By MONTE DUTTON Shortstop Bryce Young throws out a Batesburg-Leesville batter (Monte Dutton photos). The Clinton Junior American Legion Post 56 baseball team has a long name and a long way to go. They’ll get there, though, Batesburg-Leesville Post 7’s 13-12 victory on Wednesday night, notwithstanding. Clinton High JV and assistant varsity coach Peyton Spangler …
Author: wastedpilgrim
I'm a writer.
Blogs. Novels. Journalism. Songs.
It's all I know how to do well.
Gettin’ by on gettin’ by
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) One of my favorite jokes to tell on myself is: Some of the time I’m a writer, but most of the time I’m just a typist. Right now, most of the time I’m a writer. Let me explain. The late Laurens County Sports and Furman All the Time were …
Victories breed loyalty and contentment
By MONTE DUTTON (Elena Davidson photos) Last season was fantastic. Seldom, if ever, has Furman been better at football and men’s basketball at the same time. As no less an observer than Ronnie Milsap (who is blind) sang, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It’s amazing such a small area of real estate …
So long, never, never land
(Monte Dutton photo) By MONTE DUTTON The weather outside is lovely. The storm in the Gulf is headed the other way. West Texas, which used to be an unlikely locale, is flooded. For some reason, buildings have been collapsing and trains crashing. God’s will, undoubtedly. I spent some time at the local library making sure …
Get ready for a rough ride, kids
(Pixabay photo) By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photo) In many ways, now is the end of the year. It’s the end of the sports year, especially for those who follow teams fielded by schools. For the athlete, the coach and those who support him or her, Christmas and New Year’s is sort of a break …
It takes a village
(Monte Dutton photos) Any successful team is a many splendored thing, but baseball takes it to the nth degree. Football requires many coordinated actions, but football players do not dash beyond the goalposts to retrieve the extra points. In high-school baseball, the junior varsity completes its game and then prepares the field for the varsity. …
Baseball had a heap of folks talkin’
(Monte Dutton photos) By MONTE DUTTON In the 1980s, a song called “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey and The Duke)” was so popular that its author, Terry Cashman, recorded alternative versions for every major-league team. Talkin’ baseball / Kluszewski, Campanella / Talkin’ baseball / The Man and Bobby Feller / The Scooter, The Barber and The …
And I love them so
(Fletcher Pruitt Jr. photo) (Monte Dutton photo) I’d hate to pick between baseball and football, and basketball is rising with a bullet in this writer’s pop chart. You can dance to basketball. (For those of you too young for Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, it’s an old cliché. The crowds of wholesome youths would rate the …
Devils put spring’s toil on display
(Monte Dutton photos) By MONTE DUTTON The Red Devils have many holes to fill but ample seeds in the planter. Identifying which of those seeds will sprout is the first task of spring practice, which ended with Clinton High’s spring game on Thursday, pushed back by the unprecedented length of the baseball season and to …
Baseball to brag about
(Monte Dutton photos) By MONTE DUTTON The first time I heard Asher Goss was injured, Tori Patterson told me about it before a Raider game. I thought, what a shame. I had no idea it was life-threatening. It could be that Tori didn’t know, either. Conditions apparently deteriorated quickly, but Goss pulled through, some dour …
Nightrider's Lament 