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Tag Archives: The Bench

VSU football is ready to compete at the FCS level

Valdosta State has only had a football team since 1982, but the fact that the program isn’t that old does not mean that it isn’t ready for tougher competition. Since 1982, the Blazers have won four national championships (2004, 2007, 2012, 2018) and eight Gulf South Conference championships (1996, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2010, 2018, 2019). That is a lot ...

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Pull a Kell(e)y and just go for it

Kevin Kelley, head coach of the Presbyterian College football team, is a man who goes for it—literally. For eighteen years, Kelley was the head coach at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Ark. During that time, Pulaski won nine state championships. His team made it to the quarterfinals every year of his 18-year career, the semifinals 15 times and they appeared ...

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Are you offended by these team names or just bored?

What do sports teams who are—or used to be—named after Apaches, Braves, Indians, Mohawks, Redmen, Warriors, etc. have in common? People who love to manufacture stories and narratives that accuse others of being hateful find them very offensive. I’ll tell you what: I could not care any less about what a football team chooses to call itself, barring that they ...

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Cheerleading isn’t a sport, it’s an Olympic sport

Well, a lot of people aren’t going to like this, but those people aren’t paying close enough attention to what this new ruling is saying. In July 2021, the International Olympic Committee voted to recognize competitive cheerleading as an official sport in the Olympics. They also voted to recognize rock climbing, skateboarding and break dancing as official Olympic sports. Before ...

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Amari Jones is one of a few redeeming qualities of Titletown High

*Spoiler Alert* Thanks to “Titletown High,” Netflix reality TV has made its way to Valdosta to document the Valdosta High School football program, a couple of key players and a couple of not-so-key players. It was filled with all story, drama, faux “off-camera” moments and cringe that we have come to expect from reality TV. There were a couple of ...

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Fleeting sensationalism is plaguing the boxing world

Logan Paul challenged Floyd Mayweather to a boxing match in 2019, Mayweather accepted and signed the contract in 2020, and the [joke of a] fight took place last Sunday. To anyone who paid $50 to see the fight, I apologize for the decision you made. I, like many others, was hoping for a fight that would end in a humbling ...

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College football is better, but the NFL’s new rule makes it cooler

Everyone knows that college football is better than professional football. Okay. That may not be true, but I am prepared to die on that hill. Many of the college players are just kids who love the game of football. You don’t have to watch grown men cry and refuse to practice because they don’t believe their multi-million-dollar contracts are good ...

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MLB is striking out in response to the new GA voting bill

On April 2, the MLB announced that it would be relocating its All-Star game on July 13 from Atlanta to Denver in response to a controversial voting bill that was passed in Georgia. I don’t think they made the right choice at all. According to the MLB, the new voting bill is restrictive and racist. That’s what the left is ...

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VSU appears to prioritize student-athletes over students

The problem of dealing with unwanted sexual contact exists on college campuses all throughout the U.S. Victims deal with the physical and mental toll that non-consensual sexual contact forces on them while campus officials deal with determining the appropriate punishment for perpetrators who are proven guilty. VSU is not exempt from this issue. To protect the identity of those involved, ...

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Blazers football need not fear the future

Hello, Blazers. My name is Zach Edmondson and I am the sports editor for The Spectator at VSU. I have started a sports column entitled “The Bench” and this is the first column of many. The name was inspired by a place where people sit and talk about sports: the bench on the sidelines, in the dugout, on the court, ...

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