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What’s big news in sports? ESPN and Fox will tell you.

Did you hear anything about Joe Torre on Thursday? Something about him not returning to the Yankees? It’s darn near impossible to get any news on the Yankees these days - or the New England Patriots, for that matter. Did you know they’re undefeated? They’re apparently in the process of going 16-0 and being declared the Greatest Team Ever in the NFL.
But we’re only six weeks into the season, you say? Don’t tell that to ESPN or Fox. In fact, don’t tell them anything. They’ll tell you what’s important.
In an age where the amount of information available to consumers is virtually limitless, the scope of content provided by national sports media outlets seemingly shrinks by the day. Long have such outlets as Fox and ESPN been accused of skewing their coverage to certain locations, sports or demographics, and assertions of East Coast bias in national providers are as old as national providers themselves. These days, however, it’s getting harder and harder to pass off those claims.
Thursday’s edition of the Joe Torre saga is a prime example. After word got out that the former Braves manager had turned down a 1-year contract offer to return as skipper of the Yankees for a 13th year, Yankee mania saturated virtually every one of ESPN’s main channels: ESPN carried a discussion by the “Baseball Tonight” crew on the drama, ESPNEWS carried a simulcast of Yankee play-by-play radio announcer Michael Kay’s radio show, and ESPN Classic showed an episode of “The Bronx is Burning,” the ESPN-produced melodrama of the 1977 Yankees.
ESPN2 offered some relief in the form of “NFL Live,” at least until you consider that ESPN owns broadcast rights to “Monday Night Football.”
The only other break in the Torre action on ESPN was a painful debate of the significance of the meaningless remarks by Red Sox enigma Manny Ramirez about the world not ending if Boston were to lose to Cleveland in Game 5 of the American League Championship series, provided by such baseball experts as John Kruk, NHL analyst Barry Melrose and former Washington Redskins offensive lineman Mark May. What about the Indians, who knocked off the Yankees and had the Red Sox on the brink of elimination as of Thursday? Nary a word, aside from their involvement in the latest episode of “Manny Being Manny.” As for the Rockies, who have won 21 of their last 22 games and have already won the National League pennant, don’t look for much coverage of them unless you can get Denver stations on your radio.
Fox did no better, at least on its Fox Sports Radio affiliates. Torre was the topic of conversation for much of the afternoon there as well, and though that can be forgiven when callers chime in with their opinions, many radio hosts make no bones about where their allegiances lie. Fox radio host J.T. The Brick often touts his Yankee fandom, as do others who are supposed to be the unbiased facilitators of debate. Granted, the only thing more nauseating than sports talk radio is political talk radio, but once the journalists on the air put impartiality aside, all credibility goes out the window.
Moreover, when fans know they can’t trust the so-called “major” outlets for objective coverage, the suspicion trickles down. Scarcely does a week go back when the Bristol Herald Courier isn’t accused of some sort of favoritism toward a certain school or sport, though you’d be hard pressed to find another newspaper of comparable size which covers more than 40 high schools, half a dozen college and auto racing to as large a degree. Even some local radio shows get muddled down by too much national discussion.
Both ESPN and Fox are equally at fault, however, for perhaps the biggest problem facing sports journalism today, that of self interest shaping what is covered and how. Fox, which has broadcast rights to the NFL as well, spends most of the week talking about pro football in the radio, even in the summer, when minor notes from training camps trump the regular season in MLB (which Fox also televises) and other sports. NASCAR gets a word in here or there, but the amount of note it’s given can be correlated to which network has broadcast rights in the ridiculously split Nextel Cup schedule.
Meanwhile, on ESPN, Monday night’s Game 4 of the NLCS, in which the Rockies clinched the pennant with their seventh straight postseason win, was given second billing on “SportsCenter” to the Monday night game between the New York Giants and the 1-5 Atlanta Falcons. Think self interest is at work there?
With the dollars networks shell out for broadcast rights, the bias can be understood, but not excused, nor is it exclusive to television or radio. The Associated Press is not immune, nor are many national-market print outlets. Only through modern blogs, it seems, can a broader spectrum been seen - if you can find it.
Certain teams getting all the publicity is nothing new. One reason the Yankees became America’s team in the mid-20th century is the fact that they were always on TV during the early days of television, especially at World Series time. The same can be said, to a degree, about the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s.
That isn’t the case, today, when fans are supposed to have the ability to pick and choose what they watch and about whom they read over various outlets. This is where the largest national providers are dropping the ball, and where such favoritism comes dangerously close to shaping the stories rather than covering them. Not that sports journalists trying to become as famous as the topics they cover is anything new, either.
The correlation of air time to popularity isn’t exclusive to sports, of course. Ask the average voter to tell you a presidential candidate not named Obama, Clinton, Edwards or Thompson and you might get a short list, and if you remove the former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson’s role on “Law & Order” or his film career and he’d be equally unrecognizable. Ask any political scientist and they’ll tell you the about of face time in the media often relates directly to how a candidate does in the polls.
While it would be naive to say the national media doesn’t influence or skew the news headlines, the events of the day can’t be shaped the same way sports coverage can. That’s why the burden has increasingly become the consumer’s what is and isn’t important. A backlash has grown against ESPN, but their rights to the country’s most popular sport give the network the ability to overcome it. The problem, however, is that no national outlets seem to be stepping up to provide an alternative. That such platforms as blogs are the future of journalism is rarely disputed simply for technological reasons. More and more these days, the need for them is growing, if only to provide fans more options.

