Major kudos to all the folks that made the Best of Preps such a success Monday night.
From all the athletes to all the people here at the paper and those who sponsored the event, here's a tip of the visor. Good job.
It was made even better by speaker John Smoltz' message of parental perspective on youth sports. It's a talk we as a community can't have enough.
It was amazingly timely coupled with the message an Oakland-area teacher sent Steph Curry this week.
The high school teacher was overflowing with his praise for Curry as a player and as a person and role model, but he begged Curry to never come speak to his class.
His point was that Curry was too kind and too successful and too classy to tell his students the truth: They are not going to the NBA. It's pointed and cold and true.
Curry's message, of course, would be different since he was ranked somewhere in the two-star range as a high school recruit and worked and worked and worked to make himself arguably the best shooter in the history of the game. And he rose to be the league MVP by improving his handling and his defense to levels beyond expectation.
But the teacher's reality check seems one part cold and three parts tough love.
Here's the crux of his message to the Warriors star:
"They are already very good at dreaming about being rich and famous, what we need them to do is get a little more realistic about what is in their control. We need less of an emphasis on sports and celebrity in high school, because it is hurting these kids too much as it is.
"Steph, you and I know they have a better chance of winning the lottery, but no one seems to tell them these things but me."
Speaking of Best
Justice was served this week in Pittsburgh. Mostly.
Leon Walls, the man who attacked and stabbed former Silverdale Baptist Academy softball star Allison Meadows, was found guilty Thursday on all charges against Meadows, including attempted criminal homicide.
He was also found mentally ill and might serve his time in a mental institution.
Meadows missed the Best of Preps banquet to testify at the trial.
Sentencing will be in the coming weeks.
Chattanooga is the best
Fill in the blank and apparently Chattanooga is the best at it.
We are the "Best Town Ever," following a contest that was conducted by a combined scientific and mathematical committee of folks from MIT, Cambridge and Nobel Prize board. Or by an Internet vote. Same thing.
We also got a bar with like the coolest design ever, which is like the coolest thing ever, unless you wanted to watch the game.
Who knows what could be next? The options are limitless.
We might win the best city to walk your dog and drink a craft beer at the SAME time. Or maybe we could be in the running for the best town in the history of mankind since fire was discovered that has at least 10 letters in our name with 40 percent of them being vowels.
Well, unless we wanted to be the smartest city in the South, of course.
Territorial
Not sure when it happened, but the little neighborhoods around the city limits have become as protective as mother hens.
Where's the dividing lines of Riverview and the North Shore? Between the North Shore and Red Bank? When are you in Southside versus downtown?
Forget the Bloods and the Gangster Disciple territories, these neighborhoods have pride, too.
Not sure what the "gang" sign is for Riverview. Any suggestions?
We know this: While we may tippy-toe around the lines of South St. RiverShore Town, nobody's messing with Hix-Bank.
Until next week.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and follow him on Twitter at @jgreesontfp. You can read his online column the "5-at-10" Monday through Friday at timesfreepress.com after 10 a.m.