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2B I ♦ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2006 PK| : w ' 'Jf Ik i hm < k ' * jfejj Jp i ifJP _^B Submitted Lady Panther Stephanie Smith, with Evan Jones and some other Lady/Panthers in tow, sprints onto the field in the team’s game against Peach County Friday. Bleckley County Cross Country Invitational Saturday in Cochran AAAA/AAAAA team results (girls) 1. Northside - 77 2. Woodland-101 3. Warner Robins - 155 4. Houston County - 177 5. Westside - 296 6. Jones County - 343 7. Lee County -NS AAA/AA/A 1. Bleckley County -45 2. Spalding- 197 3. Mary Persons - 206 4. West Laurens - 346 5. Calvary Day School - 356 6. Dublin - 401 7. Swainsboro - 426 8. Montgomery County - 483 9. Pike County - 521 10. Fitzgerald - 673 11. Crawford 12. Perry 13. South Effingham 14. Hawkinsville 15. Toombs County 16. Lamar County 17. East Laurens Top Ten Ashley Arnold - Bleckley County - 19:52 Brittney Stewart - Warner Robins - 20:30 Brittney Skiles - Lee County - 20:43 Kelli Arnold - Bleckley County - 20:51 Megan Breitbach - Houston County -21:22 Elizabeth Lambert - Northside - 21:34 Lindsey Barber Mary Persons - 21:35 Janay Wilson - Northside - 22:00 Danielle Atkins - Warner Robins - 22:09 Kirsten Wharton Houston County - 22:10 Middle School Race Caroline Mauldin - second STICKS From page iB of television. If the cameras hadn’t been able to focus on Rogers hands, we would have never known. Sometimes, too much knowledge is a bad thing. For example, I didn’t need to know about Monica Lewinski and Bill Clinton. I never need to be informed about anything Owens does. Just tell me when he’s dead. And I don’t care about ille gal shocks on a race car or tar on a baseball. Even when he removed the offending substance, well before any one made an official inqui ry, Rogers still stifled the Cardinals. And one shock on a NASCAR vehicle doesn’t make the driver any better. Now, if the car had an additive like STR I’d be real ly upset. Little rascals are trying to go faster. Only the media is disturbed about it. The ball players aren’t surprised. They say that type of behavior is com mon in cold weather. The Cardinals were overheard in their shower after the game saying that applying a sticky substance to their hands was the only way a pitcher can grip the ball. What an ESPN commentator was doing hanging around the shower is another thing I don’t want to think about. Maybe his name is Foley. To the players, a pitcher applying sticky stuff to his hands when temperatures Hard charging Lauren Clark - 31st Boys team results: AAAA/AAAAA 1. Warner Robins - 114 2. Woodland-199 3. Lee County - 216 4. Jones County - 342 5. Northside - 359 6. Houston County - 364 7. Westside - 603 AAA/AA/A 1. Spalding -50 2. Bleckley County -71 3. Perry-136 4. Calvary Day School - 194 5. Pike County - 325 6. Vidalia - 351 7. Schley County - 380 8. Toombs County - 437 9. Lamar County - 472 10. West Laurens - 472 11. Fitzgerald - 618 12. Dublin-629 13. Mary Persons - 653 14. Swainsboro - 659 15. Montgomery County - 809 16. Hawkinsville - 1,013 17. East Laurens - 1,121 18. Crawford County Top Ten Will Ficklin - Spalding - 17:40 Ethan Bragg - Bleckley County - 17:51 Marc Kushinka - Warner Robins - 17:55 Dylan Fletcher - Bleckley County - 18:07 Ben Woodard - West Laurens - 18:10 Ty Magner - Schley County - 18:10 Karl Burkhardt - Warner Robins - 18:20 Devin Simpson - Perry - 18:27 Blake Hartsfield - Schley County - 18:39 Brandon Skiles - Lee County - 18:43 "To the players, a pitcher applying sticky stuff to his hands when temperatures fall below 80 degrees is business as usual." fall below 80 degrees is busi ness as usual. Alas, ESPN doesn’t have Owens to kick around right now, so the talking heads have to blather about a non issue, but I don’t’ expect that to last because Terrell can’t stand to be out of the public eye. He needs to steal Paris Hilton’s dog, and then they’ll all be in the news. Keep the dog away from fire hydrants. ESPN needs to be careful. If Rogers gets upset, he may push another cameraman. I expect him to remain true to form and assault some one smaller than himself to ensure he doesn’t get his butt whipped on national TV I’m waiting for the reli gious right to get in on the act. The Christian commu nity can’t stand this kind of behavior. Jerry Falwell once prayed to find a shortstop for his Liberty College team. Maybe he can utter a few hosannas for Rogers’ con trol. I pray that Rogers is more careful in the future and doesn’t get caught. Since the deed was cap tured on camera by FOX and commented on by the announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, I hope what they did wasn’t inappropri ate. They could quickly go the way of Steve Lyons who made a joke I didn’t under stand. Evidently the one person in America who knows the meaning of “hidalgo” was offended, and Lyons was shown the door. Lyons didn’t know it, but it’s a sin to call someone a noble. Lyons' should have been fired for not being funny. I can only thank ESPN for taking my mind off Sonny Perdue, Max Collins, Jim Marshall and all the other political skanks who have been lying to me since the election season started. I used to think the NBA season lasted forever. Thank you ESPN for reminding me that pine tar is worse than Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. I’d rather be nuked by an Arab terrorist than know that a professional athlete plays to win. Kenny Rogers please run for President. I want some body in that office who will do what it takes to win. There’s an easy fix to this. Stop playing baseball