The Sports Guy

You're absolutely right about Brad Beason! He is only a junior this year, but he has had 2 very good seasons already. Beason is not as big as some of the others, but he is solid, quick, and tough.

Congratulations to the Pigeon Forge Tigers, District 2AA Champs! Good luck to all 4 District 2 teams in Region 1AA tournament. Congratulations to the All-District team too! Excellent choices!

Campbell Co. vs Cumberland Gap boys game for Tuesday 2/14/06 has been cancelled.

I didn't see Allen's name on the list, so that probably needs to be reported to TSSAA too. Where did Allen end up signing? The last time I saw his father, he said it was narrowed down to LMU or Maryville College, but I didn't see his name on either roster. Tyler Sauceman from South Greene is on Maryville College's roster, and Javon Crockett from Cumberland Gap walked on at LMU, but has left the team to focus on academics. Are there any more District 2AA players in college that we can follow?

Amen! When do those over protected kids learn the harsher side of life? Do you wait until the words "You're Fired" offer up their first taste of humiliation? Or maybe we could wait until the Judge humiliates them by sending them to prison. Positive enforcement is always proper for positive behavior. If anyone tries to tell me that positive enforcement is also always proper for negative behavior, I will scream "HOGWASH" at the top of my lungs. If my statements seem too far from reality, take your class on a field trip to the local couthouse during any typical day. You will see a lot of young people between 16 & 25 that haven't responded very well to positive enforcement, and are facing a reality check. How humiliating is that?

I agree whole heartly! Anytime a player or student is trying to do his/her best, and is following a strict set of rules, he deserves 100% support from the coach or teacher. When he is not performing due to lack of effort, intervention is necessary. How do you go about getting his attention? It depends on the personality of the kid. I am a self confident person. I was as a child. A teacher or coach could get all over me, and it wouldn't hurt my precious little feelings. It would just make me angry enough to become determined to "show him". I have seen boys and girls go into despair over comments that seemed perfectly routine to me. Don't assume that another person is being humiliated because you wouldn't want to be approaced in such a manner. For us thick skinned variety, it's harder to humiliate us than you can imagine, if you are one who carries you feelings next to the surface. Some kids need a slight nudge, while others require a swift kick in the pants. Coaches and teachers have to try to determine which is needed, and administer as required. Sometimes you will be wrong, so I suppose you should start with a nudge, and progress until desired results are accomplished. What doesn't kill us, makes us stronger! Tough love is not nearly as devastating as apathy and abandonment.

I just looked up 3-point buckets made in a single game, and Richard Brown is tied at 6th with his 11 last night. It needs to be submitted to TSSAA. Would you believe that the record is 24 3s made in a single game? That's 72 points by one player from behind the arc. That must qualify for a Guiness record! It certainly belongs in Ripley's book.

Congratulations on a BIG win for the Tigers. I wonder if Richard will realize what he did when he wakes up. Great defensive effort by PF, that turned into a lot of easy looks at the other end. They boxed out extremely well, and held the Panthers to one shot on most trips. It was not a good night for CG.

Hey tigerball12! We will have the game on the internet tonight for all in PF that are interested. We broadcast on WLMU 91.3 FM, with a simulcast on http://radio.lmunet.edu. You can also link to us at http://www.913thegap.com. Just click on the broadcast tower in the upper right corner. If you're at the game, come up to the crows nest and say howdy. I'm the old fat guy wearing the light blue Panther cap.

I agree! Coach Hoese does a very good job with the Rebels! In District 2AA, I really like Sherrill King at Cumberland Gap, and Coach Jessie at Union Co. is doing very well in his first season.

Excellent point Onaroll! All of us make mistakes. All of us are biased in many ways. Most of us don't get the public scrutiny in our daily lives that referees get. Could our referees do a better job? Sure they could! Good referees are always trying to get better. Are there referees out there that aren't ready for Varsity games? Sure there are! BUT, try playing without an officiating team of some description. There would be no games. Anyone who is interested in making the game better should be willing to participate in some way. I'm 56, overweight, out of shape, and my eyesight is not as clear as it used to be, so I do play by play for local radio stations. This way I don't make calls on the floor for everyone in the stands to disagree with. Instead, I call the players by the wrong names while straining to see their numerals, and nobody at home knows how badly I'm calling the game.

