Vol. 3, No. 15, October 1, 2007 - Play by Play
Vol. 3, No. 15, October 1, 2007 - Play by Play
Vol. 3, No. 15, October 1, 2007 - Play by Play
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<strong>Vol</strong>. 3, <strong>No</strong>. <strong>15</strong>, <strong>October</strong> 1, <strong>2007</strong>
2 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
Across from the Salem Wal-Mart (Exit 137 off I-81)<br />
<strong>2007</strong> CLEARANCE SALE!<br />
Virginia’s Largest Mitsubishi Dealer<br />
‘07 MITSUBISHI<br />
GALANT ES<br />
SALE<br />
$18,995 .00<br />
PRICE<br />
AT, PW, PL, CD, Sunroof, Leather<br />
#3102<br />
AFTER REBATE<br />
AND DISCOUNTS<br />
TOTAL<br />
SAVINGS<br />
$2772<br />
ECLIPSE GS CPE<br />
SALE<br />
$20,638 .00 AFTER REBATE<br />
PRICE<br />
AND DISCOUNTS<br />
Sportronic O/D Transmission, Sun & Sound Pkg,<br />
Sunroof, 650 Watt Rockford-Fosgate Audio<br />
System, PW/PL, Cruise #2987<br />
TOTAL<br />
SAVINGS<br />
$2886<br />
OVER 400 VEHICLES IN STOCK & AVAILABLE!<br />
LUXURY/IMPORTS<br />
‘04 ACURA TSX #1189P LOADED, 33K $23,995<br />
‘04 AUDI A4 QUATTRO #665P WAGON, LTHR, SUNROOF, 22K $24,995<br />
‘02 MERCEDES-BENZ CLK320 #1140P LOADED, 42K $24,995<br />
‘03 BMW 330i #593P LEATHER, LOADED, 40K $27,995<br />
‘05 MERCEDES-BENZ C240 #1017P 4 MATIC, LEATHER, ROOF, LOADED, 25K $29,995<br />
‘03 MERCEDES-BENZ E320 #812P LEATHER, LOADED, 38K $31,995<br />
‘06 MERCEDES-BENZ C230 #780S LEATHER, LOADED, 12K $32,995<br />
‘06 ACURA TL #1071P LEATHER, ROOF, LOADED, ONLY 4K $33,995<br />
‘05 VOLVO XC90 #565P AWD, THIRD ROW, LEATHER, 11K $32,995<br />
‘06 BMW 325Xi #868P LEATHER, SUNROOF, 10K $35,995<br />
‘05 LEXUS RX330 #902A LEATHER, LOADED, 18K $36,995<br />
‘06 BMW X-3 3.0 #886P LEATHER, LOADED, 10K $38,995<br />
‘04 MERCEDES-BENZ E500 #1020P 4MATIC, LEATHER, LOADED, 34K $38,995<br />
‘07 BMW 328xi #863P LEATHER, SUNROOF, LOADED, ONLY 146 MI $38,995<br />
‘07 MERCEDES-BENZ R350 #1077P LEATHER, LOADED, 12K $43,995<br />
‘06 MERCEDES-BENZ CLK350C #919P LOADED, ONLY 8K $44,995<br />
‘06 BMW 525Xi #856P LEATHER, LOADED, 11K $45,995<br />
‘04 BMW 745i #962P LEATHER, LOADED, 32K $47,995<br />
‘06 BMW 530Xi #490P DVD, LEATHER, SUNROOF, 25K $49,995<br />
‘06 MERCEDES-BENZ CLS 500 #990P LOADED, 26K $59,995<br />
Robert Harper<br />
Co-Owner/GM<br />
• ONCE A YEAR SALE<br />
• REBATES UP TO $5500<br />
• 0% FINANCING<br />
AVAILABLE UP TO<br />
60 MONTHS<br />
• VIRGINIA’S FINEST<br />
SELECTION<br />
The Car Book<br />
“Best Bet” Award<br />
<strong>2007</strong> MITSUBISHI ENDEAVOR<br />
IMPORTS<br />
‘05 MITSUBISHI GALANT #2824A AT, AC, PW, PL $16,995<br />
‘04 HONDA ELEMENT EX #799P AT, AC, PW, PL, CRUISE, 32K $16,995<br />
‘05 MITSUBISHI LANCER OZ RALLY #625P AT, AC, PW, PL, CD, ONLY 2K $17,995<br />
‘05 HONDA ACCORD #662P AT, AC, PW, PL, 10K SOLD<br />
‘07 TOYOTA COROLLA #1197P LOADED, 18K $18,995<br />
‘05 MITSUBISHI GALANT ES #701P AT, AC, PW, PL, CD, 21K $18,995<br />
‘07 HONDA CIVIC #1198P SUNROOF, CD, PW, PL, ONLY 7K $19,995<br />
‘05 MAZDA 6 SPORT #640A LEATHER, SUNROOF, 16K $20,995<br />
‘06 HONDA ACCORD #1201P SUNROOF, CD, PW, PL, ONLY 7K $21,995<br />
‘06 MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER SE #3094A LOADED, 8K $21,995<br />
‘06 MITSUBISHI ENDEAVOR LS #1053P AT, AC, PW, PL, CRUISE, 18K $21,995<br />
‘05 VOLKSWAGON BEETLE CONVERTIBLE #1127P 21K $22,995<br />
‘06 SUBARU LEGACY #4<strong>15</strong>P LEATHER, LOADED, ONLY 11 MI $22,995<br />
‘04 NISSAN 350Z #1059A LEATHER, 6SPEED, 18K $24,995<br />
‘07 TOYOTA RAV4 #1086P AT, AC, PW, PL, CRUISE, ONLY 4K $24,995<br />
‘07 NISSAN MAXIMA #1002P AT, AC, LOADED, <strong>15</strong>K $26,995<br />
‘07 TOYOTA CAMRY XLS #3072A LOADED, ONLY 400 MILES! $27,995<br />
‘07 TOYOTA FJ CRUISER #3041A AT, AC, PW, PL $29,995<br />
‘06 MITSUBISHI MONTERO LTD #1046P LEATHER, LOADED, ONLY 8K $31,995<br />
‘07 NISSAN 350Z #1045P CONVERTIBLE, LOADED, ONLY 2K $37,995<br />
www.dsmitsubishi.com<br />
(540) 302-0099<br />
1830 W. Main Street, Salem<br />
M-F 8:30am-8pm S 8:30am-6pm<br />
AMERICAN CARS<br />
‘00 MERCURY COUGAR #3054A SUNROOF, CD, A MUST SEE! 43K $10,995<br />
‘04 PONTIAC GRAND-AM #3008A AT, AC, PW, PL, CRUISE, 58K $10,995<br />
‘02 CHRYSLER PT CRUISER #846A AT, AC, PW, PL, CRUISE, 55K $10,995<br />
‘04 DODGE INTREPID #393A AT, AC, PW, PL, 64K $10,995<br />
‘00 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE #2993A LEATHER, SUNROOF, LOADED $11,995<br />
‘01 FORD CROWN VICTORIA #616P AT, AC, PW, PL, CRUISE, 47K $11,995<br />
‘03 JEEP LIBERTY SPORT #476A AT, AC, PW, PL $14,995<br />
‘06 FORD TAURUS SEL #1043P LEATHER, SUNROOF, LOADED $16,995<br />
‘06 CHRYSLER SEBRING #2535A AT, AC, PW, PL, CRUISE, ONLY 2K $17,995<br />
‘05 FORD ESCAPE XLT #884B LEATHER, LOADED, 4X4, 33K $18,995<br />
‘06 DODGE DAKOTA SLT #3035A CLUB CAB, V8, ONLY 6K $19,995<br />
‘03 FORD EXPLORER LTD #835P LEATHER, SUNROOF, LOADED, 42K $19,995<br />
