Glennis Curry takes top spot in local ESPN College Pick 'Em contest

One of our readers, Jacob from Century, Fla., sent me a great sports-related question earlier this week. He was listening to an Atlanta Braves baseball game recently on the radio station out of Brewton when the commentators got into a conversation about “Delaware Mud” and how it’s applied to baseballs in the big leagues.

“I’ve been a baseball fan all of my life, but I’ve never heard of Delaware Mud,” he said. “They made out like it’s something that you can legally put on baseballs.”

Jacob, don’t feel bad because I actually had to look this up myself. As it turns out, “Delaware Mud” is the nickname for a product called Baseball Rubbing Mud.

This somewhat unusual product is used by all Major League baseball teams as well as most minor league and college teams. It’s applied to balls to take the shine off of them and to help pitchers grip the ball better, but the mud doesn’t change the ball’s white color.

Baseball Rubbing Mud gets its nickname from the fact that it’s made from mud from the banks of the Delaware River near Palmyra, New Jersey. Major League Baseball Rule 3.01c allows clubhouse attendants to rub a bit of this mud uniformly on each ball to be used in the game. Umpires used to perform this duty, and they still remain the final judge of whether each ball is fit for play.

If you’d like to see some “Delaware Mud” for yourself, you can order it from the Lena Blackburne Rubbing Mud Co. through their Web site at www.lenablackburne.com.

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The second week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em contest has come to a close, and the standings on Sunday morning showed Glennis Curry in sole possession of first place.

Hunter Norris and Ricky Powell were tied for second place. Hillcrest High School assistant football coach Arthur Ingram III was in fourth place. Ricky Taylor and Aaron Albritton were tied for fifth place.

Casey Grant and I were tied for seventh place. Rod Sims was in ninth place while Mark Peacock and Jeremy Matheny were tied for the tenth place spot.

If you’re playing and didn’t finish in the Top 10, don’t sweat it. This contest will run for 12 more weeks, and it’s a marathon not a sprint. You’ll find that the standings will change a lot over the next few months.

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The headlining SEC football game this weekend is the Georgia-South Carolina game, which will kick off at 2:30 p.m. on CBS. Georgia enters the game ranked No. 6 in the country, and the Gamecocks are No. 24.

In addition to that game, 10 other games will feature teams from the SEC. For what it’s worth, here are my picks for this weekend’s slate of games.

I like Alabama over Southern Miss, Georgia over South Carolina, Missouri over Central Florida, Vanderbilt over UMass, Texas Tech over Arkansas, Ole Miss over Louisiana-Lafayette, Mississippi State over South Alabama, LSU over Louisiana-Monroe, Florida over Kentucky, Oklahoma over Tennessee and Texas A&M over Rice. Auburn doesn’t play this week.

Last week: 12-0. So far this season: 22-2.