Showdown at Comer, sortof? Rickwood Field = Americana. OM v. MB = intense! "The Dude." Bracket busted already?

Hey sportsfans!

Another week of just too much around here.

Tuesday night the much-anticipated first match up of the season between Altamont and their biggest rival Indian Springs took place at Lily Field under the lights. The girls from Altamont won 2-0 in an exciting game. Kim and Mary Frances provided the scoring, but it could have been much worse. The girls took 12 - 15 other shots on goal and kept constant pressure with Aarthi and Olivia peppering the goal several times. At least three shots hit the bars. Em played one of the forward positions for about three-fourths of the game. She had two near misses on goal. #9 is becoming more more comfortable each time out and hopes to score soon. The #8 ranked Lady Knights improved to 2-4-1 on the season.

The boys game was not nearly as exciting  as the #1 ranked Springs boys team continued its dominant ways in a 4-0 shutout of the Knights. The Knights played hard but Springs' speed was just too much to handle on this chilly evening. With emotions running high, not surprisingly, several yellow cards were issued. These teams will play against later in the year at Springs and might see each other in the second round of the playoffs.

Wednesday afternoon the Altamont boys varsity team played at historic Rickwood Field against 5A Wenonah High School. What a great venue for baseball. This is the oldest active ballpark in the USA. What a treat for the boys to play here. The Knights were victorious 13-7.

Thursday night The Lady Spartans were back in action against against Oak Mountain Blue. This game featured the top two lacrosse teams in Alabama. Last year the Lady Spartans won the state title against OM Blue at OM's home stadium. Ouch. Intense! Fresh off their excellent play in the Dogwood Classic, the Lady Spartans were looking to set the tone early against OM. 

This was easily the best game of the year. Oak Mountain Blue was 8-1 on the season, having only lost one close one to a tough squad from Georgia. OM features an active and aggressive goalie who turns saves into instant offense for their three excellent scorers. Going into the game,  OM's goalie has had a terrific year defending her turf. In several of their games she has limited the opponents to less than five goals. Em had not been able to score against her in the past three years of competition. The Lady Spartans were hoping to get off to a fast start. Goals were a real premium. This looked to be a defensive gem tonight.

Superb defense for the first eleven minutes of the game. In fact, there was no score until Em charged in with an assist from Olivia and bounced one past OM's goalie at the 13:46 mark of the first half. There had been three total shots on goals prior to Em's score. New to the team this year, Em was probably an unknown to the OM team. Although the OM coach was Em's travel coach last summer, he must have focused on stopping Olivia and Libby in the first half. Em tallied two more scores before the half. Olivia and Libby also scored to close out the first half ahead 5-1. 

The Spartans played very well on both ends of the field during the first half. LA was active in goal with some nice saves. Laura and Michelle helped defend the goal. Maggie, Libby, Olivia, JB, Lucy, Ellie and Em moved the ball around and picked up several ground balls.

The second half was a completely different story. OM controlled the ball for almost twenty minutes. They took possession of almost all of the draws and ground balls. Much more aggressive on offense. The Green and Gold were limited to less than ten shots on goal with only two (Lucy and Libby) finding their mark. OM came storming back with four straight goals to tie the score with six minutes remaining. The teams then traded goals for a 6-6 score with four minutes left. Then it was 7-7 with 20 seconds remaining when Michelle was called for a dangerous defensive play which was a yellow card and her out of the game. This left the Spartans down one of their top defenders and OM controlling the ball. With 13 seconds remaining, OM's top scorer went top shelf and LA never saw it.  Final score was 8-7, OM.

At 9-1, OM Blue is now in first place with the Spartans at 6-4 (6-1 in league play) close on their heals. These teams will play again in a few weeks. Should be a doozy.

While Em and Olivia were at The Oak Mountain game, the Altamont girls varsity team was taking care of business at Pinson Valley. In the 3-2 win, Aarthi and and Emily Taylor providing the scoring. The team is now 3-4-1, riding a two game mini win streak.

Friday and Saturday the gang was in Starkville to watch the Miss State host Vanderbilt in some key SEC baseball. Both teams feature future pros, including most of the Bulldogs starters from last year's College World Series finals. Both schools are ranked in the top twenty. These conference titans squared off at Dudy Noble Field which has to be one of the best places in the country to watch college baseball.  You must go just to see the Left Field Lounge and the incredible tailgating and makeshift bleachers just beyond the outfield walls. 