when it’s cold. Start the sea son in May and end it in August with the playoffs in September. SPORTS O’NEAL From page iB me some antibiotics, and I got better. It took a while (to get the weight back). I had to eat a lot and lift weights more and a little bit harder.” O’Neal must be back, for he’s getting one attempt after another to pick up those yards in Doug Johnson’s wing-T offense. He already has more than 150 totes in seven games (an average of 22 per game), and he’s quick to point out that his senior offensive line has much to do with his own success. “I think we’re having a great season,” said O’Neal, whose father was a run ning back at Lamar County High. “We’re clicking on all cylinders right now. “I appreciate the O-line. They’re going a good job. I just run behind them, and they lead the way.” O’Neal looks to San Diego Chargers star running back LaDainian Tomlinson as his main role model. “I think I’m alright,” he said. “I still have some stuff I need to work on and get better. I like how (Tomlinson) plays.” As a sophomore in 2004, O’Neal earned a few starts late in the season when the Bears were making a run at the Class AAAAA playoffs. The offense under Johnson hasn’t changed much since ENlGary Harmon Westfield’s Mallory Eubanks works her way through traffic during the Georgia Independent School Association state cross country meet held Saturday at the Georgia Children’s Home in Macon. Results, according to Hornet head coach Wendy Bryan, had yet to be finalized as of deadline. Check out Thursday’s Houston Daily Journal for more. REEL From page iB the way to 1-20 using jigs of several different colors.” And, “most of their fish came in six-eight feet of water, but (they) got hits at all depths.” First in that division was the team of Danny and Beth Williamson of Camilla. They caught a combined weight of 9.41. Second went to Ricky Gill of Gray and Troy Thiel of Gordon. Their catch was 7.94. The Williamsons have now qualified for the Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic, while CLEATS UEVO? \ 27 T6UIW6 ?.AUY \ As PETERS. MOW I I V RE It ABOUT MB?. J FfH mm. Jc ■*“ ** then with all of its traps, counters and sweeps. “We’ve been running it so much over these four years, I know what to do now,” said O’Neal. “It’s like second nature to me. My bread and butter is the buck sweep. That’s what we do.” Leading a region like 1- AAAAA with the likes of Valdosta, Lowndes and Warner Robins should be enough to attract some college scouts’ attention. O’Neal said he’s seen a little bit of interest from Louisville and Georgia Tech. “I want to be there,” he said about the college scene. “I want to get up there and be able to play.” His own high school expe rience, with the likes of Warner Robins, Northside and Valdosta on the sched ule every year, is certainly comparable to the collegiate atmosphere. “It’s a real football town,” said O’Neal. “Everybody loves football. The whole city comes out. It’s like all eyes are on you. It pumps me up, keeps me focused. In the big game, you know have to do what you heed to do.” In 2006, Houston County has had more success away from the hometown setting, winning at Parkview and Lowndes. All three losses have been at McConnell- Talbert Stadium, including a 10-9 setback to Warner State meet Howard, Deason and the rest of the top 10 teams in each division advance to the regional event which, according to a release, “will have a major payback.” Also with a strong show ing for Houston County - just in the Amateur Division - were the team of Mai Gore of Bonaire and his fishing partner Mike Gore of Oakland, Tenn., along with the duo of Allan Brown of Warner Robins and Chuck McLendon of Macon. The first finished fourth with a combined weight of 7.47, while the second group was fifth, weighing in at .rf.V l null . f JTO WfeTE AHY TIME V I BEGBET GE'.'EB W 1 BEGBEfIW', I’M GOIUG by Universal Press Syndicate ! I Dist by Un.versai Eress Syndicate HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL Robins and last week’s overtime loss, 20-17, to Tift County High. “We have to look past them and look towards the future,” said O’Neal. “In this region, you can’t take anybody lightly. It could be like that every week.” The Bears, when they face 1-7 Valdosta, can not only help their chances of making the state playoffs, but can also shut the tra dition-rich Wildcats out. That is, provided Valdosta can beat Coffee County this weekend. What could then make or break the Houston season is the Nov. 11 finale at home with Coffee. Currently, both teams are tied for fourth place at 2-2. “I think we’re going to be 0.K.,” said O’Neal about the upcoming stretch run. “We’re focused right now, and we need to win out. We feel good about our next couple of opponents.” He remembers how last year, when the season ended at 5-5, how Houston was the only team in the county not playing in the postseason. “We had nothing to brag about,” said O’Neal. “Everybody else was in the playoffs. “When we make it to the playoffs this year I’ll be ready. Our No. 1 goal is the state. We want to get that state championship. We can start a tradition, and start it off right.” 7.21. Both groups received S2OO. Gore and his partner, according to the release, were “fishing 1/28 ounce Bab-Flies in three-seven feet of water in Richland Creek.” Brown and McLendon “shot docks all the way to 1-20 using purple and blue jigs. The team found most of their fish in 10-20 feet of water lying right on bot tom.” Brown and McLendon also finished second for the Big Fish Award with a 1.95 pound crappie. The team received $153 for that effort.