Furmanology: Accustomed to an absent mind

By MONTE DUTTON (Furman photo) Click here. On Saturday, I watched the closest finish in Kentucky Derby history. On Sunday, I watched the closest finish in NASCAR history. On TV, mind you. I’m not some globe-trotting bon vivant hiding behind a cloak of seeming poverty. I’m worse than a poor boy. I’m a poor old …

Furmanology: But first, a bit of aged philosophy …

By MONTE DUTTON Evidence suggests the rain-shortened game was justified. (Furman photo) Click here. All is tangible, and all is not. Time, for instance. Precise. Measurable. Inviolable. Examined another way, it is not. For me, time crawls every morning, and then it gets faster and faster until late at night, when it runs out of …

County Signs: A mostly bleak night on the diamonds

By MONTE DUTTON Zane McLendon has that sinking feeling. (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. A Furman release revealed that the Paladins have signed two “rising juniors.” I thought, Thank God, they aren’t falling juniors. Yes, I know, “rising” refers to someone in the next class. It’s spring, and those two promising athletes are sophomores now, …

Furmanology: Just call the latest Paladin Smitty

By MONTE DUTTON (File photo) Click here. I went through college in a period of little unrest. I read about the 1960s and watched it all on TV as a boy, but the biggest threat to the Furman campus in the late 1970s and early 1980s was the invasion of Citadel cadets the night before …

Blue Hose Blurbs: PC wins barrage of batters

By MONTE DUTTON (PC photo) Click here. It’s been almost 40 years since lights were installed at Wrigley Field. I can still immediately identify a night game there. Shadows cover the backs of all the players. The Friendly Confines have no light stands over the outfields. One reason I’m a good speller is that I …

Furmanology: Follow the bouncing ball

By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photo) Click here. The lingo of basketball constantly changes. It’s as if coaches go off to clinics and camps and come back speaking a whole new language. This has been going on for decades. It's almost as fast as technology. Every time a fellow feels like he's caught up, everything …

Blue Hose Blurbs: Baseball drops third straight

By MONTE DUTTON (PC photo) Click here. I watched most of the Xfinity Series race at Talladega on Tuesday, won by a fast-rising youth with the can’t-miss name of Jesse Love. When I first started writing about races there, it scared me. A car sailed out of the track the first time I went. Weird …

Furmanology: Another heavenly hall of fame

By MONTE DUTTON (Caleb Gilbert photo) Click here. I have warm memories of Jimmy Satterfield, who was not always a warm man. He was folksy, humble and patient, but on game day, he turned cold. Satterfield grew up hard, as most in his generation did. It took a while to figure him out. And vice-versa. …

Blue Hose Blurbs: Sardin takes the reins

By MONTE DUTTON (PC photo) Click here. At the introduction of Presbyterian College’s new women’s basketball coach, it wouldn’t have been much different if the people there had gathered for Thanksgiving. Players, even some who won’t be around next year, filed in. Quinton Ferrell and staff were represented. Steve Englehart, the head football coach, was …

Furmanology: On the bright side, lacrosse wins

By MONTE DUTTON (Furman photo) Click here. It’s all busy work, mostly thankless. Thanks to staking out Laurens County as part of my territory, I’m aware of the importance of baseball. It’s big. Clinton won the state title in Class 3A last year. An inexperienced team is getting better by the week and still has …