‘06 PONTIAC G-6 GTP #766P LTHR, SUNROOF, LOADED, 22K $21,995<br />
‘05 CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER #489A AT, AC, PW, PL, 17K $21,995<br />
‘05 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LIMITED #1147P LEATHER, V8, 25K $24,995<br />
‘05 CHRYSLER 300 #1131P LEATHER, LOADED, 26K $26,995<br />
‘06 JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE LIMITED #1121P LEATHER, V8, 16K $27,995<br />
‘05 CHEVROLET TAHOE #1019A AT, AC, 4X4, 21K $28,995<br />
‘04 CHEVROLET TAHOE Z71 #1021P LEATHER, LOADED, 42K $30,995<br />
‘07 JEEP COMMANDER LIMITED #1183P LEATHER, LOADED, 14K $33,995<br />
The Car Book<br />
“Best Bet” Award<br />
<strong>2007</strong> MITSUBISHI GALANT<br />
‘07 MITSUBISHI<br />
ENDEAVOR LS<br />
SALE<br />
$24,629 .00<br />
PRICE<br />
AWD, PW, PD, CD <strong>Play</strong>er, Keyless Entry, Front<br />
and Side Curtain Air Bags, DEMO #2919<br />
Dave Sarmadi<br />
President<br />
ALL PRICES AND DISCOUNTS INCLUDE ALL FACTORY REBATES. NOT INCLUDED ARE STATE REQUIRED TAX, TITLE, TAGS, AND $398 PROCESSING FEE. SALE ENDS SEPTEMBER 19, <strong>2007</strong>. VEHICLE IMAGES SHOWN ARE FOR ILLUSTRATIVE PURPOSES ONLY. THEY MAY DIFFER FROM ACTUAL VEHICLE BEING SOLD. SEE DEALER FOR LIMITED<br />
ALL PRICES WARRANTY AND ROADSIDE DISCOUNTS ASSISTANCE INCLUDE DETAILS. ALL UNLESS FACTORY STATED OTHERWISE REBATES. ONLY NOT THE VEHICLE INCLUDED DISCLOSED ARE ABOVE STATE BY STOCK REQUIRED # IS SALE PRICED. TAX, TITLE, EXAMPLE TAGS, FOR STOCK AND NUMBER $398 2917 PROCESSING WITH $3000 TRADE FEE. IN OR SALE CASH DOWN ENDS AND OCTOBER APPROVED CREDIT 13, <strong>2007</strong>. THE PAYMENTS VEHICLE FOR IMAGES 60 MONTHS SHOWN AT 0% INTEREST ARE WILL FOR BE ILLUSTRATIVE<br />
$293/MONTH.<br />
PURPOSES ONLY. THEY MAY DIFFER FROM ACTUAL VEHICLE BEING SOLD. SEE DEALER FOR LIMITED WARRANTY AND ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE DETAILS. UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE ONLY THE VEHICLE DISCLOSED ABOVE BY STOCK # IS<br />
SALE PRICED. EXAMPLE FOR STOCK NUMBER 2917 WITH $3,000 TRADE IN OR CASH DOWN AND APPROVED CREDIT THE PAYMENTS FOR 60 MONTHS AT 0% INTEREST WILL BE $293/MONTH. REBATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE.<br />
AFTER REBATE<br />
AND DISCOUNTS<br />
‘06 MITSUBISHI<br />
RAIDER DC V8 DBL CAB<br />
SALE<br />
$21,995 .00<br />
PRICE<br />
PW, PL, Cruise, 276 Watt<br />
6 CD Changer, Alloy Wheels<br />
#2697<br />
TOTAL<br />
SAVINGS<br />
$5190<br />
AFTER REBATE<br />
AND DISCOUNTS<br />
TOTAL<br />
SAVINGS<br />
$8005
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 3<br />
Bill Turner<br />
<strong>Play</strong>book<br />
Opinions<br />
Todd Marcum ........................................... 4<br />
Mike Stevens ........................................... 5<br />
Bob Teitlebaum ...................................... 6<br />
John A. Montgomery ............................ 7<br />
Christian Moody ...................................<strong>15</strong><br />
Mike Ashley ............................................19<br />
Articles<br />
Tiki Barber was Back in Town in September ................................. 10<br />
<strong>No</strong>rthside’s Alexi Staton Stands Tall at VMI ....................................12<br />
Phil Key Brings New Ideas to the Sports Club ................................13<br />
Avs Make <strong>Play</strong>offs, Fall in the Finals ................................................14<br />
Craig Residents Know How to Get the Job Done ......................... 16<br />
Woody Deans, a Legend of the Games ............................................18<br />
Page 10<br />
<strong>by</strong> Bob Teitlebaum<br />
Extras<br />
From the Bookshelf ...............3<br />
Question for the Doctor .......3<br />
Natural Health Tip .................5<br />
<strong>Play</strong>makers ..............................8<br />
Ask A Ref ..................................8<br />
Snapshots of the Season ......9<br />
From the<br />
Bookshelf<br />
Baseball history<br />
and Westerns<br />
Page 14<br />
Gene Marrano<br />
I’M INTERESTED IN BOOKS<br />
about the history of baseball. I<br />
have been since I was a child.<br />
I am fascinated with old-time<br />
baseball during the dead ball<br />
era.<br />
I’m also interested<br />
in Western films and<br />
when I was writing<br />
for The Roanoke Times<br />
(1970-2000), I’d go to a<br />
Western film convention<br />
nearly every summer.<br />
Most of them were held<br />
within driving distance<br />
of Roanoke and I found<br />
people (including former Salem<br />
High School football coach<br />
Willis White and the late Len<br />
Mosser, the Patrick Henry basketball<br />
coach<br />
in the 1960s<br />
and early<br />
’70s) to go<br />
with me.<br />
So what is<br />
the tie between baseball history<br />
