Vol. 6, No. 7, April 12, 2010 Vol. 6, No. 7, April 12, 2010

Transcription

Vol. 6, No. 7,
April 12, 2010
2
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
IMPORTS
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Let me allay a few conc
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technicians will retain
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oves,
furnish family and frien s on Leesville Lake. When the economy impr
tie
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siness.
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you very well see me ba
ut Virginia for making
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any custo
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I want to thank our m
ur years in a row as w
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pport have been extra
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from Salem and Roan
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hi
alers
purchased from our de
(540) 293-4620.
Sincerely,
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PLAYMAKER
APRIL 12, 2010
3
PLAY BY PLAY
After turning pro,
J.J. Redick (left)
has returned to
Cave Spring to
assist high
school coach
Billy Hicks
with summer
camp
Spotlight
J.J. Redick
Bill Turner
T
reer, about half of his collegiate total at Duke, where he was
named NCAA Player of the Year in 2006.
This season, Redick’s playing time has increased to more
than 22 minutes per game, and his offensive numbers have also
improved significantly.
Art Parakhouski
Photo courtesy of the Orlando Magic
he former Cave Spring
High School and Duke
University basketball star
played his NBA career game
March 28 in an Orlando
Magic 103-97 victory over
the Denver Nuggets.
Redick, who is also mentioned in columns beginning
on pages 5 and 6 of this
issue, scored 23 points,
handed out eight assists and
grabbed seven rebounds
in 46 minutes of action. He
was playing in place of the
injured Vince Carter. Redick
is averaging 9.5 ppg and
1.8 apg in his fourth NBA
season. He has made 229
3-pointers in his NBA ca-
T
Playbook
Page 15
Opinions
Todd Marcum ........................................... 4
Mike Stevens ........................................... 5
John A. Montgomery ............................ 7
Mike Ashley ............................................ 19
Page 10
Articles
Page’s Pain: How Does a Proven Coach Go 6-20? .........................10
Both Sides Now: A look at BRD Pitching Tandems .........................12
Sports 101: Teaching Students the Business Side .........................13
Local Senior Tour Fully Blossoms in Eighth Season ......................14
A Familiar Face Returns to Salem Baseball.....................................15
Bill Turner
Christian Moody ..................................... 6
he 6-11 Radford
University senior
center, cover subject
of the Feb. 15 issue of
Play by Play, was
named to the Associated Press honorable
mention All-American
team released in late
March. He also made
the team last year.
Parakhouski ranked
among the nation’s
leaders in scoring,
rebounding and
shooting percentage.
The Belarus native
played in the Reese’s
College Senior AllStar game April 2
in Indianapolis and
scored eight points and
had seven rebounds in
15 minutes of play.
For the second
consecutive year, he
was named Big South
Conference player of
the year.
Photo courtesy of Radford University
Page 12
Extras
Playmakers ..............................3
Natural Health Tip .................7
Ask A Ref ..................................8
Danny Cruff
Snapshots of the Season ......9
Sports Shorts .........................16
From the Bookshelf .............18
Sponsored by:
4
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
Final bell sounds for wrestling legend
IN MY
OPINION
by Todd
Marcum
nadian Tag Team championship.
Operating out of Calgary for six
years, the Scotts competed briefly
in the Carolinas in 1957 and by
the early ‘60s were fixtures on the
Dixie grappling circuit. In 1959,
the Petersburg Progress-Index described young Sandy as “a brilliant offensive wrestler. His aerial
attacks are devastating, with solid
flying tackles, vice-like head scissors and fast dropkicks.”
The pair won NWA tag team
championships several times and
would go on to win championships on three continents. Sandy’s
travelogue included Japan, Australia and Europe, but the South
remained his home base. The Flying Scotts were a fixture for legendary promoter Jim Crockett’s
wrestling cards, feuding with stars
like The Minnesota Wrecking
Crew and The Anderson Brothers,
and headlining sold-out shows in
such cities as Greensboro, Norfolk
and Atlanta.
In stark contrast to today’s
made-for-television professional
Players in this Issue
Publisher/Editor
Graphic Designer
Contributors
John A. Montgomery
Donna Earwood
Mike Ashley
Rod Carter
Danny Cruff
Donald Earwood
Tommy Firebaugh
David Helmer
Brian Hoffman
Sam Lazzaro
Chris Manning
Todd Marcum
Gene Marrano
Joyce Montgomery
Christian Moody
Mike Stevens
Bill Turner
P.O. Box 3285, Roanoke, VA 24015
(540) 761-6751 • E-mail: jmonty@cox.net
On the Web: www.playbyplayonline.net
©Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. No part of Play by Play may be reproduced
by any means or in any form without written permission from the publisher.
Play by Play is published every fourth Monday. Deadline for submissions
for the May 10 issue is April 26.
wrestling product, the stars of the
the extent of his colorful life, thouday took pride in playing to a full
sands of wrestling fans mourned
house. The Scotts were part of one
his passing and dozens of Internet
of the most infamous incidents
reports mourned his death. But of
in the colorful sport’s history, the
all of these, perhaps the best meaRichmond Fairgrounds
Riot. The Flying Scotts’
feud with “heels” Boris
Malenko and Bob Orton
had packed in several consecutive sellouts culminating in a showdown at
the Fairgrounds. After the
Scotts had won the match,
Malenko charged Sandy
from behind and slammed
him into a ring post. An
angry crowd stormed the
ring. Malenko was stabbed
and Orton’s head was split
open by the fans. In the
end, Richmond’s finest
were called in to restore
order.
After a career inside the
ring that spanned nearly
two decades, Sandy became an executive for
Jim Crockett Promotions,
which would eventually be
purchased by Ted Turn- Sandy Scott and his wife Sandra were honer and renamed World ored by the NWA in Charlotte in 2008
Championship Wrestling.
Sandy played nearly every role in
sure of the man…a man who stood
the business as a television anvery tall indeed…was this paranouncer, executive, booker and
graph from his obituary which appromoter. He eventually settled in
peared in The Roanoke Times:
Roanoke and oversaw many of the
Sandy Scott was not only a wonregion’s wrestling cards.
derful husband, an amazing father,
Bob Caudle, the longtime voice
and an incredible grandfather, but
of Mid-Atlantic Wrestling who
also a man of wisdom, strength,
worked with Sandy on TV and was
and courage. He was an elite athone of three eulogists at his funerlete as well as a remarkable menal in Roanoke, recalled the transtor. He pursued his dreams and
planted Canadian.
was very successful. He was a man
“He was such a clean-cut guy
of simple pleasures. Most of all, he
and a down-to-earth honest guy,”
was a powerful fighter, not only in
says Caudle. “He had a great sense
the ring, but with his tremendous
of humor and he was a terrific
battle with pancreatic cancer. His
storyteller.”
unprecedented legend will continue
In the 1990s, Sandy was disto carry on and his fight and tenacmayed at the ultimate fate of
ity will touch many others and their
World Championship Wrestling
strength to battle cancer.
and watched as the “suits” in AtPersonally, I must admit to being
lanta mismanaged the company
a fan of “old-school” wrestling...
on its road to ruin. After the WCW
circa Mr. Wrestling II, Austin Idol
fiasco, Sandy was one of the drivand Harley Race. One thing I loved
ing forces behind Smoky Mounas I researched this piece, reading
tain Wrestling, the last of the
old articles about Sandy and interold-school promotions. He would
views with him, is that I learned
still lend a hand at local wrestling
that Sandy never broke character
shows even after his retirement,
or seemed to betray the trust that
because it was just something the
is part of the relationship between
man loved. In 2008, Scott was inthe wrestler and the wrestling fan.
ducted into the NWA Wrestling
As a fan, you have to suspend your
Legends Hall of Heroes.
cynical nature and just enjoy the
Sandy Scott passed after a battrip.
tle with pancreatic cancer. While
Sandy took pride in taking wresmany close friends didn’t know
tling fans on the magical ride.
Photo courtesy of NWALegends.com
L
EGENDS WALK AMONG US.
Sadly, we often don’t realize it
until it’s too late.
You may have known Sandy
Scott. He may have been a neighbor…the nice gentleman you saw
at the store. But many of his friends
did not know the full extent of his
wrestling fame before his untimely death March 11. He was 75.
“He was unassuming,” says
Play by Play publisher John
Montgomery, who attended Westhampton Christian Church with
Sandy. “I had no idea he was a professional wrestler until he passed
away and I read his obituary. He
was always very sensitive, very
kind…not the kind of image you’d
automatically associate with a
tough guy in the ring.”
Born Angus Mackay Scott in
Hamilton, Ontario, Sandy broke
into professional wrestling in 1954,
teaming with his brother George
to form The Flying Scotts. In an
era when wrestling was mostly
defined by brute force, the Scotts
introduced a crowd-pleasing,
high-flying approach that featured
dropkicks and flying head scissors. The tag team was so popular
that a western Canada Stampede
Wrestling event showcasing the
brothers was forced to turn away
6,000 paying fans. Within months,
The Flying Scotts captured the Ca-
APRIL 12, 2010
5
PLAY BY PLAY
Enjoying some R&R at my Magical Kingdom
Mike Stevens photos
F
INALLY! NO MORE FROST
on the windshield, no more
snow up to my knees and no
more ice skating just to get to the
mailbox. Spring is here and not a
moment too soon. I’m not a big
cold weather fan during relatively
mild conditions, but this year, Old
Man Winter’s grip around my neck was so tight that it forced me to actually watch an entire NBA game from start to fi nish.
