S7s: Jan 10- Brotherhood

1) Friday night, January 8, we held a reunion for the 1996 West Henderson Dual Team State Championship team. 20 years ago, a young coach took a bunch of talented and committed individuals and together won a State Dual team title. We wrestled two matches that finals night because of inclement weather earlier in the week. We beat North Wilkes in the Regional Finals 28-26.

In the state finals, we beat East Davidson by the score of 28-26. There were big wins by Damon Blackley and myself over two of their better kids. There was a bite that ended up being huge points for us. Casey Manuel got a pin to put us up by 5. Troy Sapp bumped up to heavyweight and stalled his way through the match to give us the win.

As special as winning the State Title was, I think mostly back to the brotherhood. I miss wrestling but I miss more the being on the team. We struggled, worked and cried together. We laughed with one another and pushed each other. Damon and I traveled to countless off season tournaments together. Stephen and Ebert were practice partners. My brother was on the team. Michael and I were the co-captains. We had a coach that pushed us, cared for us and that we believed in. I don't remember the state title match as much as I remember the wrestling room, picking up Nick early in the morning for AM practices, trying not to get slammed into the back of the bleachers at West. That was a special team and I was honored to be part of it. We accomplished great things-- 2 undefeated seasons, 5 individual state champions and several state placers-- but it's the brotherhood we built together that made our team great and made Friday special.

2) This TED talk resonates with how I feel. I have not served and cannot put myself in the position of a soldier, but I think I understand the "brotherhood". There's a special connection when you have to sacrifice, sweat and hurt together. Brotherhood and friendship are not the same. You don't have to like someone to have a brotherhood. But the cool thing is that we our team honestly all liked each other. And we had a brotherhood.

Soldiers are willing to go back to war because of the brotherhood, not because they love war. I'd go back not as much for the wrestling, but for the brotherhood. These guys were that special.

3) One of the youngest members of Terry Lee Varnadore, who was a freshman in 1995-1996. Terry Lee died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan on April 23, 2011. Our group came up with the idea of a Terry Lee Courage and Leadership award that will go to a deserving wrestler every year. The award will hang in the West Henderson commons for everyone to see and for Terry Lee to be honored. This wasn't just some award because we felt bad that a guy died in combat, but this was so that people would remember and know that Terry Lee was a man of honor and character.

It was both heartbreaking and an honor to get to hug his parents. When the award was presented to his parents, I got pretty emotional. I got to meet his two daughters, who are both precious and adorable. The older one reminded me of her dad so much. The gym was full of love and laughter, but there was still a hole in our hearts. There were several members of our team that couldn't make it on Friday to the reunion, but Terry Lee's absence hurt the most. 

Terry Lee; The Fallen

Times News; West 1996 Title Team; Varnadore Honored

4) Last week was a really good week of classes for me. My kids were at it, trying to get things done and be ready for exams this week. I have never liked the state's mandate that schools start no earlier than August 25. It means we don't finish our first semester until after Christmas holidays. We have to reteach to get ready for exams because of the break rather than just review. 

Also, the state, in their brilliance, has created tests that can take 10 days to score. So we have to give "incompletes" if they don't have test scores back. This makes no sense-- if you're a senior and are in danger of failing a core class, you need to know immediately whether you have to retake the course. Of it it is second semester, you need to know if you're eligible to graduate.

And this article resonated with me: The Real Problem with teaching in NC

5) Up and down week for the wrestling team. We broke a losing streak to Pisgah on Tuesday by a score of 42-25. Our kids wrestled tough and we got several big falls. I was really proud of our effort and toughness. The win puts us at 17-4 for the season and 3-0 in the conference.

Yesterday was a day of growth for us. At the Fandetti Brawl, we got beat up some. We battled and fought, but lost lots of tough matches. The competition was stellar and while we are a good group, it showed that we still have work to do. We had 5 placers, but our highest kid was 3rd. We were humbled in some places and in other places we showed that we were fighters. Our potential is there, we still have high ceilings individually.

