BigD4VT

This is good news but I would like to see Battle switch also. They will have to drive past three SWD schools to get to their closest District opponent. I also wish Marion had remained in the SWD.

I don't think Bourn will be back. The Braves will make an offer but some team is going to give him way more than he's worth. He's overrated in my opinion. He struck out 155 times last year and only hit .225 in the 2nd half. There are cheaper options. Shane Victorino and Justin Upton are possible targets. Uggla isn't going anywhere. He's had problems since he came to Atlanta but it's not as bad as it seems. He was 2nd in the league in walks and had the same OBP (.348) as Bourn. He was also 3rd on the team in RBI. If he can get his average back up to the .250 range then the Braves will get their $$$ worth. They will probably try to include Hanson in a trade. They need a CF (Bourn or someone else) and either a 3B or LF. If they can't trade him then he will compete for the 5th starter spot with Delgado and Teheran.

this!!!

This kind of thing is the reason players shouldn't post during the season. It doesn't help the player(s), doesn't help the team, and responding to it and speculating on who it might be doesn't help anything either. Best to ignore it and let it fall off the front page.

Senior.

I read it again and you are right. In any case, just getting a Roanoke team to come to Richlands in the regualr season is a big deal.

For years the weak part of Richlands schedule has been the SWD. Not the non-district slate. Gate City and Union are two of the top programs in SWVA. The rest are the best that Richalnds could get. It's easy to sit in the stands and say Richlands doesn't try to schedule so and so but it's not true. Take it from someone who knows. I could give a list of schools that I know for a fact they have tried to schedule but it would be easier to to just say that there isn't a AA school this side of Roanoke that they haven't talked to. Those schools have no reason to make a 3 hour trip when they have all the competition they need within 30 minutes of home. Botetourt is actually a surprise but I think it's great if it's true. Bluefield is also great and as long as they can match dates every year I see that series continuing indefinitely.

Richlands doesn't travel to Roanoke well? They outnumbered the home crowd both games against Cave Spring as well as the game against Hidden Valley. Not to mention taking as many as 4k fans to Lynchburg. Richlands away crowd has been down the past few weeks (likely due to having three away games, and two 2 hour+ trips in a row) but nobody in SWVA travels better. Period.

Benefit game.

Which means the SWD is now a four team district?

Conferences are only for sports other than football. The conference tournament replaces the region tournament in basketball, baseball, etc. That's all it is. It has nothing to do with districts and nothing to do with football. It just gives you an all-in tournament of similar sized schools that fit geographically, meaning no more first round trips to Roanoke or Martinsville on a Tuesday night. Football will use the same playoff system that Single-A used last year where each class is divided into two sections of 16 schools each.

It's better for the schools that got their way. If it were better for all we would have an 11 team district like the old SWD. Scheduling would be a piece of cake in all sports, and since the district has no bearing on the post season you don't have to worry about 9-1 teams missing the playoffs.

The nine team CMD was the best idea I've seen since the old SWD split up. This new plan sucks for everyone in "New District 1". They trade Carroll for Lebanon. That's it. They still have to play six non-district games in an area where the other districts don't need six. Do the math on that one! I thought one of the reasons for realignment was to make scheduling easier but this makes it harder. I hope Richlands drops every team in "New District 2" in all sports and then picks up Bluefield and as many NE TN schools as possible.

If Battle wanted to play Richlands we would still be talking about a nine team CMD instead of whatever this is.

They were in the 800/850 range in 05/06.

Full galery can be seen http://bigd.photoshelter.com/gallery/20120817-HS-Football-Richlands-vs-Bassett/G0000dJYNy3G6S6s/C0000gzT6O10h7iE My favorites can be seen on the Flickr group, my Facebook, and Google+

Flickr group update with photos from myself and Earl Niekirk.

Former Richlands standout Bradley Strong is having a great summer playing for the West Virginia Miners of the Prospect League. In 55 games he has hit .356 with 37 RBI, 29 steals, and 57 runs scored. He hit .303 as a freshman for D-1 Western Carolina Catamounts this spring. Congratulations Bradley on a great year!

Are the baseball and softball games at the same time?

Postponed to tonight at 7:00 @ Falcon Park in Abingdon.

I like Diaz. He kills LH pitching (.328 career average). I wish he could hit RH as well and play better defense, but as a platoon bat and pinch hitter you can't go wrong. Braves have won 4 straight!

I don't ever want to see the powder blue's again, lol. The picture above isn't the best example of the new ones. They're sharp and very close to what they wore in the 60's.

In fashion related news... The Braves will wear their (former) "Sunday Red" uniform tomorrow night, and their new cream uniform Saturday and Sunday. The red jersey is now for Friday home games and the cream for weekend home games.

Fair enough, but when they brought him back (near the end of last season) it was to serve as a RH pinch hitter. Had they been able to pick up another RH outfielder over the winter he probably would have been cut. They tried all winter and spring to trade for such a player but price was always too high.

Damon will sign with the Cleveland Indians today. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/cleveland-indians-sign-veteran-free-agent-johnny-damon-053800360.html As I've said all along, he didn't want to be a part-time player and the Braves didn't want his defense in LF (or another LH bat in the lineup) "The 38-year-old Damon struggled to attract interest during the offseason due to his lackluster defense abilities in the outfield despite batting .261/.326/.418 with 16 home runs and 73 RBIs in 150 games with the Tampa Bay Rays last season. He also swiped 31 bases." In an interview with Casey Stern and Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio, Damon stated, "I know I've proven a lot, and if the right opportunity comes up, I'll take it, I think the biggest thing holding me back right now, is what if I do take a backup job somewhere, what if somebody gets hurt somewhere else where I would probably prefer to be at? That's why I'm taking my time."