Dear Coach Jackson and the Buckhorn Bucks, on behalf of the city of Madison and the Bob Jones football team and fans we want to congratulate you on your team’s victory last Friday night over Oak Mountain. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for restoring the respect to our region that we lost the previous week. We know we dropped the ball (literally) the previous week and people all over the state, and especially in Birmingham, were again proclaiming that football at the 6A level in North Alabama was just not relevant to the overall 6A picture. I understand that with playoffs, rankings don’t really matter but we really thought we might be something special until we out punted our coverage (again literally) last week. I haven’t quite figured out what happened but have a sneaky suspicion that we got to reading and hearing too much about how great we were. While we tried to steal the game late in 4th qtr, only to have it stolen back from us on the last play of the game against a Region 6 opponent that is average at best and will not make the playoffs, your team beat a team from the same region that could get the 4th seed out of that region. Because of you, we now can look our self in the mirror and once again think about what we can accomplish this year. We may be headed for uncharted waters with this much football success in Madison so we will have to keep the players, students, mommas and papas (California Dreaming anyone?), and fans from getting the big head. That will be something our coaches will have to watch for over the next several weeks to keep us from doing the unimaginable, lose again in the regular season. In fact, if we win out that will help ya’ll and we always want to do the right thing (wink,wink)! Anyway, Coach Jackson, we sure do appreciate your team’s effort last Friday night. We love ya’ll, at least for now anyway! Sincerely Coach Kevin Rose!
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me! This Aretha Franklin tune could have been sung in 6A Region 8 after BJ loss to Homewood. We did find out what it meant to BJ, a loss! I can’t decide what was a bigger shock; BJ losing to Homewood or Buckhorn beating Oak Mountain. I will give BJ some love though; they did bounce back nicely by trouncing Huntsville. Now BJ can thank Buckhorn even more by beating Austin this week and, if Buckhorn beat Huntsville and they should, Buckhorn can move into the 4th and final playoff spot. BJ, unless a complete collapse, should win out the remainder of the year giving them the region title. This week’s game with Florence and Decatur should determine who gets the 2nd spot. Both 1 and 2 are important spot to finish since it allows you home field and 3-4th from another region in the first round.
The 3A Region 8 winner is all but decided. Unless MA has a major melt down, they will win Region 8. Congrats go to Coach Cohu and his staff at MA. Keep it up coach and you may win the coveted Bully Coach of the Year award at the conclusion of the season. Who knows, he may be getting his 100th win soon. Especially if they use some of the math MA is prone to use when calculating victory totals for some of their coaches (see middle school). Just saying! Elkmont appears to be a lock for the 2 spot. The question in this region is 3rd and 4th. Lauderdale County is currently 3rd with Colbert County sitting in the 4 spot. CC and LCHS play this Friday and CC has MA in week 9. Lose these 2 and Colbert Heights or West Limestone could get that 4th slot. It has been a tough year for CC and not making the playoffs for the first time since Noah and his family went sailing in a boat, will not sit well for folks in Leighton.
The top 4 in 5A region 8 is pretty much set. The seating (1 thru 4) may change but Hartselle, Russellville, Athens and Muscle Shoals have locked the top 4. MS will most likely lose to Hartselle but the only threat of East Limestone creeping into the playoff picture would be for them to win out which includes beating Russellville this week and MS losing the next 2. Could happen but not likely. Hartselle would have to lose the next 2 games not to get the 1 spot in the region. That ain’t likely! Next week’s Athens-Russellville game could be for the 2nd spot and home field advantage in the 1st round. This game should be a dandy!
I wrote last week about 4A Region 7 and I think this may be the most exciting region in North Alabama. Fairview got past Plainview last week and remain underfeated so they do control their own destiny. But here is the mountain Fairview has to climb. This week they play Guntersville and then North Jackson the following week. Guntersville, after losing a couple of games, bounced back nicely last week and defeated NJ (hey I called this back a few weeks ago). The top 4, Fairview, Guntersville, NJ, and Plainview are all pretty much locked. What order they finish is not. The only sure thing is Fairview does not need help if they win out but that will be a tough chore. This will be the region to watch over the next few weeks.
The weather played havoc with last week’s games and perhaps played a factor in a couple of upsets and certainly made a few games closer than they should have been (see Johnson-Russellville). Some teams moved their games to Thursday, some played earlier (6 pm) than normal on Friday some played Saturday night and at least one played Monday night. Let’s hope this wacky weather doesn’t return for a repeat performance anytime soon.
Now on to food! Most folks that know me know that I know good food and good places to dine. The Huntsville Times has started a best of section in their Tuesday papers that list the best of various types of food. You don’t have to worry with that as I plan to give you Bully’s Best Of. Today, I will give you the best Pizza in the Huntsville area.
1. Terry’s – hands down the best pizza in Huntsville. It was dark and dreary times in the Huntsville when Terry’s closed their doors several years ago. Thank goodness for Star Market. Now I must caution you, the Star Market in Madison is much more consistent on their Pizza than the one in 5-points. Sometime you might get an over cooked crust or too much sauce at the 5-point location. Haven’t gotten one from Merdianville yet.
2. Mellow Mushroom – great pizza and they have a nice/new dining facility. I’m a big fan of the MM chain and have enjoyed the one in Huntsville several times.
3. Big Eds – Another great pizza tradition in the Huntsville area. Located just south of the University/Parkway intersection. Good pizza, just not at the level of MM or Terry’s.
Honorable mention goes to Donatos and Marcos Pizza. You can’t go wrong with either if you want pizza’s for a crowd. For pizza buffet try Pizza Inn in Madison. Decent pizza’s and they have soft serve ice cream. You always will score Bully points when you have soft serve ice cream.
It has been a while since I wrote about volleyball and feel compelled to mention since the area tourney’s are going on this week. Keep an eye on several Huntsville and surrounding area teams as there could be a few blue maps headed back from Pelham around Halloween time. If you like volleyball, below are some teams to watch.
1A – Athens Bible
2A - Westminister
3A – Catholic, Madison Academy, New Hope
4A – Guntersville
5A – Madison County, Arab, Hartselle
6A – Huntsville, Bob Jones, Grissom, and Hazel Green
By the time you read this, some of these teams could be eliminated. One thing is for certain, North Alabama rules when it comes to volleyball. There are some schools throughout the state that play good volleyball and could win Blue/Red maps but overall, the best volleyball is right here in NA.
It want be long now until we turn our attention to the hardwood. I hope to see several games but will be able to give a perspective on several quality teams as I will be keeping the game books for the BJ varsity boys this season. I look forward to getting back involved with High School basketball and I can’t think of anyone I would rather work with than Coach Petty. One of the best coaches in the state and is responsible for building the powerhouse program at MA. That being the case, Coach Petty will not be spared if his team starts to play poorly. BJ is one of the favorites to returning to Birmingham at the end of the season and I am looking forward to it.
One last thing, some have told me they can’t post comments to the blog without a google account. Didn’t realize this when I set this up. You can always email me with comments, stories, rumors, and of course disagreements to bullyben@hotmail.com. Won’t be able to catch a game this Friday due to a wedding but will keep abreast of the results and goings on. Hope to catch Terry Bowden and his UNA Lions this Thursday night though! Until next week, get me out of here Percy!
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