Now for the sake of this column, I must clarify that I watched the game
in person rather than on TV. While the seemingly endless winter weather
may have made me a little stir crazy,
I certainly wasn’t delusional
enough to subject myself to
the anguish of viewing an
entire regular season NBA
game from the couch.
Instead, I hopped in the
family SUV with my wife,
Sharon, and son, Bryan, who
was on spring break from
James Madison, and headed
south to Orlando to mooch off
of my wife’s brother, Dean, and
our sister-in-law, Wendy, for a
few days. They live in a gated
community just up the street
from Tiger Woods’ Isleworth
neighborhood. LPGA legend Jan
Stephenson lives there along with Orlando Magic point guard Jameer
Nelson and a host of other folks who spend more on annual lawn care
than I make in a year.
Shaquille O’Neal’s mom also has a sprawling mansion situated on the
lakeshore just before you enter my brother-in-law’s residential area, but
as we were making our way through the Friday afternoon rush-hour traffic on Interstate 4 and heading to our final exit, I informed my son that
her home no longer was the prime photo-op for tourists heading through
Windermere. I told him to brace himself because we were about to pass
Florida’s newest tourist attraction — the now infamous Perkins Restaurant where Tiger evidently left more than a tip for his waitress.
Believe it or not, we didn’t drive all the way to Orlando to be served
pancakes by a mistress — my wife made sure of that. Rather, the focus
of our trip was to watch the Orlando Magic battle the Los Angeles Lakers
in a rematch of last year’s NBA Finals. I covered a number of Hornets’
games and practices back when Dell Curry and George Lynch were part
of the Charlotte franchise, but the last time I attended an NBA game as
a fan was way back in the 1970s when Elvin Hayes was starring for the
Washington Bullets.
Back then I
am pretty sure
that they used
to pipe the
national anthem into the
Capital Centre through a
Mont gomer y
Ward 8-track
tape
player,
but for the
M a g i c -L a kers game, they
brought
in
national recording artist
Mike’s son Bryan Hanger (left) and brother-inSister Hazel
law Dean Kurtz settle into their center-court
to blast out an
seats at the March 7 Orlando Magic game which
a capella vergave them a great view of numerous celebrities
sion of the anthem that even had Kobe Bryant clapping.
The presence of Bryant, Dwight Howard and the ever-imposing Phil
Jackson left no doubt that this was a heavyweight NBA battle, but if
there hadn’t been a roof on the Amway Arena, we could have had some
kind of fantastic pitching duel. New York Yankees stars C.C. Sabathia
and Andy Pettitte were situated on the front row at one end of the floor
See STEVENS, Page 8
Have everything
but the playbook
at your fingertips.
With U.S. Cellular’s high-speed nationwide
network, you can surf the web for the latest
stats, share Pix from the game and even watch
highlights – all from your wireless phone.
Things we want you to know: Mobile Broadband on 3G Network only available with select handsets and in select markets. ©2010 U.S. Cellular
‘Chateau Relaxo’ in Orlando offered a pool and hot tub
6
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
State champions share many similarities
A
Brian Hoffman
Brian Hoffman
Bill Turner
RECENT RED-LETTER DAY
not sure if the greater
saw the Knights crowned as
slight is the VHSL
masters of their realms. Satgetting it wrong, or a
urday, March 13, the Siegel Center
local sportswriter not
in Richmond witnessed two Roacatching the mistake.
noke-area schools hoisting state
And besides, perhaps
championship trophies in their
“Good” was a Freudrespective divisions of boys’ basian slip.
ketball.
Either way, Goad’s
The geography was not the only thing these teams had in common.
name is known to
Both teams, Cave
many now. He’s been
Spring and James River
to the mountaintop.
high schools, are known
The main goal of a
as the Knights. Both
coach is to win a title
wear red and black. And
and turn out excellent
both are testaments to
young people. Goad
the value of senior leadand James River can
ership and teamwork.
claim both.
James River won the
What the team of
Group A Division 2
seniors will have, as
crown with five seniors
they go their sepaon the court. That’s it.
rate ways in life, is
Five guys. Not a sinthe knowledge that
gle substitute entered
they were part of
the game in the state
something truly spechampionship
game
cial. The glory on
against
Buckingham
the court was shortCounty. They didn’t
lived. The medal cerCave Spring’s Josh Henderson was dominant in
need to. James River
emony lasted only a
the state semifinals with 31 points and 22 replayed a zone defense
few minutes. Within
bounds. He was named AA player of the year
that defended the passa few days after the
ing lanes and forced
game the parades were over, the rally at the school was over and the troshooters outside, so foul
phy case was rearranged. But what those guys felt will be with them for
trouble was rarely an isthe rest of their lives.
sue. The Knights of BuA couple hours before Goad and James River players felt the elation
chanan were whistled
of winning a state title, Cave Spring coach Billy Hicks foreshadowed
for one lone foul in the
their experience while telling of a message he received from former Cave
first half.
Spring star J.J. Redick.
The five starters had
Redick sent Hicks a message to pass on to his team, saying that while
been with each other as
Redick has been part of a conference champion in the NBA and played
a group for a long time.
for a title, been to the NCAA Final Four and won ACC championships,
They knew each other’s
he never felt as good as he did when he won the 2002 state championship
moves
on
with a team made up of his best friends.
the court,
The James River players now know exactly
James River point guard Ethan Humphries
but
they
what Redick meant, The current crop of Cave
was named Group A player of the year
were also a
Spring Knights know as well.
team off the court. They were a team in school, in the comCave Spring dressed 12 seniors on this year’s
munity. They are guys who have grown up together and been
team, a squad that won the state title a year ago.
a part of each other’s lives for as long as they remember.
In fact, the Knights beat the same team, BrunsIt’s fitting they went out on top. The team was given a parade
wick, in last year’s Group AA Division 3 final.
in downtown Buchanan the next day. Why not? Buchanan
Poor Brunswick, the team that defeated Cave
has waited for this day a long time.
Spring for the state title in 2003, has lost four
Coach Mike Goad told reporters in the postgame press
straight championship games, but in the postconference of a Buchanan business owner who said he realgame press conference, head coach Bryant
ized a retail store needed to be open to make money, but he
Stith showed himself to be a man of class and
had waited 58 years to see the Knights win a state basketball
character. Oddly enough, Stith said his team
title, and, by golly, he was going to close the store and be in
played the entire season looking forward to just
Richmond for the game.
one team, Cave Spring.
James River has a strong history as a basketball power, but
Hicks said he didn’t look to Brunswick for a
the Knights might be the best-kept secret in the region when
second before the Bulldogs beat Northside in
it comes to that success. The Knights were 28-2 this year and
the state semifinals. Hicks might have had the
did not lose a game to a Group A school. This was the school’s
better plan, but he was quick to point out that
fourth trip to the state final four. Have they been overlooked,
his team won because of chemistry. The seniors
even in their own backyard? Goad thinks so, and he’s right.
know each other. They are friends off the court
The coach could rightfully claim a lack of respect when his
and make the team as much a family as a group
name was misspelled in The Roanoke Times following James
of guys who wear the same uniform.
River’s quarterfinal win over Honaker. I was the writer who
Hicks said Brunswick was more athletic at all
made that mistake, but I took his name right out of the Vir- James River coach Mike Goad has
See MOODY, Page 8
ginia High School League program given to the press. I’m won 100 games in the last 4 years
APRIL 12, 2010
PLAY BY PLAY
Road warranty surpasses 100,000 miles
W
John A. Montgomery
HEN JAMES TAYLOR REcorded “Walking Man” in
1974, he could have been
foreshadowing the path of Roanoke County resident Bill Waters.
Waters must be among the most
prolific walkers in the Roanoke
Valley. If there are others who can
match his astonishing cumulative numbers, I’d like to know about them.
Waters was captain of his Hampden-Sydney tennis team more than a
half-century ago, but downplays his athletic talent. “I’m no great athlete,”
he says dismissively.
Waters, 72, does not overstate. The more you learn about Bill Waters,
the more you are impressed. Politicians should copy him.
When he was 40, Waters ran the Charlotte Marathon in 3:34, just a few
minutes shy of the pace necessary to qualify for Boston. Big deal, he says.
Lots of people run marathons faster. His best time in a 10K is 40:42. “That
was like 30 years ago,” he scoffs.
OK. Let’s try this one. Last month, Waters, who rarely misses a day of walking
— no matter what — crossed the 100,000mile barrier. His warranty is still in effect. We’re talking the equivalent of four
times around the circumference of the
earth. In case you’re reaching for a calculator, it averages to be 10 miles a day,
every day, for 27.5 years. Waters smiles.
He is “kinda” proud of that one.
Waters, who spent most of his formative years in the Tidewater and Richmond areas, battled asthma as a child.
He speaks of being forced to run a few
steps as a 12-year-old to avoid an approaching car. It came as a surprise
when he realized that he was not out of
Bill Waters follows most sports breath. This was a big day. The disease
closely, although he downgradually disappeared.
plays his level of expertise
Waters played for Thomas Jefferson
High School’s tennis team in the mid-1950s, a squad that put together
a string of seven consecutive state titles extending on both sides of his
enrollment. He played No. 1 during his sophomore and junior seasons at
Hampden-Sydney, but Waters says the Tigers weren’t very good then.
Over the next five years, Waters served a stint in the Army, worked as a
probation officer in Richmond, got married and earned a master’s degree
in social work at Richmond Professional Institute. A state job brought Waters and his wife, Donna, to Roanoke in 1965. They have lived in the same
house for 45 years and are proud parents of four children and grandparents of five.
Waters retired from the state department of youth and juvenile justice
on his 54th birthday, and has “no regrets, whatsoever. I’d had it with bureaucracy,” he says.