books and Western films<br />
I noticed at the film conventions<br />
held in <strong>No</strong>rth<br />
Carolina that McFarland<br />
Publishing Co. always had<br />
a booth in the dealers’<br />
room where you could buy,<br />
trade or sell old Western<br />
movies, purchase posters<br />
that hung outside the<br />
theaters where the movies<br />
played when they graced the big<br />
screen, and pick up old Hopalong<br />
See BOOK, Page 8<br />
Question for<br />
the Doctor<br />
This month’s question answered <strong>by</strong><br />
Christopher K. John, M.D.<br />
My teenage son sprained his ankle several<br />
times while snowboarding last winter.<br />
Is there anything he can do to prevent future<br />
problems<br />
Absolutely. Snowboarding places a lot of<br />
pressure on your ankles and calves. Ankle injuries<br />
occur mostly from hard lateral impacts,<br />
such as crashes, and are particularly common<br />
after jumping when a combination of compression<br />
and inversion (the ankle turning in)<br />
forces are experienced. This may lead to an ankle<br />
sprain or to a more serious condition called<br />
“snowboarder’s ankle”— a fracture of the lateral<br />
process of the talus.<br />
Dr. Christopher K. John<br />
If your son was just learning how to snowboard last winter, he may have<br />
used softer boots, which are more comfortable and allow more maneuverability.<br />
Unfortunately, they also double the rate of ankle injuries compared<br />
to hard boots. A good option is the new hybrid boots, which balance the<br />
increased stability of hard boots with the increased comfort of the soft<br />
boots.<br />
Another good idea is a general strengthening and flexibility program<br />
for the ankles. There are all sorts of resources for this, including balance<br />
boards, therabands, etc., but one of the easiest exercises is to “draw the alphabet”<br />
with your big toe in the air. This is an excellent way to strengthen<br />
the muscles around the ankle and prevent further injury.<br />
As always, if this becomes a recurring problem, a visit to an orthopaedic<br />
or sports-trained physician to be evaluated is a good idea.<br />
Roanoke Orthopaedic<br />
Center
4 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
Ferrum players are more than teammates<br />
THEY ARE OLDER NOW BUT<br />
the men still carry a certain<br />
swagger…the walk of a champion.<br />
In 1968, a group of strapping<br />
lads from Ferrum College (then<br />
Junior College) did something<br />
very few athletes will ever be able<br />
to claim…they won a national championship.<br />
IN MY<br />
OPINION<br />
<strong>by</strong> Todd<br />
Marcum<br />
It’s safe to say that for most of them some of the most intense joy of their<br />
lives was associated with the game of football — as is some of the most<br />
profound sadness.<br />
After the championship, many players courted offers from larger college<br />
programs. Seven would follow Ferrum assistant coach Rick Tolley<br />
when he took a post as head coach at Marshall University. On <strong>No</strong>v. 14,<br />
1970, the eight would perish in a plane crash that claimed the lives of<br />
75 Thundering Herd players, boosters and coaches, as well as the flight<br />
crew.<br />
Eventually, the teammates decided it would be a good idea to start<br />
coming together once a year to remember the old times. For the <strong>2007</strong> reunion,<br />
held Sept. <strong>15</strong>, the team decided to travel north to visit Huntington,<br />
W.Va., the home of Marshall. (As a proud Marshall alumnus, I happened<br />
to be in attendance and got the opportunity to hear their story.)<br />
They could take in a game, see the sights, visit the memorial…as a<br />
bonus, they would get to see Renso “Rock” Perdoni’s kid play for New<br />
Hampshire. The co-MVP of the 1968 Ferrum team was later an All-American<br />
at Georgia Tech and the runner-up for the Lombardi Trophy. His son,<br />
Matt, is a senior and a team captain for the New Hampshire squad.<br />
The trip to West Virginia was slated for about 25 former players and<br />
their spouses as well as legendary coach Hank <strong>No</strong>rton. When the grillers<br />
of Smokin’ Thunder — unofficially the most hospitable tailgate in college<br />
football — caught wind of the visit, they made the team guests of<br />
<strong>Play</strong>ers in this Issue<br />
Publisher/Editor<br />
Graphic Designer<br />
Contributors<br />
John A. Montgomery<br />
Donna Earwood<br />
Mike Ashley<br />
Robert Blades<br />
Rod Carter<br />
Donald Earwood<br />
Tommy Firebaugh<br />
Sam Lazzaro<br />
Todd Marcum<br />
Gene Marrano<br />
Joyce Montgomery<br />
P.O. Box 3285, Roanoke, VA 240<strong>15</strong><br />
(540) 761-6751 • E-mail: jmonty@cox.net<br />
On the Web: www.play<strong>by</strong>playonline.net<br />
