A Championship Recap...

TUPELO – After notching two quick outs in the bottom of the sixth, Matt Rodgers stared from the mound towards the opposing batter. He needed just one more strike to ensure that the BancorpSouth Bombers would remain undefeated and push more distance between themselves and the remainder of teams in the standings.

At the plate, Tucker Watts represented the tying run in the 8-6 contest. Rodgers wound up and tossed strike three just past Watts’ swing, causing catcher Drew White to emerge from behind the plate to celebrate with his battery-mate.

It was just that kind of year for the Bombers, a team that finished with an unblemished 10-0 mark in 11-12-year-old recreational Dizzy Dean play in Tupelo. The squad outscored opponents 84-29 in the rain-shortened campaign, never trailing and only finding themselves tied once – in the contest alluded to earlier with Thornton Dental Services on June 10.

“We concentrated on the little things all year, and I don’t think we could have assembled a better roster to handle everything we threw at them as coaches,” manager Chris Rushing said. “I can’t begin to explain how proud I am of these young men. They will be able to walk away from this season with something I was never able to achieve at any level of baseball – a championship.”

The Bombers wrapped up their league crown with a 13-4 triumph over Frankie Blackmon Chevrolet on Monday, June 23, in a contest originally scheduled for May 27. Rainouts caused havoc throughout all age groups in the park and recreational system this summer, something Rushing points to when continuing to praise his team’s efforts and focus.

“We went a month and played only one game – a whole calendar month,” Rushing said. “It felt like I had to re-introduce myself to the guys three or four times this year. Every time we took that field, it was like the chemistry had never been disbanded. They remembered everything from our practices and continued to play together despite all the down time. This definitely gave us a mental edge, more so than our record that may have preceded us in games.”

A steady force for his teammates all season, ace pitcher Ty Wheeler amassed a 6-0 record, racking up 49 strikeouts while limiting the opposition with a 1.36 ERA in 18.1 innings. None of his six wins were bigger, however, than his no-hitter against the Braves on June 9, giving the Bombers first-place outright atop the standings. Rodgers, the team’s other option on the mound, held his own, going 4-0 with a save and averaging just over one strikeout per inning pitched (19 in 15.2 IP).

The coaching staff preached baserunning from the first day of practice in late March, and the Bombers showed practice makes perfect with a staggering total of 144 swipes on the season. Most often out of the leadoff spot in the order, 11-year-old Cameron Montgomery led the roster with 21 steals and 12 runs scored.

The team started its run to a championship with a 5-1 victory over the Braves in the season-opener, the first of two epic matchups between the park’s first- and second-place teams. Justin Turnage, the Bombers’ primary option in center field, delivered the big blow with a two-run double in the third inning to extend the Bombers’ lead to 4-1, sealing the victory.

For an encore, the Bombers cruised to wins over Carlock Toyota (13-6), Frankie Blackmon Chevrolet (8-1) and the Kiwanis Club (11-5). Following the first of two rainouts of the season, BXS wrapped up the non-standings portion of the schedule with an 11-2 victory over Whitaker Sales.

In the rain-plagued second half, the Bombers picked up where they left off with an 11-2 win over Kiwanis, setting the stage for the fast-paced ending of previously-mentioned contests with the Braves, Thornton and Frankie Blackmon Chevrolet.

“Our entire roster contributed this season, and it made everything that much more fun,” Rushing added. “It’s easy to get fired up to come out here and coach when you have the parents and players that we were blessed with this season. While we never displayed a ‘win-at-all costs’ mentality, these guys had a refusal to lose that you cannot teach or coach.”

The Bombers are as follows: Silas Betts, Luke Dixon, Hayes Hershfelt, Montgomery, Noel Morgan, Rodgers, Carter Trousdale, Turnage, Wheeler, White, Austin Yarber and Evan Yarber. Assisting Rushing were coaches Jerry Rodgers, Mark Dixon and David Wheeler.