The Friday night game featured Vanderbilt's ace, Tyler Beede, who has turned down millions from the pros to remain pitching for the Dores. This evening was not Beede's night. He did not last past the fourth inning. After four errors, including two by him (one mental and one physical), 80+ pitches, ten hits and nine runs (most unearned), it was time for Beede to have a seatee. By the end, the Bulldogs put a whoopin' on the Dores, 17-2. Vandy had a uncharacteristic for Corbin-coached team five errors. Nothing else to say but MSU put a beat down on this game.      

The Saturday game was closer, but the Bulldogs took that one too, 6-3. With crowds of more than 10k for both games, "The Dude"  was rocking. I think the gang had fun. It did not hurt that the Vandy baseball team, LSU tennis team and Arkansas tennis team all stayed at our hotel. These two excellent teams will see each other again in the SEC tourney in Hoover during late May. 

I'm not too proud to admit I watched my fair share of college hoops this week. Warren Buffet didn't achieve such wealth by accident. Only took 25 games for everyone to lose in his bracket challenge. Loving Dayton right now. Yes, I picked them to the Sweet 16. However, please do not get too excited for me. I'm currently ranked in  4,945,080th place. I have 9 of the Final 16 remaining, including all four of my Final 4. Australia for MLB Opening Games? Doesn't make much sense. Spring break week for the girls. Heading west for a few days. Much needed break for all three of us. 

Have a great week, everyone!
The Sports Guy

Matisyahu. Lingerie issues at the Dogwood Classic. Hamentashen for everyone. Madness, I say! Pure Madness!

Hey sportsfans,

Big week. Typical week. Fun week.

Tuesday night I surprised the girls with tickets to see Matisyahu in concert at WorkPlay. He has a new album coming out this spring and this was his time playing the songs before a live audience. Very, very loud. Maybe the louder it gets the better it is???

Wednesday night the Lady Spartans were back in action under the lights at Rathmell. During a very cold and howling evening, the first place Green and Gold took on John Carroll. This one was not even close. In the 16-4 win, Em played less than twenty minutes. Even in limited duty she scored one goal and had three assists. This game was not expected to be close. JC is a fairly new program. The win pushes their record to 6-0.

Thursday night Em returned to the soccer field for the first time in five years. Coach Matt asked her to join the team due to several injuries to key players this season. Em does not expect much playing time, but you never know what might happen. The #10 ranked (1-4A)  Lady Knights took on the 6A Shades Valley Mounties at their place. The Lady Knight played tough defense against the Mounties but came up short in the 2-0 loss. Aarthi had a couple of shots on goals, including one that Em (playing center forward) came a few feet short of knocking in for a score. In fact, Em played about 20 minutes of the game. She had a few touches, including a header, while trying to knock some rust off. Not too shabby for her first time out. I'm sure she will be more comfortable as the season progresses.

The Lady Spartans were invited to play in the Dogwood Classic Invitational Lacrosse Tournament at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta. Started in 2001, the Dogwood Classic is the premier invitational girls lacrosse event in the Southeast. Teams from around the South and around the US have attended with regional bragging rights on the line. More than twenty different state champions and ten additional state-runner ups attended the event. In recent years, participating rosters have featured players that have committed to play at top Division I programs like Vanderbilt, Bucknell, USC, Denver, Princeton and Florida.

The 14th annual Dogwood High School Girls’ Lacrosse Classic provided a rare in-season opportunity to watch some of the top players and programs from around the Southeast. The eight-team tournament features teams from Georgia, Texas, Virginia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Included in this year’s field are: FAB 50 No. 47 Westminster Schools which is the defending Georgia AAAAA-A state champion; Alpharetta (Alpharetta, Ga.) which was the Georgia AAAAAA quarterfinalist in 2013; Centennial (Roswell, Ga.); two-time Georgia state champion Lovett School (Atlanta, Ga.); Harpeth Hall School (Nashville, Tenn.); Lamar (Houston, Texas) which is No. 8 in the South according to Lacrosse Magazine; Defending Alabama state champion Mountain Brook (Mountain Brook, Ala.) and St. Anne’s-Belfield (Charlottesville, Va). St. Anne’s-Belfield has three midfielders committed to Division I programs, including Princeton and Denver. Westminster has won the last four Dogwood Classic titles, although last season they tied with Walton (Marietta, Ga.)