6) NFL Playoffs have been pretty fun. All the road teams won. Green Bay ended up running away from Washington. Chiefs in a blow out. But some notes:

• Bengals-Steelers: dirty and ugly play by Burfict. I hope Antonio Brown is okay. Bengals lost their cool at the end. Fumble. Personal Foul. Personal Foul. That set up the game winning field goal.
• I feel so bad for Vikings kicker Blair Walsh. He'll never live that down. I guess you'll see more coaches going for game winning field goals on 3rd down to get the second shot in case of a miss. 
• I think that the Panthers wanted to play Green Bay or Minnesota rather than Seattle.
• Predictions: Chiefs over Patriots, Broncos over Steelers (especially if Ben is banged up), Carolina over Seattle, Arizona over Green Bay.

7) College Championship Prediction: Clemson 33, Alabama 27

Sunday 7s: 9/20

1) Congratulations to my dear friend, colleague and former assistant track coach Audra King for being named Henderson County Public School's Exceptional Children's Educator of Excellence. It is a well deserved honor for someone who is humble, kind hearted and gracious at all times.

2) I did not see the Republican debate on CNN last Wednesday, but I read enough on it to know that I didn't learn a whole lot more about the front runners. They spent a lot of time criticizing the present administration, each other and repeating talking points. Nobody said anything that really made them stand out or I found informative. I have yet to hear, nor have they been pushed to present, their positions on education or foreign policy (building a wall is not foreign policy).

3) I saw something earlier this week on whether robots, as we improve artificial intelligence, deserve to be protected certain rights as all individuals. I still worry about a Terminator scenario where robots take over, but beyond that I worry for humanity. Technology has already detached us from each other in so many ways. We're on our screens more than we are having real interactions. Will people of the future choose robots for friends over having human friends?

4) Japan moving to remilitarization. It was kind of lost in the shuffle of events of the past week. It's not a done deal yet and passions are high on both sides, but this is kind of a big deal. This is the country that truly made World War II a global war, the world's third largest economy (prior to 2009, it was the world's second) and for over 70 years has taken a pacifist stance in a part of the world that includes Russia, North Korea and China. We'll see how this one plays out.

5) I had gate duty at the North Henderson Soccer game on Wednesday. It's a fierce rivalry and there's no love lost between the two schools in soccer.

• The good: Both teams played hard. It was a fundraiser night for FBLA and they were selling homemade tamales and horchata. Fantastic idea!
• The bad: We lost in overtime. We had to call the cops. The East fans got a unruly. Both sides were passionate and emotions high. Both schools had large students sections that went back and forth. The students were spirited and respectful on both sides. The coaches were classy. The parents, however, put a damper on the night. Be a fan, don't be obnoxious and disrespectful. 

6) Ride of the week: Dan Ruiz and I rode from Corn Mill Shoals parking lot, down US 276 past Ceasar's Head to HWY 11 and back. A total of 27 miles with about 3200 ft of total climbing. The descent from Ceasar's Head is one of my favorites. Almost 7 miles, nice sweepers with a few sharp switchbacks. The climb is long but never gets too steep or grueling. As a matter of fact, there is a part that "levels" out and lets you recover about halfway up. Surely, one of my favorite rides. I chose to ride back to my house from the car, adding another 33 miles to my day. Long day, good for my soul. We took a break at Bald Rock, where I got to take this picture of me messing around.

7) College Football thoughts:

• Notre Dame outclassed my Jackets in every way yesterday. It was an ugly showing for Tech fans. Notre Dame gets credit for being resilient, well coached and more emotional. That was a good football team who lost their original starters at QB and RB in the first two games of the season.
• Bad week to be Heang Uy: GT lost by 8, Elon lost 7-14 and the Dolphins lost by a field goal. At least the Panthers won. North Henderson had a bye week. The previous week, everyone of these teams won.
• When's the last time an Alabama team had 5 turnovers? Credit to Ole Miss, but even Alabama can't win by coughing up the ball that often. And the gods were on the Rebel's side. This play shows that:

