Chasin' Foul Balls
by Robbie Hamilton
I was reading a Don Hammack column in the Sun Herald. The title was “Take care
of your own house”. Let me give you part of what he had to say.
“The atmosphere of escalating accusations and rumor mongering among the most
vocal supporters of their respective institutes of higher athletics-er, I mean
higher education- is so poisonous as to completely not cloud only the hearts
and minds of all they touch but also the folks who try to sift through the piles
of recriminations which resemble the aftermath of a three-ring circus act of
elephants on Exlax. We should all watch our steps. The NCAA's Committee on
Infractions had to look at evidence gathered by the organization's enforcement
staff. The “backdrop of swirling rumors and innuendo” made the job that much more
difficult, the committee report said. “It complicated our consideration of the
facts of the case because there was so much stuff just swirling around, some with
merit, most without,” Committee of infractions chairman Thomas Yegar said. “it was
more difficult to focus on what the facts were, what was the information that was
provided and what was just static coming from any direction that didn't have any
real bearing on the case.” What's wrong with taking care of you own house? A lot
more progress could be made if folks would just consider the concept.”
MR. Hammock was referring to the problems we have with the big three alumni here
in Mississippi. We spend way too much time and money on what the other programs
are doing wrong than to help our chosen university do what's right. Come to think
of it, he could have been talking about the Presidential election. Both are in
desperate need of repair.
THE GOOD---
Pearl River Central running back Seth Hayden rushed for 205 yards and five touchdowns
to lead the Blue Devils past Pass Christian. Hayden ends the regular season with 2,345
yards and 32 touchdowns joining Justin Magee from Picayune, Torey Staten of D'Iberville
and Carlton Cotton also of D'Iberville in the 2,000 yard rushing club of South Mississippi .
The Golden Eagles of Southern Miss moved to number 21 in both polls this week. Also,
it's good to see that AD Richard Giannini says that there was no possibility of California
buying out the December 4th game in Hattiesburg .
Our hats are off to the Pearl River Community College Wildcats for finishing the regular
season undefeated. In that league, that is a top notch accomplishment. Now the Cats are
off to the state playoffs. Did I jump the gun or what on having the Northwest Rangers at
Poplarville in the opening round of the play-offs. Who would have ever thought the number
three ranked Rangers would lose back-to-back games. It happened and now Pearl River
opens hosting Itawamba while Hinds travels to Northeast. I still would have loved to see
the Rangers and the Wildcats in the opening round.
It's good to see one of my favorites, coach boo ferris, so happy. Coach ferris got to see
a team he had coached and a team he had played for win championships. His beloved
Delta State Statesmen baseball team, where he coached for many years and now helps
every way possible, won the division ii baseball championship this spring while the Boston
Red Sox, a team he played for and won 21 games as a rookie in 1945 and a league best
25 in 1946, wins the baseball World Championship this fall. Way to go coach ferris---
you won another doubleheader!!!!
And I didn't know where to put this one, but I reckon it has to go under the good.
The Mississippi State football program finally got the word from the NCAA justice system.
It has to be good just to get it over with and I think you have to say that the final penalty
could have been a lot worse. Depending on how you read my first paragraph today---
it was fair or way too light!!
Not So Bad
Congratulations to the Picayune Lady Tide softball team. In the final Clarion Ledger softball
rankings, the Lady Tide wound up fourth. Not bad for just getting started back. Great things
are in the future!!!
Also, a big R-O-L-L..T-I-D-E....to the Picayune boy's swim team. They came in fourth in
the MHSAA state swim meet held at Biloxi this past weekend.
The Southern Miss Golden Eagle faithfull can pat themselves on the back this year.
Football season ticket sales set a school record for the fifth straight year. A record number
of 22,844 season tickets were distributed and that without a nebraska game on campus, an
increase of 108 over last year. Not bad
The Mississippi State Bulldogs had two players rush for over one hundred yards in the win
over Kentuck: Jerious Norwood rushed for 165 while back-up Fred Reid carried for 109 yards.
Two in a row for the Dogs and Alabama on the horizon. Not bad!!!!
And if football is getting you down, you can make the short trip to the coast for the Mississippi
Sea Wolves. The Wolves are off to a 3 and 2 East Coast Hockey League start. When you
figure out the difference between the blue line and the two line pass, just let me know.
Ugly
A couple of things here---
First, why did the new contract for Southern Miss Head Coach Jeff Bower not include a full buy
out of his contract if he is terminated? After what Jeff Bower has meant to Southern Miss that
seems a no brainer. Some say it's much to do about nothing, others say it's the management
style of Dr. Shelby Thames. Which ever it is, to me, it's just ugly!
I had to check to see if the sky was falling. Florida,Florida State, and Miami all dropped football
decisions this past weekend. A nice way to say they all lost. That was the first time since
October 14th, 1978 that has happened; an unbelievable 26 years. To the folks in Florida,
ugly did not describe what happened.
The fate seems to fall to one school every year. This year it's O'Bannon out of Greenville.
Greenville O'Bannon had a perfect 8 and 0 season underway, had captured the Region 4-2A
championship, and qualified for the playoffs. Then the ball dropped. O'Bannon was found to have
played an ineligible player, a fifth year senior. The student athlete had played in all the O'Bannon
games. The penalty handed down by the MHSAA---forfeit all their games, removed from the 2A
playoffs, fined $1,000 and placed on probation through the 2005 regular football season. O'Bannon
was ranked 5th in the Clarion Ledger 2A poll and aiming for their first state championship.
Now that's ugly!!!!!
And finally, did you see that LSU senior center Ben Wilkerson suffered a ruptured patella tendon
in his left knee and will be out for the remainder of the season. what's so ugly about this is that
it happened on the final play of the game against Vanderbilt with LSU leading 24 to 7. That's ugly
for both the Tigers and Wilkerson!!!!
Finally---I was reading the Laurel Leader Call and ran across a column written by former Laurel
and McComb Head Coach George Blair. The section of the article below became a talking
segment of our Chasin Foul Balls talk show. See what you think about it.
“Now the present style (of coaching) has arrived and most coaches have dropped the “old school”
approach. Most coaches or teams you see now are spreading the offense out and using the college-
type defense. Some people like it and some don't. I think somewhere along with the changes, some
coaches have dropped the discipline and the teaching skills and have gone to letting the skills and
abilities of the player take over and do the job.”
What do you think? The entire column was in the October 25th, 2004 edition of the Leader Call.
Till next week---
Robbie hamilton
Rwhamilton@hotmail.com