Posted by From the Archives

Before we get into our second try at picking the SEC games (last week: 5-1, missing only the LSU-Kentucky epic), let’s rant for a minute.
Actually, I’m going to rant for a lot longer than a minute when it comes to the Harris Poll, which would be better off if it were useless and not an ingredient in determining who plays for a national championship.
Too many of the 114 voters on that poll are former coaches who don’t keep up with the sport’s latest trends and have their heads stuck so far in the sand it’s a wonder they can find the oxygen to cobble together a top 25 every week.
Case in point: Former Colorado coach Eddie Crowder, who was quoted this week as saying he couldn’t name one player on South Florida’s team, which as of tonight is ranked No. 2 in the first Bowl Championship Series poll.
Crowder compounded that staggering admission with another which shows why he should never be allowed to cast another vote. He said if it came down to voting between one-loss LSU or unbeaten South Florida, he would vote for LSU, based on the fact its program had been around a lot longer.
You can make the case (and I would accept it) that LSU is better based on the fact it plays a tougher schedule in a tougher league. You could make the case (and again, I would accept it) that LSU has more talent.
But to simply vote based on who’s been around longer? It’s no wonder the deck is stacked against any upstart in these polls with idiocy like Crowder’s possibly determining who plays for a national title. And clowns like this are determining in part who gets that $17 million BCS windfall for playing in the national championship game.
Look, I’m all for human insight as much as the next guy. But to take this thing a step further, when you base the season’s first half on raw logic, you have to wonder why South Florida isn’t ranked No. 1 across the board ahead of Ohio State.
The Bulls have won at Auburn, beaten West Virginia (at home) and drubbed a Central Florida team which nearly beat Texas 64-12. Ohio State, meanwhile, has played an embarrassing schedule consisting of Akron, Youngstown State and Kent State.
What’s more, the Buckeyes play in the grossly mediocre Big Ten Conference, a amalgam of teams recognized as relevant only by ESPN. Does anyone really think Ohio State would be unbeaten if it played an SEC, Pac 10 or Big East schedule?
The computers have it right, ranking South Florida No. 1 almost across the board. But the human element is setting the sport up for another December train wreck—no matter how things shake out.
OK, my rant is done. Now on to this week’s SEC picks:
Tennessee at Alabama—One thing I can say with confidence is that last year’s 16-13 score between these teams may be a halftime score. Both teams have good offenses and marginal defenses, so it’s going to take 30 for someone to win it. I like the way the Volunteers have played the last two weeks, especially to start games, which shows they’re ready to play. My guess is Tennessee’s best is a little better than the Crimson Tide’s, even accounting for homefield advantage. Tennessee 30, Alabama 24.
Vanderbilt at South Carolina—The only chance the Commodores have here is that the Gamecocks are looking ahead to next week’s East Division showdown with the Vols in Knoxville. Vanderbilt suffered the kind of come-from-ahead loss which can snuff out a season last week against Georgia and now has quarterback issues. Not what you need going to Columbia to face South Carolina’s tough defense. South Carolina 24, Vanderbilt 10.
Mississippi State at West Virginia—The timing couldn’t be worse for the Bulldogs. After investing a lot of energy and playing pretty well in their loss against Tennessee, they make the long trip to Morgantown to face a top 10 team which has had two weeks to rest. Mississippi State’s power running game had better play a lot of keepaway to keep the likes of Pat White and Steve Slaton off the field. Even then, it probably won’t matter. West Virginia 35, Mississippi State 17.
Florida at Kentucky—Give the Wildcats’ defense their due. I didn’t think they could stand up to LSU’s physical running game and they did. Of course, Les Miles’ strangely conservative playcalling didn’t hurt. And where was Ryan Perrilloux during the second half and OT? But it was a great win for Kentucky and well worth the $50,000 in fines they had to pay the SEC for its fans storming the field. That won’t be a problem this week. It’s hard to see the Wildcats being at that same emotional pitch again, especially against a team which had last week off. Florida 35, Kentucky 28.
Arkansas at Mississippi—Toughest game of the week to call in the SEC. Who knows what the Razorbacks’ mood will be after that 9-7 loss last week to Auburn? Will they still play hard at 0-3 in the SEC or will they tank, knowing the best they can do is a second-tier bowl for their lame-duck coach? Mississippi is still playing hard, as witnessed by their effort against Alabama. I’d love to pick the Rebels, but man, I just can’t get past the thought of their horrid defense vs. Darren McFadden. Arkansas 31, Mississippi 28.
Auburn at LSU—At least Miles shouldered the blame for the loss at Kentucky. That partially makes up for him blowing off the post-game handshake with Kentucky’s Rich Brooks. I’m guessing he won’t blow off this week’s handshake with Auburn’s Tommy Tuberville. This should be an old-style SEC slugfest, full of three-yard runs, fierce collisions and earthquake-type noise in Death Valley. I don’t like the Tigers’ run-first, pass-only-when-necessary offense in that environment. LSU 20, Auburn 7. 

