Entries by Chris Bridges

They played a game Monday night that was, in theory, for the national championship in major college football.

The game was played, millions watched and certain people tried to convince us all is right with a broken system of determining a champion. Only in major college football is this fraud of a system forced upon the fans and to some degree, it’s actually the fault of those fans.

LSU and Alabama played for it all Monday night although I did not watch one play of it. I purposely stayed away in my own form of protest since this way of determining a national champion is such a farce. [Full Story »] 

The Winder-Barrow High School Swim Doggs have already had numerous impressive showings this season.

Personal bests have been set and repeatedly broken. New school records have been established. Swimmers have qualified for the upcoming state meet.

Now, coach Jennifer Blevins will lead the team into the second half of the 2011-2012 slate with even more goals in sight. [Full Story »] 

The Apalachee High School Lady Wildcats went through a final tuneup Tuesday night prior to the start of the subregion schedule.

AHS dispatched of visiting Monroe Area 59-31 in a game which was decided relatively early as the Lady Wildcats led by 15 after the first quarter. Kiarra Sanford scored 22 points to pace AHS while teammate Saboyce Shelton finished with 10 and was recognized for scoring her 1,000th career point.

“We didn’t practice Monday because I wanted to give the team the day off with school starting back later in the week,” coach Michael Parks said. “I was concerned coming in with Tamaica (Morrow) being injured. However, we played a lot of people, a lot of people scored and it seemed like we were having a good time. It was a game we needed.” [Full Story »] 

There are two kinds of leaders when it comes to athletics.

There are the vocal kind or the non-vocal kind. Apalachee High School’s Saboyce Shelton falls into the second category. Allowing her play on the court to do her talking, Shelton has helped the Lady Wildcats race out to a 6-2 start this season and is primed to help her team reach the state tournament for the first time in program history.

“One of her greatest strengths is that she causes matchup problems for opponents,” said Michael Parks, who has coached Shelton throughout her career. “She has a great shot from the outside. She is a very accurate shooter. She is a very dominate post player. However, she is also someone who can play the guard spot. Having her game develop in both areas has helped our team as well as her. Luckily, she has been able to adopt to whatever I need her to do.” [Full Story »] 

It’s hard to believe another year has slipped by.

Within a few days 2011 will be in the rear-view mirror. It seems like only yesterday we were ringing in the new year with plenty of hopes and dreams. Now it’s all but behind us as we look to what 2012 will bring.

Before we completely leave 2011 behind, it’s worth looking back on some things the past 12 months offered us on the local sports front. While impossible to recap every single event that took place, some of the noteworthy occurances included: [Full Story »]