tazhokie

Thanks man. I try. I forgot to congratulate and wish luck to Richlands in the other post. So congrats and good luck against Salem.

First, I would like to say congratulations to this year's Bulldog team for making it this far. I'm just happy that Tazewell had a winning season - something that didn't happen in any of the four seasons when I was in high school. Best of luck Saturday. Secondly, I would like to point out that many of Tazewell's fans are not cocky and are just happy to get this far. I seriously would like to know if those people talking smack about Gretna have seen any highlights from their games this season or read any articles about them. They are an excellent, well-coached team. They are not going to be an easy opponent like some of you are making them out to be. While Vic Hall is an awesome player, don't forget that it's his teammates who help him look that good. I do think Tazewell has a chance at winning. Being an underdog (I really hate using that word b/c I'm sick of reading all the puns) certainly has its advantages. Having had a very close game against C-burg last week, Gretna, I'm sure, will be more than ready to play tomorrow. Tazewell had better be prepared to play defense. Also, you're going to have to block better than you did against VA High to get some yards rushing and I hope you can hold on to the ball should you get the opportunity to intercept any passes. My point - it's going to take a lot of hard work, effort, teamwork, and unfaltering determination to pull this win out. Tazewell can do it. They will need the fans' support, but they do not need any arrogance. Go Dawgs! Come ready to play an intense four quarters of football. I hope you win. If you do, just remember it's harder to hit a moving target than one standing still.

Tazewell used to have green pants that they would wear occasionally. I know they had them in the mid/late 90s for sure. I thought they still had them. They were a kelly green color, which is a brighter shade of green than the forest green on the current jerseys. The jerseys were also a brighter green then. And Tazewell actually has three colors: green, white, and yellow. I hope they never use yellow as the major color on any athletics uniforms though.

Wow! Look at the conspiracy theories roll! I mean this in the nicest way possible, but some of you all just need to chill. There is no need to call any one "stupid" or other names. I think what BR meant was that not everyone believes that Herbert Hoover had a secret scheme to screw Bluefield over. There are a lot of factors that go into deciding whether or not to move a game, play a game, cancel school, etc. School boards have a tremendous amount of responsibility and hindsight is 20/20. But please, don't read more into the canceled game than is there. Sure, it would have been nice if the game had been played on Thursday night. But time spent wishing is time spent wasted. So why don't we focus on the game ahead and look forward to the fact that it might even be a better game since the schools have had a few more games under their belt. And that concludes my sermon for the day.

I knew you were going to reply with that. I'll be the better half and save my insults until I call you.

Haha. You wouldn't do that b/c you fear the repercussions. You don't want to bring the dog out of me.

I'm so proud of you BR! The English major has rubbed off on you after all! LOL Now if you can get everyone to correctly spell "too" and "their," I could read this board without cringing at grammar errors.

Good question. I've wondered why there isn't much recruiting in the area as well. My guess would be little recognition is given to SWVA players overall by the state press and coaches are only going to go after names they know (unless they are sent tapes,etc.) Of course, every now and then VT picks up a SWVA player for football (like the Gate City player who graduated a year or two ago from VT - I forgot his name - Breeding? Beasley?). This is really BR's area though. He knows a ton about Hokie football. It seems like the smaller schools in the region pick up more SWVA players b/c they know much more about these players than larger schools do. Plus with VT growing on a such wide national scale, they aren't going to look so close to home as they used to. I heard VT was interested in Bradshaw at one time, but lost interest due to his (how shall I say?) discipline problems and decided to pursue "safer" recruits (a laughable notion in light of recent events regarding Vick and Imoh). But there are a lot of talented players in the area that go unrecognized as you well know.

I'd have to go with Shrader at point. He's a much better all-around player. But I guess this discussion doesn't even matter b/c he never played for Tazewell. Not to take anything away from Cecil, but I do agree with BR's point. Let's face it - Tazewell and basketball just haven't been a strong combination in the past decade. I don't know about Snapp. He wouldn't be my choice on a b-ball or football team. The teams (football and basketball) that Patterson played for were good. The problem is both coaching staffs did not adequately use the players they had (limiting a lot of players' potential in my opinion). Those teams (esp. football) should have went much farther than they did.

Didn't Stephen Reed play b-ball? I can't remember b/c he's a few years older than I am. If so, I know I would put him on the team for Tazewell. Stephen was an awesome athlete - flat out. I don't quite think he got the credit he deserved. A real nice guy too. Which Yost are you talking about by the way? I don't know if I'd put Saunders or Horton on a first-team, second-team possibly. They're good, but I'd have to look at some older players before I decided. Patterson - definitely talented. I think he was someone who had a lot more to offer, but didn't use all of his potential. The Terry brothers used to play for Tazewell, but I think they ended up moving like their sophomore/junior years. They were really talented players. You know, it's too bad that Ben Shrader didn't play for Tazewell.

I think you've brought up a point that is true for all three schools. I know kids at both Tazewell and Richlands who do not play certain sports b/c of the coaching staff. All three schools have very talented athletes, but the problem is many of them do not come out to play due to differences with the coaches. It all seems highly politicized as to who gets to play. Perhaps that seems like a rather cliched statement regarding small towns and everything being political in them, but honestly it's true. Some kids don't participate b/c they know they're not going to get the playing time they deserve. Hopefully, the coaching changes occuring throughout the district will have positive effects on those schools.

I can understand BR's comment that there is little competition for Graham in the SWD. The only SWD team that will be able to challenge Graham in basketball over the next few years is Carroll County. Tazewell and Richlands never have and never will focus on and support basketball as much as they have football and baseball (esp. baseball in Tazewell). In Grundy it's football and wrestling. However, I would love to be proven wrong and see some strong (I don't just mean decent, I mean extremely talented) b-ball teams come up from those schools.

Post deleted by tazhokie

I know Bluefield always has speed, but what about size this year?

Who will be running the point this year with Walton gone? Last year's JV guard was pretty good from what I remember.