Posted by The Continuous News Desk
College Sports

Aren’t these guys due a good break at some point?
Poor J.I. Burton. Just when you think it’s due a whopping stroke of luck, it gets another big obstacle in its path.
No, it’s not going to stop the Raiders from winning, at least for now. But Jaycob Coleman’s season-ending elbow injury is a blow the four-time Region D, Division 1 champion didn’t need.
The versatile Coleman is precisely the type of player few Division 1 schools offer—a legitimate game-changer who can affect a game on every play.
“He’s our leading receiver, one of the best defensive players in the state and really helps our special teams,” Burton coach Jim Adams said after Friday night’s 32-14 win at Honaker.
“There’s no way you can replace him.”
It will be easier for the Raiders to make up for his loss on offense. Sophomore Martinez Miles can go 0-to-60 yards in just seconds and Jaymil Sensabaugh can break open a game on any touch.
Yet both will have to work on ball security. Burton put it on the ground a couple of times at Honaker, losing fumbles at its 32 and 27, respectively.
“We thought that might be a concern,” Adams said of the fumbles.
Tackling 101
Neither of the aforementioned fumbles, though, cost the Raiders a single point. That’s because their defense rose up each time and denied the Tigers.
Of all the things Burton does well on defense, tackling is at the list’s top. Few high school teams anywhere form tackle as soundly as the Raiders.
Honaker tailback Logan Ball finished with 88 yards on 20 carries, but he got 33 of those on his last run of the game, a touchdown which made the score 32-14.
Ball is one of the best running backs in Group A, but he broke few tackles against Burton. This is a team which wraps up and brings you down.
“We work on [tackling] drills every day in practice,” Raiders safety/quarterback Ethan Stewart said.
The Raiders get lower than the ball carrier almost every time. Unlike many teams or players who think the way to tackle is just to collide with someone as hard as possible and figure the impact will do the job, they wrap up.
Audibles
1. Having survived one playoff elimination game Friday at J.J. Kelly, Powell Valley now has another one this week against Gate City. There is simply no room for error in Division 2, especially if Honaker beats Haysi on Oct. 22 and wins the Black Diamond title to take away a possible wild card spot.
2. This is clearly a down year for the Southwest District. Even if Graham or Richlands makes it out of Region IV, Division 3, it’s hard to see either one winning a state semifinal game unless they get more dynamic offensively. And by week seven or eight, it’s hard to change who you are.
3. Maybe it’s because of the awful call they got in last year’s state championship game, but Burton fans are now overreacting on routine flags which go against their team. A simple procedure call at Honaker Friday night was greeted with profanities and prolonged booing—and this was with a 25-7 lead.
4. Few athletes are as good and polished an interview as Burton QB Ethan Stewart. If southwest Virginia writers elected an All-Interview team, he’d be at the head of the list, no doubt about it.
5. I just can’t stop marveling at how plush the TenCate Grass artificial surface is at Honaker, which used to have one of the area’s worst fields. It’s so soft that players get tackled and bounce forward for a yard or two. 

