Usher in the New Year with GHS wrestlers

Calling all Gallatin High School sports fans! Your presence is

requested Thursday night, Jan. 3, at Penney High School in

Hamilton. Help support the undefeated Bulldog wrestlers as they go

up against the once-beaten Hornets in a battle of Grand River

Conference rivals.

Gallatin wrestlers are 3-0 in dual competition and have 1st and 3rd

place team titles in their ledger from tournament competition. The

Hornets are 4-1 in dual meets and have finished 3rd in both their

tournament appearances. Hamilton’s only loss came to Brookfield in

its season opener and the Hornets are unbeaten since.

So far the Hornets have given a strong showing in the lower and

middle weight classes. The Bulldogs have done well up and down the

wrestling order, so next week’s dual promises to be a good one.

So mark it on your calendar. Let’s show the Hornets a visiting

crowd like they’ve never seen at a home wrestling event. Be there

and be vocal!

*****

It seems Bulldog varsity basketball teams can’t escape the Hornets,

and vice versa. Both Gallatin varsity teams will face Hamilton

squads in the opening round of the 8th Annual Lawson Invitational

which starts Jan. 7. Why don’t we just flip and coin and play the

games either at Hamilton or Gallatin.

The Hornet boys will be looking to extend a 2-game winning streak

against the Dogs. Gallatin won the first 2 meetings last season but

a young Hamilton team took double figure victories in the final

pair of meetings. Gallatin’s boys had won 10 straight in the series

until the Hornets beat them in last season’s Lawson Tournament.

Gallatin’s girls will try to add to their current success against

the Lady Hornets. With a win in the GIT earlier this month, the GHS

girls extended their winning streak to 7 games.

Of course the 2 schools will meet again in conference play at

Hamilton on Jan. 29, but it’s quite possible they’ll meet before

then in the Hamilton Tournament.

*****

When was the last time the Kansas City Royals took a player from

the New York Yankees, instead of the other way around? The Royals

and Yankees haven’t swapped players since 1993 when KC received

pitcher John Habyan for a player named Karl Rhodes, who the Royals

immediately traded to the Chicago Cubs for who-knows what player

that never panned out.

Two long ago Royals-Yankees trades worked out pretty well for our

boys in blue. Kansas City shipped Mike Armstrong and Duane Dewey to

New York in 1983 and received Roger Erickson and a home run hitter

named Steve Balboni. The Yanks also received catcher Fran Healy in

1976 for pitcher Larry Gura, an important member of the Royals

pitching staff on AL West championship teams of 1976, 1977 and

1978.

By signing former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch as a free agent last week,

the Royals get a 33-year-old experienced veteran with playoff

experience. If he plays to his potential, Knoblauch will be a

better leadoff hitter than Johnny Damon was. Though he slumped last

season, Knoblauch is a base-stealer and proven .300 hitter with

occasional power.