In their golden years, some people garden, some people travel, some
people volunteer. Waters walks. Usually he goes out twice a day, five miles
or so at a clip. Most of the walks follow routes surrounding his home in the
Cave Spring neighborhood. As he is a member of the Kirk Family YMCA,
many days find him getting in some mileage there, too.
“You couldn’t do this if you had a job,” Waters says.
Obviously, Waters qualifies as a fit individual. He stands about 5-8,
weighs 180 pounds and maintains a healthy lifestyle. His percentage of
body fat is low. He admits to possessing an obsessive-compulsive personality, and downplays his outside interests. “I’m not a big reader,” he says.
I can attest, however, that he follows this publication. He seems to know
the four-week production cycle better than I do, and he often picks up the
new issue the day it comes out. He even seems to know which location
will have it first.
About a year ago, Waters wrote a letter to Play by Play. He recognized
two Roanoke County boys’ high school basketball coaches, Billy Hicks
and Billy Pope, as “the top two high school basketball coaches in the
commonwealth.” Considering that Cave Spring’s Hicks won yet another
7
state title this winter (see the facing page) and Pope’s Northside team set
a school record for consecutive wins before falling in the Group AA state
tournament semifinals, it would seem that some of Waters’ observations
are dead on.
Part of what makes Waters’ athletic feat so impressive is that he has
overcome a major bump in the road. Waters came to grips with his addiction to alcohol shortly before he retired, and part of his recovery program
has included stepping up his walking.
In addition to following local sports, Waters’ favorite teams outside of
the immediate area are the Washington Redskins, the Atlanta Braves and
the Duke University basketball team. “When I stopped drinking, they all
made it to the pinnacle (although Atlanta lost in the World Series that
year),” he says with a laugh. “If I’d known that would happen, I would
have stopped drinking a lot sooner.”
Waters maintains a detailed log of his walks dating to 1977. “I’m a fanatic for keeping records,” he says. During the decade of the 1990s, he
averaged 10.6 miles a day. In the 2000s, he averaged 11.4. He explains that
variance easily; he retired 21 months into the 1990s, which allowed more
time for his hobby.
A few days after he eclipsed the 100,000-mile barrier, I walked a couple
of miles with Waters. His normal pace is fairly casual, about 18 minutes
per mile. Walking 11.4 miles takes a 3¼-hour commitment. Timewise,
it’s as if he plays 18 holes of golf every day. Distance-wise, it’s more like
walking 36.
It will come as no surprise to learn that Waters says he is not a deep
thinker. But the opportunity to ponder is an attractive benefit of walking,
he says. If you tell him the date of your birth, in a very short time he can
tell you the day of the week, the result of putting into practice a program
he has worked out in his head.
With a fit body and a fit mind, Waters’ odometer has just turned over.
He’s started the next hundred thousand miles.
His tread seems to be wearing remarkably well.
Natural Health
Tip of the Month
From Dr. Jeffrey Barker, DC, CCSP
Are you a weekend warrior? Your enthusiasm for activity that you are
not conditioned for can sometimes lead to injuries. To help limit this
possibility...
1. Know your limits and listen to your body (do not fight through pain)
2. Drink lots of water to stay well-hydrated and eat quality foods to stay well
fueled
3. Warm up, Cool down, and stretch both before and after your activity
4. Try not to do too many repetitive activities without breaks for recovery
5. If you overdo things, see your chiropractor, as they specialize in
musculoskeletal type injuries
Have a sports injury?
Get a natural healing
from a sports specialist!
Dr. Jeffrey Barker, DC, CCSP, Former Treating
Physician for US Decathlon Team
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Barker Chiropractic
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Roanoke, VA 24018 • 540/400-0802
Stevens
PLAY BY PLAY
From Page 5
while softball sensation Jenny Finch was
on the other.
My
high-rolling
brother-in-law’s center-court seats gave
us a perfect view of
all of this celebrity
starpower and they
provided us with the
ideal vantage point to
break down the action
on the floor. Of course,
my main focus was on
J.J. Redick (see page
3), and while he didn’t
even score on this particular afternoon, it’s
clear that his role on
the team is far more
important than it’s
been in past years. J.J.’s
attitude is amazing. The Cirque du Soleil strongmen entertained the
He’s the first player to sold-out crowd during the game’s intermission
greet his teammates and offer encrowd with their amazing feats of
couragement as they come off the
strength and balance were spellfloor at a timeout. Plus, he doesn’t
binding and mind-boggling at the
take himself too seriously, as evisame time.
denced by his singing of the JourThe game itself couldn’t have
ney classic, “Don’t Stop Believing,”
been any better. It came down to
in a promotion that aired on the
a last-second shot by Kobe that
JumboTron during the game.
could have sent the game to overWe also noticed that Kobe is
time. He missed, the Magic won
even better in person than he is
and we got out of our executive
on TV and that Howard isn’t as
parking spot in plenty of time to
accomplished offensively as the
beat the traffic out of downtown
NBA hype machine would lead us
Orlando.
to believe. An hour before tip-off,
The quick exit saved us a good
Howard was working hard on his
40 minutes and got us back to
drop-step moves with NBA Hallthe “Chateau Relaxo” in plenty of
of-Famer and Orlando assistant
time to enjoy the pool and the hot
coach Patrick Ewing. The Magic
tub before the sun set behind one
can only hope some of Ewing’s
of the manicured greens on the
power moves and medium range
adjacent Jack Nicklaus Signature
jump-shooting prowess will rub
Keene’s Pointe golf course.
off on the Magic’s strong man as
The day before, I got to experihe continues to develop.
ence another priceless Florida moAnd speaking of strength, you
ment when we visited Fleaworld.
should have seen the halftime
The world’s largest flea market, in
show. Usually, two muscular men
nearby Sanford, has more than
with shaved heads wearing span1,700 vendors. It’s one of those
dex will send me straight to the explaces where you can get a corn
its, but the Cirque du Soleil strongdog, a velvet Elvis and a bikini
men who entertained the sold-out
wax under the same roof. The men
thought this sliver of Americana
was awesome, but my wife and
sister-in-law decided to take a little more refined path and went to a
private jewelry show just down the
street from Tiger’s house.
They didn’t see Tiger, but later
we all saw a Sheltie named Faith
riding on a raft in our own pool.
I’m telling you, it was just like
Disneyworld — only without all
the lines….and a whole lot cheaper.
A dog’s life: A Sheltie named Faith
Man, I love family.
rode a raft in the Orlando pool
APRIL 12, 2010
Moody
From Page 6
the Knights would be in trouble in
four of the five, with only Vanderbilt-signee Josh Henderson havfive positions. If the game was five
ing an advantage. But the game
separate one-on-one match-ups,
was played with seniors
— both starters and subs
— working in sync to hit
the big shots when they
were needed. Find the hot
hand and make the plays.
Fans who traveled to
Richmond and watched
both games might have
felt a sense of déjà vu. Cave
Spring opened an 11-point
lead at the half, but scored
only two points in the
third quarter and found
itself tied going into the final period. From there, the
Knights rallied for the win.
James River was up nine
at the half, but also managed only a deuce in the
third and was trailing by
a point going into the final
frame. Again, the Knights
rallied.
The pair of local teams
brought home the hardware and set their names
into the lore of basketball
Cave Spring coach Billy Hicks has coached
for years to come.
in four state title games in the last 9 years
Bill Turner
8
Ask A Ref
In an effort to inform fans of the finer points of the rules of the
games, Play by Play regularly publishes the feature, “Ask a Ref,” a
chance for fans to ask a question about specific sports rules, preferably those related to high school or the NCAA.
Questions can be sent to Ask_a_Ref@yahoo.com.
This month, a baseball question is asked of longtime veteran
high school baseball umpire and member of the Salem-Roanoke
Baseball Hall of Fame Tim Callahan.
Q.
I just learned of a rule that at the time of a pitch, all fielders
must have at least one foot in fair territory. Other than a first
baseman holding a runner there, I don’t know why a fielder
wouldn’t be in fair territory, but what happens if a fielder is standing in foul territory and there is a pitch? Or what happens is the first
baseman has both feet in foul territory and there is a pick-off attempt? Is that legal?
A.
Rule 1, Section 1, Article 4 of the NFHS Rules Book states: “At
the time of the pitch, all fielders shall be on fair ground except the catcher who shall be in the catcher’s box. A fielder
is in fair ground when at least one foot is touching fair ground. Penalty: Illegal pitch. If no runners are on base a ball is awarded to the
batter. If runners are on base, a balk would be called.” No pitch is
made; a balk is a dead ball call. In the case where the first baseman
did not have one foot in fair ground and a pick-off was attempted,
technically this is OK because a pick-off attempt is not a pitch. If the
first baseman was positioned with both feet in foul ground with a
runner on base and a pitch is made, it is a balk.
APRIL 12, 2010
Snapshots of
the season
PLAY BY PLAY
Brian Hoffman

John Feinstein
The celebrated sportswriter (front
row, center), who has authored
“Season on The Brink” and many
other classic books, made an appearance on press row at the NCAA
D-III Basketball Championships
played at the Salem Civic Center
in March. Feinstein filed a feature
story for his home paper, The Washington Post.
Brian Hoffman
Fuzzy Minnix

The current Roanoke County School
Board member and former County
Supervisor was spotted umpiring the
Craig County-EastMont softball game
in Newcastle March 23. Minnix, a
former Cave Spring High School softball coach, is also a board member
of Virginia Amateur Sports.
Christian Moody
Silver Whistle Award
Shall We Dance?

Cave Spring Middle School
student Matty Doughty caught
up with ESPN sideline reporter
and ‘Dancing with the Stars’
contestant Erin Andrews at the
ACC Basketball Tournament in
Greensboro in early March.
