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By Coach On January 26, 2012
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The other day I was listening to my cousin Frances share some memories of her dad. Her dad, Algin, raised cattle and loved the springtime because that is when the new calves were born. He loved watching the new calves when they grew strong enough to rip, run and play. He could watch they play for hours and their antics always made him laugh until his side hurt. Even when it was more difficult for him to get around, when springtime came, he always asked if someone would take him outside to see the new calves.
One Christmas, Frances was watching one of the early home shopping shows on television. They were showcasing Officially Licensed NFL blankets made of a plush fabric, that was both soft and warm. Frances called in to order a couple of blankets for her dad’s Christmas gifts. She remembered how cold and damp it gets during the springtime in Mississippi when her dad liked to spend time outdoors watching the calves, and thought the blankets would be the perfect thing to keep her dad warm while watching football.
As she was telling me the story, I imagined how her dad would be sitting in his favorite chair and she would cover him up with one of those warm NFL blankets. I imagined him watching those baby calves play and coming inside to a warm blanket and maybe a cup of hot chocolate. I imagined that on cold winter nights, she had that extra NFL blanket on the foot of his bed.
As Frances told the story of how much her dad loved the NFL blankets she had bought for him long ago, her face lit up, and we both smiled as we remembered her dad. I did tear up thinking about how much this only daughter loved her dad and what wonderful memories she has of her dad using this thoughtful gift.
Who knew a blanket could do so much more than keep you warm? Blankets also represent the sentiment of taking care of the ones you love the most.
By Coach On January 13, 2012
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Dee Bost has been stuck in a slump the past few weeks and Thursday night’s game against Tennessee—filled with missed shots and turnovers—was quickly becoming another one to forget.
Until the last play.
A tense final possession turned into a raucous celebration as Bost came up with a crucial steal and dunk in the final seconds and No. 20 Mississippi State survived a late scare to beat Tennessee 62-58 at Humphrey Coliseum.
“He’s been struggling some offensively, but you never fault his effort,” Bulldogs coach Rick Stansbury said. “And his effort came up big for us at the end.”
Mississippi State guard Devill…
Mississippi State (14-3, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) avoided its first 0-2 start in league play since 2003. The Bulldogs led by 12 early in the second half, but Tennessee cut it to 60-58 on Renaldo Woolridge’s 3-pointer with 44.2 seconds remaining.
Tennessee got the ball back on a steal by Skylar McBee and had a chance to tie or win with less than 10 seconds remaining, but Bost slapped the ball away from Trae Golden and drove for the game-sealing dunk.
“I was trying to put as much pressure on him as I could,” Bost said. “I knew they were going to try and go to him and get him the shot.”
Bost, Renardo Sidney and Arnett Moultrie all scored 13 points for the Bulldogs.
Bost didn’t have a very good game until the final play, shooting 3 of 11 from the field and turning the ball over six times. But all that was forgotten as he dashed down the court, flushed the ball through the hoop with his right hand and listened to the crowd of 8,148 at Humphrey Coliseum roar its approval.
Tennessee (8-8, 1-1) was led by Golden, who had 20 points. Jeronne Maymon scored 13 and Kenny Hall added 12 off the bench.
“They’re big and athletic,” Hall said. “We were aggressive taking the ball to the basket, but that’s basketball, sometimes it happens like that.”
The Bulldogs’ defense was embarrassed in a 98-88 loss to Arkansas in Saturday’s conference opener, but they were much more stingy against the Volunteers. Wendell Lewis had five blocked shots and Moultrie added four as Tennessee had to work hard for almost all its points close to the basket.
Mississippi State took a 36-27 lead at halftime, shooting 52 percent (13 of 25) from the field. The Bulldogs managed to keep their offense moving despite early foul trouble for Bost—the team’s starting point guard who owns the school record for assists. But backup DeVille Smith did a decent imitation, with five assists in 15 first-half minutes.
MSU extended its lead to 12 early in the second half on a 3-pointer by Jalen Steele, but Tennessee fought back thanks to three 3-pointers by Golden and stifling defense that limited Mississippi State to 36 percent shooting in the second half.
