Ingram hangs on to lead in football contest for second straight week

The 11^th weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest wrapped up on Saturday, and Hillcrest High School assistant football coach Arthur Ingram III held on to the No. 1 spot in the local standings for the second straight week.

Mike Dailey jumped from fourth place into second place, and Ricky Taylor dropped from second place into third place. Past champion Hunter Norris dropped from the No. 3 spot into fourth place. Phig Newton held on to fifth place for the second straight week.

“Murder Creek Man 78” remained in sixth place for the third straight week. I went from ninth place to seventh place. Clint Hyde remained in eighth place for the second straight week.

Casey Grant and defending champion Drew Skipper were tied for the No. 9 spot in the standings. Travis Presley was in 11^th place overall.

With that said, we’re getting down to the short rows in this year’s contest. Many who have been following the contest will know that it’s 14 weeks long, and we’ve only got three weeks left to go. If you’re competing in the contest, now is the time to really bear down if you’ve got your eye on finishing No. 1 overall.

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This coming Saturday, there will be nine football games involving SEC teams, and five of those games will feature head-to-head matchups between SEC opponents. Here are my predictions in those games. I like Mississippi State over Arkansas, Georgia over Kentucky, LSU over Tennessee, Ole Miss over Texas A&M, Missouri over Vanderbilt, Alabama over Mercer, Auburn over Louisiana-Monroe, Florida over UAB and South Carolina over Wofford.

Last week: 6-2. So far this year: 74-18.

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Big news out of the world of the Atlanta Braves this week has to do with the hiring of Alex Anthopoulos as the team’s new general manager. Prior to his Atlanta hiring, Anthopoulos worked two years in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office as vice president of baseball operations, and he also previously served seven years as general manager for the Toronto Blue Jays. Anthopoulos, commonly referred to as “AA” for short, replaces former Braves general manager John Coppolella, who resigned in October during an ongoing investigation into the team’s conduct on the international free-agent market.

Some of you may be asking, “What does a MLB general manager actually do?” The short answer is that, for most teams, the general manager is the person in charge of player transactions, like trades, demotions, promotions, etc. The GM is also usually the man who hires (and fires) the on-field coaches, including the field or dugout manager (known as the head coach in other sports). The GM usually also represents the team during contract negotiations with players.

Also this week, the Braves added three new coaches to their staff – Sal Fasano, Eric Young Sr. and Walt Weiss. Fasano will coach the catchers, and Young will serve as first base coach and will coach the outfielders. I was most excited by the addition of Weiss, who I remember from his early playing days with the Oakland A’s. He also played several seasons for the Braves and served as manager for the Colorado Rockies for three seasons. In my opinion, he would be an excellent replacement for current Braves manager, Brian Snitker, when the time comes.