Upon Further Review

If Jay Thompson was anything in the batters box and out in the field, he was intense.

Hardly saw him smile (even after wins) and never saw him goofing off. What you did see Thompson do in his years on the Waynesboro varsity team was lose his cool every now and again. Often times it was just a stare toward the umpire or toward an opposing player, the kind of stare that, no doubt, you were glad not to be on the receiving end of.

That was Thompson. The intense kid with a swing so sweet you had to brush your teeth after each of his at-bats.

It was that sweet swing that led to the then-Valley District (cue the days-gone-by music and an old tired argument on missing those good ol’ days) batting title in 2007 and hopes for a second in 2008. But when you’re the best hitter in the district, nobody wants to pitch to you much. And that’s where Thompson found himself in 2008, and still managed to finish the regular season with a .517 batting average, two homers, eight doubles and 20 RBI.

“That gives credit to Jay because he’s a huge threat,“ said Jim Critzer, the guy who coached Thompson at Waynesboro. “He has a great swing and it’s natural.“

It sure is, that’s why nothing would have broken the hearts of Waynesboro fans more than seeing Thompson not getting to take his bat to the next level. As his senior season wound down, everybody wondered what Thompson was going to do with himself. The shortstop, after all, wasn’t known for being a powerhouse in the classroom and grades would be an issue.

Enter Stony Wine, a Wilson Memorial graduate who took his Lenoir Community College (Kingston, N.C.) squad to the JUCO World Series title game and has managed not to forget about the area he grew up in. The day before Waynesboro headed down the Pulaski for the Group AA Final Four, Wine was sitting in the bleachers at the KC watching them practice. As the Little Giants trudged away for the day, Wine jumped out of the bleachers, sauntered over the Critzer and called Thompson over.

The rest, as they say, is history.

But what about the attitude, Jay?

“I’ve been known to have a few attitude problems,“ he said. “But the past year I think it got better. It was worse earlier in my career.“

He’s got the talent, he’s got that “baseball look” to him. And he has that swing, that beautiful swing 19th-century baseball poets turn into anthems.

Now he has a coach at a JUCO willing to take a chance on him. The count is full, here’s the wind up, now let’s see what Thompson does. A lot of people in the River City will be rooting for him.

And another thing: Thompson’s dad gave it to his son simply, “You can either stay home, get a job and work weekends and holidays,“ he said. “Or you can go to college and play baseball.“ Yep, that’s what we call “an easy decision” around these parts.

Did we mention how impressive it was that new Fort Defiance wrestling coach Tom Cummings extended an “olive branch” to former coach Terry Waters?

Good on you, Coach Cummings. Good on you.

Folks, this Terry Waters issue is not about taking sides. It’s about getting the information. Fort Defiance refuses to budge when it comes to why Waters was fired. This newspaper sent out a request for a copy of the letter that was supposed to be sent to Waters explaining why he was let go.

We have yet to hear a reply.

Why is this important? Well, these are high school kids we’re talking about here and, sure, they’re kids, but they should be able to know why Waters won’t be coaching this coming wrestling season. To hope for Waters to be on mat come November at Fort is ludicrous. It’s not going to happen. But to keep taxpayers that support a school in the dark when it comes to this situation just reeks of stupidity.

When did we stop giving high school kids any credit? Seriously, someone answer this for me.

The word out there is the Waynesboro football team has close to 60 players showing up in the weight room and for meetings. Wow, can any body else imagine a Little Giants football team where, gasp, the offensive players will get some rest? Just asking again.

Let’s do the math: Sixty players with, let’s figure, two parents each. Add a couple of girlfriends in there and maybe a brother or sister or two and, well, that looks like 150 people should be attending Waynesboro football games this fall.

Looks like the athletic department will have to up their hot-dog-and-bun budget.

But remember kids, you have to stay seated in the bleachers during the game. (Don’t worry though, we’re pretty sure you’ll hear this over the PA system more than your fair share of times during the course of the season.)