REDSMAN

5eagle, first of all, I havent bashed anyone. Unless you cant read very well, I told you he was good-not great. Second of all, I could care less what anyone thinks. This was a discussion open to anyone the last time I checked. So if you cannot take part in this without getting your feelings hurt, then I suggest you go back to worrying about other things.

IT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AND WHO YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. AT THIS LEVEL, YOU WANT A KID WHO CAN MAKE ROUTINE PLAYS, WHO HAS YOUR BEST INFIELD ARM, AND CAN TURN THE DOUBLE PLAY. AS YOU GO HIGHER, YOU START TO LOOK MORE AT ATHLETICISM, FOOTWORK, HANDS, HOW GOOD ARE THEY AROUND THE BAG, ETC.... A KID CAN BE A VERY GOOD HIGH SCHOOL SHORTSTOP- BUT BE AN AVERAGE PLAYER ON THE GRAND SCALE OF THINGS. AS FOR BATES, I AM SURE HE WILL VERY GOOD FOR THE BEARS. BUT FROM A STANDPOINT OF RECRUITING HIM TO BE A EVERYDAY SS AT THE NEXT LEVEL, I DONT THINK SO..... NOW, HE MAY JUST PROVE ME WRONG AND BE THE NEXT JAY HOOD......

IT DEPENDS ON WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR AND WHO YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. AT THIS LEVEL, YOU WANT A KID WHO CAN MAKE ROUTINE PLAYS, WHO HAS YOUR BEST INFIELD ARM, AND CAN TURN THE DOUBLE PLAY. AS YOU GO HIGHER, YOU START TO LOOK MORE AT ATHLETICISM, FOOTWORK, HANDS, HOW GOOD ARE THEY AROUND THE BAG, ETC.... A KID CAN BE A VERY GOOD HIGH SCHOOL SHORTSTOP- BUT BE AN AVERAGE PLAYER ON THE GRAND SCALE OF THINGS. AS FOR BATES, I AM SURE HE WILL VERY GOOD FOR THE BEARS. BUT FROM A STANDPOINT OF RECRUITING HIM TO BE A EVERYDAY SS AT THE NEXT LEVEL, I DONT THINK SO..... NOW, HE MAY JUST PROVE ME WRONG AND BE THE NEXT JAY HOOD......

Taylor Bates is not a great shortstop-period. He may be good which is fine. But he is not one of the top in the state. I do like the Sampson kid at Beech. Vol24, we already sent out schedules, so Coach Martin did not need to find another team.

Purvis will know about his ss more than I would. I am going on what I have seen in the past. Yes, Brady Adams is very good. I thought he was an excellent third baseman - great on slow roller and backhand plays - but it looks like he will need to play short and move Froning to 2b.

FIRSTBASEMAN, I AM NOT BASHING AN MJ PLAYER. COACH PURVIS WAS ONE OF MY COLLEGE TEAMMATES AND VERY GOOD FRIEND. I HAVE MANY FRIENDS THERE. BUT, I DONT THINK HE IS A TOP SS. HE IS VERY AVERAGE IN MY OPINION. I WOULD PLAY LITTLE SHAO AT SHORT. I LIKE THE HILL KID TOO!!! AND CLIFF HARDY IS MY BOY. I TOLD COACH PURVIS 4 YEARS AGO CLIFF WOULD BE A GOOD PLAYER 4 HIM.....

Hiwasse Vol, I figured Froning would stay at ss. I wanted to play him there and move the Ledford kid to 2b. And yes, he is a junior. I have discovered Wilson Troutt here at Gallatin. I think he has excellent ability defensively. Does all the things offensively of a top or bottom order hitter. In my opinion, maybe the best kept secret in this area. I am sure the other coaches in this district could tell you more. Otherwise, the list looks pretty good to me.

TAYLOR BATES? ARE YOU SERIOUS? WHERE IS WILSON TROUTT OF GALLATIN? HIT OVER .400, ALL 9AAA? THE KID FORM WILSON CENTRAL IS TOUGH.....ANDREW NICKERSON FROM BRENTWOOD ACADEMY.......RICH FRONING SHOULD BE A GOOD ONE FROM COOKEVILLE....