“Golden got them back in that game—making those 3s,” Stansbury said. “But we stepped up when we had to. Made some shots and made our free throws.”
Tennessee was coming off its biggest win of the season—a 67-56 home victory over No. 13 Florida in the conference opener—but couldn’t find enough offense to keep the momentum going.
Golden shot 7 of 11 from the field, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range and 2 of 2 from the free throw line. But he mishandled the ball on the final possession, trying to go between the legs with his dribble before Bost slapped the ball away and ended the Volunteers’ hopes for an upset.
“He slipped. I just watched the film,” Tennessee coach Cuonzo Martin said. “He tried to go between his legs and he just slipped.”
Martin was pleased the Volunteers even had a chance on the final possession considering the situation looked bleak early in the second half.
“When you get down 10 on the road, it’s tough to hang in there, stick to the script and execute,” Martin said. “But I thought our guys did that.”
By Coach On October 31, 2011
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Painful though it may be, it is my duty to tell you that we must wait a few more days for No. 1 LSU to play No. 2 Alabama.
Both teams are off the week before, which is why the drumbeat around the shore of the Black Warrior River that runs beyond the Tuscaloosa campus already has begun. Tigers coach Les Miles admitted at his media conference after practice Tuesday evening that his team has been hearing the drums for some time.
“It’s been a few weeks there is something laying in the back of the accomplishment of this team that allowed them to get to these days, that allowed them to get to this opponent,” Miles said. “… I do believe this is college football, two great teams squaring off, something to play for. It’s fun.”
Whether there is a way to win the game this week is open to question. But there’s no doubt that either team could lose it. All of the players have to do is drink from the fire hose of excitement and tension that already is gushing.
Alabama coach Nick Saban said as much at a press conference following his team’s practice Tuesday. The challenge he faces, Saban said, is “to get our players not to think about everything that’s surrounding the game. That will be the hardest part.”
The tension will ratchet higher with each passing day all the way to kickoff at Bryant-Denny Stadium shortly after 8 p.m. ET on Nov. 5, which is shortly before we move our clocks back. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, made the longest night of the fall available for the best regular-season game in the last five years.
At least, that’s how I’m sure some member from Louisiana or Alabama will explain it.
The Southeastern Conference, which creates the schedule for its members, takes no credit for nice foresight. The game, senior associate commissioner Mark Womack said, is pretty much a result of dumb luck.
re trying to give guys an open date,” Womack said. “It wasn’t like we said, ‘LSU and Alabama will both be fantastic.’”
Womack added how the league tries not to give any team more than five consecutive conference games without a break. Alabama hit that threshold Saturday when it defeated Tennessee, 36-7. By happenstance, the off week coincides with fall break on the Tuscaloosa campus. There are no classes Thursday and Friday, which increases the feeling of a season intermission.
Saban is a believer that you can never be overprepared. But that does not mean that a couple weeks of practice devoted to LSU is better than one. Most of the time in the three practices this week, Saban said in a phone interview Monday night, will be turned inward.
“Obviously, there are going to be a lot of good players in this game,” Saban said, “and I think a premium suddenly becomes doing things correctly. You will get away with doing them [incorrectly] against somebody who’s not challenging you. Nevertheless they [the Tigers] certainly have enough good athletes to challenge you when it comes to every factor of the game.”
Good players? In the 76 seasons from the AP poll, the top-ranked teams have met only 22 times within the regular season. The LSU-Alabama game will be the first since No. 1 Ohio State edged No. 2 Michigan, 42-39, in 2006. That’s a long time between sequels.
But here’s the cherry on top of this ice cream Saturdae. Of those 22 games, only three have matched teams that both had an off week to prepare.
In 1944, No. 1 Army beat No. 2 Navy, 23-7, in Baltimore, where the game was moved from Annapolis only a couple weeks before kickoff. The academies moved the game to Memorial Stadium to foment the sale of war bonds and raised nearly $59 million.