What an impressive school. The Westminster Schools has the largest high school endowment in the country ($240+ mil). Westminster fields 81 athletic teams. For the 2012-2013 school year, Westminster was named the nation's best overall sports program for its eleven state championships and four second-place finishes. The film "The Blind Side" was filmed on the school's campus in June 2009, with students, parents, teachers and coaches acting as extras. Margaret Mitchell, Clark Howard, Taylor Branch and Hannah Storm are among their many notable alumni.

In the first game of the tournament the Lady Spartans took on the host Westminster Wildcats. Westminster is currently ranked #47 in the country. They won their state championship three of the last four years.

The game started off slowly for the Lady Spartans. Westminster showed why they are so good and raced out to a 10-2 lead at half. The Green and Gold were limited only two shots on goal in the first half. However, during the break Coach Hunter got the team's attention. I think our guys were a little intimidated  until they realized they could hang with this team. The second half was a different story. Mountain Brook stepped up its game as the teams tied at five goals apiece. Although the Green and Gold lost 15 -7, they have a lot to be proud of how they played. Westminster pulled its starting goalie in the second half, but quickly had to return her to the game when our girls pulled within two scores. Emily scored two goals and had one assist. Olivia had three goals. This was a confidence-building game, big-time.

During the second game of the tournament the Lady Spartans took on Alpharetta High School. Starting at 9 am (eastern) the girls were not yet awake when the first of Alpharetta's goals were scored. I think some of our seniors stayed up way too late. Coach Hunter was chewing some butt before the first timeout was called. The halftime score was 4-2, bad guys ahead. The final was 8 to 6, loss. This was was a winnable game for the Lady Spartans. They played well toward the end, but it was too late. Emily had one score and one assist. Certainly a disappointing loss. Thanks to Neal and Scott for coming out to root on Em.

For third game of the tournament the Lady Spartans took on the Lovett School. Another tough Atlanta-based squad that has vast tourney experience. This was an exciting game. Down 8-7 at half, the girls played very well against this former Georgia state champion. Although Mountain Brook lost 15 to 12, they played exceptionally well. Matching score for score and stop for stop throughout the game showed our girls that they can compete with some of the best Atlanta teams. Em scored one goal and had two assists in this game.

Here is the video of  Em's score from this game:

The Lady Spartans have much to be proud of from this entire tourney experience. They really held their own against some excellent lacrosse squads. However, one area of the game that needs to be addressed are some of the non-game playing penalties assessed against the Lady Spartans. Calls that are never made in the regular season were called during the tourney. Two mouth guard penalties (not fully in the mouth), a jewelry penalty (earrings) and lingerie penalty (not kidding) for not having matching sports bras, were all called against the Lady Spartans. I will hold my tongue about the new lululemon "jerseys" the team wore this weekend. Ticky tacky calls but they did count against the team as possession turnovers. Maybe these issues are now corrected and the jerseys safely tucked away in the sports bags.     

Hopefully the team learned from these games as they now head into a most important game against Oak Mountain Blue later this week. These tourney games emphasized the importance of being able to pass, catch and shoot with both hands. Positioning on the field is key. Right place at the right time. It also emphasized how crucial it is to be able to see the entire field and to communicate. Nothing finer than seeing a team on either side of the field that knows where each player will be and will anticipate where their teammates will be heading. 

While in Atlanta, we also watched Michael Wynne play for Pope High School's JV team. They took home a hard fought 4-3 victory. Michael's strong defense continued by contributing two (6-4-3) double plays from second base. We are looking forward to big things from #6 in the upcoming years. Pope is the defending state champion and looks to add to their titles with Michael leading the way. 

How do your March Madness brackets look? I bet they are not going to be perfect in the end. There are a total of 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible bracket outcomes, making the odds of a perfect bracket over 9.2-quintillion-to-1. In fact, the odds are so bad that, according to RJ Bell at Pregame.com, if every individual alive in the world completed a bracket, the odds are a billion-to-one against any of them being perfect. The NCAA tournament tips off  with the play-in games, followed by Thursday and Friday's opening rounds. The Final Four is slated for Saturday, April 5, at AT&T Stadium in Dallas. I like Florida and Michigan State right now. Good luck! 

