Published: September 11, 2008 12:03 am      

Tidwell gets it right in Pick the Winners

Mark Tidwell says he has good knowledge of area high school football teams and watches just about every college and pro football game he can on TV.

That might explain how he went 18-2 in the Daily Sun’s Pick the Winners contest last week.

"I guess I'm a sports nut," Tidwell said. "I try to judge talent and take some chances."

Tidwell went 18-2 last week, losing only on West Virginia, which was upset by East Carolina (only one Daily Sun expert picked the game correctly, sports editor Todd Wills), and San Diego, which lost on the last play of the game to Carolina.

Tidwell, from Corsicana, has been into the local sports scene for years. His son, Aaron, is the new baseball coach at Mildred. Before that Aaron was an assistant at Corsicana, where he was an all-district shortstop in 2001.

Tidwell coached Aaron's summer league teams from the time his son was 10, traveling to play baseball in East Texas and Louisiana. Mark, a diehard Yankees fans, went with Aaron to Yankee Stadium, in its final year, as well as Fenway Park and Cooperstown this summer.

"It was a great trip," Mark said.

Mark worked at Guardian for 15 years before getting into home remodeling. He spends his time gardening and doing yard work now after having lung surgery two years ago.

He gets to join the Daily Sun experts in Thursday's Pick-It-Line this week.