However, the two weeks to prepare allowed the Annapolis brass, combined with the city fathers of Municipal Stadium, to attempt to resod the field in the interim in a naked ploy to slow down the fleet Cadets. Army coach Red Blaik got wind of the plan and sent an assistant coach to Baltimore to intervene, to no avail.
The plan worked too well. The week with the game, torrential rains turned the virgin turf into a rice paddy. “[I]n the finish the category of the Army team enabled it to rise above the unnecessarily poor conditions,” Stanley Woodward wrote within the New York Herald Tribune.
In other words, you can get too cute when you have an extra week to prepare. Saban said Monday night he developed his philosophy about what to do during an off week while an assistant coach in the NFL, which wove bye weeks into the schedule years back.
“I think the goal is always to try to give your team some kind of psychological reprieve, some kind of physical reprieve to kind of get healthy and get more healthy for the stretch,” Saban said.
That thinking did not originate with Saban’s former boss in the NFL, Patriots coach Bill Belichick. It dates at least to 1926, when first-year Tennessee coach Robert Neyland had an extra week for the season-ending game against Kentucky. In the notebook, Neyland wrote, “Coast to Ky game.”
The late Tennessee professor Andy Kozar, who played for Neyland at Tennessee, published in 2002, “Football as a War Game: The Annotated Journals of General R. R. Neyland.” “The unorthodox preparation for the 1926 Kentucky game was a practice Neyland would follow for years to come,” Kozar wrote. “I remember the 1950-52 season[s] if the practice week plan needed plenty of rest, elementary school chasing games, and relays.”
No. 1 Army and No. 2 Navy had two weeks to prepare for each other again in 1945, a game that the Cadets won handily, 32-13. Blaik’s team didn’t lose until 1947, the season after the graduation of his Heisman Trophy tandem of backs, Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis.
It’s been 40 years since the last matchup of No. 1 vs. No. 2 with an off week for both. No. 1 Nebraska won at Oklahoma, 35-31 on Thanksgiving Day 1971. Involving the buildup, the crowd swelled through the national holiday and the seesaw nature of the game itself, the game is the showpiece game of an era, as well as a great rivalry killed by realignment.
The Huskers’ Johnny Rodgers put a claim on the 1972 Heisman Trophy using a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown. Sooners fans of your certain age dispute if the Huskers committed one or three illegal blocks about the return.
Which is the great advantage of a game like LSU-Alabama. Two weeks of buildup can result in 40 years of memories — and counting.
By Coach On October 31, 2011
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In terms of a lengthy view of the sport, the name Tony La Russa will forever be found atop a list of the very best managers in baseball history.
For that reason, it will make poetic sense that the St. Louis Cardinals skipper announced his retirement on Monday morning following 16 seasons with the team and just days right after reaching the pinnacle of his profession for a third time. It is rare that any athlete, manager or coach can select to retire as a champion, but La Russa is carrying out exactly that. He undoubtedly earned the right to create the choice, having won two,728 games – the third highest total in history behind Connie Mack and John McGraw- over 33 seasons with the Cardinals, Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox. He won six pennants and three Globe Series titles and will soon find himself in the Hall of Fame.
Though La Russa leaving the game may possibly come as a surprise simply because we saw so few signs leading as much as it, it cannot come as a total shock. La Russa constantly preferred to manage on one-year contracts so he could evaluate his position following every single season. It is also worth noting that 3 of the 67-year-old’s closest contemporaries – Bobby Cox, Joe Torre and Lou Piniella – hung it up immediately after last season. Although it often seemed like the only way TLR would leave the dugout was in a pine box, he’s going ahead and generating the call himself.
Is this definitely it for La Russa? Will a retirement filled with Tv gigs and wearing red blazers at Busch Stadium homecomings seriously placate the ever-calculating La Russa?
Or will the sweet call of the swish of a fungo bat lure him back in a year or two? Only La Russa knows for certain and with additional than 3 decades of expertise with playing it close towards the vest, there’s no way he’s going to tip his hand.
But like I said before, La Russa clearly earned the correct to make this choice on his own. No matter if you loved him or loved to hate him, we were all lucky to watch him work.