Come on shotdoc. You substituted Impressed for Surprised. I AM impressed with the Panthers, but not very surprised by anyone on the roster except for Tyler Brim. In my opinion, Tyler has gone from being the best point guard in the district, to the best 2 guard. That's not always an easy transition, and Tyler has exceded my expectations.

I just think the league is more balanced than some might think. My biggest surprises are that Claiborne & Rutledge haven't won more, and that Union Co. has accomplished what they have done. Congratulations to the Patriots for their success thus far. I anticipated that the standing right now would be: 1- Claiborne 2- Cumberland Gap 3- Pigeon Forge 4- Rutledge 5- Union Co. 6- Gatlinburg-Pittman I guess that shows just how much I know. The first round byes are still up for grabs. We will just have to see who takes care of business in the next couple of weeks.

Congratulations to Pigeon Forge on the win last night over Cumberland Gap! It's really going to be exciting down the stretch. Good luck with your road trip next week. Claiborne and Cumberland Gap are tough places to play. The Panthers are still undefeated at home.

Man oh man! This is a subject that has so many different situations involved, that it will be discussed until the Lord comes. A Coach is a teacher, a leader, a friend, a father or mother figure, a shoulder to cry on when a kid is down, and a team member to high 5 when things are good. Everyone everywhere expects their coach to become the winningest coach in world history. Guess what! There are no ties in basketball! For every coach, player, and fan that enjoys a win, there is another that deals with a loss. It's how you let wins and losses affect you that sets you apart. Is the winning coach always a better coach? I will let you ponder that question and draw your own conclusions. I have seen so many coaches, at every level of the game, that become so obsessed with winning, that they forget all about the teaching and character building. I have seen many others than can win or lose with class. When you add in 12 to 15 players that are sure they should be starting, (as long as they don't have to play defense or work on conditioning) and 20 to 30 parents that are convinced they could do a better job (if they weren't so busy elsewhere), I am left wondering what kind of person wants that kind of public responsibility & scrutiny in their job. In my opinion. it takes a very special person to be a good coach. They are KINGS win their players respond and win, but they are DOGS when their talent pool is not as good as the competition. Coaches have to be self confident enough, and insightful enough, to ride the ups and downs without losing sight of who they are as individuals. I wish you well young man! If you have a problem with your coach, try talking with him about it. You might discover that he is human too, with worries and concerns just like yours. He might even have a solution, if you and your teammates are willing to listen. It might not make you go undefeated the rest of the season, but it just might make you understand, appreciate, and enjoy the game more.

Cumberland Gap won 2 non-conference games this week, and are now 14-4 overall. They beat Campbell Co. 61-56 on Thursday, and absolutely wore out Hancock Co. on Friday 73-46. I hpoe Coach Seal can get Hancock Co. back on track really soon. The Panthers host Knoxville Catholic next Tuesday before returning to district play at Pigeon Forge on Friday. They owe Catholic one, after a 46-37 loss in Knoxville on November 29.

Congratulations to the PF Tigers on your big win last night. It's starting to look like the January 27, and February 3 contests could possibly determine the #1 and 2 seeds for the District Tournament.

Claiborne @ Cumberland Gap was all that you could ask for in a game. Claibore took a 9-0 early lead, and held a 20-16 lead after 1. Cumberland Gap pushed ahead in the 2nd quarter, and led 36-33 at the half. The Panthers were up by 17 in the 3rd, but Claiborne pulled it back to 10, 58-48 after 3. Claiborne then tied it up with 7.9 seconds left at 69 all. Claiborne missed a free toss that would have given them a 1 point lead. The rebound was tipped out of bounds off Claiborne. The final 7.9 went like this. Joey McFall inbounded to A.J. Fultz, Fultz threw it across half court to Tyler Brim, Brim hit Clay Bisceglia on the left baseline, Bisceglia took 2 dribbles through a double team, and released a 10 footer with 1.3 seconds left, the shot was good, and hit the floor at zero. A foul against Claiborne was signaled, so Bisceglia would have gone to the stripe for 2 shots if he had missed the bucket. What a game! What a crowd! I love big rivalries! I sure hope they get a rematch in the District Tournament, and another in the Regionals.

