Bigrhsfan

Don't forget Mike Compton from Richlands. He was recruited to several D1 schools and went on to play for WVU and was drafted by the Lions, and won 2 Super Bowls with the Patriots, and I think he was before Thomas Jones.

Yea I agree, most of my friends don't have any ill will toward Union or Gate City, they have a lot respect and look so forward to the games each year ! Matter of fact, most of us pull for Union and Gate City in the playoffs with the exception of course of when we play them. Also have respect for Graham, but there maybe a "little" more animosity ( maybe a little hate with some ) with the Gmen though. I know when I played ball for the blues, many of the guys hated Graham about as much as Tazewell..........maybe hated Tazewell a little more, but it was close......may have had something to do with the fact that Carlock dominated us for a while back then. Most use to, and many still hate Tazewell but the series hasn't been as competitive over the last several years, but if / when the dogs come back to where they belong that will probably be about as close to a hated rival again as the blues have.

Couldn"t remember the last time we played them, but that happened to my van a year or 2 after I graduated ( 1977 ) pretty sure it was in 78 though, and never had any desire to go back.......lol

Can vouch about Big Creek from my experience of going there for a football game. I had a custom van back when the Blues last played the Creek ( I think is was around 77 to 79, can't quite remember) and I had some friends ride over with me to watch the game. When we came out after the game, one of my side mirrors was broken and my door was keyed. My van had a nice paint job too, man I was so angry it was probably a good thing I didn't find or see who had done it. I had had issues at some other away games before, mostly mouthy fans, but never had my vehicle messed with. Anyways, my insurance fixed it, but that was over the top and I never took my Van to an away game again after that.

" (5) Richlands. I'm just putting Ernie Hicks here just to piss people off. I really don't think Ernie Hicks is that bad, especially since the mountain running down the center of the field has been leveled, but it's my list and I say Richlands is 5th worst. Prove me wrong. :) " This is one Blues fan you wont piss off about it. I love Ernie because of the history and atmosphere, and it is home, but it does need some work and updating...........especially the bathrooms and the visitor side seating. I doubt there is much can be done for the seating because of the road behind it, but a couple of port-a-potties would help and a concession stand of some sort.............and maybe a speaker or 2 would help also. I sat over there a couple of years ago with my wife during one of the Richlands vs honaker games and got a whole new perspective on a game at Ernie. It's great on the home side, but not so much on the visitor side. Of course that can be said about 90% of the high school stadiums I've been too !

She does get on here and lurks once in a while and enjoys what is on here. She is every bit as big a High School Football fan, and actually a football fan in general as I am or most I know ! Absolutely loves it and likes the info and banter on here.............sometimes.....lol

Pretty much the same as Ryan has stated above, but I think a place that is a little under rated is at Honaker, mostly because I love the food there and my wife is from Honaker so i thought I would get a few brownie points with her..........

Richlands / Union and Richlands / Graham, both should be great games and will be very meaningful in region D !

so sorry to hear this, will be praying for his friends and family !

Guys, the last info I got, he was still in critical care and they are still not sure what kind of care he will need. Still is way to weak to have surgery and they said his heart is only pumping at 15 to 20 %. They hope to know what they can do for his care in the next couple of days. His is a very sick man right now. Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts for him and his family !

Hey GMan, sorry it took so long to get back to ya but it has been a busy day. As far as I know right now he is still in Holston Valley in the critical care unit. I am good friends with Mike but I have not been able to talk to his wife yet as I am sure you can understand, so getting my info 2nd hand right now.

Guys, If you all could remember Mike Compton from Richlands in your prayers ! Mike volunteers to help the Blues football team and does so much to help and is a great guy, but he had a massive heart attack the first of the week and is at Holston Valley hospital and will have open heart surgery this Friday 6/24/2017 and both he and his family need your prayers ! I need to edit this, I just found out that his heart suffered more damage than first thought and he is unable to have his surgery tomorrow and is in critical care unit and as of right now it is unknown as to what type of care or when, please pray for Mike and his family, they are having a tough time right now as you can imagine. Thanks !

Thanks for posting that info Ryan, I have been so busy this spring that I have not been able to either watch or get much info on how their 7 on 7 has been going.

Wish him all the best ! So good to see kids from our area getting some respect nationally !

Congrats Ryan, thats fantastic ! Wish you the best and hope you enjoy it and it leads to great things in the future for you !

Good luck to the Bulldog players and also to the new coach ! I hope this is the guy that can get Tazewell back to the proud program it once was !

....lol.......been there and done that ! Oh, by the way......love the new look ! Good job !

I like the new format Gman........looks good, good job by you and the other mods ! !

When I first read this thread yesterday nobody had posted yet except for the OP and I kinda scratched my head and wondered what I had missed. I get on here almost everyday but don't post a lot out of football season so i thought I missed something big..........glad to hear I'm not the only one wondering what this was about. I know that most along with myself on here do appreciate what Gman, Lance, Ryan and the other mods do to keep this forum going, it can be a tough job and time consuming........I know, I've been a mod a long time ago on a motorcycle forum and I don't have the time nor would I want to do it again ! That being said, I hope he'll post on here again and tell us what this was about so we might at least have an idea what either happened or his perception of what may have happened to bring this up.