By Coach On October 30, 2011
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State College, Pennsylvania. In vibrant white letters against a blue background, the electronic sign boards around Beaver Stadium took note of another milestone for Joe Paterno long after the stands had cleared.
“Congratulations Coach Paterno,” the signs read. “Winningest Coach In Division I College Football.”
It took all 60 minutes on a snowy, sloppy Saturday in Happy Valley, but JoePa broke Eddie Robinson’s record with victory No. 409 as No. 21 Penn State defeated Illinois 10-7.
The Nittany Lions (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten) overcame six fumbles-losing two- with Silas Redd’s 3-yard touchdown run along with one:08 to go. Penn State’s only touchdown came after Illinois corner Justin Green was whistled for pass interference while breaking up a fourth-down pass for Derek Moye in the end zone.
Illinois (6-3, 2-3) drove from the 17 to the Penn State 25 on the next drive, but Derek Dimke’s 42-yard field goal attempt bounced off the right upright as time expired.
Even JoePa was nervous from the press box before Penn State’s last drive. Paterno coached upstairs since he’s still got a sore right leg, shoulder and pelvis following an accidental preseason hit.
“Did I have any doubts,” he asked rhetorically with a chuckle. “Sure I had doubts … nonetheless it worked out anyway.”
In a common occurrence over his remarkable 46-year career, Paterno was feted again with a postgame ceremony. School president Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley presented JoePa with a plaque that read, “Joe Paterno. Educator of Men. Winningest Coaach. Division One Football.”
Among all coaches, Paterno now only trails John Gagliardi, still active at Division III St. John’s, Minn., with 481 victories.
“It really is something I’ve very proud of, to be associated with Eddie Robinson,” Paterno said in a brief postgame ceremony in the media room broadcast to fans still waiting in the stands 10 minutes later. “Something like this means a lot to me, an awful lot. But there’s a lot of other people I’ve got to thank.”
Start with Redd, the budding star who had a career-high 30 carries for 137 yards for Penn State, none bigger his late TD run.
An early-season snowstorm had fans bundled up in winter parkas and hoodies. The offenses seemed to be frozen stiff.
After struggling most of the afternoon, quarterback Matt McGloin drove Penn State from their own 20 to the Illini 32 on three long completions before the pass interference call gave the Nittany Lions a second chance.
“I thought it was a good play myself,” frustrated Illini coach Ron Zook said. “But obviously (the referee) thought … I don’t know, I didn’t ask him.”
Redd capitalized four plays later by barreling into the end zone, the crowd erupting in delight.
Jason Ford rushed for 100 yards on 24 carries but Illinois couldn’t exploit a slew of Penn State mistakes in a defensive slugfest.
Illlinois outgained Penn State 286-209. After a quiet start, Illinois’ pass rush turned up the heat in the second half, getting 2.5 sacks combined from standout ends Michael Buchanan and Whitney Mercilus.
Still, the Illini’s offense wasn’t a lot better than Penn State, but they got just received enough inside the third quarter from scrambling quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase to scratch out a 10-yard touchdown pass to Spencer Harris for a 7-0 lead.
Illinois’ defense held firm from there until Penn State’s late TD drive.
Moye, back after missing two games because of a left foot injury, dropped a third-down pass to groans from the crowd on the winning drive. McGloin went for Moye on fourth down with 1:31 left, and the ball bounced off the receiver’s hands in the end zone-but there was contact and the interference penalty gave Penn State another chance.
Zook could only wince on the sideline as a once-quiet Penn State crowd burst back to life.
“They were just able to find their receivers. They weren’t able to do that all game, we pretty much got them all game,” Buchanan said. “As a D-line, we weren’t able to get pressure on the quarterback that we wanted to. So it was pretty much on us.”
Illinois’ struggling offense couldn’t get untracked again early, going scoreless in the first half for a third straight game. They wasted opportunities deep in Penn State territory following fumbles by Redd at his own 37 in the first half, and quarterback Rob Bolden at the 29 late in the second half.
