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INSIDE THIS WEEK The Madison County Journal Sports MCYA sign-ups are Sat. Sign-ups for MCYA football and cheerlead ing are slated for Saturday. See Sports Shorts for more details. IB Thursday, July 9, 2009 www.MainstreetnewsSPORTS.com Ben Munro/ ben@mainstreetnews.com (706) 795-2567 Small-school McNair was as good as advertised The violent and untimely passing of former All-Pro quarterback Steve McNair might be a bit lost in the proverbial shuffle given the recent string of sad events. At this point, we’re becom ing desensitized to celebrity deaths since we’ve had five in the last two weeks: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, McNair and, of course, Michael Jackson, whose death overshad owed them all. A quick aside about Jackson if I may: “Beat It” is the greatest pop song of all-time. But back to “Air McNair.” He took the college foot ball world by storm in 1994 as an unlikely candidate for the coveted Heisman Trophy. Unlikely, because he played for Division I-AA Alcorn State. The Heisman is reserved for the big boys of Division I-A. I was anti-McNair in 1994 because he racked up insane yardage against helpless small school defenses. I felt he didn’t deserve his press clippings. After all, Alcorn State played in the tiny Southwestern Athletic Conference, so McNair wasn’t exactly earning his gaudy stats against the likes of Florida State, Miami or Nebraska — the heavy weights of that day — or even Temple for that matter. Yet, ESPN would drool over his highlights (he totaled nearly 6,000 yards that sea son), and I still remember the Sports Illustrated cover that declared, “Hand him the Heisman.” I saw him play once on television that year, and he completed an incomprehen sible 52-of-82 (82 passes!) for 514 yards in a 63-20 loss to Youngstown State in the Division I-AA playoffs. Still, I shied away from the bandwagon. “He'll be a bust in the pros," I predicted. So much for my ability to assess talent. McNair was selected third in the 1995 NFL draft, and over the next 13 seasons, threw for 31,304 yards, earned four Pro Bowl selec tions, one co-MVP honor and became the face of the Tennessee Titans franchise. But McNair's enduring moment came in what could be termed “the best loss of all-time.” With Tennessee down 23-16 late to St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXTV, Air McNair drove his team 87 yards in the final 1:48. But his final completion to Kevin Dyson came one yard short of the goal line as time ran out. It’s arguably the best Super Bowl we’ve seen, and McNair nearly supplied the greatest moment in NFL his tory. He certainly earned my respect. Tennessee might have come up one yard short that night, but McNair clearly didn’t when it came to foot ball. This much is obvious as McNair leaves behind his legacy: The kid from Alcorn State proved a lot of us wrong. Ben Munro is a reporter for The Madison County Journal From the sports desk State All-Star Tournament Jr. Leaguers take title Madison County team The Madison County Junior League softball all-star team starts state tour nament play Saturday after winning the District 7 title last week. With only one other foe in the district tournament, Rabun County, Madison County won twice in a best-of-three series to take the cham pionship. Madison County beat Rabun County 7-6 Monday in the tourna ment opener and won game two heads to state Saturday on Tuesday, 11-5, to close out the series. Jessica Allen homered and also pitched to highlight Madison County’s game one victory. Kayla Argo toed the rubber in game two in Madison County’s six-run win in the series-clincher. At the plate, Haley Andrews provided an inside- the-park homer as Madison County — See Junior League page 2B The District 7 champion Madison County Junior League all-star softball team includes Amber Toole, Megan Moon, Amber Fitzpatrick, Haley Andrews, D.J. Rucker, Jessica Allen, Kayla Argo, Chelsea Ford, Megan Boswell, Elizabeth Stoyle, Candice Hammond and Taylor Garrison. Tim Brock and Allen Ford coach the team. Madison Co. all-stars Ansley Damron rounds third base last Thursday in the Madison County Little League softball all-stars’ 14-1 district championship win over Habersham County. Madison County starts state tournament play July 19. Ben Munro/staff Madison Co. blasts foes 63-1 during district title march •Gov. Sonny Perdue drops in on all-star team, PAGE 1A By Ben Munro ben@mainstreetnews.com T he final run tally for the District 7 Little League all-star softball tournament is not a typo: Madison County 63, Opponents 1 Madison County steamrolled its way to another district banner, beating its foes by an average of 15.5 runs a game. Manager Jay Pridgen said that stat about says it all. “There’s no sense in picking out any one girl or five girls to talk about because every girl on the team hit,” Pridgen said. “Every girl on the team did everything I asked of them.” Madison County starts its pursuit of a state title July 19 in Warner Robins, taking plenty of ammuni tion with it to the state tournament. The entire roster is batting at least .500. Some girls are hitting .750 or .800. ‘They have just been crushing the ball,” Pridgen said. The mound work isn’t shabby either. The team’s ERA is 0.00, since the lone score allowed at district was the product of an error. “You can’t beat that,” Pridgen said. — See Little League softball all-stars on 2B Racing Bray first in Firecracker Hull's Royce Bray scored a huge win Saturday at the FASTRAK Firecracker 100 event at Hartwell Speedway, overtaking Brandon “Combread” Haley late to earn a $5,000 payday. Though Bray grabbed the check ered flag, Brandon “Combread” Haley led the majority of the race. But Bray, the 2008 FASTRACK points champion, was never far behind, waiting for just the right moment to make his move. With less than 10 laps to go Bray shot to the high side and — See Bray page 2B ^irrtiiwbLI Hull’s Royce Bray is pictured with the $5,000 winner’s check from Saturday’s Firecracker 100. Submitted photo/Carolyn Whitlock