High School Football Is Here: The Coaches

* Note-I started writing this blog on Friday morning.

High School Football is here. Today's the day, there are many different sources where you can get High School Football News from (I'll list those later). But, a bit of good news real quick, a new hard drive should arrive next week. Some stuff was on the old hard drive, and there's no word if those things will be able to be recovered yet or not.



Now, onto high school football. "The Sports Buffet" podcast has always tried to cover all high school sports equally well (Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do that, but when you have a one person staff, you do what you can do.) but probably out of all sports, I have the biggest bond and closest friends/confidants in the basketball community. That's not to say I don't like football, because I do, and every fall I enjoy the opportunity to reconnect with my old friends so to speak.



By the way, I don't view myself as "media". I view myself as "pseudo media", because I view my job and duty as being a promoter of high school sports and other sports that people like (i.e. if you are a Yankees fan, I'll try to get some Yankees coverage on "The Sports Buffet")



Anyways, with High School Football starting today, I am going to analyze the coaches that I know that are playing tonight with my feelings on them and so forth.



Brad Bradley: William Campbell Generals: Brad Bradley is not everyone's cup of tea. Obviously, if you read Virginia Preps.com last season, after the Riverheads game, he is not loved by all Gladiators fans. With that being said, I am a big Brad Bradley fan. He has an excellent staff (John Earich, Dwayne Hamlette, Andy Haga and John Meadows), he will do anything for his players, and he has a passion for the game. Bradley is never going to be mad at his team for being emotional or hyped up. Bradley is never going to be mad at his team for being agressive and physical. What will chirp Coach Bradley is when his team is not giving 100 % effort. Like I said earlier, there are probably more non Brad Bradley fans out there, then there are fans. But, in Coach Bradley's words, if you are the most popular coach, you are probably not the winningest coach. I am a big Brad Bradley fan and as long he is at the helm, you are always going to have to talk about WilliamCampbell as being a Dogwood District contender.



Jeff Woody: Brookville Bees: One reason I like Coach Woody so much is that we are the same age. He is a 1997 graduate of Brookville, I am a 1997 graduate of Jefferson Forest. With that being said, (and the Brookville-Jefferson Forest rivalry), I think he is a great guy. Coach Woody has reasons to be excited this year with Logan Thomas as his signal caller, and talent around him including Zack McCray, Stacey Houston, Corby Weiss and the list goes on and on. The injury bug has bit Coach Woody hard in his first few seasons as the head coach of the Brookville Bees, he has lost a who's who of talented Bees to injury, with the likes of Darrin McKenzie, Cody Rich, Ryan Jackson and I am sure others that I am just forgetting. However, I think this could be a banner year for the Bees. But, there is a BIG road block in front of them this week (more on that in a moment). However, with Jeff Woody (and his talented group of assistants) at the helm, in the long run, they are going to be better people then they are football players in life.



Cecil Phillips: Amherst Lancers: I have only talked to Coach Phillips once and I came away a fan. The man wants to keep what Scott Abell (or even before him, Mickey Crouch) had started, and that is a winning tradition. Just because Lancers fans may not have heard of him, doesn't mean he wasn't a good choice. Talking to Coach Phillips and just hearing him talk about the people he worked for including Kevin Saunders and Bob Christmas, as well as coaching icons such as Norm Lineburg, you can tell he has not only worked for first class coaches, but first class people and those things have rubbed off on the Lancers first year coach.



Don Rice: Jefferson Forest Cavaliers: A very shy guy, never really lets you know what he's thinking. That might describe some people, but it doesn't describe Don Rice. I love talking to Coach Rice, because you know what he tells you, is exactly what he's thinking. Sugarcoating is not Rice's style. I think Jefferson Forest will have a solid season and Don Rice to me, is a throwback, old school coach (and that's not a bad thing).

Chris Jones: Heritage Pioneers: I could almost write see Don Rice. Coach Jones is a throwback. I think he is a very funny guy and very quotable. He has always been surrounded by a good staff back to the days of Jeff Pultz, Doug Smith, Mark Ainsley and others. Now, the staff is just as good, which includes former E.C. Glass and Jefferson Forest Head Coach, Ed Landis. Any time I know that I am going to interview Chris Jones, I look forward to it.

Jon Berlin: Rustburg Red Devils: I have only talked to Coach Berlin a handful of times while he was Scott Abell's Defensive Coordinator at Amherst County. Coach Berlin was always a willing participant in the "Talking High School Sports- Question of the Day". From everything I hear from people, Rustburg has a great hire in Coach Berlin.

Robert Senseney: William Fleming Colonels: If I had to pick one word to describe Coach Senseney, it would be classy. He has always been more then generous in terms of giving me time for interviews. I enjoyed Coach Senseney during his tenure at Gretna, and he continues to do good things in the city of Roanoke at William Fleming.

Chris Watts: Liberty Minutemen: I got to know him through my hood friend, Liberty Baseball Coach and former Athletic Director, Stewart Grant (Yes, I admit it, I am friends with Stewart Grant). The compliment that I think I can best give Coach Watts is, I would want my kid playing for Coach Watts. He wins, and he produces quality kids.

There is my take on most of the coaches I know. I am sure I left out some (Jared Van Acker-Galax and others). Then there are those who I have never talked to, but want to like Jack Tuner (Pulaski), Tater Benson (Lord Botetourt) and more.

The above are just my opinions. I am sure some people for whatever reason, don't like some of the coaches I have mentioned above for whatever reason. However, I have never had problems with these guys and it's always a joy for me to cover their teams.

High School Football is here and I am pumped about it!

Update on "The Sports Buffet" podcast

Greetings,
With the arrival of high school football a little over 24 hours away, it is one of the favorite times of the year for "The Sports Buffet" podcast. However, two things have derailed "The Sports Buffet" podcast recently. So, I just wanted to update you, the readers of my blog and the listeners to my podcast.

