This week's Smackdown takes a step back to those wholesome days to determine which Tampa Bay player was the ''Best High School Athlete.'' The competition is between right guard Davin Joseph, one of the best wrestlers in state history, and cornerback Phillip Buchanon, one of the finest multiple sports athletes from Florida. ...more

December 7, 2007

I found that when I was pregnant, most of the women I knew would eventually ask me if I was going to nurse. ...more

December 7, 2007

SENIOR EDITOR, MULTIMEDIA SPORTS: Kim Pendery: (813) 259-8406 or kpendery@tampatrib.com ...more

November 24, 2007

Imagine a time when all sports and extracurricular activities have been eliminated altogether. Kids across Highlands County are sitting after school with ball in hand, but no place to play. With budget concerns hitting nearly every school system in the country, many sports programs are being cut or an increasing trend has emerged — pay-to-play sports. The shrinking education budgets in this country have festered this new wave of subsidy, without the total dismissal of sports and other programs that were once a free privilege to the masses, but now has many students across the country on the outside of the stadium looking in. "I would never agree to a system like that for our schools," said newly elected Avon Park city councilman Al Hinson. "[Pay-to-play] would ween certain kids out, and that goes against the grain of what high school sports is all about. ...more

November 23, 2007

They won't take the field for their first game until January, but coaches and players on the Lennard High School baseball team are hard at work for the upcoming season. ...more

November 10, 2007

As long as the Durant High girls soccer program has existed, there has been a "go-to" goal scorer - several of them in some cases. ...more

November 7, 2007

seven-time defending state champions and winners of a national-record 439 consecutive dual matches in a streak that dates to 1973 - will be shadowed by a camera crew all season and featured in a documentary that will air on ESPN this spring. ...more

October 31, 2007

Last year, Jefferson coach Mike Fenton had to fight to get out of jury duty the week of the district showdown with Plant. ...more

October 29, 2007

The top five teams in Pasco County after Week 7. ...more

October 14, 2007

The Hillsborough County cross country championships, officially called the Gasparilla Cup, will be held Wednesday night at Lake Park in Tampa and will feature both public and private schools vying for the chance to be anointed as one of the top teams in Tampa. ...more

October 11, 2007