Christian Moody<br />
Dan Smith<br />
Mike Stevens<br />
Bob Teitlebaum<br />
Bill Turner<br />
©Copyright <strong>2007</strong>. All rights reserved. <strong>No</strong> part of <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> may be reproduced<br />
<strong>by</strong> any means or in any form without written permission from the publisher.<br />
<strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> is published every fourth Monday. Deadline for submissions<br />
for the <strong>October</strong> 29 issue is <strong>October</strong> <strong>15</strong>.<br />
Todd Marcum<br />
honor at the pre-game eat and greet.<br />
There the years rolled back as players spun stories with the locals about<br />
the 1968 Panthers gridiron squad that recorded a perfect 10-0 season, including<br />
an upset over defending national champion <strong>No</strong>rtheastern Oklahoma<br />
A&M. They topped it off with a 41-19 win over Phoenix College in<br />
the Shrine Bowl in Savannah to bring the title back to Franklin County.<br />
“We were simply afraid to lose,” said John Cougill, as his teammates<br />
nodded in agreement. Unlike the athletes of today, the team, which often<br />
journeyed hundreds of miles for its seven road games, traveled in the<br />
“luxury” of the “Golden Goose,” a 1939 standard-issue school bus. The<br />
pre-game spread often consisted of a pack of bologna and a loaf of bread.<br />
The coaches pushed the players to their very limits. It was, the players<br />
said, a tough place to<br />
play. And it’s apparent<br />
that nearly 40 years later,<br />
they wouldn’t have<br />
had it any other way.<br />
Dan Danko said that<br />
the 1968 Panther team<br />
was something special.<br />
Closer than teammates,<br />
more like brothers. He<br />
said that many times<br />
they have called on one<br />
<strong>Play</strong>ers from the 1968 Ferrum team still wear<br />
rings that prominently feature a ‘7’ in tribute<br />
to their fallen teammates<br />
another and that a teammate<br />
is always there to<br />
help.<br />
The group wore memorial<br />
shirts with the<br />
Ferrum Panther on the front along with photos of Tolley and the others<br />
who were lost in the crash. On the back was a picture of the 1970 team<br />
and the Marshall logo.<br />
Cougill recalled hearing news of the plane crash. He was coming back<br />
from Richmond to Randolph-Macon when he picked up a report on the<br />
radio. He couldn’t believe what he heard. In a state of shock, he waited<br />
through the wee hours of the night for a convenience store to open so he<br />
could buy a paper. He says he still has that paper to this day.<br />
Roanoker Horace Green was a student at Western Carolina when the<br />
plane went down and he had never had a chance to see the community<br />
where his former teammates were laid to rest. In the hearts of the people<br />
of Huntington, his lost friends will forever be young, noble and an honored<br />
part of the community’s heritage.<br />
“This has been 37 years coming,” Green said. “I didn’t have the opportunity<br />
to come when it happened. We were playing. I’m finally here. After<br />
seeing the fountain and gravesite, I figured out what it’s all about.”<br />
Rock Perdoni admitted it had been an emotional weekend.<br />
“When I look at these guys I think, ‘This is my brother,’” said Perdoni.<br />
“My son looks at me and says, ‘Dad, I want what you have with your teammates.’”<br />
As he headed off to the football game to watch his son face off against<br />
the heavily favored Thundering Herd, Perdoni said, “This has been a perfect<br />
day. <strong>No</strong> matter what happens at the game, we can’t lose.”<br />
Perdoni got an unexpected treat as he watched the younger Perdoni<br />
and his New Hampshire teammates best the Herd in a 48-35 offensive<br />
shootout.<br />
“It was a great weekend to be at such a wonderful place,” said Cougill.<br />
“For about 25 years after the accident, I thought about the tragedy every<br />
day. I personally had reservations about coming to Marshall. I had never<br />
been to the cemetery and seen the memorial.<br />
“Having now been there I can see that we Ferrum guys are not alone in<br />
either our loss or our memory of that terrible event. While we were at the<br />
cemetery, someone unknown to us who was a citizen from Huntington<br />
brought flowers and put them on the memorial. Candles were there from<br />
someone’s recent visit. I couldn’t help but notice the numbers of fans who<br />
were stopping to pay respect to the beautiful and moving memorial at the<br />
entrance of the stadium.<br />
“All of these things helped me understand that my friends that died<br />
that night are OK, that so many people will always remember the many<br />
lives that were cut short.”