Happy Purim! I know I have eaten too many hamentashan. No track and field this season. Girls are just too busy. Big soccer match-up between Altamont (boys ranked #4, girls #10) and Springs (boys #1, girls #8) Tuesday night at Comer. Huge game for the Lady Spartans (#1) against Oak Mountain Blue (#2) at their place Thursday night. The Altamont baseball team plays at Rickwood Field against Wenonah High School sometime this week. I might squeeze in some work at some point. Just maybe.  Heading to Starkville this upcoming weekend for some SEC baseball. I have very little reason to sleep much this month. I have not even mentioned MLB this week. 

Have a great week everyone! 

Every week just keeps getting better and better. 
The Sports Guy

On the road again. I'm glad I'm not a gambler. Soccer?

Hey sportsfans! 

Tuesday night the Lady Spartans took on Spain Park Jaguars at their park under the lights. This had trap game written all over it. With rival Oak Mountain Blue on the schedule for Thursday night, the Lady Spartans were prime for upset against Spain Park.  Coach Hunter did not want the Green and Gold looking past Spain Park and preached being in the moment all week leading to this game. They must have listened. What has become their standard start of games held true for this one too. Three quick scores and good defense. They held Spain Park to no shots on goal until 8:30 into the game. Halftime score was 8-2. The seniors on defense were very strong. Maggie, Michelle and Laura were stingy keeping the Jags at bay. The Green and Gold cruised to a 13-6 win. Olivia (6), Emily (3), JB (2) and Libby led the team in scoring. Em contributed three assists. The win brought their record to 4-0, with a showdown with Oak Mountain Blue later in the week.

Ugh. Thursday night's game against Oak Mountain was rained out. Boo hoo.

During Saturday afternoon, while Sid and LAB were checking out sororities on campus, we took in the Bama hoops game against the Arkansas Razorbacks. During Senior Day, PG Trevor Relaford and crew crushed the Razorbacks.  Releford scored 24 points and Shannon Hale added 18 to lead Alabama to an 83-58 victory, snapping the Razorbacks' six-game winning streak. The Crimson Tide (13-18, 7-11 SEC) capped a disappointing regular season by dominating from start to finish a team that appeared to be playing its way into the NCAA tournament. Arkansas (21-10, 10-8) was held to a season-low in points three days after pouring in 110 to rout Mississippi. The win was the seventh straight win for the Tide over Arkansas at Coleman Coliseum. Going into the game, I would have bet big money that Bama would have lost by a large margin. But, hey, what do I know?

During Sunday afternoon, the second road game of the week took place at Bob Jones High School in Huntsville. This game proved to be the Green and Gold's toughest one so far. The girls have not been behind all season and wanted to keep this streak going. Huntsville's defense kept our guys in check for the first several minutes, but then Olivia got the scoring going with a nice spin move and shot through the five hole. LA played solidly on defense limiting Huntsville to two first half goals. The Spartans took twelve shots on goal in the first half, but only five found the back of the net. 5-2 lead half, but should have been much more. Em was quiet in the first half with just two assists.

During the second half, the team was much stronger on defense and more efficient on offense. Excellent double teams and marking up while protecting the goal. Olivia found Em for two nice fastbreak goals midway during the second half. In all, the team took 30 total shots and twenty were on the goal.

The Spartans shutdown Huntsville on offense in the final twelve minutes on their way to a 10-4 victory. The win puts the team at 5-0. They take on John Carroll on Wednesday and then play in the Dogwood Classic in Atlanta this upcoming weekend. This tourney will really test their skills. They will be playing some of the best Atlanta area high school teams which annually send kids on the D1 programs.

Here are the links to videos of  Em's goals: Em scores.  Em scores again.

Now this was a team! 2008-2009. 12-0. Middle School area champs. Won each game by an average of 16 points. Look at #10. Many thought she was too cute to be a bulldog on defense. She sure showed them!

Trivia time: Which QB has two thumbs, completed all passes he threw and scored a 91.6 QB rating to rank 10th in the SEC in 1989? TSG, of course!

