lawdog

Let me first say I do not know Sonny Gray nor am I from Smyrna; however, I think this it is a travesty that he is not going to be allowed to play. I have also emailed the TSSAA and got the simple response that "they were enforcing a rule put in place by member schools." My response was as follows: Again, we are dealing with a player who Baseball America chose to single out of the 38 and write a feature article on, simply impressive. However, the TSSAA has again shown its sometimes bull headed way in making a decision to rob a young man of a once in a lifetime opportunity. The TSSAA is beginning to more and more remind me of the NCAA. Instead of looking out for the athletes, they find reasons to knock the athlete down and in this instance ruin any future opportunity for any high school baseball player in Tennessee. A sad, sad state of affiars

CASCADEDAD: Classy post! Although we lost to you guys, I want to compliment you on the class and spirit with which your players play the game. We were treated as welcome guests in Wartrace and you guys, as well as Jo BYrns, know how to play the game the way it should be. If the games with you guys and McEwen were like all the rest wouldn't it be great. Good like tonight and thank you for the great post!!!!!!! P.S. Warrior seniors, go out and finish this season the way you know how. You will never forget this night and each senior night from this point forward will only be more special for you. Good Luck!!!!!!

Who made the all tournament team in Region 5A?

Who made the all tourney team in Region 5A?

Voldad, Great post. Let me first say that I think Eagleville is the best team 9A threw at 10A. Big props to Eagleville for coming back against NCS, after being way down. I was at the game and I thought they might win it. They shoot the ball really well from outside and do not get rattled when they are behind. They came from way down to beat Cascade, Forrest & McEwen in their last 3 victories. Sign of a good team. However, top to bottom, this year 10A was a stronger district this year. Next year who knows? That being said, I do not think that Eagleville, or 9A, gave much credit to McEwen. McEwen played a great game defensively and had Eagleville on the ropes, much like NCS. McEwen just couldn't hold off the run like NCS did. McEwen benefited from having to play in a very tough district and despite being the 6 seed in the district tournament, proved that they were a worthy opponent by beating WHH and giving East Robertson all they wanted in the District tournament. I believe that 10A was very tough top to bottom as most any team in the district was capable of beating another on any given night. The proof in that being the total congestion in the district standings. Although the 10A teams don't get along in the regular season, we need to pull for one another in region play. Once McEwen was out, they were pulling for NCS last night. It was a shame we couldn't have had a 10A semifinals last night. But congrats to East, East and NCS. Good luck to NCS and East Robertson tonight.

patriotsb-ballplaya, You just proved the point that everyone has been making. Your nonsensical response shows everyone why WHH catches so much negativity in District 10A. You may have the best players in 10A, though I don't think so, but you were sitting home after round 1. Instead there are 4 other teams starting Region play tonight, including McEwen. You are reliving last year with McEwen when they had Daniel Puckett, a great player, but without him they still ended your season. If you would put some reasoning into your thought process, you would understand that Tyler Slagle did not play because he cannot control himself on the basketball court. Again, WHH plays how they are taught. Coach Petrone obviously knows X's and O's but it takes more than that to be a good team. I would suspect that WHH will have a very good team next year. Again, I hope they can straighten out their attitudes and they could probably go a long way. But if they continue to let their mouths override their actions, their team will be limited. Good luck to 10A in Region play.

