For 12 years, the Southeastern Conference baseball tournament has been held at what we grew up calling the Hoover Met — Regions Park outside of Birmingham. But there’s only one year left on the contract between the stadium and the SEC, so the process has been opened up to see where the conference champion will be crowned in 2012. If you want to follow Carolina to the tourney in a couple years, it may be an even further drive than the five hours to Alabama.
Seven towns, including Hoover, are making a move, with the other six literally wanting the SEC to make the move. If the tourney leaves Hoover, the best venue may be Memphis. Yes, the only teams west of it are Arkansas and LSU. According to Google Maps, a drive from Columbia would take more than 10 hours and you’d still have to go through Birmingham. But the home stadium of the Memphis Redbirds (AAA, St. Louis Cardinals) has seating capacity of 14,320 and was called the best minor league park of 2009 by Baseball America. One of the standards the SEC is applying is that stadiums must, or must be able to, provide seating for at least 10,000. Regions Park holds 10,800.
The best situation as far as South Carolinians go is if the Atlanta suburb of Duluth lands the bid. It would be at Coolray Field (Gwinnett Braves, AAA, Atlanta Braves), which comes in right under the wire at 10,000 seats. But according to The Birmingham News, the SEC is having reservations about batting practice areas and hotel availability close to the venue. Considering that the SEC has all but up and moved its headquarters from Birmingham to Atlanta, Duluth is right there in the mix with Hoover and Memphis.
The other two sites are lacking and behind, to say the least. One is Montgomery, which would play host to the tournament at the home of the Montgomery Biscuits (AA, Tampa Bay Rays). The immediate problem is that Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium comes up 3,000 seats short, though the organization says it can bring in enough seating to make it work. Other places — Jackson, Miss. and Little Rock, face similar issues.
The only other place with a legitimate shot is Jacksonville, the eastern geographical problem counterpart to Memphis. Jacksonville had the ACC baseball tournament from 2005 to 2008 at the Baseball Grounds (Jacksonville Suns, AA, Florida Marlins), so it can play up the experience factor to compete with Hoover.
What’s noticeable is that not one South Carolina stadium was in the mix. Whether it’s the continuing NAACP boycott — which has only seemed to screw over college athletes and the people who want to watch the games — or something else, we seem to have missed out again. Sports can be, and usually is, an economic engine. Our business and political leaders need to get on the hump and do something about this.
Don’t get between former U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering and a sporting event. Over a year ago, there was an on-deck circle mistake (bat goes flying, clocks some guy in the head, Pickering keeps playing), and today a report comes out saying Pickering lost his shit at his son’s soccer game and got into a fracas with the opposing coach.
Police are investigating a fight between former Congressman Chip Pickering and a youth-league soccer coach who says he was wearing a neck brace when Pickering attacked him.
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Coach Chris Hester says he was preparing to leave the field when Pickering started yelling at him. Hester coaches the team that played Pickering’s son’s team. Hester says Pickering pulled him from his vehicle and spectators had to separate the two.
Just goes to show that being a high-strung suburban dad at a soccer game extends to former elected officials, too. Oh yeah, and he had an affair with a woman recently that led to his pending divorce. He and the “other woman” used the now-infamous C Street house. That is really much more a damning event. Acting pious in public means nothing when you’re cheating on your wife in private.
Believe it or not, South Carolina is the fourth-happiest state in the South. According to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, the Palmetto State is the only trails Virginia, Texas and Georgia in being the happiest state in Dixie. Of all the states in America, Virginia rocks No. 15, Texas shows up at No. 21, Georgia ranks No. 23, while South Carolina comes in at No. 26.
Happiest States in the South
15. Virginia
21. Texas
23. Georgia
26. South Carolina
30. Florida
33. Alabama
34. North Carolina
40. Louisiana
42. Tennessee
46. Arkansas
48. Mississippi
49. Kentucky
50. West Virginia
It’s been a long road for the University of Mississippi, otherwise known as Ole Miss, to join the rest of us in the 21st century. First, it banned small Confederate flags and BYOBourbon at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Then, it eliminated Colonel Reb. Now, it’s ending the fan chant of “The South will rise again.”
However, some fans have continued to recite the chant at the end of the song, “From Dixie With Love,” despite the change made last week at the chancellor’s request. The Ole Miss band performs the medley before and after games.
Earlier this month, the Ole Miss student government passed a resolution suggesting the chant be replaced by the phrase, “To hell with LSU.”
Dan Jones, who became Ole Miss chancellor in July, said he asked the school’s band director, David Wilson, to modify the song to support the efforts of the Associated Student Body. He said he has received complaints from alumni that the slogan is offensive.
“The fact is, the phrase ‘The South Will Rise Again’ is not part of our tradition or spirit, and it is inconsistent with the university’s values and what Ole Miss stands for – a great public university with a focus on the future,” Jones said in a phone interview Thursday from the campus in Oxford.
It should be noted here that the phrase “ole miss” is slave slang from the plantation days referring to the wife of the planter. At some point, Ole Miss is just going to have to own up to the fact that its athletic program is referred to by words that are offensive to some. Most of the world has moved on from that battle, and the Kansas City Chiefs and Washington Redskins have received their own karma by being two of the worst teams in the NFL.
A lot of us have flown since Sept. 11. Many of us have gone overseas. It’s impossible to bring anything on a plane. A couple years ago, when we flew from Raleigh to Tuscaloosa on early morning flights for football weekends, the line because of the security check was absurd. We had our laptop swabbed with explosive-detecting wipes every time. In ’04, we had to go through a full security screening in LaGuardia, twice. Obviously, Mahmoud put a bomb in our carry-on between getting off the plane and going to the terminal for the next plane.
You can’t carry shit on a plane. Or so we thought. Turns out, you can bring guns! Well, where was my .38 when I needed it in Kensington? Now, you can pack heat on trains again.
The proposal, approved by a 68-30 vote, seeks to give Amtrak riders rights comparable to those enjoyed by airline passengers, who are permitted to transport firearms provided that they declare they are doing so and that the arms are unloaded and in a securely locked container.
“Americans should not have their second amendment rights restricted for any reason, particularly if they choose to travel on America’s federally subsidized rail line,” said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., who made the proposal.
Wicker’s amendment would deny the money-losing railroad its $1.6 billion taxpayer subsidy unless it changes the gun policy.
Current Amtrak policy, put in place after the bombings of passenger trains in Madrid five years ago, prohibits weapons, including firearms, from being carried on its trains.
Prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Amtrak permitted firearms to be carried on its trains so long as they were separately secured in locked baggage or carrying cases. But it added restrictions on carrying weapons after 9/11 and imposed a total ban on all weapons after the Madrid bombings.
So, I can’t take along a decent supply of all bathroom necessities, but any Tom, Dick or Harry can check his MAC-10? You know, Sen. Wicker, most of us don’t have a pressing need to transport firearms. We have a pressing need not to need to make a CVS run every time the plane lands.
