither. I made a generic statement about something I considered to be cheating. I accused noone. GovMan

It would be very interesting to me if Coach Reid got the position. I believe one of the main reasons he was hired by W.B. was for the "stability" he would bring to the program. One year and out ... now that's stability for you. GovMan

The one thing I would remind Coach Nelson of--and any other coaches that attempt and even succeed at the "switch the foul shooter" trick ... "Cheating is cheating ... whether you get caught or not." I went through this last year with a team my daughter was on. I'm sorry if I sound old fashioned or like I'm preaching but ...I won't want my kids to learn from their coaches that it's ok to be dishonest. Just my two cents worth. Stepping down off my soap box. Gov

I've been hearing the name of Bill Satterfield, head coach at Greenback, being tossed around a lot over around Aluminum country. GovMan

Blue, Just being named "Marsh" helps alot in Alcoa when jobs are available. Micah will eventually be teaching something won't he? You're right about Ryan. On a senior dominated defense last year, he really stepped up and made a name for himself. His quickness was his asset last season. A little beef would certainly help. He's strong as a ox. As far as Alcoa ... correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't you say that right now, over the next 2 to 3 years, they might have the overall best collection of talent they've had since '88?? GovMan

flyinpro, I love Blount County football too. I wish I could share your confidence that the Gov's will win 7 out of 10. They've got a lot of key players to replace, especially on the defensive side. WoJo should be one of the area's best qb's. Walker has the potential to maybe be the best rb they've ever had. Ryan Grubb will be an all-county, all region caliber defensive player. But you must know a lot more than I to predict them to win 7 games in what I believe is the toughest region anywhere. Tell me what else I have to look forward to with the Gov's. GovMan

Just some random thoughts after night one of boy's action:' William Blount - didn't play very smart, especially at end of game. Will have to play MUCH better to beat Bearden. Nevertheless, ususally a good sign when "you play bad and still win." Bearden - good grief!!! Great team effort. They're highly motivated. Very, very quick. Most impressive performance of any team in round one. Can't be considered an underdog against Blount. Powell - must have had an awful night. First time I had seen them play all year. Their press was powerless against Bearden ... Bulldogs scored many lay-ups off of beating press. Might not be fair to say they were "overlooking" Bearden, but they sure didn't look ready to play. Oak Ridge - lone hope for District 3. Good balance on this team. I'm sure they'll key on Humphrey, but MHS proved against Clinton, they are capable of having others step up. Clinton - gave Maryville a great game ... but once again, Maryville didn't play very well and still got the W. Beaman was impressive ... can't believe I haven't heard more about him. I must have been living in a cave or something. Overall -- someone earlier had said they thought Dist. 3 played better D than Dist. 4 -- someone should have told Powell that. Great statement for District 4 ... still the dominant district of the two in boy's basketball. Still predicting an all District 4 Regional Final. Bearden could be the dark horse. If Blount is able to build a good lead on them like last time ... they better finish them early and not let them be hanging around at the end of the game. Todd Helton should spring for Central a "new, larger gym." If Maryville and WB were to end up in the finals Friday, I don't know where all the people are going to go. GovMan

I'm with you, BackintheDay. I'm sure though, if I DID know who you were, I'd be very impressed. Your ability to deal with Grider's loquaciousness and to extrapolate the extraneous details provided is exemplary. I certainly feel very exiguous, posting my comments after someone like you. Have a great day my little brother in the Lord.

So Grider, I'm wondering. Did you play for WB and then for Maryville College ... or did you play church league ball? I could have sworn on another post you said you played some "hoops at Maryville College." I saw your post about your basketball career on another thread after I typed this orginal message. So what you're telling me is ... you never actually played varsity basketball at William Blount, but Randy Lambert wanted you to play at Maryville College? Backintheday ... you seem to know Grider from your post ... can you collaborate this for me? GovMan [Edited by GovMan on 3-4-03 11:41A] [Edited by GovMan on 3-4-03 11:50A]

I can't watch Brian's Song without getting weepy. I agree with whoever said earlier, "it should never has been remade." You don't redo a classic.

My Old Buddy BackintheDay, It's good to have some fresh Governor blood on here to help "represent" against all these Maryville Rebel fans. GovMan

Ball, That's more like it ... but crap, what did I do? Was it the Houser comments? I could have told dude to quit crying about the refereeing and just accept the fact that WB beat you'all ... but I didn't. GovMan I love it when you're insulting.

TankTalk, Be sure and check your private messages and see if you received one from me. For some reason, my email server wouldn't let me send to your email address. GovMan

I'm not sure how much you've seen William Blount, Maryville, and Bearden play, but if Clinton's D is much better than any of those three ... the Dragons should be in good shape. GovMan

None other than me, my good Carter buddy. I rarely call in, but every now and again I'll give Dewey a call.

Grider, I had a pretty good vantage point to see the foul that Hagy committed on Lee. Was it intentional? Absolutely. Did he mean to take Lee out like he did? I don't think so. If you watched, he actually got tangled up with two WB defenders. I think Lee realized that Hagy WAS NOT trying to injure him or take him out ... he was simply doing what basketball players are taught to do. Either give up the lay-up uncontested or foul and make sure the player doesn't hit the shot. I'll agree it looked ugly and I can see why Maryville fans were upset, but I really don't believe that Kevin intended for Lee to end up getting smashed like he did. So you played for Randy, huh? I ought to be able to figure out who you are. I've kept up with WB basketball for quite some time. I can't place anyone who went on to play for the Scots in the past few years. GovMan P.S. If you'd still take Houser over Golden, you're one of maybe 5 people who would take that position after watching Friday night's game. 2 of the 5 would be Drew's parents. [Edited by GovMan on 3-3-03 3:51P]

Mocs, I was "very close" and witnessed Fraser's technical. It was not a very wise move on his part. Basically, he walked right by the ref (within inches) and dropped the "f-bomb" twice. I'm not sure if he just didn't see the ref standing there or he just lost it in the heat of the battle. Coach Dodgen came as close as I've ever seen him come to absolutely losing it. I can hardly blame him. He handled it a lot better than I would have if I'd been in his place. GovMan