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The best thing about 2020? The Demise of the Arby’s Classic!

Marky Billson
7 min readDec 5, 2020

It won’t be played this year. It could have been. Which shows you the real status of the tournament.

Marky Billson

One of the problems with sports coverage in the Tri-Cities is during the pandemic, there were lots of stories about sports history in the area, but very little talk about the future of sports in the area.

Let’s change that now. The demise of the Arby’s Classic this year has allowed us to consider all the wonderful things that could happen in the Tri-Cities in its place.

How about putting the National Hockey League Winter Classic in Bristol Motor Speedway for a game between the Nashville Predators and Carolina Hurricanes that would likely put hockey on the map to stay in the Tri-Cities?

Or, how about ETSU host their own college basketball holiday tournament at this time? In 1956 the Buccaneers held one in the days before Christmas entitled the “Watagua Classic,” which was instrumental in the program rising from the NAIA ranks to the NCAA and allowed Bucs fans to witness the talents of Hal Greer.

Why not hold one now in the days after Christmas in Johnson City so ETSU can become a true mid-major powerhouse?

Or at the very least, can we please describe this high school basketball tournament played in Bristol in the…

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Marky Billson
Marky Billson

Written by Marky Billson

Innovative sports media personality.

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