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 5<br />
Bridgewater star wants to shine at home<br />
HEY, ALL YOU CHAMBER OF<br />
commerce and economic development<br />
gurus, I’ve got the<br />
poster boy to lead your campaign<br />
for keeping young, talented professionals<br />
from leaving the Roanoke<br />
Valley.<br />
Meet Jeff Highfill, Jr.<br />
He’s smart, athletic, handsome and has experience when it comes<br />
to striking a pose. His image already is front and center helping to<br />
sell Bridgewater College to prospective students in a slick promotional<br />
brochure.<br />
Oh yeah, did I mention he’s actually interested in returning home<br />
to begin his life in the working world<br />
“I definitely could see myself back in Roanoke teaching and<br />
coaching after this year,” he says.<br />
Highfill is off to a strong start on the football field this season. In<br />
late September, the Eagles were 4-0. Their senior starting quarterback<br />
had thrown seven touchdown passes, had completed nearly 70<br />
percent of his passes and was averaging more than six yards a carry<br />
on the ground.<br />
Highfill is a<br />
throwback to<br />
the days when<br />
athletes didn’t<br />
expect a free<br />
pass from society,<br />
worked<br />
hard and took<br />
their textbooks<br />
as seriously<br />
as their<br />
playbooks. He<br />
currently has<br />
a 3.95 grade<br />
point average.<br />
“I am competitive<br />
on the<br />
football field<br />
and in the<br />
classroom, so<br />
whatever challenge<br />
there is, I<br />
want to do the<br />
best that I can,<br />
and class is no<br />
different,” he<br />
says.<br />
His major is<br />
mathematics,<br />
his minor is<br />
With movie idol good looks and impressive statistics on<br />
the field and in the classroom, Highfill is a school model<br />
business, and<br />
his passion is solving logic-defying word problems. Highfill fully comprehends<br />
the numbers associated with the young professional flight that<br />
has been widely reported in the area media in recent times.<br />
But more than being an addition to the community’s census figures,<br />
Highfill wants to be a positive role model and follow in the footsteps of his<br />
father, longtime William Byrd coach and educator, Jeff Highfill, Sr.<br />
“I’ve seen the positive effect that my dad has had on so many young<br />
men, and I’ve seen how you can reach people through football that you<br />
can’t connect with in the classroom,” he says. “I just have so much respect<br />
for the things that my dad and his coaching staff have done that<br />
being a part of that would be truly special.”<br />
But before he drops off his application at the Roanoke County School<br />
Administration building on Cove Road, he needs to take care of some<br />
unfinished business at Jopson Field in Bridgewater.<br />
In 2006, the kings of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference fell flat on<br />
their faces. They lost not one, but two conference games, and watched<br />
helplessly as their streak of five straight ODAC championships came to<br />
Courtesy of Bridgewater College<br />
an abrupt halt.<br />
<strong>No</strong> rings, no playoffs, nothing.<br />
“If we can’t get focused after what happened last year, then we have a<br />
problem,” Highfill, Jr. says. “Everybody has their heads on straight and<br />
many of us stayed up here over the summer and worked out, so the dedication<br />
is there and we just have to make it happen.”<br />
But that will be easier said than done. Since Bridgewater nearly won<br />
the Stagg Bowl in 2001, every single team in the ODAC has stepped up<br />
its financial and competitive commitment<br />
to catch the Eagles. When Washington<br />
& Lee won the title last year, it<br />
sent a message to the entire league.<br />
“It’s getting tougher and tougher<br />
every year and teams that you used<br />
to think of as not being very good can<br />
now get you in a dogfight every week,”<br />
he says.<br />
The former William Byrd Terrier<br />
knows a thing or two about dogfights<br />
and he also knows that the real world<br />
is fast approaching.<br />
“Football and athletics have been<br />
such a huge part of my life and now<br />
here I am with my college career getting<br />
ready to end, and it’s tough,” he<br />
says.<br />
“I’m going to have to move on and<br />
figure out what I’m going to be doing<br />
Jeff Highfill connected on more<br />
than two-thirds of his passes in<br />
Bridgewater’s first four wins<br />
Dan Smith<br />
next year.”<br />
Hopefully, it won’t take a math genius<br />
with a job opening here in the valley<br />
to solve that problem.<br />
Natural Health<br />
Tip of the Month<br />
From Dr. Jeffrey Barker, DC, CCSP<br />
With its warm, sunny days and crisp, cool nights, fall is a great time<br />
to start an outdoor exercise program. Walking, jogging, or hiking<br />
are great fitness activities. To avoid injuries, a proper warm-up is<br />
essential...<br />
1. First, make sure your doctor okays you to start exercising<br />
2. Light walking/jogging and calisthenics are a good start<br />
3. Sport-specific stretching is the next step<br />
4. Start out slowly and increase the intensity as your muscles loosen<br />
and warm up
6 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
Ahhh…Vandy, Vegas, widescreen and brew<br />
A FEW NOTES:<br />
The people who write for <strong>Play</strong><br />
<strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong>, and its predecessor, the<br />
Sports Journal, seem to have favorite<br />
subjects that routinely creep<br />
into their space.<br />
According to the editors and<br />
the designer, my regular topics include<br />
DirecTV, gambling, Vanderbilt University, Nashville and beer. This<br />
seems totally ludicrous to me but that’s what they say.<br />
In Mike Ashley’s case, he likes to write about food, his wife, Radford<br />
University, food, his daughter and the Texas Tavern (food).<br />
Columnist Mike Stevens often tells inspirational stories, writing about<br />
people who have overcome difficult obstacles or who have left an indelible<br />
impression.<br />
Gene Marrano covers the local pro beats — and has had quite a few<br />