IT IS VERY NEAT TO SEE SO MANY PEOPLE DEFEND PRAYER AND THE PLACE IT SHOULD HAVE IN PUBLIC. I FOR ONE, WOULD TO SEE THE SAME SENTIMENT DISPLAYED BY SOME OF THE PLAYERS AND COACHES THAT I RUN INTO. AS A FORMER COACH AND OFFICIAL, I SEE MANY PLAYERS AND COACHES TALK ABOUT GOD, PRAY ON THE FIELD, WRITE SIGNS AND LOGOS IN REFERENCE TO GOD ON THEIR WRISTBANDS AND SHOES. MANY OF THOSE PLAYERS AND COACHES WILL THEN USE DEROGATORY LANGUAGE AND BEHVIOR NOT LONG AFTER SAYING A PRAYER. UNFORTUNATELY, GOD AND PRAYER HAS BECOME A FASHION STATEMENT FOR MANY COACHES AND PLAYERS. THAT IS THE SAD PART OF ALL OF IT. I BELIEVE THE POINT OF ANY PRAYER IS THANKSGIVING AND GLORY TO GOD, NOT FOR GLORY TO BE ON THE INDIVIDUAL. DO THE SAME PLAYERS AND COACHES WHO PRAY DURING A GAME ALSO PRAY ON A DAILY BASIS?

I WOULD HAVE TO THINK EVERYONE ON HERE HAS A POINT, I GUESS. I AM ON COACH T A LOT, PROBABLY MORE THAN MOST COACHES. I LIKE TO COMMENT ONCE IN A WHILE. I AGREE, BUTCH WOULD BE A GREAT COACH AGAIN. I AM SURE THERE ARE THOSE WHO WOULD LOVE TO SEE HIM COACH AGAIN. THERE ARE A LOT OF GOOD CANDIDATES OUT THERE. I HATE TO SEE ALL OF THE NEGATIVITY, THOUGH. I LIKE IT HERE, AND I AM WORKING MY TAIL OFF TO MAKE THINGS GO. WHO ELSE WOULD DRIVE AN HOUR AND 15 TO WORK AND COACH, AND SLEEP IN THEIR CLASSROOM DURING THE WEEK? WE ARE STRUGGLING, AND I DON'T HAVE ANY ANSWERS. WE JUST GOTTA KEEP WORKING. IF THEY TAKE THIS JOB AND GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE, I CAN'T CONTROL THAT. I AM GIVING EVERYTHING I CAN, AND IF THAT ISNT GOOD ENOUGH, GOD WILL LEAD ME AS TO WHAT TO DO NEXT. THAT IS ALL I CAN DO AND SAY.

Cowan and Mullins are not playing. Thanks for the luck, we could use some right now. We are very inconsistent right now, but hopefully we will play through it. Alcorn and Bilbrey have looked great early, but there is along way to go yet. We will keep playing hard and good things will happen.

THE YOUNG PLAYERS ARE GETTING PLENTY OF TIME, AND DOING VERY WELL.

I was proud of the way we bounced back with our effort. Anthony Ford is going to have a very good year with that wilson Central team. We play Antioch and Mt. Juliet on Thursday in the Wilson County Tourney. Obviously, it will be two good teams. I am sure one of the Shao boys will throw the second game. Antioch will be tough. Looking forward to seeing how we compete tomorrow. In Orlando, we will try to update our website each day.

Jed is doing fine. He will be a great head coach very soon. He has the knowledge and passion it takes to be successful.

The Tant kid is very good. But, we were not ready to play. 7 errors will not cut it. It was an ugly night, and that is all you can say. They score 13 runs from six hits.

This past weekend the cavs played some very good baseball. Pitching and defense seems to be coming around. We open up at White House tommorrow at 5:00. We play at Wilson Central on Tuesday and then we play Mt. Juliet on thursday. Looking forward to the beginning of a new season up on the plateau. The coaching staff is excited about bringing Cookeville baseball to the level in which we can compete for a championship year in and year out in the toughest baseball district in the state of Tennessee. Scores from this weekend are posted below. GO CAVS! Cookeville-3 Rossview-2 Lavergne-2 Cookeville-1 Cookeville-7 Lebanon-1 Cookeville-8 White House-4

We scrimmaged McMinn and Grundy counties Sat. First time we have been outside. Pitching and defense really struggled first game, we were better second game. Steakley and Lee williams played well, along with some young players. Tonight, we went to Farragut. They are excellent. Alcorn really pitched well for us. Final was 8-3. We will be fine once we get some more work outside.

The situation has nothing to do with softball. It is atitle IX issue. The school board feels it is not fair to build the locker room and concession facilities.