Fun all summer long...

So Auburn made the baseball hire, one that I think is good for the university. John Pawlowski will venture from College of Charleston to take over the sleeping giant that is Auburn baseball (Kendall Rogers' words on Rivals.com - not mine), bringing with him extensive pitching knowledge and expertise garnered from his previous stops at Arizona State, Clemson and the Show. I'm excited to think about what he's going to do working with kids like Cory Luckie and Grant Dayton.

While Pawlowski is an obvious improvement over what we had and brings legitimate hype to next year's team, I still think with the money we're giving this guy ($300K/season with tons of bonuses and incentives) could have led to someone with just a little more tournament experience than what he brings to the table. At the same time, he has CoC expecting to make it to NCAA regionals after building that program from scratch - something he won't have to do at AU. To sum it up, he's a good (possibly very good) hire, but I was holding out hope for a great one. I'll support this guy though, and everything I've heard from friends who have spent time with him at CoC is positive.

My regular season team, the Bombers, wraps up the season either tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm going to hate giving up this team. They've been a blast to coach and hang around. We're going to celebrate our regular season championship with t-shirts, pizza and trophies following Monday night's game. (I'm trying to convince the opposing coach from our Tuesday game to play us Monday night so we can get it over with.) They have no idea its coming.

My all-star team qualified for state with a 3-2 record at the district tournament, falling short 17-16 on Friday evening in the third-place game. We got better as the week went on, and I think we have the ability to make some noise in the state tournament if the bats follow them to Pontotoc. I feel pretty good about the pitching staff, seven of eight defensive spots and our offense. Unfortunately, we had one player quit due to playing time but I feel pretty good going with what we have.

So with this whole baseball coaching thing, I had two main goals for myself heading into April: 1.) win the regular season title and 2.) coach a team to the state tournament in all-stars. It feels good to achieve those two milestones, and I couldn't be prouder of this group of kids that have made these dreams a reality for this Mississippi boy.

What a summer...As always, thanks for reading and War Eagle.

-6-

7-3...I love winning.

I was never part of the best team in the league when I was growing up playing baseball. We would sometimes get to within a game or two of the league crown, but we always lost to the team that would end up winning it one too many times (or we were terrible).

My little league regular season team took sole possession of first place atop the standings with our 7-3 win over Gary's team. Did I get a little too much glee in winning that game? Yep. What I saw on that field was nine 11-12-year-old boys that believed in themselves (and their pitcher) to get the W.

I have a ton of great stories from tonight, but I'm too burned out to type them all on here. If any of my players are reading this, you guys are 100 percent deserving of that win, and I can't wait to get those trophies to you showing all your accomplishments after our last game together.

War Eagle, and go Bombers.

-6-

Fulfilling a childhood dream...

In the final weekend of July, I'll be going to Chicago with my dad to go see a couple of games at Wrigley Field. To say that I'm pumped is an understatement. For the Friday afternoon contest with the Florida Marlins, dad and I have corporate seats (thanks to one of our vendors at BancorpSouth), which are located on the fifth row up from the Cubs' bullpen area. I'm currently winning a bid on ebay to secure two bleacher seats for the Saturday game.

http://chiblogo.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/bad-seats-in-the-house/

The above blog offers an assessment of each seating area in the stadium. In case you were wondering, our seats for Friday are described as "excellent seats." It truly isn't what you know in this life; it's who you know.

Unfortunately, the stadium is not offering any tours while we are up there since all the games are afternoon affairs. One other item on the agenda is to take the river boat tour of the city. It's going to be a blast.

War Eagle.

-6-

A quick update...

We had our first all-star practice. We have a lot of bats, which should help offset the drop off in pitching we might experience from last year's group. I think the group has a good chance at being really good in the field after a few practices and getting the chemistry down. One thing we're going to stress as a coaching staff is teamwork, teamwork, teamwork. They're getting the gist of it, but we're still a LONG way from being as good as we're capable of being.

