By MONTE DUTTON Greg Porter (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Particularly since the Laurens High baseball team was playing afterward, I chose an overcast Monday to pay a visit to the Raiders practicing football earlier and down below. I waited a while because I wanted to see new head coach Greg Porter lead the charges …
Continue reading County Signs: Porter in charge on practice field
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. It’s all the same. Sports. News. Weather. Music. Talk. Talk. Talk. Everything’s a talk show. Everybody’s got a podcast. So why am I writing this? So much seems micro, and so little seems macro. So much minutiae. So much of the obvious. Superstar curses teammate in tunnel …
By MONTE DUTTON Camden Finley connects. (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. The latest of life’s ironies occurred to me Thursday morning as I augmented, updated, corrected and reposted Wednesday’s crop. NIL (name, image and likeness) provides college athletes monetary compensation, yet the world “nil” means nothing. Thus could the athlete at an unmonied institution say, …
By MONTE DUTTON Coleman Coker drove in the winning run. (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. I was up until the wee hours, which are not that wee for me, failing to get Tuesday night’s results posted. Folks have more wi-fi than wife problems nowadays. Oh, wait. I don’t have a wife. It could be that …
Continue reading County Signs: Raiders enjoy Coker cola in ninth
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, …
Continue reading County Signs: A mostly bleak night on the diamonds
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. Without question, a fine Laurens baseball team is the prime mover here, but as I drove to LDHS on Monday, it occurred to me that the Raiders have won every game I’ve attended to date. The biggest factor is that Laurens (21-6) has won most of its …
Continue reading County Signs: Raiders conquer Northwestern territory
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. It’s hard to beat fun at the old ballpark. Somehow, in addition to snapping over 300 photos – deleted about 200, used 15 or so, saved the rest for future use – I managed to engage in friendly conversations with friends and foes alike. Furman assistant football …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. At this stage of my career, the best part of the annual Laurens County Sports Hall of Fame is that the audience mainly consists of people my age and older. They knew my parents. They ate at the Wrangler. They bought watermelons at my grandfather’s store. Those …
Continue reading County Signs: A night for the locally famous
By MONTE DUTTON Nathan Meade (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. I never thought I’d read books on my phone. Or watch sports called cornhole and pickleball on TV. Then again, I never thought I’d hear of a fellow named David Pecker, though I have to admit it’s an apt name for the guy who ran …
By MONTE DUTTON (Monte Dutton photos) Click here. The National Basketball Association, which I discover each year at this time, is fun. My way of watching may be a bit unconventional. For great stretches of time, I pay little attention because I am writing, editing, laying out and dickering with photos. I can get lost …
Continue reading County Signs: Raiders, Blue Hose play baseball adeptly
Blue, Green, Purple & Red 