I also agree with let him ride........for now. I don't always agree with or even like some of the things he says, but he should be able to speak his opinion as long as he doesn't cross the line. I kind of miss Falcon girl and Southbound or whatever he called himself. Keeps it interesting at times at least You can always come down with the Hammer later if needed !

I hope this is not true. I know I am a huge Richlands fan, but I would truly like to see that program get some stability for the sake of the kids in the program. I hope it is just a rumor because Colobro could bring that stability that is needed so badly. I really feel for the kids if this is true !

So happy to hear this for the young man ! A great chance to get even better exposure for him ! I hope he does well and increases his choices for his future ! The kids in our area just are not able to get the same type of exposure that kids from out east are able to get. I know from experience. When I played in Md we had the Baltimore Sun and a couple of other local papers covering our area besides the TV networks from Baltimore. I know when I moved here there were some kids here ( and I don't mean just from Richlands, I'm talking about all of SWVA ) that were just as talented and in some cases maybe more as some of the kids I played with up there, but just were not getting the looks that the kids in Aberdeen and surrounding towns up there were able to get. We do get kids going to some D1 programs, but they have to be exceptional. I mean all kids that go to D1 are exceptional players don't get me wrong, but ours just do not have the same opportunities as others that are out east or around big city type of areas. The level of competition here is just not as respected as it is from other areas, even though we have had our share of state champions. Of course it's just my opinion. Again Good Luck to the young man, I wish him the best !

I sure will SXSW, I'll send you a PM in the next couple of days. I ride my bike over around Kingsport quite a bit when the weather permits so we will try to work something out.

You are absolutely right SXSW, about having the best of both worlds ! I loved growing up there ( in Aberdeen ) and would not change it for anything ! Going to the O's game every weekend and us having season tickets to the Colts was awesome ! The fireworks at Havre De Grace was fantastic, but having the opportunity go see them at Fort McHenry is something I will never forget ! Some of my favorite family memories were going to Ocean City most weekends during the summer.........except for the sun burns.....lol Mom loved Longwood Gardens also and always took family members up there when they would come to visit and also made trips with family and friends to Washington when they would come up. One of the advantages of growing up there where the fact that we were able to take some great schools trips just because of all of great places that were within a couple of hrs of travel distance of the area. One of my favorites was a couple of trips to Annapolis, just a beautiful town and seeing the Naval Academy and the tomb of John Paul Jones was fantastic and so memorable. In the 6th grade we took a trip to New York and took Amtrak which was so great as a young man, but I did not like New york at all, but at least I was able to experience it and the view from atop of the empire state building was fantastic, although I did get a bit light headed....lol My dad and I use to go to Conowingo Dam to fish for white perch and it is some of my favorite memories, especially after he passed. We also took a couple of school trips to peach bottom which was fascinating. That's one of the things I hate for some of the kids in schools around here. My wife teaches at one of the local elementary schools in Russell Co and when I tell her about and show her pictures of the trips we were able to take in school it amazes her. Some of the kids she has had have rarely been out of the area and love just getting a trip to Bristol, so we were very lucky going to school there, but, and I want to stress this, BUT, I absolutely love Southwest Virginia, I would live no other place or want to raise a family no where else. The people here are the best and I had the choice of where I wanted to live and here is where I chose to stay because I love it so ! I wish there were more job opportunities here so our young ones had more choices ( my daughter moved to Kansas City for her career ) and maybe in the future more local opportunities will come here, but I still love this place ! I will add one more thing as far as sports goes, I wish Lacrosse was in schools here, I absolutely love the sport and played up there and if you take the time to learn the sport most would become a fan ! It's a wonderful sport that has constant action and just a blast to play, but I know with the shrinking budgets in our school systems that may never happen. Well, I guess everyone would wish I would shut up so I will , but it was a nice trip down memory lane. Maybe some day we can get together at a game or somewhere and talk more about it SXSW, but until then take care ! Again, so sorry for the long winded reply, I just started typing and didn't realize I was typing so much so please forgive ! Thanks

Mom and Dad both worked at Bata when they first moved up there, we lived for about a year in the old hotel there at Bata until they built a house in Perryman. Our house was only about 1 1/2 miles from the main gate of the proving grounds. I use to love to go on base to the ordnance museum and play around the tanks and stuff. Man, when they would test and shoot off the big guns it would shake the house and at night in the summer all the tracer shells would look like fireworks, but the mosquitoes were terrible there ! Grew up a big Colts and Orioles fan and still a BIG Orioles fan, but now a Ravens fan. Grew up and was good friends with Cal and Billie ripken, Billie was about 2 years younger than Cal and Cal was about a year younger than me. The best athlete in the Ripken family was their sister Ellen, man she could play some softball, but was very good at soccer and basketball too. Dad use to go to a place called the Bavarian inn on Route 40. Great place to get steam crabs, we usually went to the same place you did in Havre de Grace to get live crabs and steam them ourselves, but when we wanted them already steamed we went to the Bavarian. Every year the company dad worked for would have a crab feast and picnic up at the VFW grounds in Havre De Grace, man.......that was good times and great food ! Sorry guys for the hijack, just nice to talk to someone from up there again. I know one of the guys I knew up with there in Aberdeen moved to Honaker almost the same time I moved here, but I lost track of him. Again, sorry about the hijack !