Selection Sunday is fast approaching. Will Witchita State complete an undefeated season? They look strong so far, but have not played some of the elite schools yet. Did you catch Duke's rout of UNC this past weekend. Parker and Hood was just super. Opening Day is in a few weeks. Sid's senior voice recital and spring dance recital are in early May. We are heading over to Starkville soon to watch Miss St. and Vandy tangle in a top 10 matchup on the diamond. Neither of the girls are doing track this season. However, rumor has it Em might fill in on the soccer team some this spring. As if she doesn't get enough running on the lax field?? 

Have a great week everyone!
TSG

Snoopaloop. "I Believe" in Swag Nation. Lady Spartans keep on rolling. Baseball cleats.

Hey sportsfans!

Tuesday night we caught the Altamont soccer teams take on Homewood Patriots (6A) at their place. Many of the kids playing know each other from outside school, mainly from other soccer leagues and living in the same communities. This does not make them necessarily friends on the field. The Knights played hard but could not hold off the Patriots. Hard fought losses that will hopefully make the teams better as the season progresses.  They will need to improve before playing #1 ISS in a few weeks.

Wednesday afternoon the defending 6A State Champs, Mountain Brook Spartans boys hoops team, made a return visit to the Final Four at the BJCC. They took on the Carver-Montgomery Wolverines in the semi-final. The Spartans had previously beaten Carver by 21 points back in January. Carver features four starters are heading to D-1 programs next fall. Mountain Brook's roster doesn't have anywhere near that college potential. However, superior coaching trumps athleticism in these playoff games. Tough defense and excellent hustle allowed the Spartans to take over the game down the stretch. It was a reminder that the greater high school basketball team wins these games. In the 49-38 win, Mountain Brook moved on to the title game against Blount Leopards from Mobile. Friday night, in front a packed house, the Spartans repeated as 6A State Champs. Nice job by the Swag.

Tell me if you've heard this before:

I Believe that we will Win!

(Call and response)

I believe
I believe

I believe that
I believe that

I believe that we
I believe that we

I believe that we will
I believe that we will

(faster and all together)

I believe that we will win
I believe that we will win
I believe that we will win
I believe that we will win

While this a great  team-motivating chant, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. UD and I were treated to this chant being screamed by a group of 5th graders at least twice a quarter for the entire game. I'm sure these boys helped their team from the upper deck.

Sadly, the Wednesday night Lady Spartans game against John Carroll at Rathmell Fields was

canceled due to poor field conditions and cold weather.

Thursday night Sid aka Snoopy was in action on the stage. "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" was a fun, family friendly show. What's not to love about the Peanuts Gang?? Ever seen Snoopy play the piano?  Tap dance?  Sing? Chase rabbits? Fight the Red Baron? Play baseball?  Snoop does it all! Sadly this play ends Sid's Altamont play performance career. What a fun ride it's been! Thanks to all the friends and family who came to shows this weekend.

We enjoyed a perfect Saturday outdoors rooting on the Altamont boys baseball team. They split a doubleheader against Huffman at Comer field. This is a very young team that is lead by two sets of brothers, Lasseters and McAlisters. Lots of  good talent, just need more experience.

  

We then escorted Em to her lax game against Oak Mountain. The starters raced out to three quick scores in the first three minutes. They had this game in control. Halftime score was 8-3, including a nice goal by Em to go along with three assists and her first yellow card of the season. Early in the second half #4 curled around the goal and jumped up as she shot which was whistled for a dangerous shot. Looked pretty, but for naught. Coach Hunter did not think it was dangerous. He liked her athleticism. Coach then  pulled the starters with 14 minutes remaining and up 10-3. Against the second team, OM scored three quick goals which prompted the starters coming back in to quiet their scoring. 11-6 winner pushes the Lady Spartans record to 3-0.  This week they will be tested by much better competition.  

I haven't been told yet this week's schedule yet. May or may not include a track meet, a trip to Tuscaloosa and/or nothing at all. Ellen was great as Oscars host.  I still need to see several Oscars nominated movies. Ritchie Incognito is still an idiot. Even bigger one now that he supposedly bashed in the grill of his $300k sports car. Lilly is in a school talent show this Friday. Her dance crew is defending their crown. Peyton Manning passes 2014 physical, will be ready to go for Broncos. Tiger Woods is getting be an old man. Time is running out for his quest to beat Jack. Conference tourneys begin this week and March Madness is just two weeks away. I had better sleep when I can. Too much good stuff going on these days!

Have a great week, everyone!
The Sports Guy