At the Blue Ridge Football
Officials’ Clinic held in Salem
March 6, Kip Johnson (immediate left) presented longtime
NCAA football official and Roanoke resident Monty Williams
with a distinguished service
award. Dan Wooldridge was
also honored in absentia. More
than 180 high school and college football officials from five
states were in attendance.
Photo courtesy of Doug Doughty
9
Page’s Pain
10
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
What caused a proven coach to post a 6-20 record?
by Mike Ashley
Brian Hoffman photos
P
AGE MOIR HAS ALWAYS
been a happy-go-lucky
sort, a refreshing and
somewhat unusual style
in his line of work.
Moir, coming from a lineage
of coaches, including his father,
Charlie, and his uncle, Sam, is the
men’s head basketball coach at Roanoke College. Like most coaches,
the younger Moir is intense during
practice and when game time arrives, but he has always had that
magical ability to step away from
the game and enjoy his family and
friends, and other aspects of what
he truly considers a blessed life.
Not all coaches master that ability. For Moir, his sunny outlook
was a key ingredient in surviving
this past stormy season. The Maroons were 6-20, and dropped out
of contention in a stacked Old Do-
Smith Mountain Lake Triathlon
May 1, 2010
750M Swim • 20K Bike • 5K Run
th
13 Annual SML Triathlon
Date:
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Location: Smith Mountain Lake State Park – Huddleston, Virginia
Time:
9:00am
To register or volunteer visit:
www.CommonwealthGames.org
open, and it’s likely Page
Moir bleeds maroon.
“We’ve got a great
president
(Michael
Maxey) and (athletic
director) Scott (Allison) is a fantastic boss,”
says Moir, 50. “I like the
people I work with. I like
the custodians. I like the
people in the registrar’s
office. I like everybody
I’m around. It’s a good
place. It’s well run and
I believe in what we’re
doing.”
And that’s why the
2009-10 season was so
tough for Moir.
The Maroons slumped
to their worst record
since 1976-77. Once the
calendar turned to 2010,
this season’s Maroons
would win only two
more
games. Moir, who
Roanoke coach Page Moir and his staff have
has
fi
ve
20-win seasons
blamed themselves rather than the players
and another five years
with 17 or more victories under his
minion Athletic Conference race
belt, was bloody but unbowed.
shortly after league play began.
Even now, he remains proud of
Roanoke College ended the seahis
program and looks forward to
son on an 11-game losing streak in
what
the future holds.
a conference chockfull of Top 20
“I’m
not embarrassed by this
programs and national contendteam,”
he
says. “I’m embarrassed
ers, positions Moir and the Maby
what
happened
this year under
roons are used to enjoying themmy
watch,
and
I
want
to make sure
selves.
it
doesn’t
happen
again.”
So how does Moir fi nd the silMarooned
ver lining in 2009-10’s dark clouds
It’s Thursday morning at the
and turn his proud program back
ODAC
Tournament in the Salem
around? And how did the comCivic
Center.
petitive coach handle his toughest
The Roanoke College and
season, one unlike any other he
Lynchburg
women’s teams are
has ever experienced?
just
starting
to warm up for the
The Maroons suffered only two
fi
rst
game
of
a
four-day basketball
losing seasons in Moir’s previous
bacchanalia
in
the old barn of a
20 years, and his 357-208 record at
building,
albeit
a
very hoops-andthe school has already made him
fan-friendly
barn.
There aren’t
the winningest men’s basketball
many
fans
in
the
seats
but ODAC
coach in Roanoke history.
and
City
of
Salem
employees
nearAnd that’s saying something at
ly
ring
the
court,
readying
for
a 12Roanoke College, where the presgames-in-three-days
barrage
betigious coaching list includes his
fore
the
two
fi
nals
tip
off
Sunday.
father and Ed Green, among other
Page Moir appears on the floor,
notables. Page was on the bench
lugging
computer equipment. It’s
in 1972 as a precocious 12-yearsome
machinery
from his office
old handing out towels and water
that
will
allow
the
teams to quickbottles for his dad’s 1972 national
ly
copy
their
game
fi lm onto DVD,
championship team.
a
process
that
will
make visiting
His Roanoke College roots run
coaches’
lives
easier.
It’s a small
deep, certainly predating his hirtouch
of
hospitality
and
attention
ing as head coach in 1989. Cut him
APRIL 12, 2010
to detail that Salem has become
noted for over the years, hosting
so many championships.
Moir is wearing sweats as he
drops the hardware off at press
row. “This is what you end up
doing when you lose in the first
round,” he says with a wry smile.
The Maroons’ season ended with a
tough 83-78 loss at Lynchburg two
days earlier.
Roanoke’s season is over but
Moir would be pitching in to help
out like this even if his team was
still playing. The next day, when
hearing a coach talking about
some difficulty getting the team
laundry done, Moir tells the visiting coach to drop the laundry at
his office early the next day and
he’ll do it for them and have it
ready before they play.
Welcome to Division III athletics.
Moir isn’t one of those coaches
who will air any dirty laundry
about what happened to his team,
but it’s apparent the Maroons lost a
lot of talent from the previous season and the squad’s overall youth
was an issue all year long.
A year earlier, the Maroons were
19-7, third in the ODAC, winning
at least 11 conference games for
the third straight year and cracking the Division III Top 20. But Sa-
11
PLAY BY PLAY
lem native Curtis Peery, who led
the team with 18.4 points and 6.8
rebounds, graduated, as did gritty
point guard Drew Gaeng.
“Curtis Peery was a huge loss because he was a big man who could
score,” explains Moir. “If you get
him the ball, he was either going
to get to the foul line or score.”
Gaeng, who had paid his dues as
a backup to another local product,
Northside’s Keith Carter, emerged
as a floor leader his senior season,
and became one of Moir’s favorites. “I’ve had a good lineage of
leaders at the point guard spot and
Drew Gaeng was one of the best
I’ve ever had,” says the coach. “He
was a winner. He got the ball to the
right place and he defended bigger
than he was. He was quick enough
and made all the right decisions.”
In other words, Gaeng had become by his senior season, one
of those players you just can’t replace.
But the process at point guard
became further complicated when
returning junior Corey Poindexter, who had a knee injury end
his season early in 2009, wasn’t
able to get back on the court until
this past October, just two weeks
before official practice began. He
never fully recovered, and thus junior Parrish Walker had to move
Moir, 50, originally planned to
coach until age 70 or 75, but now
says 65 is a more realistic goal
from his wing guard spot to the
point as Moir and his staff brought
freshman Kwasi Amponsah along
slowly.
Playing out of position, Walker
fought the good fight, scoring 11.0
points and averaging a team-high
3.7 assists per game.
Missing the consistent low-post
scoring and with just one senior
(Kendrick Chittock) in the rotation, the Maroons still won four of
their first six games. “We started
out playing hard, we had a couple of good wins early and played
pretty good basketball,” says Moir.
“But I think when we came back
from Christmas we lost four games
to teams we could have beaten and
you could see the look on guys’
faces, ‘What’s happening here?’”
The Maroons blew a doubledigit lead at Bridgewater, and confidence further waned. It didn’t
help matters that the ODAC was
loaded this year, three conference
teams reaching the NCAA Division III Elite Eight, and two even
returning to Salem for the Final
Four.
“The teams were that good,”
Moir says. “This was an unforgiving league this year. We went to
(Eastern) Mennonite, and shoot,
I didn’t think we played that bad
and we lost by 30.”
Support Staff
As the losses mounted and the
players’ confidence ebbed, Moir
tried to stay positive with the
young team. He put some new
things in the playbook. He took
out some other things.
See MOIR, Page 17
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Golf Club
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Both Sides Now
12
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
Lefty-righty pitching combos bolster Northside, Byrd
Bowles (whose name is remarkably similar to that of the new
Salem Red Sox field manager
Kevin Boles as well as the former Salem professional baseball
club owner Kelvin Bowles) was
taking his small frame and blowing away hitters with his mid-80s
fastball and bulldog mentality on
the mound. While Bowles didn’t
match his teammate McMillan’s
2009 win-loss record, he gained
every bit as much respect from his
teammates, opposing players and
college scouts.
While these two teams were
duo. While there may have been
question marks in some positions
ITCHING IS AT A PREMIUM
within the Terrier lineup, it was
in high school baseball in
common knowledge that given
the Roanoke Valley this year.