First naismith3, I am a basketball fan and parent of a young child, not a McEwen player, that loves basketball. You are right, I have never been at a practice, but over the past 2-3 years I have seen several WHH games more than 10) and anyone who can say that those kids don't play with a bad attitude is blinded by bias. I love kids that play hard and are a little cocky and understand that basketball can be physical, but anything beyond that is uncalled for and unacceptable in my opinion. Unfortunately if you talk to most other people around 10A they agree that night in, night out, WHH tends to play dirty and definitely talks more trash than anyone else. After a couple of years of that happening, it is my experience both coaching and playing multiple sports for many years, that type of thing comes from the top. Again, Tyler Slagle received a technical at WHH in the 1st McEwen game, in the 2nd game @ McEwen he throws a punch at a player and, fortunately for WHH, is not ejected. Against East Literature he gets 2 technical fouls, the 2nd for unsportsmanlike (throwing a ball at another player) and is ejected thus missing the McEwen game. Those are just a few examples. Jared Hill also a great trash talker. That being said, WHH has 3-4 great players and they are a very good team, but you lose a lot of what you have when you let the other crap take over your game. When you cannot control your emotions to the point of getting ejected or constantly getting teed up then there is a problem. It's very easy to stop by having some discipline as a coach. Coach Petrone could stop a lot of that by sitting players when that type of thing happens. But by not doing anything and allowing it, the players get worse. This year it cost him one of his best players for the District and as a result they are through for the year. As for WHH being in foul trouble that is not totally true, they only had 6 1st half fouls. Travis Doty did have 3 of those, but no one else was in any trouble. Furthermore, Dallas Harshaw came off the bench 1st, who I would say, as a senior, has seen little to no action this year or in the past years when I have seen WHH. Furthermore when he came in he almost immediately dove into a scrum on the floor and had to be separated as it was getting physical in the pile. Again, the referees did a good job of making sure this game stayed on track. Granted in the 2nd half WHH did get in some foul trouble. Secondly, I didn't say that WHH didn't know where to go, I said "they looked lost" and that without Tyler Slagle "they didn't know how to respond." If you watched the same 2nd half as me, WHH appeared to be out of sorts and unsure of how to respond. As for bickering, in the 3rd quarter when it started going south for WHH, Petrone called a time out and as WHH entered the huddle they were plainly arguing with one another. As for liking Coach Petrone, it is a good thing that neither your or anyone else at WHH cares, because it is a fact district wide. When other 10A teams play the coaches at least have casual conversation before the game. However, when WHH boys come to town no one speaks to him. I have never seen Coach Anderson or Coach Carlisle act like jerks before, during or after the game. They are obviously intense as most coaches are, but they teach the game just like Coach Ross and the other 10A coaches. If I were the WHH boys, I would be sick of the negative talk also. But there comes a time when everyone is saying something negative that maybe, just maybe, there is something to it. It has been my experience over the years that when you have to get so defensive all the time there comes a time that you need to look in the mirror. I personally did not trash WHH. If you will reread the post, I said " It's not school wide up there however because their girls seem to play hard and with a lot of class." The WHH girls are going to be a great team and their girls pay hard and don't appear to act any way but proper. It is the boys team that gets all of the negative talk, and not just from one team in 10A, but district wide. Think about that. I hope they get it together and act like they should and they could go places next year, but as long as they let all that other junk take place they will be limited in how far they can go and will be subject to the negative comments. Good luck to East Lit, East Robertson, NCS and McEwen.

Jared Hill is a junior, as are most of WHH. They will be tough next year. Frazier for MVP? Maybe, but it's a tough call. What about Winlow and Fosnes? District full of several good players that are deserving. No super standout

McEwen played a great game last night. Their defense was suffocating. I was sitting with a TSSAA referee and when he saw the officiating crew before the game he mentioned that it was a good crew. I knew then that they wouldn't let the trash get out of hand. 7-5 WHH @ end of 1st quarter and 20-20 @ half. This from 2 teams that can score. In the 2nd half McEwen turned it up and WHH could not respond. In the 1st half Petrone put in some deep subs in an apparent attempt to muscle up against McEwen, but the McEwen kids did great jobs of controlling their emotions. Even though WHH tried in the 1st half it went nowhere and in the 2nd half WHH looked lost. Without Slagle leading the way, WHH didn't know how to respond. Not sure how much difference Slagle would have made though, he only scored 9 points against McEwen in their first 2 games. I think the real difference with Slagle is he turns up the heat on the trash talking and the remainder of their starters feed off it. If you can keep your emotions in check with WHH and they cannot see that they are getting to you, it then starts upsetting them. Last night when the muscle failed they started bickering a little in their own huddle. If they ever see they can get to you, then it's game on and they turn trash talking into a whole new experience. Petrone was funny lat night. It seemed like towards the end of the 3rd quarter of the game, both teams knew the outcome. Petrone started looking at his watch about half way through the third quarter and I noticed him several times checking his watch as the score spread. Did not appear in the gym that he shook hands with McEwen players. I think the McEwen coach stuck a hand out and almost forced him to shake. It's a shame that a coach can't see what he is doing to District 10A and what he his teaching some young kids. Out of 8 other teams in 10A, apparently none of the other coaches like him and everyone seems to agree that he teaches dirty basketball. It's not school wide up there however because there girls seem to play hard and with a lot of class. It's unfortunate because he appears to know basketball very well and his kids are very good players. If they would leave the attitudes at home they would be an even better team. They have great talent but sometimes that's not enough when all of the other junk gets in the way and does things like cost you one of your leaders for the district tournament. Good luck to all in District and Region play!

I think McEwen got by just fine in the District, but I think WHH had some problems doing that!!! I think WHH is currently practicing for baseball since their BASKETBALL SEASON IS DONE! No Puckett needed!!!