Bland Response – On August 28th the Cumberlands Patriots take on the McKendree Bearcats in the Big River Bowl. On playing a ranked team on opening weekend Patriots Head Football Coach John Bland had this to say: “We have a tough schedule to start with and only two weeks to get ready for one of the top 10 teams in the nation.” Bland’s Patriots have won back-to-back Mid-South Conference divisional titles and went on to the 2009 playoffs where they lost to the Lambuth Eagles.
Son Of BAPSSAS – At the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma (cool team name The Drovers) the Bill And Pat Smith Scholar Athlete Scholarship actually had two recipients this year. The first was Tashina Ototivo and now, since Bill Smith decided to sponsor another recipient, Dakota Webster, who plays for the men’s basketball team at USAO! Besides having a name cool enough to be the title of a movie, Dakota stood out with his classroom excellence (3.82 GPA), on-the-court performance (A 53.8 percent shooter) and with community work at the Special Olympics. “It’s definitely an honor,” Webster said on finding out he was the recipient, “I was excited. It’s definitely going to help.” Webster’s a biology major who may very well be operating on some of us down the road so let’s be really really nice to him!
The Battle Of Hastings – Don’t like that title? How about “Hastings Pudding” for you Harvard alumni? No? Oh, forget it! The Hastings Broncos men’s soccer team has been picked in the coaches’ poll to win the Great Plains Athletic Conference title this season. The Broncos were 16-4-3 overall last year and 10-1-1 in conference play, taking the GPAC title.
HSPN ZONE – While this is generally a college sports blog I also like to cover items that slip through the cultural cracks (see my pages on Navajo and Bunyoro Mythology) so this story is appropriate. HSPN is the Homeschool Sportsnet (www.HSPN.net) which is to Homeschool sports what Balladeer’s Blog tries to be for NAIA and NCAA Division 3 sports. For the 4th year HSPN will be running the National Homeschool Scoreboard, a free on-line service where teams can have their scores, schedules and stats reflected in real-time! For more details go here:
The National Homeschool Scoreboard is now 4 Years Old
Balladeer’s Blog is not affiliated with or operated by the NAIA or the NCAA or any of their member institutions.
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