"Why do they [write] for their money? Why do they [work] for short pay? They ain't getting nowhere and they're losing their share. They must have gone crazy back there." — Michael Burton (paraphrased)
By MONTE DUTTON Click here. Friends, are you anxious every time you turn on the TV? Are you developing an emergency aversion, which is to say, an aversion to emergencies? Football starts next. What could go wrong? At the very least, athletes learn how to manage anxiety. Many even excel amidst it. I love so …
Continue reading County Signs: What we can learn from the young
By MONTE DUTTON Greg Porter (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’, though the streams are swollen, keep them dogies rollin’, Rawhide! All the things I’m missin’, good vittles, love and kissin’, are waiting at the end of my ride. The herds are being assembled. The trail bosses are Steve Englehart, Jolly Doolittle, Corey …
By MONTE DUTTON (Furman photo) Click here. On the occasion of Clay Hendrix’s 61st birthday, it’s time to pay homage to one of Furman’s monumental careers. Hendrix played on great Furman football teams and has coached great Paladin elevens. Calling a team an eleven has fallen out of use, but that’s still how many there …
Continue reading Furmanology: Clay Hendrix and the Furman way
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Kids are always going to do crazy things. This is because kids enjoy doing crazy things. What prompted this routine observation? I saw a commercial for the snack food Goldfish, and I thought, Why did they ever make a cheesy cracker shaped like goldfish? I remembered when …
By MONTE DUTTON A Slawson slam (Elena Davidson photo) Click here. I’m looking forward to football. At the moment, I’m learning even more about Caitlin Clark. Nothing wrong with that. I’m a fan, and it’s hard to avoid because the Indiana Fever is on TV three times a week. Plus, what used to be called …
By MONTE DUTTON (Caleb Gilbert photo) Click here. This is no new refrain from me. The problem with college athletics’ relentless consolidation is that it doesn’t leave enough glory to go around. Most fans believe their favorite school is inherently superior. It has intangible qualities that separate it from everything else. I am at least …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Either I’m harkening back to the carefree days of youth, or, as Jonathan Winters used to say, I’m starting the final glide path. Do you remember lying on your back in the yard – back in pre-fire-ants times – and staring at the clouds? When the power …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. Clinton High School continues to upgrade its historic football stadium, the most apparent improvement being a combination score- and video board to replace the old one behind Wilder Stadium’s south end zone. New stands and a restroom building are being constructed on the visitors side. Until 1960, …
Continue reading County Signs: Wilder Stadium adds video scoreboard
By MONTE DUTTON Laurens head coach Greg Porter (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. In terms of organized sports, most fields are fallow as we await the opening salvos of Independence 2024. Me? I could use the time. Before long, the hills will be alive with the sound of pads popping. On the county scene, the …
By MONTE DUTTON Carson Jones is one of 14 Paladins who have started (Furman photo). Click here. What challenges lie ahead. Furman’s Southern Conference champion football program has 14 players who have started, at least by recent calculations. Players who have started are not the same as returning starters. Duplicating the 10-3 records of the …
Continue reading Furmanology: It takes a village to raise a team
