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The Appalachian Athletic Conference men’s and women’s tennis tournaments will be held this weekend at the Liberty Bell Sports Complex in Johnson City.

On the men’s side, King College enters the tournament on a four-match winning streak and in the midst of a turnaround season. The Tornado went 4-1 in conference play this season and head coach Chris Bartlett’s team is the second seed. Team members include Andre Franco, Jon Axel Jonsson, Rohit George, Oriol Mirallas, Dustin Davis, Nicholas Smith and Juan Avila. The University of Virginia’s College at Wise is the fifth seed in the men’s tourney.

Several local players will compete in the women’s tourney. Second-seeded Milligan is led by freshman Caitlin Conley (Tennessee High), who is 4-1 in singles and 4-1 in doubles against conference opponents.
The University of Virginia’s College at Wise is the third-seed for the event and is paced by No. 1 singles player Autumn Lauzon, a former John Battle star. King is seeded sixth.

Posted by Tim Hayes

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Perhaps Friday night’s best high school baseball game will take place in Norton as J.J. Kelly meets J.I. Burton in a key Lonesome Pine District baseball clash.

Sure, the matchup lost some of its luster after Powell Valley sophomore pitcher Kenny Burke shut down Burton on Tuesday and made the Raiders fall a game back in the LPD standings.
However, anytime legendary head coach Mack Shupe faces his old school, it’s a big game with intriguing storylines. Shupe was the man at Kelly for years and guided the Indians to eight state titles and
numerous district and regional titles.
Shupe left Kelly in 2001 and took a job with the Wise County school’s archrivals. Meanwhile, David Wyrick took over for Shupe and has kept Kelly among the area’s elite programs.

Kelly is off to an 8-2 start this season and has five regulars hitting over .350, led by Cody Bentley’s .447 batting average.

Other intriguing games tonight include Tazewell at Richlands, Virginia High at Gate City and Haysi at Honaker.
What are your thoughts and predictions on these games?

Posted by Tim Hayes

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Ever wonder why so many modern professional athletes despise and no longer trust the media?

Ever wonder why there’s a steadily increasing wall being built up between athletes and reporters?

Ever wonder why media relations workers treat beat writers with kid gloves, while athletic directors, general managers and owners often speak in short, meaningless, unrevealing soundbytes?

This is why.

And that—presented and set-up with all the class of an “Access Hollywood"-esque slaughter—is absolutely disgusting.

Congratulations, ESPN: you’re the new “Hard Copy,” the next “Dateline.”

Maybe Pat O’Brien can help out; fill in a slot or two.

Maybe you can start showing up at the homes of NFL players in the middle of the night (you know, just peek around ... see what’s going on).

Maybe you can start randomly showing up at strip clubs frequented by NBA players (or whatever outdated stereotype you wish to delve into).

But whatever you choose to “investigate” in the future (and trap athletes with; documenting every angle like you’ve just figured out how to cure cancer or how to solve the problems in Iraq), just remember: when people look back and wonder what happened to sports journalism—how and why it died—your name will be at the top of the list.

We salute you, worldwide leader.

You are the almighty lord of sports trash.

Posted by Brian T. Smith

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Some random musings and facts regarding local players currently playing professional baseball:

--- Former Virginia High and East Tennessee State University star C.J. Lee joined the Rome (Ga.) Braves on Monday night, the Low-Class A Affiliate of the Atlanta Braves.
Lee singled in his first Class A at-bat – an infield single off Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs starter Jairo Heredia. He finished his first game 1-for-2 with a run scored and a walk.
He went 0-for-4 on Tuesday night against Columbus.
Lee is probably relieved to get out of Florida and extended spring training. Extended spring training is one of the toughest assignments in pro baseball, with teams playing glorified scrimmages against extended spring tenants from other clubs. Nobody attends the games and they are played in the scorching heat.
It will also be interesting to see if Lee can build on his first memorable season as a pro. He hit .245 with three home runs and 25 RBIs last summer for the rookie-level Danville Braves.
Lee helped the team reach the Appalachian League championship series and got to play in several ballparks close to home, including Johnson City’s Cardinal Park and Bristol’s DeVault Stadium.

