Hope everyone is enjoying his or her Wednesday… and had a great Memorial Day Weekend! What a blessing it is to live in this country, and honoring all of those who have served us and given of their lives in the name of freedom deserve to be thanked for their duty! As the son of a Marine, I honor all of those who have worn the uniform and stood for what this country is all about!

Christi and I enjoyed a long weekend away visiting friends and family and had a blast in between the constant downpours. If only we could get some of that rain here in Jackson, I know all of us could use it on our lawns (ours is barely making it), and we could finally hear David stop talking about this crazy drought! And start saving some cash on our monthly water bills!

Just a couple of takes for you on the last Wednesday of May… first, we are just two days away from Regional Action kicking off with STATE, Ole Miss and Southern all taking the diamond in post-season play! More to come on this Friday, but it will be truly exciting to see if Ole Miss and Southern meet in a double-elimination game and two intra-state rivals determine their season’s worth against each other! Plus STATE travels to Tallahassee – and call me crazy – but they have the potential to advance. FSU is the only other legitimate team in that opening bracket, and I’m smelling upset for the DAWGS in Florida over the weekend.

And how about Kobe Bryant today, who was saying that he, wants to be traded out of Los Angeles? Very few stories hit a cord on a national level like star-athletes who demand things and then blame management, and it was obvious because as I drove to the station every single talk-radio show in town was talking about the subject. Here is my thought – if you are Kobe Bryant – the best player in the league and you are watching the Spurs, Suns, Mavs and even the Jazz win 50 plus games and compete for a title every year and you have to score 50 plus points a night to keep your team in the hunt for the last playoff spot… then you have a reason to grumble. He’s the best player in the game, on no doubt one of the worst teams in the league. Take him out of that line-up and they win 30 games. Maybe. Kobe is Kobe and you either get the players he needs around him to win a title, or let him go. And Shaq is on his-side in this debate with Dr. Jerry Buss. So it’s universally understood I guess by everyone but the Lakers. Being a Celtic fan, I love it!

And finally… talk about a sad story the last few days out of Hattiesburg, where the former boys basketball coach at Presbyterian Christian High School in Hattiesburg was found dead in the schools gym Tuesday. Mark Bryan's death is under investigation, but all early signs point to a self-inflicted gunshot. Can you imagine walking in on that scene? It’s such a tragic piece of sports news, and one that is really difficult to cover and communicate about. The metro connection to the story is that Bryan had recently accepted a job as an assistant coach at Jackson Prep. All of our thoughts and prayers are with his family, former players and students, and the entire PC High School community.

Keep Walking the Thin Line...

Christian

Sports Fans what is up?

Hope everyone is enjoying their Wednesday… as college baseball tournaments take off around the nation! Should be a great match-up tonight between Ole Miss and STATE in Hoover, Alabama at the SEC Tournament, both teams need to make a statement if they want to host an NCAA Regional. And not just with a win tonight. Ole Miss won last year’s tournament title, and it’s always hard to defend, but with players like Will Kline on the bump and Freshman of the Year Jordan Henry scoring runs like Ricky Henderson, they just might pull it off. STATE can be explosive, and they split the season series, so it could fall either way tonight. Tune it at 10 for latest!

Now time for a response… yesterday Christi wrote about equality in media coverage across the board… especially for women’s softball in comparison to baseball, and she made some valid points. However, the major dart she threw at everyone from local TV and newspapers to ESPN and beyond is universal, and it’s just the way things are in 2007. It all comes down to money, like she said, but to take it a step further it's this simple...

People care about the things... THAT THEY CARE ABOUT. Ratings drive the business of television, sports or otherwise. The key to me is to find great stories that take place within the world of “non-revenue” sports and showcase teams and athletes in that medium, because trying to pull off a full-fledged production and beaming it around the world for people to see when there is no significant coin being made is an impossible task for any network. Just ask Versus. I’m a hockey fan… Go Predators… but do people even know that Versus exists? Or what channel it is on their TV? Or who is playing in the Stanley Cup Finals this week? Didn’t think so. And those aren’t female athletes. If you care about it you watch, if you don’t, then you don’t. It’s a free country and in my opinion the people always speak. And they do it loud and clear with one thing, their wallets.

