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Monday, November 9, 2026Nov 9

5-at-10: Back to sports, ‘Hard Knocks,’ Top 3 high school sports programs in Tennessee are right here

Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / Baylor (7) Amari Jefferson scores on a catch in the end zone against Walker Valley Saturday. Eight local football teams squared off in eight different 20-minute games Saturday August 14, 2021 at Finley Stadium.
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / Baylor (7) Amari Jefferson scores on a catch in the end zone against Walker Valley Saturday. Eight local football teams squared off in eight different 20-minute games Saturday August 14, 2021 at Finley Stadium. Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / Baylor (7) Amari Jefferson scores on a catch in the end zone against Walker Valley Saturday. Eight local football teams squared off in eight different 20-minute games Saturday August 14, 2021 at Finley Stadium.

Braves and sports

Good talk yesterday, friends. Sometimes we’re overtly silly; sometimes we’re overly serious. Felt like Tuesday was one of those days for the latter.

But then, as dinner settled, the Braves came on my glowing electronic box of lights and sounds and it felt like a summer night in the South.

And friends, there are elderly women and rednecks from Arkansas to Apalachicola smiling from ear-to-ear because these Braves right now are playing with a purpose and a passion that makes them more poetic than professional. It’s as much a bullying ballet as big league baseball.

Because this five-game winning streak – yes, those wins have come against the fading Nats and the last-place Marlins, but you gotta handle your BID-ness against inferior foes – has offered two very real conclusions. The first is surprising; the second is based on finality.