NWTennSports

I don't even want to know how bad I did. I bet I finished behind the guy who didn't pick at all in Week 0.

Well, I've known the principal at Stewart County for many years, and he's a good guy. ... I know he wants all the programs to succeed. I will come and catch a game in the new stadium this year. Good luck to the Rebs, and looking forward to seeing some old friends this fall!

Stick the landing, Harriman!! (Oops, I've been watching too much of the Olympics. Well, Gibson County, you're on the clock.

Years ago, before Jim Wiggins and then Larry Shanks came to Obion Central, the visitors' section in Troy was one of the worst. When arch-rival Union City would come to town, fans of the Rebels used to put -- how to put this delicately -- the excrement of a certain farm animal under those bleachers. The home seating section was just as bad. But, Wiggins led the charge to build a new home seating area and switched the home and visitors sides, and then Shanks built a massive new home section and had the sides switched again. So, OC basically has two home sections, with press boxes, and has a great facility now. ..... But, back in the day, whoo boy. No wonder opposing teams came up with the cheer: Shoo Wee, What's that smell? C-E-N-T-R-A-L!!!

That sound you hear is me slapping myself for not mentioning coachT. Best site around, and the links provided give fans a great look at prep sports across the state. Thanks for the reminder.

THAT'S A HIGH SCHOOL???? Are you kidding me?!?!? How great is that place. I might have to make a special trip this season just to see a game there. Of course, if I go, I better take my family, because I might not come back. That place is just amazing.

One of my questions about Swain has already been answered with the Shuler posts. Tell me more about Swain Co. football and prep football in general in that part of the country. I know some people who used to joke about UT signing a 1A QB when it signed Heath Shuler way back in the day. They weren't joking much after his great career, though. There must be some good football there with a 1A beating a 4A from our state.

I didn't know Germantown considered itself a part of inner-city Memphis? If I lived in Germantown, I would make that distinction at every opportunity. I have a lot of respect for Germantown, Bartlett, Cordova and those places. But I wouldn't give you a penny for Westwood, Treadwell or Manassas or even Melrose. They don't seem to respect anyone else, so what have those schools done to be respected??

This is not about the score. It's about the message being sent. "Hey, guys. You're terrible. I don't want to coach you anymore tonight. Let's just go home." Great leadership there by the Westwood "coach", and I use the term loosely. Why don't they just forfeit the season? Why don't they just play one half every game? Why don't they just save everyone a lot of time and trouble by skipping the formality of showing up at a building designated for school and hit the streets now. Why wait? Just quit a game today, quit the program next week, quit school next month, quit life next year. When you quit that first time, every time after that becomes easier. Sorry to keep harping on this, but commitment means something. And, it should be taken a little more seriously than they seem to be taking it at Westwood.

There is a post on this board about a new website for Dresden football, which I think is great. I chimed in saying websites for West Tennessee prep football would be a good idea, considering the tradition around these parts. I know there are some great programs throughout the state, and I would like to know if there are any other websites for prep football teams in the state. I know about some of the big ones, like Murphy Fair (which is a great site), but are there any others?? Let me know.

Thanks for the info. .... I'm always looking for prep football websites, both in-state and around the country. Trenton Peabody used to have a pretty good one, but I don't know if it's still up and running. .... I would love to see some other websites of West Tennessee teams. There's a lot of great tradition around here with Milan, Humboldt, Covington, Union City, Haywood County, Huntingdon, Bruceton, ... I could go on and on. I know there are people who have historical info on many teams. A West Tennessee Prep Football website would be great .... Again, great job on the Dresden site. Maybe that will start a trend.

Ok, recruitguru, you might be talking about a different game. Memphis Westwood was getting hammered by Memphis Fairley and decided to quit at the half. As far as that showing courage on part of the coach, my reply is BULL. Quitting has nothing to do with courage under any circumstance. Quitting is quitting, plain and simple. And, if their coach will quit on them during a game, then they will quit, too, in real life. With all the problems in the Memphis inner-city schools, quitting just adds to them. If they'll quit in football today, it will be the math test tomorrow, the job next year and on and on. I have no use for quitters. The coach should be fired, the principal should be reprimanded, the school's athletic programs should be punished by the TSSAA. And, I still say Memphis can be taken over by Mississippi or just fall into the river. That city is the shame of this state ... not just in high school athletics but in everything .... political, social, educational, athletic, everything. This is the city, you will remember, that paid big money to the TSSAA to host the Spring Fling and then had to ship off the softball state tournaments to Mississippi!!! The largest city in the state can't even host the state's high school softball finals!!! PATHETIC!!!!!!!!!

Hey Dark ... I guess the Jackson Sun check is in the mail. They haven't been very good in a few years. They core reporters are pretty good but the people who take call-ins can't spell "football" much less write about it. BTW ... The Sun does realize that Obion County is in West Tennessee, doen't it???

First of all, congrats to JCM for beating up on what is basically a Class A team. Who's next for you big guys, Gleason??? .... Now, this is NOT Cedric's team yet. This is the team of Hardegree, Shanks and Vowell, all are gone now. Let's see how good a coach ol' Ced is when its his team. Hey, lets see what kind of coaching skills ol' Ced has when he's in a tight game against the likes of Morris at Milan. And I hate to say this, but that 49-7 win won't look as good at the end of the season when UC has finished up another 2-8 (if that many wins) season. ... And, no, UC doesn't need Ced back. UC won in spite of Ced when he was there in the 1990s.

Well, two great coaches haven't been mentioned but need to be: Randy Barnes of Union City and Rod Sturdivant of Bruceton. Both are out of the game now, but they were both two of the most successful around. Both had around 200 wins in their 20-plus years. Barnes did not win a state title, but took two unbeaten teams to the state 2A championship game (1997 and 2000) and his 1998 and 1999 teams were in the semifinals. Also, he won big when only one team from each DISTRICT (not region, back in the three-classification and no public-private split days) went to the state playoffs. In 21 years, his teams were in the postseason 19 times. Pretty good. Sturdivant won some state titles at Bruceton and had some of the state's top players, too. Look in the state record books. You still see the name Longmire. Seems to me these two men should get some credit, both on this message board and in the TSSAA Hall of Fame.

I remember all of those games, and all were heartbreaking. Maybe another heartbreaker could be what happened to Mario. He went from being Mr. Football as a junior to jailbird and missing his senior year, the punk. Another UC heartbreaker was the 1976 State Playoff first round game with Memphis Mitchell. It was UC's first-ever state playoff game and it was played at UT Martin the day after a big snowstorm. Snow was piled up on both sidelines, and it was COLD that night. A few first-half mistakes put UC in a hole, and a late comeback was stopped short. Probably a good thing UC lost, though, as Brentwood Academy would have been the next opponent.

That game tells you all you need to know about inner-city Memphis football. Half the teams run it up at will, the other half can't play a lick and all of them cheat. As far as I'm concerned, the Mississippi national guard can invade Memphis and claim that pathetic town for its own.

Don't be surprised if 7-2A comes down to the Humboldt-Milan game. Humboldt is very much improved this year and could be looking for a pretty good playoff run. Also, Camden in 6-2A should be a lot better, but beating Huntingdon won't be in the cards this season. A quarterfinal berth there would be a big accomplishment. Ward's a good coach. Dresden? I don't think so.