I went to Little Rock this past weekend to spend some time with my second family, the Monroes. I can't put into words how heartfelt I am to have such a loving and supportive family open their arms to this Mississippi boy since I first became friends with Andrew at Auburn. Their hospitality is second-to-none. Thanks again, you guys.

Tommy Tuberville went overseas with a group of coaches to spend some time with our armed forces. (Included in this group is Jack Siedlecki from Yale, one of Natalie's new bosses.) I don't think I have to go into much detail to express how awesome it is to have Tuberville represent Auburn in such a strong, positive fashion. One of my favorite people in the AU athletic department, Todd Van Emst, was Tuberville's extra on the trip. What an amazing experience, all around.

I don't like Notre Dame, and I don't like Penn State. However, I am a bigger fan of Joe Paterno and Charlie Weis after hearing some of their comments the past couple of weeks. Paterno went out of his way to mention Auburn as a reason to have a playoff and called it "silly" that there's not a plan in place to protect a team as good as the one we had in 2004 from getting shafted in the future. Weis has crept up my list of favorite NCAA coaches for his involvement in the trip overseas and his little jabs at Alabama fans on Birmingham radio. Good stuff from two of college football's most influential figureheads and voices.

Auburn's baseball coaching search should produce a top-notch hire. If we end up with someone that is just going to be in the same situation four years from now that Tom Slater found himself, I don't know how supportive I can be of this program. I mean, we have the facilities, we have the top-notch talent, and we have a much-better situation administration-wise than following the 2004 season. Big names will want this job. We shouldn't have to settle for anyone, and that goes for Mississippi State as well. (Sorry, Tommy Raffo.)

That's all for now. Once again, thanks for reading and all supportive thoughts and comments people have left here. War Eagle, everyone.

-6-

A little character development

I'm in the process of reading "Bringing Down the House" - which is the true story that was recently adapted to the big screen in "21"...one of the best movies I've seen in quite some time. The book delves straight into a strong form of character development by the author Ben Mezrich, and you can't help but get swept into the story from the get-go.

Character development is something that happens in all our lives, rarely limited to only our story-telling natures. Sure, when you're introducing someone to a group of loved ones or friends, you're going to give a few high points of this new person and the small affect they've had on your life in order to provide your audience with a bit of perspective. Then again, I can find tremendous character development opportunities being provided by every turn I seemingly take the last few days (just see my most recent blog entry for an example).

With this being said, I'd like to offer up a preview of how I'm trying to put some of this into words and paint a picture with my first real attempt at writing a novel. That being said, meet Uncle Bernie...

The khaki hat perched atop his head showed weathered stains and fade that accumulated during most of his adult years as a 43-year-old citizen of Mississippi. Like everything about Bernie (or “Uncle Bernie” to the array of nieces and nephews his brothers and sisters had parented over the last decade), this hat told a story.

But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. As mentioned before, Bernie is a 43-year-old native of the Magnolia state, residing most of his life in the Naval airbase town of Meridian. Throughout his days, moments with friends and family alike had provided him with some fascinating (and mostly unbelievable to non-witnesses) stories, and those memories are what separates this misplaced tourist from others.

Bernie’s physique features a tall, sleek stature and a chiseled face topped with spots of gray hairs littering the once strawberry blonde locks from his youth. A size 12 foot that is almost always exposed to the elements via flip flops, often leading to some interesting sunburns adjacent to his gangly toes, serves as his roots to the ground below. None of these attributes can hold a candle to the very essence of Uncle Bernie: his heart and his imagination.

One of Bernie’s favorite pastimes is to share those memories to any and all who would listen, and his favorite audience is one comprised of his nieces and nephews. While his brothers and sisters often warned their offspring of his eccentric behavior, it was hard not to appreciate his swagger and deliberate ability to capture their interests. They knew well that, when the hat and Hawaiian shirts found their way out of the closet and became Uncle Bernie’s attire, an intriguing tale (most often involving their parents at some point) was on its way.