Byrd’s aforementioned pitchers it
Look no further than the Blue
was going to be tough to compete
Ridge District and you can arguwith the Terriers in their quest
ably find the four best area pitchfor the 2010 BRD crown. But then
ers on just two teams, Northside
word made it to Vinton that the
and William Byrd.
dominant Botetourt lefthandThe Northside Vikings made a
er Arnold was changing colors,
run in 2009 at the Blue Ridge Distransferring to the green and gold
trict title, but fell short in the semiof the Vikings. The winds started
final game to the eventual tournato change, ever so slightly.
ment winner, the William Byrd
“We knew that changed things
Terriers. This classic rematch fola little bit,” says Byrd’s McMillan.
lowed an epic battle
Bowles agrees. “Arfrom several weeks
nold is a competiprior, when after
tor and that makes
nine innings, the
Northside
even
game was tied 1-1
tougher now,” he
and had to be called
says.
due to darkness and
“We expect big
finished later in the
things,” says Northseason.
side’s Cundiff, “esAt the forefront
pecially now that
of that masterpiece
he’s here. It’ll be nice
were two pitchers.
to have some of the
One was Trent Cunpressure off when
diff from Northside,
it comes to mound
the tall, barreltime.” Arnold is hapchested righthander
py to be on the same
who was throwing From left: Northside’s Patrick Arnold and Trent Cundiff and
side with his friend
overpowering fast- William Byrd’s Kevin Bowles and Jacob McMillan provide their
and Commonwealth
balls and keeping respective BRD baseball teams with a potent 1-2 pitching punch Games teammate.
the Terrier hitters off balance with
fighting it out against Alleghany for
“It’s definitely exciting coming
an array of off-speed pitches. On
BRD supremacy, lefty Patrick Arover; it’s a new beginning,” Arnold
the other side, matching him pitch
nold was toiling at Lord Botetourt,
says. Arnold is familiar with some
for pitch, was the Terriers’ Jacob
struggling through a continuous
of the other Vikings from the days
McMillan, a cool-as-ice lefthandstring of well-pitched losses.
of travel ball and is hopeful that
er whose performance suddenly
Fast forward to early in this
everything will fall into place.
had him being mentioned in the
school year, when teams were
As much hype is surrounding
discussion of best pitcher in the
gearing up for the spring and evthe lefty-righty combos in each of
district.
eryone was talking about how to
their respective camps, the playMeanwhile, Byrd righty Kevin
handle Byrd’s lefty-right pitching
ers know they are being watched
by Chris Manning
Danny Cruff
P
and also recognize they share a
similar situation with cross-town
rivals. “We’ve been playing them
since we were little,” Cundiff says.
“Ever since then we’ve seen them
every step of the way and I know
it isn’t going to be an easy game
when we play Byrd.”
Arnold agrees, “I know Bowles
and McMillan are fierce competitors and Byrd is always tough,” he
says “It should be a great two or
three games this year.”
The respect goes both ways.
Bowles and McMillan are quite
aware that their counterparts are
a huge obstacle on their way to a
repeat of the district championship. “We already knew they [the
Vikings] were going to be tough;
when they got [Arnold] they became even tougher,” McMillan
says. “It’s going to be a battle as we
could see Trent one game and Patrick the next,” Bowles says. “Or we
could even see them in the same
game. That’s going to be really
tough.”
Baseball aficionados in the area,
take note. If you ever wanted to
see a Roanoke Valley high school
version of John Smoltz and Tom
Glavine versus Randy Johnson
and Curt Schilling, you just might
have it this year.
Whether the match-up is McMillan versus Arnold as a leftylefty, Bowles versus Cundiff as a
righty-righty or a combination, be
assured that you’re going to see
four competitors, fighting it out
for their teams, fighting it out for
themselves and fighting it out to
prove that they are the best pitching duo in the area.
To play like a pro, you have to train like a pro
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Sports 101
APRIL 12, 2010
PLAY BY PLAY
Sports, Entertainment and Recreation Marketing
class gives students a glimpse at the business side
[sold] passes went from
[the previous year’s figure
CLASS OFFERED
of] 400 to 600 that year,”
the past several
says Morris.
years in Roanoke
The class has discussed
County high schools
sports licensing and the
— Sports, Entertainment
effect winning has on the
and Recreation Marketability to sell branded
ing — has become so
merchandise.
Witness
popular at William Byrd
Virginia Tech’s football
that teacher Jill Morris
success, says Morris,
now teaches three secnoting that the Hokies’
tions a day.
run to a national title
Many of her stugame with Michael Vick
dents are athletes at the
in 2000 yielded record
school, says Morris, a
numbers.
“[Students]
former high school ten- Teacher Jill Morris and students Amber Cannaday and see that the success of a
nis player and the wife of Nick Janowicz enjoy mixing sports and academics
team affects economics,”
Chris Morris, the athletMorris says.
ic director at Hidden Valley High
Byrd students, Luke Vance, is now
Conversely, the missteps of a
School and that school’s former
studying athletic training at Radhighly visible athlete such as Tiboys’ basketball coach.
ford University and just interned
ger Woods, the “endorsements
“I have 75 kids taking the class
with a sports agency.
and the risks of sponsoring these
[now],” says Morris. Byrd is the
Another Byrd alumnus, Evan
athletes,” provides regular fodder
only county high school that
Massengill, is a George Mason
for discussion. Marketing efforts
has more than one section of the
sports major that has returned to
that piggyback on current sports
class.
speak to students in the class.
activities — restaurant, grocery
The sports and entertainment
Sports, Entertainment and
store and automobile promotional
angle makes it conducive for stuRecreation Marketing students at
campaigns tied to NCAA basketdents to learn about basic marketByrd — where the program is in its
ball March Madness, for example
ing principles, Morris says. Mareighth year — have also taken in
— may have little to do with athketing students from an earlier era
Baltimore Orioles games against
letic competition, but “that’s gomight remember the 4 P’s: prodthe Boston Red Sox and New
ing to draw the attention of people
uct, place, price and promotion.
York Yankees over the past few
flipping the channels,” according
“It makes it more interesting to
years; they’ve toured Lowes Motor
to Morris.
them…when you’re thinking about
Speedway and Bank of America
Super Bowl commercials are
how they use athletes to promote
Stadium in Charlotte, and attenddissected and critiqued in class
products,” she says.
ed a Bobcats NBA game.
after the big game. How much TV
It doesn’t hurt the classes’ popHow the construction of downadvertisements cost during that
ularity one bit that the curriculum
town ballparks makes an ecotelecast are a topic as well. “We
also includes field trips, such as
nomic impact on those areas (e.g.,
also spent a [large] amount of time
Sports Marketing Career Day with
Camden Yards in Baltimore’s Inon the [recent Winter] Olympics,”
the Washington Wizards (profesner Harbor) has also been a topic
sional basketball), where students
of study. Locally, the Salem Red
learn about opportunities within
Sox have assisted with stadium
the fields of public relations and
tours and explanatory sessions on
promotions, meeting players and
the process of how Major League
taking in a game at the same time.
Baseball hires front office personThe Wizards event attracts thounel.
sands of students each year from
Prior to the Martinsville NASvarious regions of the country. It is
CAR event last month, Morris led
part of the DECA program, an ina class discussion regarding the
ternational association of marketeconomic impact of stock car racing students with which Roanoke
ing — including detailed specifics
County high schools are affiliated.
regarding hotel reservations. In
Morris also took her students skianother scenario during her tening at Massanutten two years ago,
ure, students learned a bit about
a Shenandoah Valley ski resort she
telemarketing by promoting the
often visited while growing up.
sale of discount athletic passes
One of Morris’s former William
to parents of Byrd students. “Our
by Gene Marrano
Gene Marrano
A
13
says Morris. “It was a huge year for
sports.”
Twelfth-grader Amber Cannaday is a competitive cheerleader at
Byrd, which finished fourth in the
Group AA state competition last
fall. “I really like journalism and
public relations, and I really like
sports,” says Cannaday, who wants
to work sports marketing into her
college major. James Madison and
Virginia Tech are the colleges at
the top of her list. Cannaday especially likes the course’s interactive
projects, such as one that simulated a ticket-selling operation.
Nick Janowicz plays soccer,
basketball and football at Byrd;
the junior enjoys learning about
“how sports teams make money
and how sports are involved with
the market. It makes me think
about what’s going on behind [the
scenes], how many people are involved.”
Morris says that many cheerleaders, most members of the golf
team and nearly all of the boys’
basketball players have taken the
sports marketing class. A co-op alternative allows students to earn
two credits instead of one by landing a part-time job in the sports or
entertainment field.
Students have found it challenging to find a job in the current
economic climate but some have
been hired by The Edge, Botetourt
Athletic Club, Ole Monterey, Ashley Plantation and Roanoke County Parks and Recreation. Others
work at Chuck E. Cheese, putting
into practice what Morris terms
the “entertainment aspect” of the
class. “What we’re teaching in
class, they should be able to go to
work that weekend and apply it,”
she says.
For the veteran marketing
teacher, who has a background
in athletics, leading classes in
Sports, Entertainment and Recreation Marketing has been a breath
of fresh air.
“I really like it,” Morris says.
FORE!
14
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
Roanoke Senior Golf Tour reaches its cap
T
Photo courtesy of RVSGT
HERE’S NOTHING LIKE
getting
together
with
friends for a round of golf.
Make that 119 other friends, and
be sure to play a round a month at
different courses all over the area,
and this is no ordinary golf outing.
It’s a tour.
For the eighth straight season,
the Roanoke Valley Senior Golf
Tour is taking to the fairways from
Buena Vista to Draper to Forest to
Smith Mountain Lake, with stops
in the valley along the way.
This year membership had to be
capped because there is no way to
accommodate more people. The
field fills the course when the men
come to play.
The growth of the tour is some-
thing founder John Hubbard never envisioned when he started it
with 33 players in 2003. It was an
outing to give retirees an organized time and place to meet for a
round of golf with competition for
prizes and pride.
Hubbard says he thought the
field might expand to as many as
90 to 100 players, but the committee running the tour now has done
an exceptional job with it. Hubbard
himself is not part of the leadership of the Senior Tour any more,
but he’s still a force to be reckoned
with on the course. A 3-handicapper, he won the tour title last season and took the trophy at the first
event of this year, held March 23,
at Ashley Plantation. On a bitter,
blustery day, Hubbard carded a
72 on a day when most guys were
RVSGT Tour Committee (front, from left): Joe Sailor, Steve Blades, Bob
Poff, Tommy Firebaugh, Jim Lyons. Second row: Kenny Atkinson, Ken
Kornegay, Frank Lang, Wally Adcox. Not pictured: Bruce Lupton
Senior Tour Schedule
April 20, Botetourt Country Club
May 18, Hanging Rock Golf Club
June 15, Draper Valley Golf Club
July 20, Westlake Golf & Country Club
Aug. 18, London Downs Golf Course
Sept. 21, Vista Links
Oct. 19, Blue Hills Golf Club
Nov. 9, Ivy Hill Golf Club
finding it difficult to swing
with as many
layers as they
were forced to
wear.