--- Kansas City Royals pitcher Jimmy Gobble made his 200th career major league appearance on Tuesday night.
The Bristol, Virginia native faced three batters in KC’s loss at Seattle. He walked Ichiro Suzuki, gave up a sacrifice fly and then struck out former teammate Raul Ibanez.
Gobble made his major league debut in 2003 and has made all 200 of his big league appearances in a Royals uniform.

--- Former John Battle and Virginia High standout Kevin Barker made his first official appearance of the 2008 season on Tuesday.
After beginning the season on the disabled list, Barker went 1-for-3 with a RBI for the Class AAA Louisville Bats in their 4-1 victory over the Norfolk Tides.
In his first at-bat, Barker singled on the second pitch he saw from Norfolk starter Jon Leicester. The hit plated Jolbert Cabrera.

--- I am currently doing some research on former area players who played in the big leagues. If you have any information, are related to or know who I could contact regarding the ex-locals in the pros, please feel free to e-mail me at . Among the players I was researching included Harry Perkowski (Dante), Lefty Thomas (Washington County), Nick Cullop (Chilhowie), Tracy Stallard (Coeburn), Gail Harris (Abingdon), Scotty Barr (Bristol, Tennessee), Bernie Cregger (Wytheville), Billy Baldwin (Tazewell) and/or the legendary Deacon Phillippe, I would greatly appreciate it. Phillippe was born in Rural Retreat and pitched in Game 1 of the inaugural World Series.

Posted by Tim Hayes

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Thinking globally, acting locally.
It’s a conundrum that in a way describes the dilemma facing Grundy principal Leslie Horne, who is making the biggest decisions the Buchanan County school’s athletic department has ever faced.
No one loves Grundy more than Horne, a star basketball player in the mid-1980s who took a very credible turn as the school’s girls basketball coach a decade later, guiding the Golden Wave to a couple of Group AA quarterfinals.
But Horne is realistic enough to know there are no easy solutions facing a school with shrinking enrollment.
“I’m trying desperately to do the right thing for all involved,” she said late Monday afternoon. “There is no right answer for everyone.”
For at least two more years, Horne’s version of the right thing is to have a school with Group A-sized enrollment compete in the AA Southwest District.
Some in the community felt a little jilted by Horne’s decision. They wanted to see Grundy go down to the Group A ranks and play in the Black Diamond District, which is where the Virginia High School League had assigned it for the 2008-09 school year.
Sure, the Golden Wave’s struggling sports – football, baseball, volleyball – might be able to win a little more. But playing the likes of Haysi and Honaker as opposed to playing Richlands and Tazewell is no contest financially.
If you don’t believe me, just go to a Richlands road game sometime and watch the home team’s athletic director smile as Blue Tornado fans pack the stands and fill the cash box.
Then there’s wrestling – the sport at which Grundy always excels. No other BDD school even offers it, and while the Golden Wave will never have problems filling out a schedule because of the program’s continued dominance, Horne didn’t see a need to punish the fans.
“We have such a following in wrestling,” she said. “If we did this, you’d never see the kids on the mat [locally] until you got into a regional tournament.”
What’s more, Horne is willing to play a hunch that the VHSL might finally think about an option it should have considered a long, long time ago – reclassification.
“The [Redistricting & Realignment] committee is willing to explore five classifications for the first time,” she said. “I find that positive.
“I think going [Group A] right now is premature with all the positive things I’m getting from the state principals’ meeting. They’re willing to go forward and if we go [Group A] now, we may miss out on that.”
One other factor Horne certainly considered was what might happen in two years in Tazewell County. Enrollments are shrinking there, even with the likelihood that Pocahontas will close its doors this spring, which would send some students to Graham and a few to Tazewell.
In two years, it’s possible Graham and Tazewell could be small enough to play in Group A. And if those two go down, you can bet Richlands will invoke the “Lee precedent” and ask to join their county neighbors.
Horne knows all this could turn out not so well. But her instincts, as well as her desire to keep as many kids participating in sports as she can, leads her to believe she’s on the right path.
“We know our numbers are indicative of a change,” Horne summed up, “but we’re hoping some of our buddies might have to do it, too.”
If that does happen, the conundrum will have come to life. 

Posted by Bucky Dent
High School Sports
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