Bigrhsfan

"And although it's not a specific example per se, our performance in the Coppinger Tournament was always a big deal in baseball." The coppinger thing started back when I was playing for the Blues back in 76/77 when we got thrown out of the tournament because of what we thought was a disputed homerun.. We thought the ball hit the top of the wall and bounced all the way back to us in the infield, they called it a homerun. The homeplate ump said the ball hit a light pole behind the fence and bounced back to the infield. ( it actually hit the wall ) Altizer lost his mind ( which he would do from time to time ) and they threw us out...........not just of the game, but the tournament for a couple of years ! So we had a rival in the Coppinger for a while. They finally let the Blues back in the tournament a couple of years later.

I would also add that Gate City would be in there also. Much respect between the 2 and a barometer of what each team might have to start that particular season.

This, if you're into Mexican food ! Good food, good price and plenty to eat, but you can't go wrong with the Moose either !

Razor, I have to agree with you........even though it pains me ! I hope we are soooo wrong on this one. I don't think I have ever picked against the Blues, even if in my heart I thought they would not win, Like in the state championship game last year, but "the burg" has too much speed, and the Blues have to little this year. I think this years Blues will get better and be a playoff team, and a good playoff team, but this part of their sehedule is just murder. A team with the speed of "the burg" is just so hard to hold down all night, one mistake and it's gone to the house. I hope I am wrong and if anybody can figure a way to beat them, then Mance and his staff will, but it has been said many times........speed kills, and "the burg" has plenty of it !

Welcome to the board Bob, look forward to your input on here. Always good to see new members.

Just got to listen to the podcast Ryan, really enjoyed it, thought you did a good job especially for the 1st one !

So sorry Bears fans about Turner ! My thoughts and prayers go out for the young man and hope for a quick and full recovery ! I lost my Soph season due to a serious knee injury so I have an idea out what he and his family are feeling and I hate it sooooo much for him, and also his teammates ! Good luck with the rest of your season. The Bears are well coached and talented so I'm sure the next man up will do a good job for them !

You are correct, and I actually meant to put Bluefield ahead of Graham, but when I typed it out, I didn't realize I had put them in the order I did..........Gray hair syndrome or maybe a freudien slip........I do think that Graham has the potenial to be better than Bluefield and Graham and the Gmen did have their chances to win that game..........but they didn't, so I was going to put Bluefield 4th and Graham 5th. I don't think there is a lot of difference between 3rd and 5th on my 5.

Glad youy ask that Stu, was wondering the same. I turned it over there like I always do during the halftimes of Richlands games to check on the dogs score and was surprised it wasn't there.

1.Union 2.Abingdon 3.Graham-Tie with Richlands 5.Bluefield and close to them would be Marion

I wish our Tazewell county neighbors all the best and hope they get the W this week. I believe they will.

Congrats to the Union team and fans ! I wish you all good luck the rest of the season and hope your team is able to stay healthy ! I'll be pulling for ya !

All I can do is speak for myself, but when I talked about the upcoming game against Union and /or looked back on the GC game, I mean no disrespect to the GC fans or team, I am simply looking at what my team needs to do to get better to be able beat a team like Union with receivers like they have. Richlands needs to get better at coverage. They are already pretty good against the run, ( of course they can get better at that also it's still VERY early ) and again I mean no disresect to the GC team, but the skill level ( this year ) at WR is not at the level that Union has, and if the Blues expect to beat a team like Union,Graham, Bburg then the coverage has to be better. One blown coverage is a TD against a team like we are about to play and a couple of times the DB's seemed to be a little lost, but it was the 1st game and it will get better. This year the Blues do not have as big a margin for error as some of our teams in the past so I think that is why you see at least some of these comments from us. We have always respected the GC program and have stated it many times on here, but I know how the Devils fans feel when you feel like the other team is not giving your team any respect. But trust me, we do have a lot of respect for your program !

1. Union 2. Richlands 3. Bluefield 4. Graham 5. George Wythe 6. Marion 7. Giles 8. Abingdon 9. Virginia High 10. Gate City

Well, I was going to do a small write up about what I thought, but I would just be echoing for the most part what mv91 stated. I pretty much feel the same way but will pick a different score, I'll go with 27 to 24 my Blues, but this game does worry me even more than last years game. We have to be able to keep it close because our offense is just not as explosive as it has been in the past. We have some great kids who will play with all their heart, but speed is an issue this year and teams like Union and Graham and especially Bburg scare the bejesus outta me. This should be another fun game to watch, just hope we can contain Mitchell. I do wish him all the best at the next level next year ! I absolutly love watching all of the kids from our area make it to the college game no matter what division it is, but it's especially nice when you may get to watch them on TV and hear the name of one of our schools mentioned ! I just hope somebody ties his shoe laces together this Friday before the game against us !

That's part or most of what the problem is there now, the boys need some stability and consistency in the program, not looking for new coaches after 1 game. They are young and a new system and small numbers. Whats needed is patience and support ! It may very well be a long season and tough to watch at times, but give them some time and let the coaches do their job. I know you may not want to hear that from a Richlands fan, but I do care about their program and kids because my daughter went to school there and was a cheerleader there back in the early 2000's and I use to go to all of their games back then and still try to keep up with what is going on there, so I would love to see them get the program back to where it once was and should be.

I'll take Graham 42 to 20

I'll take Abingdon 26 to 13.

I don't see the game going in that direction. Both teams will depend on their line play and running game for the most part which will keep the scoring down a little more than it has been in the past. ( unless one team or the other turns the ball over a lot ) The Blues will depend on their D ( Justice being out is a blow to the D but they will adjust and still be good ), the D, run and the kicking game is going to carry them at least in the early part of the season. They will be able to throw the ball some but not like they have in the past so I don't see them putting up big offensive numbers early on, so I look for the score to be somewhere in the 28 to 13 or 14 range. Of course I'm usually wrong so who knows !

Ok, thanks Ryan. I'll be praying for the young man.

Ryan, have you heard anything as to the extent of his injury ? Sure hate to hear that for the kid and the team.

Thanks man, I don't know the kids numbers as well this year as I have in the past so I wasn't sure and I left a little early so I missed Hyder's injury. I hope he is alright and it wasn't anything serious.

If that was #60, ( I don't know all the players yet ) he went back in and played some more after they checked him out on the bench. I have no idea as to what his injury was, but he did go back in. I hope somebody that may know more can let us know if he had any issues after the Jamboree.

I played baseball for coach Altizer in 76 & 77 when we resurrected the baseball program and our first uniforms had the gray pants, dark blue tops ( can't remember the exact shade name probably more of a navy ) and we had red hats and red shocks. We just figured that they got those uniforms on sale somewhere.....lol, but we were happy to have uniforms because we were not very well funded the first couple of years. My lettermans jacket back then was more of a Carolina blue but I like the newer navy blue they have now much better. Man, that first year of baseball was a little tough, every one of our games were away games and double headers because we had no home field. It was kinda nice in one way because we got out of school early on game days, sometimes around 12:00 depending on where we were playing. Awwww, the good old days.......sure do miss them !

Wow......quick learner Ryan !! My wife and I will be married 25 years this coming Monday and it has taken me several of those years to learn that.............my wife may say I still haven't learned that....lol I didn't get to go to the Blue/White game because I was out of town but from what I have heard, they are big, strong and the D looked really good, pretty much what local_insight stated except I didn't get much info on the QB play yet, hope to find out more. I also hadn't heard much about the new guy from Pikeview, Can't wait to go watch the Jamboree !