An avid sailor during the first couple of years following high school, he now spent his days as a CPA in Laurel, a small town near his stomping grounds of Meridian. His desire to help people, especially during a high-stress time such as tax season, coupled with an innate ability to do complex calculations in his head were two of many traits that could quickly transform a one-on-one meeting into a four-hour medley of experiences and advice derived from one of those famous memories.

Because of all these things, it’s not hard to see how people find themselves drawn to the non-imposing Bernie. While it was never his true intention, his high school and college friends (which comprise most of his “brothers and sisters” in addition to his one true sibling, Michelle) were all “experts” in different fields. This allowed Bernie to experience different environments from one day to the next depending on which friend he was carousing with on a particular afternoon or evening, all helping him to find ways to relate to his future customers.

Most of the stories are of the happy-go-lucky nature; however, there are just as many tales to be shared featuring heartache and sorrow. It is by knowing these simple truths that you can now meet Uncle Bernie as another concert of experiences is about to begin...

This definitely hurts the most...

I'm facing an uphill battle I never thought would be possible a week ago. I know that everything happens for a reason, and I've been pushing through my life with this entire mindset. I can't see that reason right now, and I'm not really sure I want to, not knowing if I can handle what it may or may not lead to in my future.

To help decipher that first paragraph, a little background...The past two summers, I've been a volunteer coach in the Tupelo Youth Baseball Association 11-12-year-old league. Very few things have ever brought me as much joy as watching these guys succeed and finally "get" what you're trying to teach and coach them upon. Last year, I was the head coach of the city all-star team. I readily volunteered for the same duties this summer.

Now, one thing that is different this summer from last year is the emergence of a larger swell of 11-year-olds that would appreciate the opportunities to go out and compete against a higher level of caliber player they don't necessarily see in the park and recreation season. So, the approval for two teams was made - I'd coach the 12s and a guy named Gary would coach the 11s. Seems simple enough, right?

My park and rec team this year is the best in the league. We currently sport a 5-0 record, outscoring our opponents 45-14 in those five games (truth be told, if not for conservative base coaching at third, it could be a lot worse). On my team, young Ty Wheeler is the ace pitcher. Heck, it goes without saying that Ty is the best player in this league. A no-doubter when it comes to selecting an all-star team.

The catch? Ty's 11. His parents approached me after the first set of tryouts that both of us missed (due to my being in New Orleans for Jimmy Buffett and his playing the state soccer tournament) and asked if it would be possible for Ty to play up with the 12-year-old team since it'd give him more of a challenge. I would have loved to have Ty on the team, but I had to double-check with our baseball director to make sure it'd be OK.

A total of 12 11-year-olds had tried out for Gary's roster, and Suzanne (baseball director) gave me the options Ty'd have to play on my all-star team. We abode by those rules, and I let the 11-year-old coach know Ty would be playing up with us. Now, I was approached by another 11-year-old player who asked for the same opportunity, citing the desire to be more challenged than playing kids his own age. I granted him the tryout and applied the same rules I had for Ty, which I assumed to be the fair thing in this situation.

When Gary found out about this, he went to Suzanne and complained that I was poaching his best players and hindering his opportunity to have a competitive lineup even though all I was doing was going by the rules she set for me and trying to make my team better in the process. He began telling parents that 11-year-olds were going to take the spots of 12-year-olds, which led to us having to go in front of the TYBA Board of Directors today.

I felt betrayed the moment I stepped foot in the room at the meeting. There Gary was, schmoozing it up with the directors while I arrived after the meeting had started (even though it was 10 minutes prior to when Suzanne had told me to show up). "What's with this kid screwing up this vendor's pitch for snow cones to sell in the new concession stands???" is what all the eyes in the room were screaming at me as I took my seat. It only got worse from there.