teams disappear on him in recent years, including the RiverDawgs (soccer),<br />
the Wrath (soccer), the Steam (arena football), the Express (hockey),<br />
the Vipers (hockey) and the Dazzle (basketball). Good news, Gene. I<br />
think you’re safe writing about the Salem Avalanche baseball team for a<br />
long time to come.<br />
Chris Moody loves to focus on golf, officiating and playing surfaces.<br />
If new surfaces go down, Chris will tell you all you want to know about<br />
them and maybe a little bit more.<br />
So how come I am the one who wrote a story for the Sports Journal on<br />
Salem native Murray Cook He is regarded as the greatest groundskeeper<br />
to come from this area, having put together fields in softball Olympics<br />
and given advice when new stadiums were put in at certain major league<br />
venues. Chris, how did this subject escape you<br />
I also wrote about former Yankees, Expos and Reds GM Murray Cook<br />
when he came to Salem as a scout for the Boston Red Sox. How many<br />
writers can say they’ve profiled two different men named Murray Cook<br />
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I have to admit that sometimes these topics seep into our copy without<br />
us even realizing it. I could have sworn beer was nowhere to be found in<br />
my Sept. 3 contributions, but designer Donna Earwood pointed out that<br />
it found its way into my copy yet once again.<br />
Sure enough, my column about the ghost players from Field of Dreams<br />
related the story about the team doing shows for U.S. forces stationed in<br />
the Pacific and how after their performance, they shared a brew.<br />
It seems innocent enough, so I guess my streak continues for writing<br />
about favorite subjects. Anyway, I’ll try not to mention any of my other<br />
tried and true topics in this issue. But don’t bet on it.<br />
THE JOBS I WOULD LEAST LIKE TO HAVE: I wouldn’t want to be<br />
the commissioner for any major league professional sports organization.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w these guys have to deal with far-ranging topics like NFL football<br />
coaches illegally videotaping opposing coaches and stealing signals (see<br />
New England’s Bill Belichick); dogfighting (former Virginia Tech quarterback<br />
Michael Vick); gangsters (numerous suspects, some of who have<br />
been suspended and fined); steroids that taint baseball; Tour de France<br />
records; baseball owners crying poor; and much, much more.<br />
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell came down on Belichick <strong>by</strong> fining<br />
him $500,000 and docking the Patriots $250,000 and draft choices next<br />
year. Most members of the media considered this punishment to be too<br />
lenient seeing that Goodell often throws players out of the league for a<br />
year because of their transgressions.<br />
Given the way pro football teams make money, the fine won’t hurt the<br />
Patriots. Belichick’s hefty salary as the NFL’s best coach will more than<br />
cover his infractions. To him, it will be more like a speeding ticket.<br />
Belichick’s character is so cold that it probably doesn’t embarrass him<br />
to be caught. In fact, he said early on that it was an interpretation of the<br />
rules even though Goodell used the King’s English and told him to stop<br />
taping defensive signals <strong>by</strong> the other team.<br />
I remember when the NFL’s head man had the plushest job in the<br />
world. Pete Rozelle would hold a press conference at every Super Bowl<br />
and tell you how smoothly things were running. And they were…because<br />
Rozelle never had to (or never chose to) deal with cheaters, dope addicts<br />
or players torturing dogs. Every winter, it was business as usual. Most of<br />
the press conferences were snoozers.<br />
BIG MARKET OR NOT: <strong>No</strong>w let’s look at baseball money losses. Outside<br />
of Boston, New York and Los Angeles, all teams are headed to the<br />
poor house, if you believe the hype.<br />
Yeah, they can’t make it because their attendance averages something<br />
like 30-40,000 sold seats for each of 81 playing dates; plus concessions,<br />
luxury boxes, TV contracts and the sale of team products.<br />
Some teams say they can’t compete with the big-market teams. So<br />
what is a big-market team Philadelphia says it’s not a big-market team<br />
and can’t afford to pay players the same prices they can earn in New York,<br />
Los Angeles or Boston. In my mind, this is a good excuse for losing.<br />
Philadelphia has a very large metropolitan population. I’ll admit that<br />
certain teams have huge advantages over others in baseball. <strong>No</strong> one has<br />
TV deals like the Yankees, Cubs and Braves. Heck, the Yankees even have<br />
their own television network. Of course, their salaries are out of sight.<br />
Luckily all of New England backs the Red Sox or they wouldn’t be able<br />
to compete. In fact, USA Today recently asserted that Boston has moved<br />
ahead of the Yankees in national popularity. I remember when the Braves,<br />
not Boston, were America’s team. Atlanta is now crying poor.<br />
TOM JOYNES: Former VMI athletics mainstay Tom Joynes passed<br />
away last month. This was one funny dude. When he served as sports information<br />
director, Joynes regaled the writers with his never-ending wit.<br />
However, he might have been too nice a guy. He was moved up to athletic<br />
director at VMI and that began the end of his career. For a time, the<br />
Keydets prospered thanks to a couple of strong college basketball teams<br />
led <strong>by</strong> Ron Carter in the late 1970s, one of which came within one game<br />
of making the NCAA Final Four.<br />
Football competed because Bob Thalman’s teams often came close to<br />
Virginia Tech and even beat the Hokies some years. However, the end was<br />
near as VMI’s program slipped through the ranks to the bottom of Division<br />
I-AA football, falling behind one of its biggest rivals, The Citadel.<br />
As the program slipped, Joynes took the blame. He never complained.<br />
He simply faded from the field, faithful to the VMI alumni that faulted<br />
him for trying to run a program that had little chance to compete.