Well, the first half of district play is in the books, with Cumberland Gap leading the way with 5 wins. It's a bit misleading, since they have already finished with Gatlinburg-Pittman, and have not faced Pigeon Forge yet. I'm looking forward to the Claiborne vs Cumberland Gap rematch on Friday night. The first one was a close one to the finish, with the Panthers finally pushing it to 6 points at the end. Tyler Brim, Chris Warren, Clay Bisceglia, & Taylor Lowe have really pushed their game up a notch this season, and A.J. Fultz is starting to be the assertive big man with 30 blocked shots. It will be up to Andrew Nickell to convince me that I was correct in my pre-season evaluation that he would be District 2AA MVP. Based on the first half of the season, Tyler Brim gets my vote for MVP, and I'm still looking for someone to seperate themselves from the pack to claim runner-up. The Claiborne @ Cumberland Gap games will be live on WLMU FM 91.3, on the internet @ http://radio.lmunet.edu, or http://www.913thegap.com. We will also do a video tape delayed broadcast on LMU TV on Monday, 1/16/06 at 7:00 pm.

The full court press told much of the story. Both teams pressed, but Claiborne dribbled right up the middle time after time, and Cumberland Gap had a hard time getting the ball up the floor. I thought the half court matchup was pretty even, but the transition game clearly favors Claiborne. Coach Parkey has his team handling the ball very well. Whitney Parkey is the real deal, surrounded by a solid team. Whitney Vannoy is also the real deal, but she needs more help from her teammates against the Claiborne pressure. It may be necessary for a couple of underclassmen to step up their game for the Lady Panthers, if things are going to be any different in January.

It looks like the Rebels are off to a good start. I think I can speak for almost everyone in District 2, we're glad you're in District 1. Good luck! We will keep following your progress until we see you in the Regional Tournament at Union Co.

Good update! It's still very early in the season, but it's starting to look more balanced than I had expected. I'm glad that GP & PF are playing well. Rutledge & Union Co. are not that bad either. It should get interesting by mid-February.

Kids can really give each other a hard time. They also give me a hard time when they see me in public wearing the "wrong" baseball cap. In my car you will find caps for Middlesboro, Pineville, Bell County, Claiborne, Cumberland Gap, Pigeon Forge, Kentucky, and Tennessee. I've been trying to get a Thomas Walker cap for 2 years, but haven't found one yet. I get teased more at Claiborne for the Pigeon Forge cap than any other. I agrred to cheer for them at the regional tournament last year, if they were the last District 2 team standing. They were, I did, and they gave me a cap. It's the nicest free cap I have ever received. I cheer for all of the kids without bias toward any school. I'm only human, so there are some kids, coaches, and fans that warm my heart more than others, but they are spread out among all school districts in the area. It helps that my own kids graduated from Campbell County, and not from any of the schools that I cover. I still live in Jacksboro, and have to travel at least an hour to do the games for WLMU. I pick up most of my expenses, but every one of the area players is worth that meager effort.

Mayes is not playing anywhere. It's a shame too. Owens is also from Middlesboro. I watched him in JV & limited Varsity there 2 years ago.

My point is not that an official should always travel across the state to work. I just think that if you can't stay neutral in games involving your most bitter rival, you should go 20 miles in the other direction that evening. There's almost always a game nearby. RB, I think that you do a great job with the kids, and I respect what you do from the bottom of my heart. If you honestly believe that I, or anyone else for that matter, can start with a short pre-game, follow the action of 10 players, 2 coaches, and 3 officials through 2 games step by step, and do a post game wrap-up, without ever once offering an opinion, we need to swap microphones one night. We refer to opinions as "color". I still have a copy of the game in question on video, and have reviewed it from end to end. The only thing I would have changed about last years broadcast, would be to have the officials' names, just as I did for all other particpants, and not have described him by physical characteristics instead. Refs are human beings, with lives outside of the gym, and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. I apologize for not knowing his name in advance of the broadcast. I would describe myself as tall, fat, & bald, but I would prefer to be called by my name, or Sports Guy.