To sum things up before posting something I sent later this afternoon after tears of frustration and anger, Ty will not be allowed to move up to play with players more on his ability level. I have to go back and tell his parents all of this information, but we couldn't put the two age groups together to set up the most competitive advantage (which is what an all-star team is supposed to do) because too many 11-year-old parents had already been told their kid was on the team. It was perfectly fine for me to have to backtrack to my parents, but God forbid Gary have to play on the same playing field and admit his own mistakes.

There were a few more things that crushed me today, and I'll outline those out in the following letter I sent to the president of the board just a few moments ago.

" Todd:

I just wanted to thank you and the board for their time today concerning our situation surrounding Ty Wheeler. While the outcome may not have gone in my favor, I understand the ruling and can deal with it. However, there were a few other things that really hurt a lot deeper than I let on in the meeting since I felt a little shell-shocked and betrayed.

First, I tried my very best to give Gary his time to make his case but did not receive the same courtesy from him while presenting mine. While I remained quiet and attentive through his speech, I hadn't spoken two sentences before he interjected his own thoughts. That's all on him, and I understand that, but no one quieted him down to allow me to continue. It was at this point that I could feel everything starting to slip away and said a couple of things I promised myself I wouldn't say concerning my assistant coach and his extremely vocal thoughts. I just ask that someone can do a better job of regulating something like that in the future, not really for my own sake but for someone else who may not necessarily know what they are getting into.

Second, I do not know Julie Smith, and she has no idea about anything concerning my character or personality. The fact that she pretty much called me a liar in front of a room of people who had never met me before...that does not sit well with me. When I brought this up to Suzanne during our call in the afternoon, all she could tell me was to take what Julie says "with a grain of salt" and that she "sometimes speaks before thinking about what she's saying." This does not dismiss her words or actions towards me, not when I'm out there volunteering sometimes four nights of my week to help 11-12-year-old boys be better baseball players. I won't hold my breath on this, but I think she owes me a big apology for that lone outburst. To rub salt in the wound, Gary was right along with her encouraging what she was saying.

Look, I know the board did what they thought was best for the league as a whole - which is its purpose by design. All I was doing was going by what Suzanne had told me earlier and laid it out for Ty and his parents the criteria he'd have to meet. Ty met and surpassed that criteria with flying colors. What I don't understand is how it's OK for me to have to go back and tell Ty's parents that what I had previously been told was incorrect but we can't have two teams because it'd be wrong for Gary to have to admit to those parents he got ahead of things. He wins what is best for him and not for Tupelo's all-star chances because he couldn't keep his own mouth shut around those parents. There are no rosters released to the public, and it was not too late to slip back and form one true team. We didn't have to cut the roster size at 12, and I would have gladly coached a team with 14 or 15 kids. Something about that fact just doesn't add up to me.

I'm still young (25, single, no kids and just trying to spend time around the game of baseball when it was the most fun for me) and am still impressionable with all of this, but what I saw in that room today from a group of adults made me weary to ever get involved with this again. Gary got his way through whining to Suzanne and won't learn from his mistakes like I did last year because he felt no recourse for his actions today. He accomplished exactly what he wanted to before he stepped foot inside that room. Besides the age factor, what the questions asked towards us told me was that it's perfectly fine for Gary to want to have a competitive team, to not have to spend $$$ on uniforms and travel costs and keep his team from going out and getting spanked. For me to want the same things and to have picked from the pool of players that tried out for my team, I was told, in so many words, "Let the kids go out and play (but you have to only pick the players we say you can pick)."

I never wanted to rock the boat. In two years, I've put forth my absolute best for both my players and for the city of Tupelo. What I learned today is, next time...I may have to rock the boat. I don't like that feeling, and I don't want to have to do something like this. At the same time, I feel as though I let Ty's parents down by not stooping to Gary's tactics. That's something that none of your board's words or assurances can ever replace in my heart, the feeling that I let this kid down.

Thanks again for your time. I'll do my best to make the city of Tupelo proud when we take the field for the district tournament.

Chris"