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 7<br />
<strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> : third down, many years to go<br />
THE ISSUE YOU ARE HOLDing<br />
of <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> is <strong>No</strong>. 45,<br />
a significant number only in<br />
that we publish <strong>15</strong> times a year<br />
and this marks the completion of<br />
the third full rotation. The inaugural<br />
issue hit the streets at the end<br />
of <strong>October</strong>, 2004.<br />
Business forecasts often include three-year plans. It’s a good time to<br />
take stock of exactly where we’ve been and let our readers know where<br />
we’re headed.<br />
<strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> is largely patterned after its predecessor, The Sports Journal,<br />
a logical progression since most of the players are the same. This<br />
magazine was initiated only because previous corporate ownership<br />
decided the Sports Journal’s profit margin was inadequate.<br />
That decision launched a new opportunity. <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong><br />
was started just a few days after the SJ ceased, and except for the<br />
name change, there is relatively little difference in the publications.<br />
The transition was practically seamless.<br />
Our base of writers, advertisers and distribution outlets remains<br />
the same, although we’ve added to our numbers in all categories.<br />
The SJ editors, its original designer, the sales team and the photographers<br />
have all joined <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong>. We’ve also added some new<br />
features which we think have improved the end product, including<br />
our Web site, play<strong>by</strong>playonline.net, which allows those who so<br />
wish to read our entire issue online.<br />
Before we take a moment to celebrate…let’s review the path we<br />
took to get here.<br />
When we began <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong>, we were optimistic that it would work.<br />
The following passage appeared in Issue 1: “We are banking that a large<br />
segment of the Roanoke Valley is sufficiently interested in local sports<br />
to support an independent publication dedicated to the subject. After<br />
all, the word ‘fans’ is short for ‘fanatics,’ and sports fans are notorious<br />
for soaking up information and expressing their pleasure or displeasure<br />
accordingly.”<br />
Advertising support is critical to the magazine’s success, something<br />
those close to the operation never forget. Our ad dollars have grown each<br />
year, and we know our advertisers are not buying ads just because they<br />
like us.<br />
We also enjoy hearing from our readers regularly, often with story<br />
ideas, occasionally with corrections, but mostly to share their love of<br />
sports. In the past few days, we had one reader tell us he played baseball<br />
for Radford University’s Chuck Taylor, who was profiled in September,<br />
and another let us know that Red Sox baseball great Bob<strong>by</strong> Doerr, who<br />
was prominently mentioned in the same issue, played in an exhibition<br />
game at Roanoke’s Maher Field in the late 1940s.<br />
It’s interesting to peruse that first issue, which was put together in home<br />
offices in short order. “What are we going to do with Victory Stadium”<br />
was one topic. Other stories included pieces on golfer Chip Sullivan,<br />
then-new women’s Virginia Tech head basketball coach Beth Dunkenberger<br />
and Jack Bogacyzk, the former Roanoke Times sportswriter who<br />
now works in West Virginia.<br />
Our column lineup included Mike Stevens, Bob Teitlebaum, Mike<br />
Ashley and Chris Moody. Forty-five issues later, those columnists are<br />
still with us. And the ubiquitous Gene Marrano continues to generate<br />
a flurry of stories, just as he does for several other local publications and<br />
broadcast outlets. We’re grateful that Gene still finds time to be part of<br />
the <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> team.<br />
Realize that the local sports landscape has changed in three years.<br />
Hockey is gone (again). The Dazzle pro basketball franchise folded after<br />
five seasons. The wrecking ball dismantled Victory Stadium last summer.<br />
Of course, Salem continues to host NCAA championships three or four<br />
times a year, and the Spartans’ high school football team has gone 42-2<br />
since we set up shop, so not everything is temporary.<br />
New arenas are popping up everywhere (witness the new complex in<br />
Botetourt, Patriot Stadium at Patrick Henry, and Spartan Field at Salem<br />
High School) and old ones are being renovated (Bogle Field, Salem Stadium).<br />
In a couple of years, William Fleming High School will have its<br />
own stadium, too.<br />
In three years, 10 high school state titles have been won <strong>by</strong> area teams:<br />
Salem (football, twice); Cave Spring (volleyball, twice); Fleming (boys’<br />
basketball); Hidden Valley (girls’ basketball and girls’ soccer); Glenvar<br />
(wrestling and volleyball); and Roanoke Catholic (boys’ basketball).<br />
Some of our homegrown athletes continue to distinguish themselves<br />
on the national stage, including J.J. Redick, Tiki and Ronde Barber, and<br />
Angela Tincher. But we also publish plenty of stories about people you<br />
may not know. We’ve carved a niche covering sports stories you won’t get<br />
somewhere else.<br />
Somehow, we always find plenty of news to bring you month in and<br />
month out. We’ve never filled the paper with wire stories or fluff. It’s always<br />
completely locally generated. The quality of the content and design<br />
is a direct reflection of the work <strong>by</strong> those whose names<br />
appear in the staff box on page 4.<br />
Some readers are interested to know how a publication<br />
works. <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> is not typical; it functions in a<br />
style reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. We believe the<br />
product is professional, but when you pull back the<br />
curtain, the infrastructure is not complex.<br />
We’re blessed to have an array of contributors<br />
who are creative and diligent. They recognize the<br />
importance of deadlines. They continue to submit<br />
their work not because of the enormous compensation<br />
they receive, but simply because they enjoy<br />
what they do, and seeing their work in print is<br />
gratifying.<br />
We try to maintain a sense of humor in our operation and<br />
we also try to keep the stress level low. Usually, we succeed.<br />
About 80 percent of the 10,000 issues we distribute every 28 days is<br />
picked up. That percentage is growing.<br />
Thank you for continuing to read us. We couldn’t continue to deliver<br />
the product without you.