On that drive, Illinois receiver Ryan Lankford made a pretty tiptoe catch along the sideline from backup quarterback Riley O’Toole for a 12-yard gain towards the 12. The play was upheld by replay-and fans in the student section showed their displeasure by tossing snowballs on the field.
The snowballs missed the players-much like most of the passes Saturday. McGloin was 9 of 24 for 98 yards, while Bolden missed all four of his pass attempts, all in the second quarter.
Scheelhaase finished 9 of 16 for 63 yards, and ran 14 times for 89 yards.
After the game, Paterno had one further message to the frigid fans outside before they headed on the exits in relief.
“For all the fans out there, thanks for sitting through that today,” Paterno said half-jokingly, “You’ve got to be nuts!”
By Coach On September 1, 2011
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Tailgating is a traditional part of attending college and professional sporting events and having a great time partying with family and friends under a Florida Gators tent can make time spent much better. It just makes no sense that you would travel all the way to Gainesville and only spend your time watching the players chase the ball around, when you can be having your own kind of fun, not only before the game, but during and after it as well.
With a good looking Florida Gators tent and your UF Gators tailgate chairs you will be all set to have an incredibly good time at the game. Since no one can guarantee that you will have fair weather while you are enjoying the time you spend waiting for the game to begin, having the right equipment can make all the difference between having a good time and wishing you had just stayed home.
With your Florida Gators tent you are going to be protected from the elements while you are grilling up some great burgers or maybe even your award winning steaks. Just be careful to maintain your position in those UF Gators tailgate chairs or someone may just take in the aroma and come by for a visit.
While there is no doubt that there are many diehard tailgating fans who would just as soon stand out in the rain or the extreme heat just so they can continue to rule as the finest tailgater on the planet, but why should you have to do that when you can be comfortable under your Florida Gators tent and seated in your UF Gators tailgate chairs.
A Florida Gators tent can be found at a reasonable price, and that makes securing one of your own much more attractive. It is not hard to put one up or take it down, and it is generally simple enough that one or two people at the most can set one up and have it ready to go in just minutes. Storing them at home in the garage or basement takes up little space so you won’t have to worry about where you are going to keep them.
So, the next time you are planning your next get away to a Florida Gators game be sure to take along your Florida Gators tent and those special UF Gators tailgate chairs so that you can spend as much time as you like enjoying the festivities. Don’t forget to keep some of those steaks handy so that you can continue your tailgating party after the game. How else do you expect to get through all those long lines of traffic as they escape from the confines of the parking lot if not by waiting around until the rest are all gone having fun discussing how you would have made a better play.
You are sure to be the hit of any tailgating party when you have a great looking Florida Gators tent and your own set of UF Gators tailgate chairs. Just be forewarned that you will be inviting guests over when you set all your equipment up so be sure to stock up on all the ingredients that make tailgating a blast.
By Alteo On June 26, 2011
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When you’re used to going to BCS bowls and being in the national title contention, a 9-4 season can come off as a disappointment. That disappointment can be compounded when a team loses its head coach to the NFL and when NCAA sanctions can be forthcoming. USC did not win at least a share of the Pac-10 championship for the first time since 2001 this year. Their streak of seven straight conference titles was one of the most impressive feats in college football history. Ultimately, they could not overcome the fact they were replacing a long-time starting quarterback with a freshman. It also hurt that the rest of the Pac-10 conference got better.
The overall statistics were still quite good, however, Quarterback Matt Barkley threw for 2,735 yards as a freshman and added 15 touchdowns. Running back Joe McKnight, who has already declared for the NFL draft, ran for 1,014 yards and eight touchdowns before sitting out the bowl game because of a potential NCAA violation. Senior receiver Damian Williams also had a stellar season, nabbing 70 receptions for 1,010 yards and six touchdowns. Williams is also headed to the draft, meaning that there could be even more problems in USC’s future.
