End Of Story.

Doc’s Note:This is the last installment in a series of columns about sports at Crichton College. Check back in August for more tales from North Highland Park.

The Senator’s Supporters: (l-r) Cassie White, Brittney Davis, SGA Senator-Elect Doc Hancock, Bradley Greer, and Ginny Galloway May 7, 2008

It was almost a year ago when yours truly walked into the athletic duplex in North Highland Park and pitched an idea of building what would later on be the first of many partnerships with this website with the people of North Highland Park.

And it was almost a year ago when I found myself out of a job with the Tennessee Cheesecake Company of Nashville and three months later wound up as a student assistant with Crichton basketball.

In that time span, from August of last year to now, as I sit in front of my computer and write what will be the final column on North Highland Park until we start it up again in August, I have written many funny if not brilliant columns on sports here.

There was the first column on Danstar and high school classmate Michelle Williams, who will be a semester away from graduating and moving on towards her dream of being a professional dancer (no, not that type of dancing, you perverts).

We’ve introduced you all to people like Rufus Tomassetti, who to this day is one of my good friends here in North Highland Park, and Courtnee Steen, who was mentioned in one of my columns about spending time at a soccer game back in late September and one of my supporters as I ran for a seat on the SGA Senate.

There’s been stories about Crichton Flag Football, an idea that was cooked up by soon-to-be graduating Shawn “The Commissioner” Beloate, mascot tryouts and interviewing the random hottie for a story on the eve of the “Battle of the Sexes” before Thanksgiving.

You’ve read about my time on the road with the “Basketball Brotherhood” during the holiday break to places like St. Louis and Waleska, Georgia and why on one of those trips I tried fight the government in Calhoun, Georgia.

I’ve had the honor of introducing the world to people like soccer players Bradley Greer, Kyle O’Neil, Todd Meyer, Courtney Andrews, and Patrick Kabano.

Not to mention softball players Jasmine Scudder, Aimee Grissom, Brittney Davis, and former student director of basketball operations John Tibbits.

A lot of what I said from two months ago about the mission of our blog, as a blog that is non-partisan and non-biased, has rung true as I have provided you readers with funny stories from North Highland Park and I close in on four semesters away from earning my degree in Humanties.

It’s hard to believe that after next week, when the last final exam is taken, when the last round of trash-talking is done on the pool tables, those voices that made it in my columns about North Highland Park will be a fading memory for a couple of months.

Of course, when August rolls around, there will be more hilarious adventures to write about it, more people to introduce you guys to and of course, my own travels with the “Basketball Brotherhood.”

But before I end this column, I would like to thank each and every of you who’ve been supportive of this blog here in North Highland Park.

The best is definitely yet to come.

Thank you.

“We Have Smoking Hot Chicks That Play Softball And They’re Also Smart”

Doc’s Note: This is the latest in a series of columns about sports at Crichton. These columns will run until the end of the school year.

Lady Comets (l-r) Sierra Coltharp, Ashley Smith, Jessica Divittorio, Erica Brich, Erica Valentine, and Courtnee Steen pose for picture after being honored by the TransSouth Conference for scholastic acheivement.

Not too long ago, I said to softball players Rebecca Allen and Anna Carter, who just so happen to be neighbors of mine, that there’s a reason why I enjoyed announcing softball games.

“We have smoking hot chicks that play softball,” I said jokingly, only to realize that much of that statement was true.

Away from that statement, the softball team this year, despite the injuries to Cassie White and Anna Carter — who as I write this has recovered well from her surgery — has improved on what had been a baptism by fire during their first season of varsity softball in North Highland Park as they finished the regular season in seventh place and earned their first tourney win in school history on Wednesday morning in Jackson against Mid-Continent.

Despite the fact that I did say three months ago that Crichton does in fact have smoking hot chicks that do play softball, you can’t help but notice the simple fact that although these young ladies are athletes, they still haven’t forgotten the true reason why they came to play softball here in North Highland Park.

Represent the school with class.

Although shortstop Aimee Grissom, who only three months ago beat a certain sportswriter in basketball and forced him to convert to Islam for twenty minutes, she also has done an outstanding job as resident assistant in Madison East and will be on track to graduate at the end of this year from Crichton.

Catcher Ashley Smith, who was one of the original TNB supporters here in North Highland Park, will earn her degree in May as well as former softball standout Ginny Galloway.

At the present moment, the softball team will have among other things, the highest GPA among athletic teams in North Highland Park.

That’s an accomplishment that doesn’t get any type of notice in the sports pages.

Thanks in part to Coach Michelle Wilkes and her staff, the softball team has learned over time that once the softball games stop, they will still have a future.

Who knows what accomplishments will lie beyond North Highland Park for them.

All we can say is that we thank them for their time here and we’ll see them somewhere carrying the slogan for North Highland Park: think, change, and grow spirtually.