Robservations: Warren Co. ‘a-Buzz’ with sports news
It’s not very often that a journalist has the opportunity to break a story so huge, national implications are sure to follow.
No, it’s not often. But it does happen. And it’s happening today.
Anonymous sources close to the Warren County High School athletic department have told the Southern Standard former University of Tennessee basketball coach Buzz Peterson has agreed to take the reins of the Pioneers beginning at the end of the 2004-2005 school year.
Peterson, who was fired by UT administrators after the Volunteers’ season, was contacted by the Standard sports department on Thursday, and while he would neither confirm nor deny the story, he was quite cryptic in his response.
“Well, I am getting $1.4 million for sitting around doing nothing, thanks to those geniuses up in Knoxville,” the 41-year-old coach said. “They’ve got to pay me, just like they’re still paying Green.
“And besides, I’m an old gym-rat at heart. I just love the hardwood.”
No one from WCHS will go on record with a denial or confirmation of Peterson’s impending hire, but local police reports on a traffic jam near Pioneer Lane Thursday made note of a stretch limousine with Knox County plates. In what may be a related story, a local sign painter says he has been commissioned to create a large sign reading “Welcome to ‘The Hive’,” and approximately 15 black- and yellow-striped basketball uniforms with “Swarm” emblazoned across the chest were seen in production at a Nashville garment company.
In a brief statement faxed to the Pioneer athletic department Thursday, Hawks — whose Patriots fell to the Pioneers 7-6 in extra innings Wednesday night — relayed his belief that “some kind of curse or something” must be housed within the confines of the Patrick Ramsey Complex.
“Maybe it’s gypsies, maybe it’s a poltergeist, I don’t know. I’m no scientist,” the statement continued, “but I know there’s something about being at that ball park in McMinnville that doesn’t sit right with me.
“It wasn’t too long ago I had to delay a game until after 2 a.m., just to win it then find out the next day I had to forfeit it. And now, my boys blow a 4-0 lead, and lose in extra innings on three unearned runs? There has to be something supernatural going on.”
Because of this friendly neighborhood sports columnist’s rant against Mark McGwire in last Friday’s edition, U.S. Rep. O.L. Codger, R-Wis., has asked for sworn testimony before the House Subcommittee on Sports-related Affairs.
When asked for his take on the situation, McGwire stoically noted, “that column ran last Friday. That was the past. I’m not here to talk about the past.”
As for when this writer is scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill, no date has yet been set, although it will have to be after the weekend, since Congress traditionally is out of session every April Fool’s Day.