The season did start out with the usual promise as Southern Cal cruised in its opener ovr San JoseState 56-3. Next up was a big road trip to eventual Big Ten champion OhioState. Many people thought this game would be a Rose Bowl preview. While it wasn’t the blowout that USC had over the Buckeyes a year earlier, The Trojans came away with a solid 18-15 win on a late Stafon Johnson touchdown. Barkley turned many heads by directing the 14 play, 86 yard game winning drive. Unfortunately, that would be the high point of USC’s season.
The downfall began the following week at Washington when the Huskies, who were 0-12 just a season before, shocked the college football world with a 16-13 victory over the third ranked Trojans. It appeared to be the typical mid-season gaffe that had defined the last few seasons of USC football. The Trojans followed that loss up with convincing wins over WashingtonState (27-6), California (30-3), Notre Dame (34-27), and Oregon State (42-36). That set up the biggest Pac-10 game of the season when USC traveled to Autzen Stadium to face Oregon.
In that game, Oregon announced that USC’s dominance had ended. The Ducks pounded the Trojans 47-20. USC was never the same after that. They beat ArizonaState in a lackluster 14-9 contest before losing 55-21 at home to Stanford. A 28-7 rivalry win over UCLA followed, but the Trojans suffered a fourth Pac-10 loss to Arizona 21-17. The four losses in conference play were more than USC had suffered in the previous three seasons combined. Southern Cal managed to save a little face by beating Boston College 24-13 in the Emerald Bowl, but that victory did very little to salve their ego. Since Pete Carroll left the team shortly thereafter this team’s future is very much up in the air.
By Alteo On June 25, 2011
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Well here we are again it is the end of another football season and re looking at what is ahead of West Virginia when they take the field in the upcoming season. There are several areas that will need a careful look at when West Virginia take to the field.
Many people say that the team is destined to repeat their season like they did last season but I am a little more optimistic that West Virginia will be able to make massive improvements in their offense that will make them a tough team to beat. This past signing day there was the largest signing class that West Virginia has had in quite a few years past.
There are several players that appear that they will be able to bring a lot of power to the roster in 2010. These players are able to be the needed talent that the team has been looking for over the past few years. The wide receiver position will be one that will have a highly contested battle as to who will get the starting spot. There are several people that will be watching this battle closely and will be curious as to who will be the target of the quarterback in 2010.
In the rushing game there will be no doubt as to who will have the task of driving the football to the end zone. This will be the most important year that the returning running back will have this season as they will need to make a strong showing in the final year before next years NFL draft. The Team is looking to have a strong season that will drive them to make a strong case as to why they deserve to have a shot at the national championship.
If West Virginia does everything right then there is no real reason as to why they will not be able to make a run for the national championship. These are just a few of the reasons as to why there will be a strong case for West Virginia.
To run for the national championship. There will be a lot of hard games that are going to be tough forWest Virginia to get past and make headway in the 2010 season.
Defense is going to be another reason as to why there will be a tough year for West Virginia, as they will have a difficult time stopping their opponents to score on their possessions.
I am here to say that I am behind West Virginal to become stronger this season and as a result I truly believe that they will make a strong surge for the holy grail of college football.
In the end it will be interesting to see as to where will the underdogs of West Virginia wind up being at the end of their season. If you are a fan of West Virginia then this will be the year to get behind the team and help to push them towards another strong push for the National Championship.
By Alteo On June 24, 2011
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For fans of the Houston Astros, January 5, 1975 will always be something of a day of mourning. On that day, one of the Astros greatest players left the great ballpark of life, leaving behind him more than enough fond memories to fill a thousand Minute Maid Parks in the team’s home city of Houston. The player’s name was Donald Edward Wilson, but his teammates and fans alike knew him simply as “Don”.
The rise of a pitcher
Don Wilson was born February 12, 1945, and played his college baseball in Compton, California – at the Compton Community College. After college, he was recruited in 1966 by the Astros, who were in need of good pitchers – as most teams usually are. He was known as a bit of a wild card in college, and his wild streak continued in the early years of his professional career. Part of that lack of control was simply the result of the speed with which he threw the ball. He was routinely referred to throughout his 9 years in the Majors as having one of the hardest thrown pitches in all of baseball. As many analysts have noted over the years, the truly hard throwing pitchers often find that the first thing they must sacrifice to obtain such speed and force is their control over the pitch.
