2 MAR 06: WHAT IT WAS, WAS BASEBALL

Wednesday's Ledger-Enquirer revealed the Principal of Russell County High School is being replaced, and moving to another job. It also confirmed the move is in the wake of a possible scandal on the baseball team - so I guess we can call this a force-out.

Russell County Superintendent Rebecca Lee says Rusty Baker will move into an administrative position, after less than five months as High School Principal. Either something wasn't handled quite right, or he's a "fast track educator" if there ever was one.

Rusty Baker was on a "paid leave of absence" since five high school students moved to Russell County, apparently to play on the baseball team. The Superintendent declared them ineligible just before the season started, as a precaution. Would this have happened with geniuses, two weeks before standardized testing?

Superintendent Rebecca Lee says several of the students probably would NOT have transferred to Russell County, had not the baseball team won a national title last year. Now there's an admission for you! Has there been another really good reason to transfer to Russell County in recent years?

(Did I read correctly that a couple of the transferring students were from Hardaway? Talk about a decline in the baseball program! That school was happy for years to take the Columbus High castoffs.)

Superintendent Rebecca Lee openly doubts there was any sneaky plot at Russell County High School, to bring in baseball players illegally. But of course, some of us thought the Columbus Catfish actually planned to stay in town for decades....

At my old high school three decades ago, rumors ran wild that the big Catholic school in town was "recruiting" top athletes for football and basketball. The rumors never were proven - and this was a time when no one dared think about planting wiretaps inside a confessional.

The Superintendent's quotes in the newspaper suggest Principal Rusty Baker didn't handle questions about the five student transfers quickly enough. I can understand students avoiding the books during winter break, but you'd think principals might be different.

So what about the five players in dispute? Superintendent Rebecca Lee says three of them now are considered OK to play baseball at Russell County High School. One went back to his old school. And the status of the fifth remains unsettled - which may set a record for the biggest "hung-up" play in baseball history.

The big unanswered question in this story is whether Russell County High School baseball coach Tony Rasmus knew about the transfers, or had anything to do with them. There certainly was no news during the fall about trading players and draft picks with Bobby Howard at Columbus High.

Keep in mind Russell County High School was cited a few weeks for holding an illegal baseball practice. I guess that means they practiced out of season - unless they dared to defy those signs at the ballparks, and had a pepper game.

I'm not sure what the rules are for high school baseball practice in Georgia. But a couple of years ago, I saw a large number of Northside High players show up at Britt David Park - on a Sunday afternoon in October. If they're skipping pro football games on TV, something MUST be suspicious.

But anyway: Russell County High School is popular with more than baseball players. Scouts from about half the major league teams attended the Warriors' season opener a week or so ago. So at least one flight to Columbus Airport was full that day....

Speaking of local baseball, how about Ian Sebastian?! The recent Columbus High grad took the mound for Georgia Wednesday - and struck out three Atlanta major leaguers in two innings of spring training! Hopefully Sebastian met Bobby Cox afterward, because he'll probably need a closer come September.

THE BIG BLOG QUESTION is back from a long absence - and it's admittedly a bit strange. A co-worker suggested Wednesday I post a question about beer. Trouble is, I don't drink beer. In fact, I never have - and ordering diet colas has worn out my welcome at bars more than once.

Somehow I was talking with this co-worker about beer, and I noted store signs during the summer all brag about cold their beer is. No one ever promotes warm beer. Why is a choice of temperatures OK with coffee, but not with beer?

But this co-worker claimed some people actually like warm beer. "That's a good question for your blog," he suggested. OK, so it's now posted: do you prefer cold or warm beer? I think I know which side will win - since you don't hear much about spicy jalapeno beers, not even from Mexico.

While you ponder this vital topic, let's check some other news notes from Wednesday:

+ The "Getting on Top of Life" broadcast on WHAL-AM featured school board member/Pastor Joseph Roberson claiming some people are arrested merely to operate "the jail business." If grass grows out of control in Columbus parks this summer, you'll know city officials heard this message and repented.

+ The evening news reported Continental Carbon has appealed a ruling of environmental damage for the second time. You don't think they simply made a carbon copy of the first appeal, do you?

(Some people in the Oakland Park neighborhood of Columbus say they still have plenty of dirt on their cars, despite promised changes by Continental Carbon. And because it's not red clay, it's even more annoying -- because it's not official Georgia dirt.)

+ Southwest Atlanta Christian beat Randolph-Clay in the Georgia high school boys' basketball semifinals. The win ended Randolph-Clay's 90-game winning streak -- so I think that means Ken Jennings's record on "Jeopardy" from a few years ago is still safe.

+ Instant Message to WLTZ NBC-38: Why? I mean, a prime-time Duke-North Carolina basketball game I could understand - but why show Virginia-North Carolina? A game North Carolina won by 45 points? Does Coach Roy Williams have some relatives who live in Columbus?

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