Opperman

Dice, he's not kicking them off for having braids before he said to get rid of them. THAT is what ex post facto is. Whether they had them before is inconsequential, if they had them after he said to cut them, it is not ex post facto to kick them off for not cutting them. He has every right to make a rule like that. If the players don't want to obey it, they have two choices...1) Don't play or 2) Transfer somewhere without the no-braid rule.

Dice...is he punishing them ex post facto? If I'm a coach and I tell you, effective tomorrow, you will not play basketball wearing 'rows, then that's not ex post facto. Ex post facto is if you shaved your head yesterday and I say tomorrow that nobody can play with a shaved head. If you re-shave it, it's not ex post facto, but if you let it grow back, it's not.

They would have lost to San Diego if they'd given Faulk the ball 30 times. You have to take what the defense gives you, and if they're giving you the pass and taking away Faulk, you go to the rest of the team. Martz and Bulger did that, and they won.

Honestly, I think Bonds does play hard, he just doesn't show false intensity. When you can't get to a ball and you know it, what's the point of sprinting to make it look like you had a chance? When you hit a sharp grounder to the shortstop, why run it out at full strength (at the major league level...at lower levels, you should)? If they miss the throw, you'll make it to first jogging, and you wouldn't have made it to second. Why risk injury trying to lunge for a play when you're out 99.9 percent of the time at the major league level and it requires someone who makes mistakes about two or three percent of the time to make one? He conserves his energy while playing hard...that's one thing I always did playing basketball, and it probably got on my coaches' nerves occasionally. I played center most of the time I played, and if we got a fast break, I wasn't going to sprint down the court to be the fourth or fifth guy on what was already a breakaway. It's better to be back in defensive position in that case than to "play hard" and be down the court for no real reason. Back to Bonds, when you've hit 600 homers and you know you just hit one halfway to Tokyo, why sprint down the line, why not enjoy it? Why is everybody but Bonds allowed to watch where it lands?

What do you have against Bonds? From what I've seen, the media portrays him negatively because he doesn't really like them, but how many teammates have complained about him publicly? And on a related note, I think the portrayal of Jeff Kent is the opposite of how he is, too...they try to portray him as the ultimate team player, yadda yadda yadda, when he really isn't. Where's the criticism of him for violating the no-motorcycle clause of his contract and saying "I was washing my truck" to try to cover his rear. If it was Bonds, they'd never shut up talking about what a jerk he is. Bonds is simply the best player to play baseball in the past 40 years, and he knows it.

People were already talking about him, he started a thread in response to the talk in a couple of other threads. But hey, why let facts get in the way of a good whine?

Their meaning Midsouth-Hoops.com, numbskull. Unless you're saying that the Middle Tennessee State Moccasins are poised to win the Sun Belt.

Gomab, I wasn't saying you did get your info from MSH, I was simply pointing out their ignorance. Sorry for any confusion.

From midsouth-hoops.com: And someone disagreed with me a couple of weeks ago about MSH not being any good?

I would assume this is Pierre DuVentre's younger brother. Do you know what ever ended up happening with him? He was a really good guard a couple of years back, and I don't think I've seen his name lately.

Hmm...that's strange. There was a girls' soccer player at Hutchison a while ago that transferred to Bartlett for her senior year because her dad was called to fight in Desert Storm and I'd assume because they couldn't afford it anymore, and the TSSAA ruled she was ineligible.

Well, it's 2-1 now, and the Cardinals have to win it. I've got four tickets for game 3 of the World Series in St. Louis, dangit! They just HAVE to get there.