His career
Wilson is known for a great many things in Astros lore, including being the first pitcher to ever record a no-hitter under a dome or on artificial grass. That no-hitter also saw an impressive display of strikeouts, as Don’s brutal pitches sealed the fates of 15 total batters on the day, including the legendary Hank Aaron, whose strikeout was the final deciding out in the contest. A year later, Wilson would record 18 total strikeouts in one game, setting a record for the franchise. His hard-throwing style was paying off.
By the time Wilson threw what would prove to be the last game of his career, he had earned the respect of his team, fans, and foes around the league. No-hitters were always a possibility when Don took the mound, and his opponents knew it. His very last game was close – a 5 to nothing, two hit affair over the Atlanta Braves in September of 1974. It was the last time he would ever be seen by a batter, however, as his body was found in his garage in January of the following year, dead in the passenger seat of his own car. The engine was still running, but the official account recorded the death as a tragic accident since there was no evidence of intent to commit suicide.
A few months later, the Astros organization officially retired Don’s number, a fitting tribute to a man who had given his life to the ball club. The next season, the players all wore the number 40 on a uniform patch to commemorate their fallen comrade. To this day, fans across the Houston area still talk about the hard-throwing pitcher who always left everything he had on the field of play.
By Alteo On June 23, 2011
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When you talk about the Kentucky Wildcats baseball program, there are several players that you need to add to the conversation. Many players that are in MLB today as well as several retired players, have played for the Wildcats and led the team to several SEC titles in the past few years.
These players are part of the reason why the Kentucky Wildcats in baseball are such a powerhouse. The rich tradition and history that is associated with Wildcat baseball leads several people to wonder why this team has yet to win a NCAA title.
Some of the names that have made a career out of playing baseball and doing so in successful fashion. One of the players that placed a Wildcats uniform on and went on to the majors was Joe Blanton.
Blanton career started with the Oakland Athletics, here he played for four years before being acquired by the Phillies in 2008. In his career he has had over 640 strikeouts as well as a record of 63-54.
Joe Blanton in his two years pitching for the Wildcats had a 13-12 record as well a ERA of 4.69. He led the SEC during his career with the most strikeouts.
Jeff Abbott was a force to be reckoned with when he played for the Wildcats. He would later go on to have a great career in the MLB posting numbers that were not that bad. Many people thought he was the wrong size to be an effective outfielder.
However many of these people were silenced when he Posted a number of impressive stats during his short career. Between the years of 1997-2001 he posted 157 hits, with 87 of those resulting in runs.
Even though his career only lasted four years, his contributions to the Kentucky Wildcats will last a lifetime.
Scott Downs is another Wildcat that has brought honor to the Wildcat uniform. During his 10 year career in MLB he has posted over 300 strikeouts, along with a slue of other awards.
Downs was drafted in 1994, but made the decision to stay in college and play for the Wildcats. Two years later he would be drafted yet again, this time deciding to head to the majors, and play for the Atlanta Braves.
Many people say that the best years of Downs are just around the corner, and that he will become a Hall of Fame pitcher before too long.
There are several other players that have started their careers at the University of Kentucky. These players went on to have wonderful careers that brought them a lot of success.
In addition to the personal success that they experienced, there is the pride that they brought the Kentucky Wildcats, after all they may play for several teams as a pro, but deep down they will always bleed Kentucky Blue.
You never know, there may be a future big league ball player on the team now, only time will tell as to who will be the next great ball player that will come from the Wildcats baseball team, and go on to the Hall of Fame as a baseball great.
Best Price: $49.95
The perfect gift for her is only a click away, if she is a sports fan that is. Shopping for her has never been easier for the perfect Valentine’s day gift. I am not talking about the ordinary bouquet of flowers, box of chocolates and romantic Valentine’s card. Sure those things make a girl happy too. But consider a heart watch with her favorite team logo. Now there is a gift she would love to wear on game day or maybe all the time.
