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Busch Classic a boon for softball, state

When Clint and Marla Albright first entertained the thought of having a softball tournament, they had no idea what would happen over the course of 38 years.

Their initial goal was to promote slow-pitch softball, and now the Busch Softball Classic has become a national event. It all starts again this weekend.

With 142 teams from 15 states, this is the largest field in the past few years, and the United States Specialty Sports Association Men's Conference Division has attracted 32 teams from as far east as New York and as far west as Nebraska. Critical points are on the line for the Men's World Series.

The Women's Division, which has a direct berth to the Women's World Series in Orlando, Fla., has 29 teams from eight states.

The tournament -- played in Sherwood, Burns Park and Jacksonville -- has some of the greatest softball in the country, but it has much more than that.

At 5:30 p.m. on Friday, the latest class, led by Jim Haney, of the Arkansas Softball Hall of Fame will have a quick dinner. At 6 p.m., the class will be officially inducted. This is all at the Sherwood Sports Complex.

Before that at 5 p.m. will be a new addition, the "Battle of the Ages," featuring four teams from four different age brackets in a mini-tournament.

At 5:30 p.m. there will be a memorial service for four former great players who participated in the Busch: Mike Scallion, Phil Bradley, Mike Hardin and Toni Lovell.

At 6 p.m. will be another new addition and one that may prove to have a lot of media interest as bragging rights will be at stake for the "Sully vs. Sully" Charity Softball game to benefit Arkansas Autism Resource Center.

Steve "Sully" Sullivan of KATV Channel 7 will pit his team against Eric "Sully" Sullivan, who is a co-host of Out of Bounds on 103.7, The Buzz, from 1-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

This game will be for fun, but both Sullys are very competitive and will want to win.

On a weekend when thousands of people leave town for a long weekend or vacation, the Albrights found a way to bring millions of dollars into the local economy. They have promoted not only softball but also the state of Arkansas.


While researching and reading about the 2000 Cotton Bowl -- the No. 15 game in the Silver Anniversary of the SEC series, a 27-6 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville victory over Texas -- a couple of things jumped out.

In that game, Anthony Lucas had a 47-yard reception but didn't score. It seemed like in those days if Lucas went more than 10 or 12 yards, the only thing that stopped him was the end zone.

Another thing was the difference in that game and the 2014 Texas Bowl.

The Razorbacks were fired up in 2014. That was just the second season after the failed John L. Smith experiment, and the Razorbacks were happy to be bowling.

On the other hand, the Longhorns acted like they had been told a colonoscopy would be part of the bowl experience. They didn't seem to want to be there.

The Razorbacks won 31-7, making the Hogs 4-2 vs. Texas since their final year in the old Southwest Conference. Yes, Texas leads the series 56-22.

That 2014 Texas Bowl was Charlie Strong's first year as the Longhorns head coach, and the lack of discipline he battled all season was never more obvious than in that game against Arkansas.

Strong (Batesville, Central Arkansas) spent the entire season suspending and reinstating players. There were more distractions than a state fair.

Two years later Strong was fired, but the guy who was 37-15 -- including 23-3 his last two seasons -- at Louisville will be fine at South Florida.

Sports on 06/29/2017

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