In addition
to more players, the tour is
expanding its
sponsor base.
The
revenue
provided
by
sponsors allows
the tour to of-
fer prizes
and food.
Any sucTommy Firebaugh photos
cessful
venture in the Jim Saul (right),
recreational arena playing in Division
needs sponsors, 2, was the overall
and with partici- winner in the Senior
pation at an all- Tour’s opening
time high, local event at Ashley
businesses
are Plantation March
seeing the value 23, shooting a net
of placing an ad in 67. John Hubbard
the tour program. (above left) was the
The sponsors also Division 1 winner
allow the tour to with a net 69. Jim
operate with only McDaniel (above
a $100 participa- right) was the Divition fee for the sion 3 winner with
a net 70
year.
The green fees
selected in the winter prior to the
are usually $25, which brings an
year’s tour. This year’s remaining
extra $3,000 for a golf course’s bottour stops will at Botetourt Countom line on a Tuesday, so the bentry Club, Hanging Rock, Draper
efit to the courses participating
Valley, Westlake, London Downs,
cannot be overstated. All players
Vista Links, Blue Hills and Ivy
now play from the gold tees — earHill.
ly years saw younger members
Hubbard thinks this is the only
playing the whites in one division
tour of its kind in western Virginia.
and older fellows teeing off from
The Golf Channel has a tour and
the golds. Now all golfers hit from
there might be a similar organizagold tees and the competitors are
tion in Richmond or Greensboro
broken into three divisions, based
— although the North Carolina
on handicap. The only requiretour is not a seniors-only organiment is the golfer must be age 55
zation.
or older.
The full field and nine-event
The current chairman is Tommy
schedule with decent prizes
Firebaugh. The committee is comshould spell continued success for
prised of Wally Adcox, Kenny Atthe Senior Tour.
kinson, Steve Blades, Ken Kornegay, Frank
Lang, Bruce
As Ted Powell (left) narrowly misses a 10-footer,
Lupton, Jim
Joe Surkamer walks to his putt
Lyons, Bob
Poff and Joe
Sailor. Each
has an area
of responsibility
to
make sure
the tour runs
s m o o t h l y,
with proper
advertising,
event planning
and
a n nou nc e ments of the
winners. The
courses are
Christian Moody
by Christian Moody
APRIL 12, 2010
PLAY BY PLAY
Familiar
face
Dennis Robarge rurns to Salem baseball
sports to launch More Than a
Game, a consulting firm working
ENNIS ROBARGE THREW
with organizations both inside
his name into the ring for the
and outside the sports world.
general manager’s job with
Robarge spent his post-Dazzle
the Salem Red Sox last fall, hopyears in Arkansas, McAllen (Texing to replace the departing John
as) and Iowa for months at a time,
Katz, but when Fenway Sports elhelping to get D-League teams off
evated Todd Stephenson to that
the ground or determining if they
position they asked Robarge to
were viable entities. “When the
stick around.
economy turned [down] it made
Last November the former asconsulting jobs a little harder to
sistant general manager of the
come by,” Robarge admits.
Salem Avalanche accepted a poSuddenly, starting up a minor
sition created
league basketin part just for
ball franchise,
him, as Direchoping
that
tor of Sales for
fans still had
the Sox. “The
disposable inoperation
come, didn’t
has changed
seem like such
a great deal
a
winning
since I left,”
proposition.
says Robarge.
Now
he’s
“It’s a little
back in Salem
strange being
full-time with
back in the ofhis
family,
fice.” He jokes
trying to keep
that it was like
corporate sales
moving back
and sponsorto a house you Dennis Robarge is happy to return
ships on track
lived in pre- to baseball after almost 15 years
while also enviously, “but with all new roomcouraging families to continue
mates.”
making the trek to the ballpark.
Very few employees remain
The Red Sox begin the home porfrom his first tenure with the Sation of their season on April 16.
lem professional baseball club
Fenway Sports executive Tim
— which ended in the late 1990s
Zue (also the Salem Red Sox presi— perhaps a few part-time condent) wanted to bring Robarge
cession workers.
aboard in some fashion, even after
The job brings Robarge full-ciradmitting that the GM/Vice Prescle in a way; since leaving his forident’s position was Stephenson’s
mer position in Salem he’s worked
for the taking.
in Atlanta, Little Rock, Texas and
After about six weeks of discusDes Moines, running drag racing
sion and visioning they worked out
venues and consulting on basketa deal, and Robarge was back as
ball franchise startups. When he
sales director. It’s right up his alley:
left the Avalanche, Salem Memo“I like to sell and I like to help grow
rial Baseball Stadium was brand
everybody’s skills.” Still, worknew; now as a teenager it’s been
ing in the front office for a minor
through several touchups already.
league baseball team — in what he
Oh yes, Robarge was also presicalls “a young man’s sport” — redent of the Roanoke Dazzle NBDquires the wearing of several hats,
League basketball franchise for
like helping to pull the tarp on
four seasons (2002-2006), trying to
the field if it rains. Robarge had to
establish the minor league team as
think hard about it before acceptmust-see entertainment. That efing the job. “This [franchise] team
fort ultimately failed, but Robarge
means a lot to me,” he says. “Hav(who ironically replaced former
ing been on the other side with a
Salem Baseball GM Joe Preseren
franchise that didn’t work out (the
with the Dazzle), learned enough
Dazzle), I really wanted to throw
from that experience and several
what I knew into this situation.”
decades overall in professional
Robarge says he looks back
by Gene Marrano
Gene Marrano
D
15
quite a bit on the Dazzle experiChad Epperson helped guide Saence, mostly with pride. He belem to a playoff berth last year as
lieves, though, that baseball “has
the skipper in Salem, but he’s gone
a broader appeal” overall, one big
this season, replaced by Kevin
reason that the Salem franchise
Boles. Hitting coach Carlos Fehas been successful at the gate for
bles and pitching coach Dick Such
decades.
return. Boles managed at low-A
Robarge keeps in touch with
Greenville last year for the Boston
former Dazzle head coach Kent
Red Sox organization but moves
Davison, who left Roanoke for
up to advanced-A Salem for 2010.
a D-League club in Fort Wayne,
Epperson, drafted as a catcher
Ind., and then a stint in the Midby the New York Mets, will be a
dle East with the national team
roving catching instructor for Bosin Qatar before landing as an aston this season, after taking Salem
sistant at the University of Georto the league championship series
gia. Robarge visited with Davison
and the brink of a title in 2009.
in Athens last year, their meeting
Boles has managerial bloodcoinciding with a Bulldogs game.
lines: his father, John, managed
“It was great to see him,” Robarge
the Florida Marlins for two sepasays. “I’d very much enjoy the oprate stints and is currently in the
portunity to work with him again
front office of the Seattle Mariif I had the chance.”
ners. The younger Boles, 35, atSalem’s relationship with Bostended the University of South
ton is a “unique opportunity,”
Florida and was selected in the
says Robarge, even for
42nd round of
off-the-field and offthe 1998 draft
season events that have
as a catcher by
featured former Red
the
Chicago
Sox stars Fred Lynn
Cubs.
and Jim Rice in the
After
just
past few years. The Sox
one season as a
brand helps, to his way
player (batting
of thinking: “It’s very
a
less-thanattractive to me that
robust .206 in
the [Boston] Red Sox
1998),
Boles
own it. I’ve been really
turned to manpleasantly surprised by
aging in 2000,
how many Red Sox fans
in the Marlins
there are in the valsystem.
He
ley. I had no clue there
sports a .518
were that many …until Kevin Boles has managed
winning perI came back and worked several clubs in the past
centage coming
for the team.”
in to 2010, with the Boston, Min***
nesota, Kansas City and Florida
New manager for the Sox:
organizations.
— 15th Annual —
Kiwanis Pancake Day
Sat., April 24
7 am-1pm
Roanoke Civic Center
Fun for the whole family!
Silent Auction begins
at 8am
Supports local non-profit organizations
Tickets: $5.00 in advance;
$6.00 at the door
Children under 5 FREE
Call 761-6751 to order tickets
16
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
SPORTS SHORTS
Oliver wins Atlantic 10 6th Player award
University of Richmond basketball player
Abby Oliver was named Atlantic 10 Sixth
Player of the Year in March. Oliver, a sophomore guard who moved into the Spiders’ starting lineup near the end of the season, is a Hidden Valley graduate who led her high school
team to back-to-back Group AA state titles in
2007-08.
Oliver averaged 10.2 ppg this season. Her
best performance was a 27-point effort against
George Washington, where she was 9-of-14
from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point
range.
Fleecy Wright photo
winners
Don Divers of Roanoke and
Frances Gillock of Salem are Salem Red Sox ticket winners in our
photo ID contest from last month
(see names in pictures to the right
and below). We’re still looking for
a winner for the third photo (lower
right). Please e-mail your names
to jmonty@cox.net.
Fishing tournament
The Cave Spring Optimist Club will hold its
42nd annual fishing tournament April 30-May
2 at Foxport Marina on Smith Mountain Lake.
Classes of fish eligible for entry into the tournament include largemouth bass, muskellunge,
crappie, smallmouth bass, catfish and stripers.
Prizes up to $15,000 in cash will be awarded.
To be eligible to compete, each individual
must purchase a ticket in advance. Tickets are
$40 and can be purchased at Foxport Marina
in Burnt Chimney and several other fishing-related outlets.
