After last season’s dramatic turnaround that included a victory over Tennessee and a bowl trip, it seemed Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason had finally dispelled the doubters who felt he was the wrong person to replace James Franklin in that role. While Franklin was glib and congenial, Mason is a straight shooter with little use for either clever clichés or lofty phrases. Franklin was an offensive guy, Mason a defensive one. Franklin twice was able to get Vanderbilt to nine win seasons and once even had them in the Top 25. Thus far, no Mason team has been able to…
Author: Ron Wynn
By Ron Wynn The Tennessee State University Tigers season took another hit Saturday as a late rally against Tennessee Tech fell short. TSU lost its fourth game in five tries 30-26 against the Golden Eagles in Cookeville. Tennessee Tech entered the game winless in both Ohio Valley Conference contests and overall, but they jumped on top of the Tigers quickly 10-0, built a lead, then held on at the end. Some familiar problems resurfaced for the Tigers. Despite a spectacular game from wide receiver Patrick Smith (three touchdown receptions) the Tigers passing game failed in the most critical moments. Tigers…
MLB has long had a problem connecting with Black Americans, but it hasn’t often conceded it also has difficulty in getting all its other various constituencies to get along with each other. However that problem was brought front and center last week through an ugly gesture made in the dugout during the ongoing World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers. Astros’ first baseman Yuli Gurriel made a slant-eyed gesture towards Dodgers’ pitcher Yu Darvish. He also uttered the word “chinito,” which is a Spanish derisive term that roughly translates into “little Chinese guy.” An almost immediate furor…
By Ron Wynn It was anything but an artistic triumph, and the Titans couldn’t even score an offensive or defensive touchdown, but somehow they found a way to edge the winless Cleveland Browns 12-9 Sunday in overtime on the road. That victory improved their record to 4-3, and left them in a tie with the Jacksonville Jaguars for first place in the AFC South. It also enabled them to go into the bye week with a two-game winning streak, and avoid being Cleveland’s first victim this season. However, it was far from easy. Their best weapon was kicker Ryan Succop,…
The path for Blacks in sports management and coaching remains a hard one, and the treatment of veteran manager Dusty Baker last week only offered an ugly reminder of that. Baker’s lengthy managerial career most likely is now over after he was dumped by the Washington Nationals despite leading them to consecutive National League East Division championships. Baker’s fatal mistake: in both his years the Nationals lost in the NLDS, and thus were unable to break their track record of never having won a playoff series. This time the Nationals had made a dramatic comeback to win Game 4 against…
By Ron Wynn Tennessee State tried to repeat its comeback formula from a year ago against Austin Peay, but this time the magic wasn’t there as they dropped a 21-17 homecoming game Saturday night at Nissan Stadium. It broke a six-game Austin Peay losing streak against TSU, and continued a turnaround season for a team that only last year had lost 24 games in a row when they met TSU. Now they are 3-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 4-3 overall. The Tigers are a disappointing 1-3 in OVC play, and 4-3 overall as well. They were hurt by…
Many observers, including President Donald Trump, assumed that the National Hockey League’s demographics would insulate them from the anthem protests that have become the biggest sports story this year. When Trump met the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penquins at the White House he hailed them as “patriots,” and he referenced both the NHL and NASCAR in one of his rants against NFL players, proclaiming them to be examples of real patriotism and support for the military and the flag. Only it seems that Trump was wrong about that. Just last week the NHL had its first in season example of…
The toughest thing in any team sport isn’t necessarily winning a title. Rather it is trying to sustain success. The Nashville Predators are now finding out what life is like when you can’t sneak up on teams anymore. Last spring’s run to the Stanley Cup Final energized the city, turned a host of people who never even considered hockey worth watching into rabid fans, and put Nashville on the NHL map. The Predators reached the Final for the first time in history, but were defeated in six games by a veteran Pittsburgh Penquins team that became the first Stanley Cup…
By Ron Wynn Saturday was a bad day at the office for area college teams. Vanderbilt, Tennessee and and Middle Tennessee State University all suffered defeats in conference play, with a couple being rather ugly home losses. Vanderbilt, trying to recover from last week’s embarrassing 59-0 blowout defeat to Alabama, hung in for a half against number 21 ranked Florida in the Swamp. But the size and ability advantages in the line took their toll in the second half as the Gators rolled to a 38-24 victory, beating Vandy 21-7 over the final two quarters. Despite losing their starting QB…
By Ron Wynn Though she’s only a junior, it’s not overly optimistic to consider Lauren Artis as a possible future golf star. She’s been competing the past two years on the Hurricane tour, and last weekend competed in prestigious events held at Pebble Beach and Poppy Fields golf courses. Introduced to the sport by her father, Artis took to it naturally, and now enjoys it so much that she doesn’t even blink at the notion that practicing six days a week is a lot of time. She also is already as much into the cerebral aspects of the sport as…