Our local schools are wrapping up another academic year this
week and so closes another year of high school sports.
Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy both had decent
sports years, and I look for them to be even better next year in their
respective sports.
As any elementary school student knows, summer vacation
flies by, so it won’t be long before the official start of fall football
practice.
The Alabama Independent School Association hasn’t released
its fall football schedule yet, but Hillcrest’s first regular season game is
scheduled for Aug. 28. Sparta will likely either kick off their season on that
night or some time around that date.
Alabama will begin their season on Sept. 5 when they play
Wisconsin in Arlington, Texas. Auburn will also begin its season on Sept. 5
when they’ll play Louisville in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome.
The New Orleans Saints will kick off their regular season
schedule on Sept. 13 when they visit the Arizona Cardinals. The Atlanta Falcons
will get going on the following day, Sept. 14, when they play the Eagles in
Atlanta.
With all of that in mind, we’ve got about 92 days (a little
over 13 weeks) until the start of high school season, 98 days until the start
of college football and 106 days until the pros kick off.
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In the meantime, while we’re waiting on football to begin,
take the time to head out to Evergreen Municipal Park and watch some of our
local youth teams play. Most of the younger kids are drawing close to the ends of
their seasons, and All-Stars will be announced soon. However, there’s still
plenty of local Babe Ruth action left to watch, so take the time to check it
out.
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Today, May 28, marks the 64th anniversary of Willie Mays’s
first Major League home run. It was on this day in 1951 that Mays, batting for
the New York Giants against the Boston Braves, got his first hit in the Major
Leagues - a home run. Born near Birmingham, the "Say Hey Kid" went on
to be named National League Rookie of the Year and hit 660 homers in a
legendary Hall of Fame career.
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Coincidentally, in regards to 1951 and the N.Y. Giants, I
saw in Friday’s “Ripley’s Believe It or Not!” cartoon that New York Giants
outfielder Bobby Thomson hit the game-winning home run known as “The Shot Heard
‘Round the World” in 1951. The weird part is that, to this day, Thomson’s home
run ball has yet to be found. Given the value of other famous home run balls,
there’s no telling how much Thomson’s home run ball would be worth today.
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Today (Thursday) also happens to be the 27th birthday of
Major League Baseball pitcher, Craig Kimbrel, who was born on May 28, 1988 in
Huntsville. Kimbrel went on to star at Lee High School in Huntsville and at
Wallace State Community College. In 2008, after two years at Wallace State,
Kimbrel was drafted by the Atlanta Braves. He went on to pitch for the Braves
from 2010 to 2014, and he currently pitches for the San Diego Padres.
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