There will also be a youth tournament starting at 9 a.m. May 1 with no ticket required.
For more information, please call Carol at
(540) 721-2451.
In this 1945 (or so) photo, clockwise starting
from back left: Coach John Henry Stephens,
Melvin Holbrook, Billy Duncan, Bill Edmunds,
Fleecy Wright, Salvation Army Major Morris,
Billy Ramsey, Bobby Saul, Drowsy Harrison,
Dickie Gilmore
In this 1955 photo, clockwise starting from
back left: Fleecy Wright, Mike Goad, Ralph
Owens, Ronnie Nesbitt, Wesley Gillock, Salvation Army Captain Jones, Bev Mitchell, Paul
Housman, Dave Davis, Don Divers, Jerry Glass
We’re still looking for a winner here. E-mail
jmonty@cox.net
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PLAYMAKER
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APRIL 12, 2010
Moir
From Page 11
“I apologized to my players,”
Moir says. “There are some years
you try something and it makes
you look like a genius but this
year, everything I tried, I won’t say
it backfired, but it didn’t work like
we needed it to.”
Without the low-post scoring
threat Peery had provided, Moir
opted to switch his offense to more
dribble-drive to take advantage
of the talent on the wings. “We
spread the floor and we ran it really well for a half this game, a half
that game,” he says. “It didn’t work
like I thought it would.”
A year before, practices were for
tweaking and fine-tuning a welloiled machine. This year, some
days the engine wouldn’t crank
as the young players had trouble
mastering basics and adapting to
change.
Moir tried to install a trap off
free throw situations. It was a regular part of most practices, and a
point of emphasis before several
games. Yet when the coaching
staff gave the signal, the players
couldn’t demonstrate what they
had practiced.
“Part of that was youth,” Moir
says. “Still, it was easy to go to
practice every day because we’ve
got some good young players.”
Moir kept copious notes this season about what worked and what
didn’t. In the meantime, he found
some solace within the close-knit
framework of the Roanoke College
athletic department.
The losses came more frequently but so did the support of his
friends in nearby offices.
“You’re always talking with all
the coaches,” he says. “Scott is a
great resource. As many games as
Susan (Dunagan) has won, she
had a couple of tough seasons and
came back big. They all helped
me.”
Moir points out that a lot of the
coaches came on board at Roanoke at the same time, and have
been through a lot together to forge
tight bonds. Moir is in his 21st year
at Roanoke, as is women’s soccer
coach Phil Benne. Allison has
coached men’s soccer for 24 years,
and Bill Pilat has piloted the lacrosse program for 22 seasons.
Dunagan has been at the Salem
campus 29 years, and senses the
same thing about the camaraderie
at the college.
“You just try to support him and
let him know you’re there for him,”
says Dunagan. “There’s not much
PLAY BY PLAY
you can say sometimes except you
know his track record and that he
will be successful again.”
“We’ve got a veteran coaching
staff, and it’s funny, we’re all growing old together,” Moir adds. “Our
he survived,” says Page. “He’s 79,
walking four miles a day and I
think getting out of coaching added to his life. When I first came to
Roanoke, I said I can do this until
I’m 70 or 75. I’ll take care of myself. But now, I think if
I can make it to 65, I’ll
be lucky.”
Roanoke College
would be lucky, too.
Moir’s passion for his
position at the college is readily apparent, and Moir is also
prominent on the national stage, slated
to become president
Moir (left) broadcasting with Rick Seidel: it’s
of the National Assoeasier to smile now that the season is over
ciation of Basketball
kids all grew up together and now
Coaches in 2014, as highlighted
they are all looking at colleges toin last month’s Play by Play.
gether.”
Have recruiting pitch,
Moir’s own staff — basketball
will travel
assistants Paul Barnard, Robbie
Moir is certainly driven to sucWinfield and Tony Dunford —
ceed, and he likely will again sucwas also invaluable helping Moir
ceed in part because he likes to
get through this season. Barnard,
drive. Moir took to the road most
at William Byrd High School for 27
Thursdays this past season to reyears before moving over to Roacruit and reset the program’s founnoke 10 seasons ago, has “seen it
dation.
all,” according to Moir.
When the ODAC switched its
And then, of course, there’s one
scheduling format a few years
more coaching resource close to
ago, regularly playing games on
Moir. Coaching legend Charlie
Wednesdays, it created an openwas planning on staying in the
ing on Thursdays for coaches to
Roanoke Valley all winter this
give their teams a day off. “Once
year, Page says, but Page jokes that
we lost 10 games, I would have ashis team’s record chased his father
sistant coaches watch film with
to Florida where he and wife Betsy
(the team), and I would take off at
often escape during cold weather.
eight in the morning,” says Moir.
The elder Moirs had planned
“I did one trek through West Virto stay around because Page and
ginia, saw three recruits. I went to
wife Jody’s older daughter, Anna,
North Carolina (and) saw two kids
is a high school senior this year.
in Greensboro. I went to Northern
More likely, the heavy snowfall loVirginia (and) saw a couple of kids
cally and the lure of southern golf
up there. We have to have a great
courses eased them out of town
recruiting year this year.”
until last month.
Moir said he loads up his iPod
Charlie called after every game,
and hits the road, something he
though, mostly to lend support.
learned from his dad, who also
Still, Page’s pain was magnified
loved the road in recruiting. “Nowhen he thought about his father.
body likes to drive more than
“I’m glad he wasn’t at my games
my dad,” Moir says with a laugh.
to watch,” Page says. “You watch
“Even at his age, he’ll go to Florisomebody in your family go
da with my mom, and he’ll drive
through something that you perall the way. And he’s going to get
ceive being tough or bad, it’s much
to where he’s going that first day.
tougher on the person watching.
She’ll be saying, ‘Charlie, pull over
I’ll be fine. The sun will come up
and let’s get a hotel.’ He just wants
tomorrow.”
to keep going.”
Page remembers being an assisPage says he sends his father
tant at Virginia Tech in 1986-87, his
tapes of potential recruits in Florfather’s final year, a tough season
ida, but he doesn’t think they ever
that the younger Moir absolutely
get watched. Going to see a game,
hated to see his father endure.
though, is a whole different matLooking back, though, it may have
ter.
been a good thing for Charlie’s
“He loves going recruiting with
health to get out at age 57.
me,” Page says. “Like he’ll go to
“It was difficult to watch but
Fork Union (Military Academy)
17
with me and say that a kid’s pretty
good. And he’ll follow up. He has
asked me about kids. He’ll say,
‘That kid can help you. You better
get him. You better not let him go
somewhere else.’”
Of course, Charlie didn’t have
an iPod back when he was beating the back roads looking for talent for Tech or Roanoke or Tulane.
Page, a true, dialed-in sports fan,
laments the loss of younger generations’ appreciation of AM radio.
At nights, he’ll put away the iPod
and tune in to far-flung locales like
WOWO out of Fort Wayne, Ind., for
the sports talk or tune in games on
other stations with a strong nighttime signal.
“You go to 870 (on the dial) and
you can listen to LSU football recruiting,” he says. “At 840, you’ve
got Kentucky and Louisville. I
know those stations. I remember
my dad flipping the dials in the old
days recruiting. I listen to all the
basketball at night I want, trying
to stay up. I don’t fly anymore.”
Moir thinks the Maroons could
be flying again, soon, though. He’s
got the start of another solid recruiting class coming in and he
feels he has some good pieces in
place in the program to help turn
things around. Walker headlines a
strong, battle-tested rising senior
class. Amponsah came on this
season and could be the answer at
point sooner rather than later.
Popa Fall, a 6-9 rising junior
from Senegal, is learning quickly,
and Moir thinks another off-season of hard work could make him
an impact player. The same could
be true of Hidden Valley product Logan Singleton if he applies
himself in the weight room and on
the court this summer.
Moir also likes a couple of junior varsity players in the pipeline,
including another former Titan,
Zach Barrett. Barrett had a great
year with the JV team, according
to the coach, who likes his attitude
and his potential.
But Moir is counting on his returnees to come back stronger
and better, something he says he
learned to push with his players
while watching Pilat’s lacrosse
program over the years. “I like my
kids but I’m going to tell them all
that if they’re not better they might
not have a spot on the team,” he
says.
“I’m going to work hard to do
a better job and I expect them to
do the same. We’re all going to
be accountable to be better next
year.”
18
From the
Bookshelf
PLAY BY PLAY
Lazenby clearly belongs
in Halberstam’s league
by Mike Ashley
“Jerry West: the Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon,” by Roland Lazenby, Ballantine/ESPN
Books, 422 pp., $28.
Roanoke writer Roland Lazenby has taken the biggest shot of his
career, and like his subject so often
was, Lazenby is right on target.
Now a familiar name among
sports authors, Lazenby offers the
first comprehensive biography of
one of basketball’s most compelling and most important figures in
“Jerry West: the Life and Legend of
a Basketball Icon.”
The comprehensive tome, distributed by Random House, debuted in February and immediately took a spot among the most
important sports biographies. It
rocketed up the Los Angeles Times’
bestseller list and has been critically acclaimed nationally.
Lazenby’s Southwestern Virginia roots helped him paint the
complete picture of the complex
basketball star, a tightly wound mix
of West Virginia inferiority complex
and insatiable competitor.
Lazenby takes us down back
roads of Chelyan and Cabin Creek
and on to Morgantown. West was
a regional superstar long before
he would parlay that magnificent
playing career into immortality
as the inspiration for the National
Basketball Association logo.
There’s a wealth of regional history that ties together the influences on West’s psyche, from his
upbringing by a distracted and
sometimes abusive father to the
drive he developed trying to please
a joyless and demanding mother.
