PRUETT COLUMN: Before making a statement, check the facts

Shame on Rich Winter of panicbutton.sportsblog.com and great catch by former sports editor Bob West. West walked up Friday morning griping about this guy who in his blog about fantasy football had the following line concerning our hometown boy Jamaal Charles: “Charles doesn’t find the endzone all that often and I’m concerned Travis Kelce and Jeremy Maclin will take away touches.” West quickly noted Charles leads the league in touchdowns over the last two seasons with 33 trips to the endzone, two more than Marshawn Lynch and four more than Dez Bryant. Charles was the top touchdown scorer in 2013 and was third in scoring touchdowns last season. How can a so-called writer like Winter ever be taken serious when simple homework is not done before putting his uneducated opinion on the web???Nederland football has two offensive linemen who have picked up college offers over the summer. Senior Justin Carr has been offered a scholarship from Lamar and junior Corbin Smith has an offer from BYU. Offensive line could be a bright spot for the Bulldogs who will adjust to a new quarterback this season in Mitchell LeBaron. The line also has the task of giving Austin Krautz room to run…Port Neches-Groves senior pitcher Carter Henry, who was the co-MVP of District 22-5A, has been chosen by the Texas Rangers Area Code team to play Aug. 3-9 in Long Beach, Calif. PN-G baseball coach Scott Carter noted only the best of the best get this honor. Henry is scheduled to also pitch in the North/South game in San Antonio in the near future…Finally the Houston Astros are buyers and not sellers near the MLB trade deadline. Thursday’s trade for Oakland’s Scott Kazmir was huge for the Astros who were needing some help to push this young team into the postseason and possibly overtake the L.A. Angels for the AL West crown. The Astros now have two of the AL’s top ERA leaders on their staff with Dallas Keuchel leading the way at 2.12 and Kazmir fifth at 2.38. Kazmir going into the weekend had a 5-0 record against the AL West this season and the fourth best ERA against the West. The Astros might not be done dealing so look for more moves to help this team down the stretch…Week 6 in the high school football season is going to be huge in Orange as the West Orange-Stark Mustangs take on the Newton Eagles. The game pits two 2014 state finalists and Fox Sports Southwest took note and has named the game the Dairy Queen Big Game of the Week. Reporter Neil Beasley and a camera crew will travel on the Fox Sports Southwest High School Express luxury bus to WO-S High School. The matchup between these two schools is a big deal considering both were in Dallas at the end of last year and could be in Houston for the UIL state championships again this year…Interesting piece on nfl.com these days that compares NFL players to planets in our solar system. Local standout Jamaal Charles made the cut and was likened to Neptune. The article points out Neptune likes to fly under the radar and is “sly but also speedy.” What better way to describe Charles who does not get the publicity he deserves as being the best running back in the league and as the article notes just like Neptune Jamaal to defenders “seems like he’s not visible to the naked eye either.” J.J. Watt was compared to Earth due to the perfect conditions aligning to create such a complex item. Watt brings it all together just like our home planet. The rings of Saturn of course compare to Tom Brady and the up and down terrain of Mars fits with Eli Manning’s career accoring to the article. Check it out, it’s a fun read. If for no other reason, find out why Tim Tebow is once again the umm butt of a joke and tabbed as Uranus…How good are things for the San Antonio Spurs this offseason? Well, the team won the championship in the NBA summer league and did so with Becky Hammon as the coach. It was the first time in the league’s history a female had been a head coach. The Spurs are now the favorites in many peoples’ minds to win the NBA title next year after landing LaMarcus Aldridge in the offseason and having Manu Ginobli come back for another season…Today is the start of a new week. I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. Thanks for reading and I will talk to you next Sunday. The next time this column prints it will be the day before football practice begins. Can you believe it?

SportsPlus

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