TheFletch for ThisFriday

First it was football, then basketball. Now Georgia Public Broadcasting is bringing championship high school wrestling to the television airwaves. Georgia Public Broadcasting and the GHSA recently agreed to extend its partnership another five years, and GPB is always exploring ways to grow the GHSA brand. Televising the wrestling championships was a logical solution as wrestling had previously been webcast on the internet.

“This is another big step for us,’’ said I.J. Rosenberg, GPB’s Director of Sports to Score Atlanta in a recent piece found on www.scoreatl.com as well as http://gpb.org/sports. “We have been doing the football and basketball championships for years and are ready to start expanding into the other sports. Because of the large number of wrestlers from different high schools, this event touches every corner of the state and GPB’s network covers every corner of the state.”

The traditional wrestling championships can be seen Saturday, February 19 from 4-7 p.m. live from the Arena at Gwinnett Center. GPB Sports is teaming up with PlayON! Sports to produce the finals. Wrestling enthusiasts can also check out five-mat action on gpb.org/sports and ghsa.tv.

Speaking of Georgia Public Broadcasting’s postseason coverage, the high school basketball postseason has started and GPB has ramped up its play-by-play. GPB’s Two-For-Tuesday will become a Friday Frenzy the next two Fridays as first GPB will air a girls and a boys game this Friday from Mill Creek, the site of the Region 7-AAAAA tournament. Coverage will begin at 6:45 p.m. Next Friday, GPB is on the road again for the state playoffs, though the location is to be determined, obviously. When the brackets are officially revealed following the region action, check out gpb.org/sports or gaprepnews.com for the exact location and time of the game.

He is coming off a pretty rough 16 month stretch so the European Tour jumping all over Tiger Woods for spitting on the green was a bit much during last week’s tournament in Dubai. Ewan Murray of Britain’s Sky Sports who was announcing the golf tournament said of Woods’ spitting on the green, "(it was) one of the ugliest things you will ever see on a golf course." He went on to chastise Woods for doing it on a putting surface and wondering what subsequent golfers would do who had to putt right through the spit.

Well Ewan, I’m glad you asked. I realize this was a European Tour event BUT, according to the USGA (which I think we could also apply to the European Tour since they long to be the USGA), a loose impediment is "anything natural". According to a popular golfing website leaderboard.com, “A leaf, a twig, a pebble are all ‘loose impediments’ if they are not solidly embedded in the earth and are not otherwise fixed, which would make them ‘obstructions’ rather than ‘loose impediments.’” The site went on to say that “sand, soil and dirt are only considered to be loose impediments when they appear on the green.” I would think that spit, seeing as it is “natural,” could also be seen as a loose impediment, which CAN BE MOVED ON THE GREEN. As long as you don’t press the spit down into the ground, you can move it. Grab a tissue and wipe it up. OR JUST WAIT THIRTY SECONDS AND LET THE SPIT EVAPORATE. You are in Dubai.

680 The Fan’s Perry Laurentino of course weighed in saying that the European Tour was right to fine Woods because golf, like tennis, is still a gentleman’s game and gentlemen don’t act that way. Huh? What? This is Tiger Woods who slams his clubs into the ground while dropping F-bombs and GD-grenades. Golfers routinely smoke during the round and I doubt they always fine the proper waste receptacle in which to toss their cigarette butts. Oh and tennis is a gentleman’s game? Really? Does Andy Roddick knock that? What about James Blake? Serena Williams was sure acting “lady-like” when she threatened a line judge with physical harm during the 2009 US Open Final. But I also realize that this is one of those cases where Laurentino tries to don the black hat to get folks riled up, but I repeat what I said a few weeks back: pick the right battles when you want to do this. If your stance is simply unbelievable, like it is here, we cannot take you seriously and you damage your credibility for when you want to do it again in the future on a REAL cause.

If you’ve listened to Sports Radio 790 The Zone recently, you’ll notice few commercial breaks and one less update break per hour as the station has gone to a new time clock, allowing the guys to talk a bit more during the segments. The one fewer segment per hour is fine because the other segment is now split up, giving Pollack & Bell or Barnhart & Durham more time to really get into a topic or an interview, which is better. The old clock seemed to shut off a topic prematurely sometimes when the co-hosts were right in the middle of the conversation. The other thing though that is different about 790 is the new approach to sports. It has started calling itself “the Other sports station,” calling itself “outspoken, irreverent, and fun.” The second half of the new motto is fine, but to call yourself “the OTHER sports station,” is perhaps degrading a bit. Maybe the Zone is trying the Conan O’Brien self-deprecating humor approach, but I think it is giving too much prestige and acknowledgement to 790’s rival 680. To me, saying you are the “OTHER” station, means that you are bowing down and ceding the No. 1 spot to The Fan while admitting you are just “the other guys.” Maybe that works in the movies where the underdog Little Giants eventually wins out over Ed O’Neill’s Cowboys, but I just think The Zone is selling itself short at this point.


Can You Believe He Said That
I will play [right away] and make a lot of plays. As soon as I step in there I will start, and I expect to make big plays." Jadeveon Clowney said that to Jamie Newberg right after committing to South Carolina. Those are pretty bold words from a high schooler that is rumored to be having enough academic problems that he may not step on campus for a year or two. While Clowney certainly has the potential to be a difference-maker, boldly declaring that you will dominate the SEC immediately is not wise for even a returning All-SEC fifth-year senior. We’ll see if he does play right away.