New spot for high school stuff …

Due to sports staff changes we’ve got a new spot for now to find all the high school scores, rankings and more.

Click here for the DJ Blitz.

Thanks for reading,
Todd Vinyard
Online Editor

A New Opportunity

I admit I feel a bit hypocritical. You can read under the “About” section how much I love covering high schools, how I find it preferable to a college or pro beat. I wonder if I’m not a tool.

As you might have already heard, I am taking a new position at the Daily Journal: Mississippi State beat writer. The estimable Gregg Ellis resigned today to head up MSU’s basketball media relations department. We’ve known this was a possibility for a little while, so I’ve had time to consider what I would want to do if this all went down. Nevertheless, when it went down this morning, I was still in a slight state of shock (Gregg, too).

Life has a way of being unpredictable, and opinions change. When I started out in this profession, my ultimate goal was to become a beat writer for a college program or professional sports team. After taking over the prep beat at the Journal in 2005, I grew more and more in love with the job. And I still love it, and I’m going to miss it dearly. I’m also going to miss dealing with all the wonderful people I’ve met and gotten to know over the years, from coaches to administrators to athletes to parents. Sure, I’m not going anywhere, per se, but I’ll no longer be on the prep scene.

I’d just like to thank all those people who have been so helpful during my time as prep editor. Too many folks to name. I’m ready to tackle this new challenge. I have been deeply pondering of late where I think my career should go; or should I say, I’ve been trying to see the direction God has for me. I sat down last night and listed the pros and cons of both the prep beat and the MSU beat. The pros won easily on both counts. So, all things being even, I figured I needed to step out of my comfort zone and take on something new. I’ve come back around to the idea of being a college beat writer and look forward to upholding the high standard Gregg has set.

There is so much I’d like to write, but I guess I should save some of it for my introduction to the MSU fans. I will be assuming Gregg’s blog (djbulldogs.wordpress.com) this week, so please drop in anytime. As for other logistics, I basically start Tuesday. I’ll be at the press conference and will cover Saturday’s game at Louisiana Tech. Gregg will accompany me this weekend and will help me settle in over the next week.

I don’t think my replacement has been made official just yet, but when it is, you’ll know. I think things will go rather smoothly considering the circumstances.

Thanks for the kind words, roastbeef1. And I thank all of you for making this beat, and this blog, more enjoyable. I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

–BL

Football Journal 2008 …

Click here to read the Football Journal 2007 as a PDF. College, High School and Junior College coverage in one place.

The Season Approacheth

I have to make this quick, because yours truly had the genius idea of bumping the prep page up to Thursday this week, so as to accommodate the football games kicking off that night. This is gonna be a fun week.

Kind of hard to believe it’s here already. Seems like just yesterday I was telling somebody, “These next three weeks until football starts are going to take forever.” Didn’t take long at all, probably because of how busy things got with the Football Journal. Now we’re just three days away from the first MHSAA games. I plan to cover Calhoun City at Vardaman on Thursday, and we’ll hit a couple others.

In Tuesday’s Journal, I’ll have a story about how some area teams fared in their respective jamborees over the weekend. Hopefully, we can cover some softball tomorrow, if things dry up.

Football Journal

It’s here. I’m sure all of you plan to spend all day today devouring every word of the 56-page magazine. It will be posted online in its entirety this week, I’m told, but here are some links to a few items: Gene Phelps‘ column, my column, and my preseason rankings. Discuss.

Now, I’m going to chill for a while, because tomorrow is going to be insane.

First Friday

Braxton Melancon and his Tupelo Christian Eagles fell short against Marvell, Ark., on Friday. (Photo by Shelby Daniel)

The sun was blazing hot, the air was muggy, and darkness brought with it thousands of tiny flying critters. Yes, it was Mississippi football in August.

Of course, I enjoyed it. I covered the season opener for Tupelo Christian, which lost to Marvell, Ark., 19-14. Other signs that it was August: players sucking wind in the first quarter, a cornerback losing his supper just before the play begins. And it was nice and muddy, but the TCPS field held together nicely.

Also, Hebron Christian took one on the chin from West Memphis. And here are Friday’s statewide scores.

Monday officially marks the beginning, for me anyway, of what will be a non-stop autumn season. The high school page returns on Thursday – it will appear on Fridays thereafter, but the number of Thursday games next week made moving it up sensible.

And don’t forget to pick up a Daily Journal tomorrow and check out our 56-page football magazine. Good stuf in there.

Football, Football, Football …

… and more football. We had some of it in today’s Journal: my column on academies opening their season (among other topics), and the Tupelo jamboree. More coming tomorrow, because I’ll be at Tupelo Christian and Paul Jones will be at Hebron Christian.

I would’ve posted earlier today, but A) I spent my morning (once I woke up) sending Football Journal pages to pre-press, and B) I’ve been trying to get my 4-year-old son to clean his room (anybody got a peach tree switch?).

Some good guesses on who will be our cover subjects, by the way. Any last-minute guesses? Slight change: There will be four players – a Rebel, a Bulldog, a juco and a high schooler – and a coach.

Sleep Deprivation is Fun …

I'm actually asleep in this picture.

Especially when you’re hopped up on Amp and Red Bull. Thing is, I’ve never had either one before today. Stuff’s bad for you. But, I worked til 4 a.m. last night on the Football Journal (comes out Sunday!), went to the gym for an hour, grabbed breakfast, took the kids to school, and got back up to the office.

I’m not asking for applause, because poor time management – which has led to this desperate sprint to the finish – deserves none.

Quickly, we had a nice story in today’s Journal about Tupelo football’s Bell twins. Tomorrow, I will have a column on the academies opening their season, and Gene Phelps will file from Tupelo’s scrimmage against West Point, set for tonight, rain permittin’. I was going to check that one out, but I’ll probably crash before then.

Need more Amp. That stuff’s good.

Something Besides Football

I love football, but I need a quick break from it, and maybe you do, too. So here is some softball to snack on.

Ingomar out-slugged West Union in a 1A showdown last night. Interesting side note: If Ingomar hadn’t gotten booted from the playoffs last year for playing too many games, West Union probably would not have reached the state finals.

Lakyn Nelson, the 2007 Daily Journal Player of the Year, is off to a hot start at North Pontotoc (you’ll recall she transferred from Mooreville in January). Through Monday, Nelson was 16-for-20 at the plate with three home runs and 15 RBIs.

Also, Nettleton (9-1) suffered its first loss last night, 3-2 to Houston (8-3). Maybe the Lady Tigers were still high off Monday’s big win against Mooreville.

Now, back to football.

[No Subject]

As you can tell, the pressure is starting to get to me.

I really have nothing to write about, so you can stop reading now if you like. This is what I like to call Hell Week, because it’s the week before the Football Journal publishes. There are two coaches whom I have yet to track down – Marty Warren and Brian Sims, you know who you are – and much writing still needs to be done. Wah, poor me. At least I’ve gotten most of my pictures pulled together.

I can tell you that this year’s Football Journal will be 56 pages and will, of course, contain previews for all 45 high school teams we cover (43 if those coaches don’t call me back). Plus all the college and juco coverage. Something to occupy you: Who do you think will be on the cover? Hint: Four players.

Now, back to work.