1. With two children in the house (both under the age of 2), interviews that are planned don't always get recorded when I want them to. Plus, since my "recording area" is in the room of my youngest daughter, her sleeping schedule and my recording schedule don't always go hand in hand.

2. Recently, I have had a problem with my sciatic nerve. For those of you that don't know much about the sciatic nerve, here is Wikipedia's entry on it. Right now, there is a constant and consistent pain that shoots from my back to about the back of my knee. So, if I am not recording interviews or working on my podcast, it probably means I am in a lot of pain and I am resting.

Just a few updates I wanted to get out there. As you all can probably figure out from my podcasts over time, I love "The Sports Buffet", it's right behind my faith and family in terms of the important things to me in life. So, once I get a bit healthier and a bit more healed from the nerve problems, look for a lot more podcasts to be added to the Buffet.

In a bit of good news, it does appear I have my computer problems fixed that had been ahmpering me. However, older segments from "Talking High School Sports" and games won't be posted until I recieve a new hard drive.

Thanks and keep listening and reading. Any ideas and suggestions are welcome, just contact me at TheSportsBuffet@verizon.net

Good News & Bad News

Good News & Bad News for fans of "The Sports Buffet". For anyone, that is a big fan of the "Classic Stuff" we post on "The Sports Buffet" from the "Talking High School Sports" days and games broadcasted on WKDE Radio, there is some bad news. There probably won't be any/many classic things posted for the next month or so, while we hope to recover files that were lost on our hard drive.

Good news, "The Sports Buffet" will still feature new content, as we were able to recover our recording software.

I love how I say "we", like their is a staff for "The Sports Buffet". I should always say "I" and "Me"

Bob Alvis

High School Scrimmages This Week

This week several scrimmages are taking place around the greater Lynchburg area and beyond. Some of those scrimmages include

Friday

Jamboree at Pulaski County High School. I know Brookville and Pulaski will be there. I believe other teams include Radford. Tazewell and a couple of other teams from Southwest Virginia will be there. Brookville is the only team from the Central Virginia area that will be in attendence.

Gretna & William Fleming at Jefferson Forest

William Campbell at Martinsville

Heritage hosts G.W. Danville

Chatham in a jamboree hosted by Bassett. Other teams in attendence include Magna Vista, Patrick County, Hidden Valley and Giles.

Saturday
E.C. Glass hosts Salem

All of these are to the best of my knowledge. If you know where I have something wrong, or know something I don't know. Feel free to post.

"The Sports Buffet" podcast may be sick for a while

Cross your fingers and say your prayers, but "The Sports Buffet" podcast may be going dark for a little while. Recently, I just had a possible hard drive crash, I am not sure yet, which had all podcast related material on it, as well as my editing software. So, say a little prayer for me , that not all this is lost and "The Sports Buffet" is back up and running in the next day or so, because I want to provide the best in high school sports and more to my loyal listeners.

Football Previews on "The Sports Buffet" podcast

If you visit, "The Sports Buffet" this week and next you will continue to see more high school football previews. We'll get into some other previews as well, but one purpose of this blog is to provide updates to you about upcoming podcasts on "The Sports Buffet". Today, I will post interviews I conducted yesterday with two Seminole District coaches. Chris Jones (Heritage) and Chris Watts (Liberty) will be posted this afternoon. By the end of the evening tonight, interviews that are scheduled this afternoon will be posted as well. Those scheduled to be interviewed this afternoon include Tim Crawford (Nelson County) and Richard Trent (E.C. Glass).

This weekend, interviews are scheduled to take place with Brad Bradley (William Campbell) and Cecil Phillips (Amherst).

At this point, all that is scheduled for next week is Mike Scharnus (Altavista). But that list is expected to grow like bamboo (if you have bamboo, you will understand that joke). Volleyball, Golf and Cross Country will also be scheduled hopefully for next week.

High School Football: It's here!

With two weeks to go until we all kick it off for real, high schools around the commonwealth will start scrimmages tomorrow and Saturday.

The schedule for tomorrow (as I know it)
Amherst at William Campbell
Turner Ashby at Jefferson Forest

Saturday
Cave Spring at Brookville
Louisa and Halifax at Liberty

Many other scrimmages will be taking place throughout the commonwealth. Check out Virginia Preps.com for more information, or post a reply here to keep others updated about it.

Also, for football previews, watch Newschannel 10 (WSLS in Roanoke), News 7 Sports (WDBJ in Roanoke) and ABC-13 (WSET in Lynchburg). In fact, if you go to WSET.com and click on sports and click on any of the Football Friday videos, you can view a complete schedule of who will air when on ABC-13

News for "The Sports Buffet" podcast

As you all know (or may not know). This podcast was developed just as much as a supplement to "The Sports Buffet" podcast. So, let me use this to give some updates on some exciting things happening to the podcast.

- In conjunction with Virginia Preps.com, "The Sports Buffet" has helped profile some great dynasties of this 21st century so far. Eric Powers, Voice of the Amherst Lancers, as well as Head Coaches, Chris Thurman (Gretna), Brad Bradley (William Campbell) and Robert Senseney (William Fleming, but won two state titles at Gretna) helped join in looking back at the powerhouses of this decade.

I post lots of interviews, games, etc from my days of "Talking High School Sports", so to better help our listeners, I will still be posting these, but our timely interviews (i.e. game recaps, previews, newer podcasts) will be pushed to the top for at least a week, but maybe longer if it is relevant (football previews and other fall sports previews will probably be pushed to the top until the fall sports season gets underway)

That is all for now, check "The Sports Buffet" daily, as I am getting back into the swing and you will continue to see more updates.