Good post. I agree with what you're saying, though I will point out that for his first couple of years at Bartlett, Ben really did seem to love the game. It seemed to me like he changed over last season, and even moreso over the summer. I like Ben, he's a nice guy, and I hope that whatever he ends up deciding to do, it works out well for him. That said, I agree with Hubie's decision here. Ben's attitude this summer from when I saw Bartlett was poor. He quit working on both ends of the court because his teammates didn't pass the ball to him early in the game. There were other things too, but that's just not what you need from a senior. From any player, really, but especially from a senior. Yes, Ben stood up to Hubie. Yes, that's something that needs to be resolved one way or the other. But the biggest problem wasn't really that Ben stood up to Hubie, it's that Ben stood up to Hubie the wrong way. If they'd done that in private and not in front of other players, then it would have been different. Hubie is not without fault...he's a great coach and an even better person, but I think it would be hard to play for him, because he's VERY demanding, and some people are better off with more laid-back coaches. Ben is probably one of those people. Also, as dynasty said, I don't think Ben has the love for the game that a lot of us have, and that frustrates the heck out of me because I just think of what I could have done if I was 6-10. But it's Ben's life, and if he doesn't want to play basketball then he really shouldn't. I'm really good at math, but I don't want to pursue a career in mathematics. I think Ben lost his love for basketball because he was doing some things because he had to, not because he wanted to. I think we can all relate to that. All in all, I just wish Ben and Hubie could have parted ways differently more amicably.

I'm quite certain the paper heard about it through the rumor mill and got a hold of Hubie to do the article. Hubie wouldn't be calling from Destin to bust on one of his players.

If you move further than across town, you can change from a public to a private or vice versa without sitting out. If, say, I moved from Bartlett to Millington and I was an athlete at ECS or Briarcrest, I couldn't use that change to get me eligible immediately. If I moved from to Jackson and wanted to go to JNS, then I'd be eligible right away. It works the other way around, too. Maybe they've changed the rules since you played.

Snow caught the ball and stepped on first before he threw over to second. In other news, this should be a good NLCS. Before Rolen's injury, the Cardinals were better offensively and defensively, with pitching effectively a wash, but with Rolen out, they're pretty close offensively, but the Cards are still the better defensive baseball team. I think the Cards are the better team, but in a seven-game series, you never know what will happen.

Jim Tracy did a good job with the Dodgers this year. They just weren't quite as good as a lot of people thought they were. The offense is thin, the pitching is a little overrated because Dodger Stadium depresses run scoring.

It wouldn't hurt if you had some vague clue what you were talking about. NFL contracts aren't guaranteed.

Actually, I'm going to have to go with March 22, 2003, when there will be a four-game event at MTSU. I've heard the winners get really cool stuff there, but they haven't said who will play yet. Sarcasm aside, all four games will be a little bigger than a regular season game.

Hubie Smith from Bartlett also has to be on the AAA list.

Football requires more players, and the difference in school enrollment is more significant on the field in football than it is on the court in basketball. You only need about 10 or so for basketball, you need at least 25 or so for football. The state championships in basketball and other sports don't need to be watered down any more than the D2 split does.

Carter has no work ethic. He got full of himself after having a Pro Bowl season and winning the Super Bowl in 1999-2000, and since then he's just dogged it all the time.

I think he should have gotten a second chance, and I'm glad he has himself straightened out. By no means am I condoning his drunk driving and killing someone because of it, but with very few exceptions, I believe in giving people second chances. If they screw themselves on that second chance, then I don't feel sorry for them, they dug their own graves. And I hate UT with all that is in me...that has nothing to do with it.

Not necessarily. Two years ago, two Tennessee teams made it to the semifinals of the Steamboat: Bartlett and Gallatin. Fast-forward about 8 months and Bartlett beats Gallatin 45-41 for the state championship.

There's been ZERO pass rush. At all. And the run defense isn't as good with Fletcher gone. He was very good against the run but weak against the pass, and Duncan is the opposite. Proehl is a brilliant fourth receiver. He's only a possession guy, though. The Rams need Troy Edwards or Terrence Wilkins to get the offense enough to play some. I don't know what's gotten into Bruce, but he's just not playing good football. He's gotten too tentative. Sucking is a better word than struggling. Warner just hasn't had enough time to read, and their opponents haven't needed to blitz to do that. I'm not upset about losing to Tampa, they played alright but just got beat. I'm still ticked about losing to the Giants and the Broncos because they just weren't ready to play in those three games. That play still should have been a touchdown, though. Conwell was wide open in the end zone, but Warner couldn't look downfield because Manumaleuna released his block too soon.