Pray For Tech

In our neck of the woods, we've had so many things going on this last week: The ETSU students voted down football, faculty changes at high schools including one of the best coaches in the area and snow cancelling our events and giving us nothing to do.

Nationally, all we've heard about is Don Imus and the Duke case.

Then today happens.

Just over an hour and a half away at Virginia Tech University, another idiot has let loose on society. Another campus changed forever. A nation changed, again.

The fact that close to 30 people are dead and another 30 wounded by a heavily armed gunman is a shock to anybody from this area. It's stunning, it's senseless, it's crazy.

Junior David Jenkins told Fox News heard screaming in the hallway in the engineering building, the shooter chained up the doors, went around the classroom and shot into each room as he went down the hall.

What kind of society do we have now? Didn't anybody learn anything from Columbine? Did anybody see any warning signs? More importantly, why wasn't every building at Virginia Tech locked up within the two hours that the gunman shot a freshman in the freshmen dorm and made his way into the engineering building?

It frustrates me to hell.

Are we at the point in our country where students aren't safe to go to a major University?

I don't know. But this is very, very sad.

--- Wes (2:14 p.m.)

Make It Rain

I am one of many, many sports journalists in this country who are sick and tired of ungrateful professional athletes constantly getting into trouble with the law.

We can talk about the Cincinnati Bengals and Tank Johnson all day. Tank got his and the Bengals will be getting theirs. The person I'm fed up with is none other than Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam 'Pacman' Jones — a disgrace to professional football in this state.

Jones met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell last week, then he sat down for a 'not-so-candid' interview with "Primetime" for the NFL Network. I hope it's his last as a player in the National Football League.

I'm sick of him. Titans fans are sick of him. The League is sick of him. Pacman made it rain one time too many in Las Vegas. It resulted in the death of an innocent bouncer. His time is done.

I could offer up the one-millionth rant on Jones, but I wouldn't be able to come close to Chris Russo.

Good Riddence, Pacman. Bowawowawowa — Boink, Boink!

ETSU Football: Yay or Nay?

Beware East Tennessee State students, a 'no' vote on the upcoming football referendum doesn't mean there won't be a hike in student fees.

Today, East Tennessee State faculty and staff held a private forum on the possible addition of football to ETSU's campus should a student referendum pass.

The hot topic at hand, said longtime sports journalist Marky Billson, a former sports correspondent for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette who attended the meeting, were comments made by ETSU Vice President for Administration and Football Steering Committee Chairwoman Dr. Wilsie Bishop.

Bishop suggested to the faculty, according to Billson, that a failure to pass the football referendum by the students may instead prompt the University to increase athletic fees on campus to support scholarships required by Title IX.

If the faculty's vote and enthusiasm is any indication of the decisive student opinion, that may be the course of action by the University within the next year.

According to numbers revealed at the meeting, which averaged an attendance of 40 faculty, students and alumni, ETSU's faculty overwhelmingly voted against the football measure.

Approximately 274 faculty members from thirty different departments voiced their opinions — 217 of which voted against the measure, opposed to 57 in favor of the return of the sport.

The ETSU student football vote is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Welcome To My Blog!

Obviously, I am very new to this whole blog thing.

I got the idea a couple of months ago as the majority of major newspapers in this country have blog sections for their writers. Newspaper sports blogs are often opinionated columns or editorials that do not make the print publications. It's also a way to report events before the print publications are circulated.

I am the Sports Editor for a daily afternoon newspaper in East Tennessee, meaning many of my readers don't see my work until they get off work each day. At that point, if they've seen the news or read any of the other papers, everything I have is old news. I figure this is a way to keep some folks caught up.

I hope I have some insightful things for everyone in due time.