I NEED SOPHMORE NOMINATIONS FROM COACHES IN EAST TENNESSEE AND THE CHATTANOOGA AREA. IF YOU CAN PASS THIS ON TO A HIGH SCHOOL COACH NEAR YOU, HAVE THEM CONTACT COACH SCOTT HUNT @ COOKEVILLE HIGH SCHOOL: 931-261-2012, 931-520-2287, OR E-MAIL AT shunt9@yahoo.com. WE ARE LOOKING TO TAKE A TEAM OF SOME OF THE TOP SPOHMORE PLAYERS IN OUR STATE THAT WILL REPRESENT US WELL IN OKLAHOMA IN LATE MAY - EARLY JUNE.

HAVING BEEN A PART OF THE CUMBERLAND PROGRAM FOR ABOUT 26 YEARS NOW, I CAN ANSWER YOUR QUESTION. IT IS NOT THAT HS KIDS WOULD NOT WANT TO GO THERE. THERE ARE SEVERAL REASONS. 1- MANY HS PLAYERS DONT REALLY KNOW ABOUT CU BECAUSE CUMBERLAND RECRUITS 90 PERCENT JUCOS. IN ORDER TO STAY COMPETITIVE AT A HIGH LEVEL EVERY YEAR, MY DAD HAS ALWAYS FELT JUCO WAS THE WAY TO GO. THE HIGH SCHOOLERS HE NEEDS TO STAY AT A HIGH LEVEL WILL END UP GETTING DRAFTED OR CHOOSE DIVISION 1 SCHOOLS ANYWAY. AND EBEN THOUGH CUMBERLAND IS A GOOD PROGRAM, IT IS A NO BRAINER FOR A KID IF HE HAD TO CHOOSE CUMBERLAND OR A GEORGIA TECH. 2- CUMBERLAND'S FINANCIAL SITUATION DICTATES THAT THEY RECRUIT JUCO'S. THEY LITTLE MONEY TO WORK WITH, SO DAD TAKES THE MONEY AND GETS A HANDFUL OF TALENTED JUCOS AND D-1 TRANSFERS, INSTEAD OF RIDING THE ROLLER COASTER OF DEVELOPING "AVERAGE" OR "POTENTIAL-LABELED" HIGH SCHOOLERS. IT IS SIMPLY A MATTER OF WANTING TO STAY COMPETITIVE AT A NATIONAL LEVEL. DAD WOULD LOVE TO HAVE MORE HS AND LOCAL TALENT, BUT THE TOP PLAYERS HE CANNOT GET.

I DONT THINK DR. MARTIN IS THE FAULT. HE JUST SAID THE SCHOOL BOARD WOULD NOT ALLOW US TO BUILD. THE MONEY IS ALL THERE, AND WE RAISED EVERY CENT OF IT. BUT, WE STILL CANNOT BUILD THE FACILITIES.

I CAN TELL YOU ONE THING, YOUR COACH IS DOING AN OUTSTANDING JOB THERE. HE IS AFORMER PITCHER AT CUMBERLAND, WHERE HE PITCHED ON THE 1993 WORLD SERIES TEAM AND THREW CU'S ONLY PERFECT GAME IN SCHOOL HISTORY. HE IS A SIMPLE MAN WHO ONLY WANTS TO BE HAPPY AND SPEND TIME WITH HIS FAMILY. THAT'S WHY HE IS IN WATERTOWN. YOU GUYS HAVE A COUPLE OF GOOD PLAYERS, BUT IT IS HIS INFLUENCE THAT HAS MADE THE DIFFERENCE.

ANYONE FROM EAST TENNESSEE AND THE CHATTANOOGA AREA WITH NOMINATIONS FOR THE SOPHMORE SUNBELT TEAM CAN CONTACT COACH SCOTT HUNT AT COOKEVILLE HS. 931-520-2287; 931-261-2012, OR shunt9@yahoo.com

I THINK THE SS-P NAMED TANT IS VERY GOOD.

COOKEVILLE HAS THE 7AAA SCHEDULE PLUS THE ORLAND NATIONAL CLASSIC IN FLORIDA, WILSON CENTRAL, WHITE HOUSE, SMYRNA, OAK RIDGE, MT. JULIET, ANTIOCH, MCGAVOCK, OLNEY HS FROM ILLINOIS, AND LAVERGNE. PRESEASON INCLUDES FRANKLIN CO, ROSSVIEW, MCMINN CO, GRUNDY CO.