Opperman

Soupkitchen, the thing you need to realize is that the student fan in most of west tennessee didn't really have the option of going to the Spring Fling in Chattanooga. Memphis is inconvenient for east TN, yes, but Chattanooga was inconvenient for west TN as well. RGE, you mean like losing the Tyson-Lewis fight to DC? Or maybe losing the Grizzlies to New Orleans?

When's the last time you came here, mixitup? Memphis is, and has been, changing quickly over the last several years. And Scrappy, we'll see what happens. Enough people here wanted to make it happen, and I think it will draw well enough to work...I'd be absolutely shocked if the city takes the out after one year.

Why should Nashville/Mufreesboro get the state tournaments without offering a significant financial package? And OSHSman, the Memphis city teams don't make it to the state in baseball, but we've had a suburban team make it every year. The *ONLY* problem with Memphis as the host is that it's in a corner of the state. Chattanooga was in a corner of the state too. I agree that Nashville is the best place to hold the state tournaments...but that doesn't mean the TSSAA should ignore everything else. If Nashville didn't put together a good enough bid, and they didn't, then they shouldn't get it. Period. Memphis put together the best bid and has the best facilities.

IMO that punishes strong regions unfairly. For example, Region 8-AAA this year had two teams ranked in the top 50 in the nation by Baseball America...to me it's unfair to guarantee that the winner of a fairly weak Region 7 goes to state.

Downtown Memphis is safer than the suburbs right now. It had a bad reputation for a long time, but it's really turned into a nice area...and the players that make the state baseball championship games will always remember playing at AutoZone Park. Also, most of the events are in East Memphis and in the suburbs, which are as low-crime as it gets in Tennessee. And as coacht said, Memphis has been driving east for everything for 25 years. We've got the best facilities in the state for spring sports, especially baseball and soccer, and I expect everyone who actually comes to have a truly wonderful time, with their only complaints being the length of the drive. OSHSman, I don't care one bit whether you consider Memphis a part of Tennessee or not. As long as the sales tax money I pay goes to Nashville, we're every bit as much a part of Tennessee as you are.

Baseball (and soccer) will work like every other sport if they expand to eight teams.

http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/prep_sports/a...1167444,00.html Coach Clark, let me be among the first to welcome you to Bartlett. I'm absolutely thrilled to have you running the show here, and I'm looking forward to next year.

Hendersonville loses a lot? I thought Hubie Smith had told me they have most of their rotation back. (They will be playing at Bartlett in December...was up at school a couple of weeks ago to see how everybody's doing)