• Overrated in this week's AP Poll: 
• FSU, 10- You can't tell me you watched FSU-BC on Friday or FSU the week before and thought you were watching the number 10 team in the country
• Missouri, 25- Sure they didn't lose, but narrowly beating Arkansas State and UConn doesn't cut it for me.
• Underrated:
• Alabama, 12- They did lose at home. But Ole Miss may be really, really good. They should stay in the top 10 and be ahead of both Florida State and Clemson
• BYU, 22- They lost by one point, on the road against a top 10 UCLA team and they drop three places. That makes no sense to me. 
• I have long said that preseason polls are stupid. I mean, Auburn was #6 preseason and those same polls are the only reason FSU and Mizzou are ranked where they are. Three weeks is about right to start having polls. That said, and based on what I've seen so far, here's how I'd rank the top 7: 1) Michigan State 2) Ole Miss 3) TCU 4) Ohio St 5) LSU 6) Notre Dame 7) Baylor 

Gameday Kickoff

At long last, college football has arrived. What a great weekend. My friend Paul was driving home from the Georgia Tech-Jacksonville State game and, since I could not make the game, was giving me his take. Well, he took a wrong turn and ended up downtown. There were a lot of people there for both the Alabama-Virginia Tech game and the 2009 version of Dragon*con.

"It's a real freak show down here", Paul said over the phone. My mind started racing as I processed what was the freak show:

Dragon*con-


Virginia Tech-


Alabama-


I vote Alabama fans. And I'm not changing my vote.

Other college football observations:

- I hate it for Sam Bradford. Good kid who came back to school rather than be a top 10 NFL Draft pick. Hope he heals quickly.

- NC State-South Carolina made me want to gouge my eyes out. Miami-Florida State had me glued to the screen.

- I was very impressed by the quarterback from Baylor, Robert Griffin.

- I hope Boise State and BYU both go undefeated.

- I still think they are the best team and should be ranked #1, but Florida's nonconference schedule includes the likes of Charleston Southern, Troy, Florida International (and Florida State). I used to diss Virginia Tech for their easy out of conference schedule, but now they are scheduling Alabama and Nebraska. Come on Gators, play some real schools.

- Georgia Tech is good, but we are going to need to be really, really good and at the top of our game every week to beat Clemson, Miami, UNC, Virginia Tech, Florida State and Georgia. Despite their mediocre showing last week, the ACC has several good teams (and a few really, really bad ones).

Sunday Observations

This blog continues to evolve. Instead of a weekly post devoted to my crush for the week, I am replacing that post with "Sunday Observations". Sunday Observations are just my short, random musings of the previous week (if I can get to it). The "Crush" is not going away, there are too many people I like-- it will just be grouped into the "Sunday Observations". Without further adeiu, this today's observations:

1. Through Facebook status updates, Internet forums and comments left by readers to online articles, there are a lot of people who think we need to pray for our country since Obama was elected President. My question, if McCain was elected President, would we not need to pray for our country?

2. Texas Tech is really fun to watch on offense.

3. Georgia should have lost, unbelievable ending. They stopped Kentucky on 4th down, but were called for a facemask. Kentucky's next play was an interception by a defensive lineman who was being blocked. See the clip below.


Alabama should have lost. What was Jarrett Lee thinking on that pass? Your defense blocks a game winning field goal to force overtime and then you throw an interception to give yourself no chance to win the game. Rediculous!

4. Thank goodness I am not a Tennessee fan. Homecoming loss to Wyoming?

5. I was measured for a tux today for my college roommate Jeff's wedding in December. I am a 31 sleeve, 31 waist and 48 overarm. I won't tell you the rest because I don't want you to make life size voodoos of me. You'll have to guess the neck, underarm and all the other random measurements.

Proof that God Exists:
Last season, Bobby Petrino, in the midst of a terrible first season in Atlanta, abandoned his contract, commitment and team and took the head job at the University of Arkansas. He didn't even meet with his team. He left them a letter. Packed his office and left them letters in their lockers. It was gutless.

This year, Arkansas is 4-6 and 1-5 in the SEC (last in their division), including beating might football powers Western Illinois and Louisiana Monroe by a combined 5 points. The Falcons, one of the worst teams in the NFL last season, is 6-3 and second in their division behind rookie Matt Ryan's marvelous play. Justice is served.

Crush of the Week:
Jennifer Pharr Davis. Check this post. How can you not like Blue Ridge Outdoor Magazine's Person of the Year?