Like the majority of the county, I found myself stuck at home last week. During my time of isolation and boredom, I stumbled on some of my old writing and found some inspiration. Of all the columns I've written over the years, my favorite ones have always been when I answered questions from readers.
I want to start doing that once a month (or more, depending on the frequency of questions), so I'll start with a January mailbag and we'll go from there. If you want to ask me a question, just shoot me an email at sports@southernstandard.com and I'll try to feature it next month.
This will be a little different because these weren't submitted questions, just more a collection of queries I've gotten over the last month or more out in public. Some were thought provoking and others were irritating, but we'll get to them all.
Who will be the
next WC champion?
The easy answer for this is the Pioneer basketball team is looking very likely to win a district championship next month, but this was asked a while back after Lauren Slatton won the state golf title. Her championship came right on the heels of Ally Beneke winning back-to-back titles in the high jump for Warren County (Quick sidenote: I was at Beneke's celebration at DeKalb County when they made a huge banner to hang up of her titles. Considering she was wearing red, white and blue at the top of the podium, it feels like that banner - or another one - should be in Charlie Dalton Gym's rafters sooner than later).
When asked, they were wanting to know who the next individual state champion will be from Warren County. Considering we went over four decades between Scott Haile winning a golf title in the 1980 to Beneke winning in 2022, the logical answer is whoever is going to be the next winner probably hasn't even been born yet.
I'll go out on a limb and say Anden Green though. He's a terrific wrestler who just won back-to-back CTWC titles in middle school. If he continues to improve, he'll be in the mix the next four years.
Would Warren County beat boyd in basketball?
I didn't like this question before I started coaching the Lady Broncos and I really hate it now. As a great local coach told me, "Once Warren County starts worrying about beating Boyd more than it does Bradley Central, it's already over."
The matchup isn't going to happen.
Does coaching boyd make you bias in reporting?
This one has been fun to hear a few times too. I get a good laugh because there's usually an underlying implication that I should be bias for Warren County sports but shouldn't be for a team I help coach. And here I thought people didn't want any bias in any reporting?
Here's the truth: I like reporting on winning more than losing, so the stories I usually look to fill the pages of the sports section every week are about the teams that win the most. I love all Warren County sports and want them all to win. When they do, you'll read about it.
Will football be better in 2024?
There are always things teams can do to improve from year-to-year, but Warren County will have to replace some key players - most notably QB Alex van Vuuren - in the fall. That's going to be a challenge.
Incremental improvements are much more likely for the Pioneers than any giant change in the W-L record.
What's with all the coaching changes?
No more Nick Saban at Alabama and Bill Belicheck being out as Patriots coach is a wild time. I've been waiting for the sad day Gregg Popovich calls it quits for the Spurs too, which feels like it'll happen sooner than later (though Victor Wembanyama may keep him coaching longer).
It's hard to imagine there are going to be coaches who last like those guys did anymore. I just don't know if fans have the patience to let coaches stay for decades anymore. It's the Batman adage: "You either die a hero or live long enough to be the villain."
Saban did a good job of going out while he was still on top. Belicheck (and Popovich, most likely) will be leaving dominant runs with their teams at their nadir. Coaching is a tough job - I wouldn't want to do it.