One other quick take… how confusing is it to all of us who are motor-sport fans in the NASCAR world that a strong majority of the drivers, crew chiefs, teams and owners DO NOT LIKE the Car of Tomorrow… yet today NASCAR announces that beginning next year the entire series will be run with the new model stock-car. What does it mean when Jeff Gordon has won 3 races this season and dominated with the COT yet is on the record saying he doesn’t like it? It says that NASCAR made a huge mistake by trying to dismantle a product that worked, and in the end the fans will be the ones who suffer (as usual) because the competitive world that existed on the track is virtually gone. Hendrick Motorsports has won ALL 5 Car of Tomorrow races this year… and I guarantee you number 6 is coming at Dover June 3rd. Last year if your name wasn’t Jimmie Johnson you couldn’t win in a Hendrick car… now you can. Even Kyle Busch is competitive, sometimes. How is Junior not replacing him at the end of '07 anyway? He is. But the decision by NASCAR leaves you scratching your head, doesn’t it?

Keep Walking the thin Line…

Christian

Sports Fans what is up?

A solid greeting to you on this Monday… as the world of college baseball really starts to take effect around the state! A couple of things to run thru today… first of all congrats to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles who have won 10 straight games and are simply on fire these days! Today Pitcher Ryan Belanger was named the C-USA Pitcher of the Week after his first complete game in his two years in Hattiesburg… giving up only 4 hits, 1 walk and finishing with 8 strikeouts! Talk about an outing last Thursday. Head Coach Corky Palmer has his team peaking at the right time, which is good news, as the C-USA tournament begins on Wednesday with USM taking on UAB at 3 PM in Greenville, North Carolina. Remember this team was 4 and 8 in the conference standings at one point… and finished 14 and 10! So the question is… was it the lighter schedule at the end of the year that produced the big turnaround? Or is this team a contender looking to knock people off in the post-season? I think it’s the latter.

And how about this… STATE and Ole Miss are set to pitch it up in the first round of the SEC Tournament that begins Wednesday in Hoover. Talk about another reason to get fired up for this passionate intra-state rivalry! The Bulldogs and Rebels have split the season series to this point, with each team taking home two victories. It should be interesting to see how the teams play each other… knowing that a victory means moving on in the tournament… but also knowing that the games you really want to win come later on this month and in June! I’m sure they’ll be playing to win at all costs, but it could be worth keeping your eye on as the weekend progresses? Do teams really care about season ending tournaments – or are they focused on the NCAA Tournament games that really matter? After all you want to win in Omaha more than you do in Hoover, right?

Finally, check out “The supposed Better Half” tomorrow… as Christi will write her additions on Tuesdays and Thursdays… and I’ll be writing my blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays! The early response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we hope that you enjoy reading and don’t hold back from posting your own comments! After all… this is all about being interactive… so bring it on!

Keep walking the thin line...

Christian

Sports Fans what is up?

I would personally like to welcome you to the first ever addition of “The Sports Wire!” The entire purpose for this Blog, or Blog(s) as you are about to find out, is to showcase all that is going on in and around the world of sports here in the great state of Mississippi! And to offer up opinions and insight from two VERY DIFFERENT views on life… and sports… more on that to come. Our goal is to bring you stories that matter from around our state on and off the playing field, to showcase individual and team accomplishment, and to simply make it fun along the way!

Of course on the journey to doing that will come an opinion, or two… or maybe even three if you were ask my wife! I’m not afraid to offer up my take on an issue or event… and believe me fellas… she isn’t either. Seven weeks into marriage I’ve figured that one out! But what’s the big deal about putting the toilet seat down? Why can’t she do it? It's not hard.

My wife Christi has a journalism degree from Missouri – one of the top schools in the nation, and she played competitive sports her whole life, and she’s probably a better writer than I am… BUT… how can she possibly think her take will be “The Better Half”? Is she serious with that?

I mean… come on. She knows some things about sports... but no one cares about who Tony Romo is dating, or makes NCAA Tournament picks based on team mascots, or reads about David Beckham’s latest hair products… or even takes an hour to decided what dip to serve at our Super Bowl Party! Put three different ones out and go for it! Just give me a barbecue, and a cold beverage, and lets watch the game without all that side chatter about who is on the cover of Us Weekly drowning out the announcers voice! How dare you interrupt Mike Tirico, Bill Walton or Dan Patrick? Feel me?

It should be interesting… and ultimately our site will be a forum for you to respond to and offer YOUR OPINION on the current state of athletics, or a major news story in the world of sports here in Mississippi… and beyond! This will be interactive, because we care about what you think and what matters most to you.

After all… sports is all about passion, dedication, commitment and loyalty. As a result, sports are something un-like anything else in society that either brings us together... or... makes us rip on our neighbor because he went to STATE and you are a Rebel! I graduated from Baylor, and anything or anyone associated with Texas or Texas A&M brings out the best in me, if you know what I mean.

If I have learned one thing in my three plus months in Jackson… it’s that you either went to MSU, Ole Miss, Southern or J-State - and if you didn’t – duck for the incoming smack-talk headed your way!

Welcome to The Sports Wire… enjoy walking the thin line…

Christian

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