Football players and others who have been sweating in the August heat must be thrilled that this is the last day of the month. It may not be sweater weather just yet, but the coming of September surely means that cooler weather is on its way.
Athletes are probably open to just about any idea that can help them stay cool, so here’s one. While checking out The Greeneville (Tenn.) Sun to see if there were any stories about tonight’s Greeneville-Mercer game, I stumbled across a story that details one east Tennessee coach’s efforts to relieve his players’ muscle cramps by giving them mustard. Yep, regular yellow mustard.
Sports editor Wayne Phillips researched the idea and found that mustard can be used as a treatment for muscle cramps, though it isn’t meant to replace the usual course of drinking plenty of water on game day and getting in a good, long pregame stretch.
As a longtime Cincinnati Reds fan, I’ve heard many times of how the Reds kept their heads cool by wearing cabbage leaves that had been soaked in an ammonia-and-ice water solution under their caps, and I’m surprised things like that aren’t tried more often at the high school level. But the mustard cure is a new one on me.
* * *
Now for some other football-related links:
- The Kentucky Standard of Bardstown previews tonight’s Garrard County-Bethlehem game (but hasn’t gotten to Saturday’s Lincoln County-Bardstown game yet).
- Two stories on Lloyd Memorial coach Mike Yeagle’s return to Beechwood tonight to coach against the school where he won eight state titles in 14 years, one from Ryan Ernst of The Cincinnati Enquirer, the other from Terry Boehmker of the Kentucky Post.
- Nathan Hutchinson of the Richmond Register writes about the Roy Kidd Bowl, where the former Richmond Madison and Eastern Kentucky University coach will be honored when Madison Central and Madison Southern play for only the second time ever — and the first time since 1989.
- In the interest of fairness, we follow yesterday’s link on Pulaski County coach Johnny Hines’ beef with Somerset’s Ray Correll Bowl with the response by Somerset athletic director Bob Tucker from The Commonwealth-Journal.
* * *
The Garrard County players got off the field in a hurry after losing to Washington County in last week’s Death Valley Bowl, but they didn’t leave mad. The Golden Lions left before the trophy presentation under orders from athletic director Jim Freeman.
Freeman had seen the vivid flash of lightning that lit up the western sky just as the game ended at Lincoln County, and he told the coaches to get the players indoors as soon as possible.
“It might have looked like poor sportsmanship, but I just wanted to get our kids off the field,” Freeman said.
Freeman stayed behind to pick up the team’s participation trophy — I’m still not sure why losing teams get trophies at bowls — and the award given to running back Fred Hayes as the team’s most valuable player.
* * *
Now for this week’s picks. I’m still holding the line with what I picked in the preseason, so this week it’s:
- Bethlehem over Garrard County
- Henry Clay over Boyle County
- Danville over Southwestern
- Russell County over Casey County
- Mercer County over Greeneville (Tenn.)
- Bardstown over Lincoln County (Sat.)
Last week’s record: 5-1.
0 Responses to “Extra mustard, please”