For those of you out there with siblings or relatives close in age, was there ever a situation where they told you that they weren't going to compete against in you some fashion because they were worried about how bad they may beat you or how big of a blow it would be to their ego should they be defeated?

Didn't you just play no matter what because it was fun? Was there ever even any worry about consequences of being the victor or the loser?

Sure, there may be a jealous slap to the back of the head should the underdog pull off the upset, but wouldn't that be worth it to know that you took down a titan in the backyard?

It may take some convincing to get Lynn Burkey and the Eaglettes play the county teams. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

Perhaps I am just still too new to the area and don't realize what all has to be done to make it work, but why can't Shelbyville Central play the smaller schools of Bedford County more in athletics -- most notably, basketball?

Perhaps there are some sports where numbers would just play too big of a role to allow one of the smaller institutions to compete but so what.

Both Community and Cascade took on Coffee County and Tullahoma in boys and girls basketball last season. Was there blood in the water afterwards?

No, the teams simply competed. In fact, the Lady Champions even pulled out an overtime win in one of their matchups with our neighbors.

"I personally have no problem playing Shelbyville," Cascade boys basketball coach Charlie Pope said in an interview back on Jan. 14. "I would welcome the opportunity. I can understand why it makes sense for us to want to play it and maybe for them to not necessarily want to play it. We have nothing to lose by playing the game. We would probably never be expected to win. It would be fun to play.

"(Shelbyville coach) Kevin Thomas and I have talked about it before. For scheduling purposes it just hasn't worked out yet. But, we keep talking about it. Maybe we can get it to work out."

Too bad the deal didn't get done last season so we could have seen two district MVPs -- Central's Dequan Twilley and Cascade's David Gallagher -- go head to head.

"I've got the utmost respect for (Thomas). He does a great job. They've got kids that can play. Our kids would do well to play a caliber team like that. It would be fun for our fans, for both sides. We'll keep talking. We'll see if someday we can make it happen."

Last season Blackman High was having a tournament over the Christmas break and had a team back out at the last second. Cascade jumped at the opportunity to face off with some Class AA and AAA competition.

Cascade coach Charlie Pope would "welcome the opportunity" to play Central in boys basketball. (T-G Photo by Danny Parker) [Click to enlarge]

"I'm wide open to play anybody anywhere anytime," Pope said. "I don't think anything negative can come out of us playing a game with somebody in a higher classification. It's only going to make our kids better. Hopefully, we represent ourselves well enough to where those other guys will understand that we can hold our own a little bit."

If Tennessee can play MTSU in football, just about anything should be possible.

Many said for years that would never happen. Did dogs and cats suddenly become friendly with one another at kickoff? No, nothing like that happened and numerous fans of both teams finally got to see the schools take on one another.

Central baseball coach Scott Hall didn't have any problems with taking on Cascade this season. In fact, the Champions squeaked out a victory.

In a non-scientific poll done on the Times-Gazette website, fans were asked what they thought about Central competing against Bedford County schools in basketball.

The choices were: Sounds like a great idea; Boys yes, girls no; Girls yes, boys no; Maybe some time in the future; and You're kidding, right?

Of the 304 votes cast, 54.3 percent (165 votes) thought it was a great idea. On the opposite end of the choice list, 32.9 percent (100 votes) thought it would be a joke.

It just doesn't make much sense to me to have teams that are 15 minutes apart avoiding each other like the plague when it comes to athletics.

If some guy at Central takes my Community girlfriend to his prom, shouldn't I get the chance to post him up at least?

Maybe having a new regime of Eaglette basketball getting underway, ideas like this one may take effect.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Danny Parker is sports editor of the Times-Gazette.