6:30 pm is Kickoff for the Super Bowl 🏈 and once again there will be a Duke University Blue Devil representing the program in the Big Game ! Noah Gray plays tight end for the Chiefs but he plays behind the TE that is both heading to the Hall of Fame one day and dates Taylor Swift so my guy is very much in cognito.
From 2 to 4 today, Vickey will ➗ up her Special Olympics Basketball 🏀 team and will play Chiefs vs Eagles in our practice. Next week is THE WEEK as its Virginia Tech Day.
West Virginia Tech University will be playing 🏡🏠🏡🏠 home Baseball ⚾️ games this week up in Beckley. At the 🏡 games the focus is on creating an atmosphere with the 🎤🎙🎤 so it will be a cold 🥶 but fun weekend, weather permitting.
Monday night 🌙 has Alleghany High School traveling to Glenvar for a Three Rivers District game. This should be highly entertaining in addition to having a large impact on the regular season Championship. If the Highlanders can shake off the effects of dropping three straight close games and defeat the Cougars it will give our Cavaliers a two game lead with three to play.
Next piece of business is followup on the feature story done on Kris Richardson coaching basketball 🏀 for like 15 straight hours on a Saturday just recently. Eddie Robinson and Greg Bolen both shared some stories and then Israel Easter mentioned something about this man 👨
We now will use on of my favorite tools 🔧in my toolbox 🧰, the David Letterman Top 10 List !
A few years ago our Lady 👩 Cavaliers went from really good to State Champs 🏆 to State Champs to one returning starter leading them back to the State Tournament.
The group of Boys 👦 playing Basketball enjoyed a good season, including a Home game and victory in the Regional tournament before falling in a nail bighter over at Tunstall.
Year 2 will be known as the We will never know year as a 1 loss Cavalier team watched Davis Reitzel lay on the floor, clinching his injured knee in the District Championship game. The Cavs fell that night to Floyd County and then to Abingdon in the regional opener.
Year 3 is currently sitting at 19-1 with three regular season games remaining before the post season begins.
So, with a drumroll, here are the Top 10 reasons for the similar but not exact same stories…..
#10 – Both teams were cheered on by Bill and Linda Gallimore 👏 and Grandpa Paul Nester.
#9 – Both Head Coaches, Marc Motley and Anthony Barnes had a tough decision to make in year 3 on Senior Night 🌙 as each had six players to play in a five person starting lineup.
#8 – Both teams had one starter that was one season behind the core group. Alyssa Ervin for the Girls and Isaiah Easter for the Boys.
#7 – Both teams enjoyed unprecedented success while playing in the Three Rivers District.
#6 – Both teams had/ have a player with the last name of Richardson in their starting lineup. Ashton for the Girls and Ethan for the Boys.
#5 – Both teams were lead by a core group that spent their entire childhood playing Hoops together.
#4 – Both teams had a starter named Easter in the starting lineup. Kaylee for the Girls 👧 and Isaiah for the Boys.
#3 – Both teams were / are led by highly successful Coaches – one as a Hall of Famer ➕ one in year 5.
#2 – Both teams were / are led by the All-Time scoring player in the Schools 🏫 history. Alyssa Ervin for the Girls and Bryce Smoot for the Boys.
Now, I won’t go as far with Isaiah Easter as I did with Miss Ervin by predicting the team would return to State the supposed ” Year After ” . Ervin is as driven as the day is long and she was going to have Katie Lam, Madison Lyons, Sarah Alderman and Callie Harris alongside. But I like the chances of Barnes being successful in year six for him.
Now, look back at #5 and the dots will connect easily to the #1 reason the paths look familiar.
#1 – Both of these groups have had Kris Richardson in their ears for as long as they can remember. The Basketball 🏀 Whisperer if you will.
This year Coach Kris is working with another group of young ladies ➕ helping out with a group one year older. That combination lead to an all day Coaching session that included a rare Saturday afternoon Boys Varsity game.
Eddie Robinson and Kevin Burress are just two of the latest group of Proud Dad’s hoping that there’s still 🙏 a little magic left in the voice of the Whisperer.
Now, after spending 30 minutes of 🧠 power tying this together, I will note 📝 that I read in a book 📖 somewhere that it was actually Marion Harris who discovered Ervin and Paula Richardson knows the game as well ➕ she had a large impact on a couple of those players…..
Have yourself a Blessed Day and enjoy the Big Game ! It’s okay to pull for my man Noah to catch a pass or two.
A.S.P.N on The Hill 