Ricky Taylor remains in first place for second straight week in local contest

Terry Moore

The third full weekend of college football is now in the history books, and Alabama and Auburn fans have got their lips poked out this week thanks to losses to Ole Miss and LSU, respectively. Florida, Georgia, Missouri, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M remain unbeaten, but that could all change this Saturday even though none of those teams play each other.

All 14 SEC teams will have a chance to improve their records this coming Saturday, and here are my predictions for this week’s slate of SEC games. I like Florida over Tennessee, Kentucky over Missouri, Ole Miss over Vanderbilt, Texas A&M over Arkansas, Auburn over Mississippi State, Alabama over Louisiana-Monroe, LSU over Syracuse, Georgia over Southern University and South Carolina over Central Florida/

Last week: 8-2. So far this season: 28-6.

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This past weekend also marked the third weekend of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest. Ricky Taylor remained in sole possession of first place for the second week in a row, and Sharon Peacock moved up to second place from tenth place.

Jonathan Tuberville jumped into third place from eighth place. Ricky Powell and Casey Grant were tied for fourth place. Mike Dailey, Jeremy Matheny, Sam Rowell and I were all in a four-way tie for sixth place. Hunter Norris dropped to tenth place from third place.

If you’re one of the contestants in the contest and didn’t do well over the weekend, don’t sweat it. We’ve got 10 weeks to go before the end of the season, and the Top 10 will change a lot over the course of the next three months.

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I was looking through my “history notes” earlier this week and saw where today (Thursday) – Sept. 24 – marks the anniversary of a number of interesting sports-related events.

It was on this day in 1934 that Babe Ruth played his last game as a New York Yankee player. Jump ahead six years to this day 1940, and Jimmie Foxx of the Boston Red Sox hit his 500th career home run. Fast-forward six more years to this day in 1946 and future Pro Football Hall of Famer Charles Edward "Mean Joe” Greene was born in Elgin, Texas.

Two years after that, on this day in 1948, Lamar County native Terry Moore appeared in his final Major League Baseball game, taking the field a final time as an outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. On this day in 1957, the Brooklyn Dodgers played their last game at Ebbets Field. Jump ahead seven more years to this day in 1964 and baseball great Rafael Palmeiro was born in Havana, Cuba.

Later, on this day in 1982, Birmingham native Lee May appeared in his last Major League Baseball game, taking the field one last time for the Kansas City Royals. Sixteen years after that, on this day in 1998, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith threw out the first pitch at the Expos-Cardinal game in St. Louis, Mo.

Last, but not least, from the local sports history files, who can forget that it was on this day in 2004, just eight days after the passage of Hurricane Ivan, that Hillcrest High School and Sparta Academy resumed their respective football seasons with games against Monroe County High School and Abbeville Christian.