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Basketball became an escape
and a focal point for West, though
like his mother, he would never
seem to derive true joy even from
a passion from which he achieved
such fame.
West grew up in Chelyan but
the family mail came to
the more romanticized
neighboring community.
“Cabin Creek was
about a mile away,”
(West) recalled, reflecting
a good gossiper’s eye for
detail. “That’s where we
got our mail. I’d run there
and back. Maybe that’s
why I was in such good
shape to play basketball.
I remember running past Wade’s
Pool Hall on a Saturday morning.
You could tell how wild a time the
coal miners had had the night before by how many of the windows
were broken out.”
West kept running all the way
to WVU to lead the Mountaineers
to great heights, although he personally felt that he didn’t measure
up to the standard set by rival and
three-time NCAA Player of the Year
Oscar Robertson at Cincinnati.
That insecurity followed West
to the NBA where he landed with
the Lakers, freshly moved to Los
Angeles his rookie season in 1960,
and playing, for better or worse,
for his college coach Fred Schaus.
Lazenby has the back-story on
the growing discontent of West in
that relationship, and the thoroughness of this book is reflected
in major sections devoted to teammates like “Hot Rod” Hundley, Elgin Baylor and longtime nemeses
Red Auerbach and the Boston
Celtics.
To this day, West doesn’t like
the color green, a byproduct of
six painful losses to the Celtics
in the NBA Finals. But West, over
the years, seemed to grow nobler
in defeat, ever the hard-charging,
would-be champion, falling just
short despite his own brilliance.
His personal LA story includes
big personalities like owner Jack
Kent Cooke, coach Butch van
Breda Kolff, and teammate Wilt
Chamberlain.
Lazenby has loads of first-hand
stories and accounts of conflict
that forged the Lakers’ and West’s
identity, one that didn’t please the
perennial all-star until LA finally
broke through in 1972, under new
coach and former Celtic Bill Sharman, to win that elusive title on
one of the greatest teams ever.
Injuries would derail West soon
thereafter and he struggled to fill
the void, contemplating a career
in golf before returning to the Lak-
APRIL 12, 2010
ers as a successful coach even with
undermanned rosters. Enter new
personalities like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who Lazenby reveals
almost was teamed with Julius
Erving but Laker management
wouldn’t pull the trigger
on the deal.
West would ultimately
take that competitive
nature to the front office, where he again
rose to the top of the
game, though not without some early fits and
starts. He originally
wanted to draft Sidney
Moncrief over Magic
Johnson. Owner Jerry
Buss was never pleased that the
Lakers took James Worthy over
Dominique Wilkins but West
talked the flamboyant Buss out of
a trade, and Worthy was a key part
of three of the five title teams West
built in the ’80s.
He rebuilt after Johnson’s premature retirement with HIV, pulling off a mega-million dollar deal
to land Shaquille O’Neal, and then
talking Nets coach/GM John Calipari out of drafting Kobe Bryant
before the Lakers could get him.
Three more titles resulted during a growing rift between West
and coach Phil Jackson, differing
philosophies that helped end the
icon’s more than 40-year tenure
with the team.
For basketball aficionados, this
is a must-read, West’s career as a
player, coach and general manager has been so entwined with the
history of the game. Hoop-heads
may have a tussle wading through
the West family and West Virginia
history but there’s a payoff in the
picture of West it helps frame.
For those that just like biographies of driven, successful people,
this is also an important study.
The LA Times said, “Sports biographies tend to careen between
breathless hagiography and the
slyly salacious. Lazenby…has produced something of a different order — a first-rate piece of narrative
nonfiction whose subject happens
to be a star athlete. His biography
of West is, by turns, smart, beautifully reported, well-written and
psychologically shrewd.”
I can’t top that except to say that
nearly every sentence in the book
oozes the hard work and attention to
detail that only a master craftsman
could have produced. Lazenby
has grown from his roots in midlist publishing to become a major
player in this genre, and perhaps
is ready to lift the essential sports
book torch from the too-soon departed David Halberstam.
APRIL 12, 2010
PLAY BY PLAY
It’s a commercialized, Wonderful Life
C
LEANING OUT THE NOTEbook from an eventful college
basketball season, and a few
other random thoughts:
by Mike
I was at Buffalo Wild Wings
Ashley
South the night Butler upset NCAA
Tournament No. 1 seed Syracuse.
Just as the final seconds wound
down, the waitress delivered my order of chicken wings to the table.
This confluence of events prompted the “It’s A Wonderful Life” revelation that any time a Big East team loses, a fat guy gets his wings.
I think Zuzu first said that back when the talking heads at ESPN overhyped the Big East to the point that she bought into it and it ruined her
bracket. To hear Digger Phelps, Dick Vitale and Co., you should have
picked six Big East teams to reach the Final Four.
And Zuzu, brace yourself because the Old Man Potters that run college athletics have some more disappointment for you. The NCAA Men’s
Basketball Tournament will expand to 96 teams sooner rather than later.
Which of course means the UConn women will get a bid, but not the Hokies.
And the following year, to further water this great event down, all 347
Division I teams will receive a certificate of participation. All except Virginia Tech.
The good news is that the Hokies will again be one of the best teams
in the ACC next year, assuming one of the very best players in Malcolm
Delaney doesn’t turn pro. Another season like this past one — including
an ACC-leading 20.2 points per game — and, from where I sit, he’ll be on
Hokie Hallowed Ground with Dell Curry and Bimbo Coles.
In the interest of fair and balanced coverage — and there’s not much
good to say about how Virginia finished the season — I will say that a
Cavaliers fan asked me why Virginia Tech cheerleaders hold up those big
placards that say “LET’S GO HO-KIES” at the games. The cheer didn’t appear that complex, he said.
What is complex is the way that photographer on the Buffalo Wild
Wings commercial uses his flash to disrupt the end of that game. That
guy has got to get his press credentials revoked.
That’s two Buffalo Wild Wings references in one column so I’m hoping I’ll get something free next time I’m in there to supplement my takehome celery….
Virginia Military Institute is eating up wins on the baseball diamond.
VMI’s 20-4 start in baseball was the best in school history. The Key(det)
has been an offense that was third in the nation, hitting .371, and fourth
with a .621 slugging percentage as VMI climbed to 28th in the Collegiate
Baseball poll. Three freshmen were hitting .357 or better. Beware Rats
with bats….
And speaking of rats, I was a little
disappointed never to get a response
from Tiger Woods about resuming his
career with a round at my golf course,
Brookside. I even told him it’s a tradition unlike any other. Especially the
way I play….
On a brighter local note, our Salem
Band ‘My Radio’ includes
Red Sox host their first home game April
(from left): Roanokers Brett
16, starting a string of seven straight
Lemon, J.P. Powell, Jeff Hofhome dates. I’ll be down the right field
mann and Hunter Johnson
line with “The Wall-Bangers” opening
night, and I can’t wait. Unless it’s real cold that night; then I’m enough of
a weenie that I might try to talk my way into the press box.
The dirty little secret is that in my long sportswriting career I have never wanted to actually cover Salem baseball. I enjoy going to the games too
much to make it like a job….
Some local guys that may have to lose their day jobs are the band members of “My Radio,” who are becoming more and more famous, and doing so in the sports world, too.
Their wonderfully-fun single, “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” is a regular part of
the Cleveland Cavaliers halftime highlights on the Cleveland Fox affiliate, and they recently found out the song will be featured on ESPN’s “Web
Gems,” in the baseball highlights package. The song is also prominent in
SIDELINES
19
an upcoming major motion picture, “The Joneses,” starring Demi Moore
and David Duchovny….
Something else to keep an eye on this summer is World Cup soccer,
which kicks off in June. ESPN is already sneaking more futbol highlights
into SportsCenter and there are apparently an awful lot of people that
really care about this thing, though I personally don’t know any of these
people.
I’m trying. I figure there’s got to be a bracket in there somewhere, only
best I can figure, the seeds are measured metrically. Also, you have to fill
out the bracket with your feet….
As for football, the NFL Draft is coming to prime time April 22. It will
be spread out over three days. Here’s my prediction: some bad team will
take some good, young quarterback way too early, essentially wasting
its pick because unless your team is halfway decent, no rookie QB could
possibly make you better.
In a related note, Albert Haynesworth has told the Washington Redskins that he can’t really play nose tackle in their new defense. For the
$100 million he signed for last year, I’d let one of those big guys tackle my
nose….
And is it just me or does Tom Coughlin look like an adult, angry Charlie Brown?
I’m not a big fan of the new NFL overtime rules, either. After both teams
get a chance to kick field goals, then the teams play “Rock, Scissors, Paper” to determine a winner, unless it’s the postseason. Then they’ll draw
straws. Unless it’s a team with Brett Favre at quarterback, then he gets the
ball until his team wins or he decides to retire, whichever comes first.
If he keeps playing, he’s going to end up playing that Wrangler’s jeans
commercial football game against Betty White from the Snickers’ game.
If he retires this summer, insiders say the Vikings will sign Abe Vigoda.
It occurs to me that you really have to know your sports-related TV
commercials to enjoy this column. Sorry, it’s been a long winter. Now go
outside and do something. Me? I’m waiting on more wings.
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20
PLAY BY PLAY
APRIL 12, 2010
Kroger is proud to support our local food banks
with dry groceries and perishables each year.
It’s one way we give back to our communities.
STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE
FOR THE COMMUNITIES WE SERVE.
� ��
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Vol. 6, No. 7, April 12, 2010 Vol. 6, No. 7, April 12, 2010

Transcription

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