Posted by The Continuous News Desk
High School Sports Football

Lebanon 37, Virginia High 3
Lee High 40, John Battle 21
Castlewood 61, Ervinton 22
Twin Springs 26, Coeburn 7
Thomas Walker 25, Rye Cove 6
Chilhowie 26, Patrick Henry 7
George Wythe 42, Holston 0
Rural Retreat 59, Northwood 7
Powell Valley 21, J.J. Kelly 13
Abingdon 42, Grundy 6
Carroll County 27, Marion 14
St. Paul 46, Big Creek 36
Appalachia 40, Shelby Valley 22
J.I. Burton 32, Honaker 14
Gate City 28, Clintwood 17
Pound 40, Twin Valley 7
Tug Valley 40, Hurley 6
Tennessee High 36, Johnson County 17
Sullivan South 56, Sullivan East 6
Sullivan Central 16, Unicoi County 14
Elizabethton 28, Sullivan North 20
Dobyns-Bennett 30, Sevier County 6
Jefferson County 16, Science Hill 14

Posted by Brian T. Smith

Check Saturday’s BHC for the full write-up. Here’s a quick recap and some notes:

Rough night for the Patriots.

Big, big night for Rebels quarterback Curt Phillips.

Phillips was 8-of-12 passing for 107 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran 10 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns. And he did it all by barely stepping on the field in the fourth quarter.

Phillips wasn’t perfect. He failed to check off a couple times, threw an interception, and nearly had two more passes picked off. This said, he absolutely dominated East, and looked like a men among boys.

And Phillips wasn’t the only Rebel to come up big. Taylor Fletcher ran for 133 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries, while South’s defense held East to just two first downs.

Up 14-0 after the first quarter, South took a 28-6 lead into halftime. Then Phillips and Fletcher drove it home.

Fletcher broke four tackles and ran across the field for a 36-yard burst on the Rebels’ first play from scrimmage after the break.

Phillips then made it 34-6 when he turned an up-the-middle scramble into a 16-yard touchdown run.

“We gave a good beating to a good football team, so maybe we’ll start getting a little respect,” said South coach Stacy Carter. “I think we can play with just about anybody around.”

The Rebels rushed 36 times for 298 yards, and totaled 405 offensive yards.

“That’s what happens when you have our offensive line,” Fletcher said.

Sullivan South 56, Sullivan East 6
Sullivan East 0 6 0 0—6
Sullivan South 14 14 21 7—56
Scoring Summary
SS—Ty Garvin 16 pass from Curt Phillips (Jordan Willingham kick)
SS—Seth Johnson 13 pass from Phillips (Willingham kick)
SS—Kaleb Kitzmiller 16 pass from Phillips (Willingham kick)
SE—Caleb Looney 74 run (Kick failed)
SS—Taylor Fletcher 11 run (Willingham kick)
SS—Phillips 16 run (Willingham kick)
SS—Phillips 15 run (Willingham kick)
SS—Kitzmiller 38 pass from Phillips (Willingham kick)
SS—Brad Shanks 8 run (Willingham kick)
Team Stats
First Downs: SE 2, SS 18; Rushes-Yards: SE 16-172, SS 36-298; Passing Yards: SE 18, SS 107; Comp-Att-Int: SE 2-9-2, SS 8-12-1; Fumbles-Lost: SE 0-0, SS 1-1; Punts-Yards SE 2-45, SS 0-0.

Posted by Brian T. Smith
High School Sports