Sports

Roaring Rory

Two years ago this column was written about a golfer on the PGA tour who stormed off the 17th green and went to the 18th tee, leaving his playing partner behind to putt out alone. That column chastised Rory Sabbatini for his rude behavior, while acknowledging that Ben Crane's slow pace of play could cause one to lose their cool.

Warm Springs Middle School Cross Country team will have practice Wednesday, August 8 at 6 p.m. Meet at the track.

Writers like WVU

To think I was worried about West Virginia University's upcoming football season. Had I known 20 of the 24 media members who regularly cover the Big East football conference would vote West Virginia first in the Big East pre-season balloting, I could have relaxed.

Soccer in Morgan County is young but strong. For those who are new to soccer, it is played in both the spring and the fall. The season typically lasts six to eight weeks: September and October in the fall and mid-April the to beginning of June in the spring. The Morgan County Soccer League saw an all time high number of 183 players in the Spring 2006 Soccer Season. Players were divided into 22 teams: six teams of Pre-K/K grade group, six teams of first/second grade group, six teams of third/fourth grade group and four teams of fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade group.

The league is run exclusively through volunteers from the community. Games are refereed by former players from the soccer league who also play for the high school soccer team. Teams are coached by parents, some with a soccer background, others with a willingness to learn. Uniforms are provided by the generous businesses in Morgan County who sponsor a team.

Top 10 countdown -- Number 6

Most teams that are replacing their starting quarterback with an unproven commodity would not receive top 10 recognition. However this Big 12 team has made a habit of winning conference titles and challenging for the national championship with unproven quarterbacks steering the ship. Last year was a perfect example after projected starter Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the team just before the beginning of fall practice. Stoops had to turn to quarterback, turned wide receiver, turned quarterback, Paul Thompson. Though Thompson had limited experience at the position he took over the job and had an outstanding year. Thompson completed 204 of 336 passes for 2,667 yards and 22 touchdowns. The fact that Oklahoma has won four Big 12 titles during head coach Bob Stoops' tenure with four different quarterbacks coupled with the fact that OU finished the 2006 season with 11 wins while having an unproven player under center, makes Thompson's departure less of a concern.

Spanish whine

Poor Sergio Garcia never gets a break.

Top 10 Countdown -- Number 7

Thus far Wisconsin, Louisville and Virginia Tech have been selected as the number 10, nine and eight teams, respectively, in my unofficial preseason poll. The countdown continues with one of the South Eastern Conference heavyweights, LSU.

Last week, a dozen young wrestlers got to do something that few athletes ever will – practice their sport with an Olympic silver medalist. Kids in the Shepherd University wrestling camp at Rankin's Fitness Center got a visit from Lloyd "Butch" Keaser on Thursday, July 19. Keaser was the silver Medalist in wrestling at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, in addition to being a world champion wrestler, and winner of the Pan-American Games.

Morgan County faced Charles Town Ranson on June 30 at South Berkeley, with Zane Mokhiber on the mound for the Morgan County 12 year old All Stars. Morgan County jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the third inning. Leading the way Kaleb Athey, Zach Wise, Zane Mokhiber, Corey Shetler, Matt Walters and Tyler Zinzow all had singles to take the lead. Brady Crane started the fourth inning with a double and scored the third run with a single shot from Kaleb Athey. Then the bats got cold for Morgan County with a new pitcher from CTR which had a little more speed on the ball. More hits came from the bats of Noah Sipe, single, and Bradley Kidwell, double, but with no results. Matt Walters and Kaleb Athey both gave up one run each to end the game in seven innings 4-3.

Pat's alright

Preseason college football magazines and on line web versions of the publications are now flooding the marketplace. It is no surprise to find West Virginia's 2007 football team mentioned prominently among the nation's elite football teams.