Once again, I'm looking for a little help from the loyal sports fans of our area high schools.

The Star-Herald is trying to compile a list of athletes who graduated from Kosciusko, Ethel, McAdams, Central Holmes, Weir, Durant, French Camp, Winona Christian, Williams-Sullivan or Ackerman and are currently playing college (two-year or four-year) or professional athletics.

Just e-mail those names to BrotherA4him@hotmail.com (this is by far the best way to make sure I have the correct information) or give me a call on my cell phone at 601-938-2471.

I want this information for a couple of reasons. One is so I can put together an article and info box about local athletes who have continued to compete after graduating from high school and the other is so we can keep up with them in the Star-Herald on a regular basis.

Any cooperation would be greatly appreciated.



Daily information

on the web

If you have sports information for the Star-Herald please don't feel like you have to wait until Monday or Tuesday to let us know. We are looking for sports items to put up on our website at www.starherald.net on a daily basis.

As your teams progress through tournaments or win mid-week or weekend games that come after our press deadline, go ahead and give me a call or drop me an e-mail so I can post the information right away.

This not only helps us keep the public informed as to how our local teams are doing, but also improves the coverage in the following week's print edition.

In addition, we have been posting a daily Sports Ramblings column that gives us a chance to keep you updated on things that are happening both locally and around the nation in the world of sports.



Thursday night

prep football

I'm not exactly sure why, but I've always been a fan of Thursday night high school football.

Well, maybe I do know why — it gives me a chance to cover an extra game from time to time.

There will be three games played on Thursday nights by area teams this year and it's no surprise Weir will be a participant in each of them. All three could be good, but two could have huge implications.

After opening at home on a Friday night against Bruce, the Lions travel to Eupora on Thursday, Aug. 27 to take on Eupora, a strong 2A team coached by former Weir head man Junior Graham.

Then six weeks later the Lions play host to one of its challengers for Region 3-1A supremacy when Nanih Waiya pays a visit to Choctaw County. The Lions close out the regular season at home on Thursday, Nov. 5 against Noxapater.



Bitten by 'The Snake'

I've heard a lot of wild stories about former University of Alabama and Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken 'The Snake' Stabler, but one of the most interesting I've read was published in the Tuscaloosa News last week. It was written by veteran sports columnist Bob Padecky of The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif., regarding an encounter he had with Stabler 30 years ago.

Even if you aren't a huge sports fans (which is a little confusing because you are reading a sports column), this one is worth your time.

Just cut and paste http://tinyurl.com/lwmp2x and drop it into your browser.



It just wasn't

meant to be

You could see the inevitable coming as Sunday's championship match of the Confederations Cup wore on, but you have to give the USA credit for fighting valiantly in its 3-2 loss to Brazil.

The USA held a 2-0 lead at the half against highly favored Brazil, but the eventual winners scored early in the second half and kept up the pressure for the last 45 minutes, finally taking the lead and the championship.

The United States earned its spot in the finals with a shocking 2-0 semi-final win over Spain.



Once again,

I'm clueless

While there are a lot of things I don't know, or even come close to knowing, there was a knew one added to my list on Saturday.

While there have been a lot of outstanding pitchers in the history of the Boston Red Sox, I can't say I was really surprised that multiple Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens was on top of the all-time list for games started by a Red Sox pitcher with 382.

What did surprise me was that when Tim Wakefield took the mound against the Braves on Saturday that he tied Clemens at the top of that list.

Tim Wakefield?

I remember Wakefield as a Pittsburgh Pirate back in the day. Even though I am an avid baseball fan — okay, mostly the Braves — I had no idea he had been with the Red Sox that long.

The 42-year-old Wakefield was masterful on Saturday, beating the Braves 1-0 and running his record to 10-3 on the season.



Tigers rule

college baseball

The Tigers of LSU left no doubt at to which college baseball team is the best in the country as they defeated Texas 11-4 last Wednesday in the final game of the College World Series.

The win gave LSU six National Championships in baseball, tying the Tigers — ironically enough — for second place all-time with the University of Texas. USC leads the way with an amazing 12 championships.

The two teams had split the first two games of the best-of-three series, but LSU took care of business in game three to take the convincing win.



New head Tiger

in Noxapater

When Ethel High School pays a visit to Noxapater High School for an Aug. 28 football game there will be a new coach manning the home sideline.

Former longtime Noxapater head coach Bobby Bowman has moved on, leaving the door open for Tyler Peterson to be named the new NHS head coach.

Peterson, who was a high school star at quarterback for Louisville High School, spent the last two years as an assistant coach for the Wildcats.

Peterson played his college football for the University of North Alabama. He later became a graduate assistant at UNA and an assistant football coach at Arkansas-Monticello before joining the LHS staff.

Peterson and his Noxapater Tigers will play another area team on Thursday, Nov. 5 when they pay a visit to Weir.

Hopefully we will be able to have more on Bowman's new coaching position in next week's Star-Herald.



Saban not too happy

Birmingham News columnist Ray Melick shares his thoughts on Nick Saban's comments about some recruiting web sites working against the University of Alabama.

I’m sure this didn’t go over so well in ‘Bama Country, but it is worth your time if you enjoy college football and especially the SEC.

Simply cut and paste http://tinyurl.com/lud895 in your browser to be thoroughly entertained.