8 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
PLAY<br />
Book<br />
From Page 3<br />
Makers<br />
Cassidy<br />
Salem High School<br />
The Spartans’ football team defeated<br />
<strong>No</strong>rthside, 34-13, on Sept. 21 to<br />
run their <strong>2007</strong> record to 4-0 and retain<br />
their top ranking in Timesland.<br />
Since Stephen Magenbauer<br />
became head coach at the<br />
start of the 2004 season,<br />
the Spartans are 42-2,<br />
with the losses coming<br />
to Christiansburg (36-35)<br />
and Amherst (25-21) <strong>by</strong> a<br />
total of five points. They<br />
won Group AA state<br />
titles in 2004 and 2005.<br />
<strong>Play</strong>makers is sponsored <strong>by</strong> Professional Therapies of Roanoke<br />
or Roy Rogers lunchboxes.<br />
McFarland Publishing opened<br />
its business in 1979 in Jefferson,<br />
N.C., and in a short time<br />
became one of the country’s<br />
leading publishers of scholarly<br />
and reference books.<br />
It published more than<br />
3,200 titles in its first 10 years<br />
and set a goal to maintain<br />
a similar pace thereafter.<br />
Some of McFarland’s titles<br />
are biographies of the old Western<br />
heroes such as Buck Jones.<br />
McFarland also publishes on<br />
topics such as the performing arts<br />
(especially film), sports and leisure<br />
(especially baseball), military<br />
history, popular culture and<br />
automotive history.<br />
In general, its baseball books are<br />
well-written and well-researched.<br />
Most of the authors are members<br />
of the Society of American Baseball<br />
Research (SABR) who have<br />
written numerous articles about<br />
baseball history.<br />
McFarland claims to be the<br />
leading publisher of serious books<br />
on baseball and I won’t dispute<br />
that assertion. Some of my favorite<br />
books from McFarland include<br />
a biography of Pepper Martin<br />
from the old St. Louis Cardinals’<br />
Gashouse Gang; a biography of<br />
the famed Chicago<br />
Cubs’ double play<br />
combination of Tinker<br />
to Evers to Chance;<br />
Jimmie Foxx, probably<br />
baseball’s most<br />
famous slugger in the<br />
1930s other than Babe<br />
Ruth and Lou Gehrig;<br />
New York Yankees’<br />
pitcher Waite Hoyt;<br />
New York Hall of Fame infielder<br />
Tony Lazzeri; and Baseball and<br />
Richmond.<br />
That last book, a gem, has added<br />
to my knowledge of the game. Most<br />
anyone who studies the history of<br />
baseball knows that Jack Chesbro<br />
holds the record for most wins in a<br />
single season in modern baseball<br />
(after 1900). He won 41 games for<br />
the New York Highlanders in the<br />
early 20th century.<br />
What you probably don’t know<br />
is that Chesbro played minor<br />
league baseball in Richmond and<br />
also in Roanoke — during the 1896<br />
season.<br />
PROFESSIONAL<br />
THERAPIES, INC.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Q.<br />
Ask A Ref<br />
In an effort to inform fans of the finer points of the rules of the<br />
games, <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> regularly publishes the feature “Ask A Ref,” a<br />
chance for fans to ask a question about specific sports rules, preferably<br />
those related to high school or the NCAA. We ask officials to answer<br />
these questions and, depending on the number, print some or all<br />
of the responses.<br />
Questions can be sent to Ask_a_Ref@yahoo.com.<br />
In this issue, we ask our question to veteran high school football<br />
official Christian Moody, a contributing editor to <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong>.<br />
Can one team’s coaches use headphones if the other team<br />
has none, or if the other team’s are not working<br />
Sure. Rules that govern play below the pro level make no re-<br />
A. quirements on such communication, so each team is responsible<br />
for its own equipment. Likewise, monitoring the use of<br />
such is outside the purveyance of the game officials, to quote the<br />
NFHS rule book.<br />
There is a rule in professional football that prohibits this, and<br />
football fans have likely seen where the referee makes an announcement<br />
that one team must disconnect their headphones because of<br />
a malfunction. I’m not sure why this is announced over the PA or<br />
how it’s enforced, but in pro football it’s up to the home team to<br />
provide the connections and hardware to make headphones work<br />
(although they do not provide the headphones themselves, because<br />
I’m sure each team wants to keep its encrypted frequency a secret)<br />
so there would be an advantage if the home stadium staff could<br />
cause a disruption of communication for the visitors.
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 9<br />
Snapshots of the season<br />
Roanoke College <strong>Vol</strong>leyball<br />
Caitlyn Long, a sophomore from Cave<br />
Spring High School, scores a point for<br />
the Maroons in recent action.<br />
<br />
<br />
D-III emotion<br />
Dan Smith<br />
When Emory & Henry’s football team<br />
thrashed Ferrum, 50-7, on Sept. 1, among<br />
those suiting up for the Wasps were Joey<br />
Daniels (above), a junior defensive back<br />
from Salem High School, and Matt Assenat<br />
(46, below), a senior defensive end from<br />
Lord Botetourt. Assenat was celebrating a<br />
touchdown that developed from a fake field<br />
goal attempt.<br />
<br />
Jim Hickam<br />
Dan Smith<br />
The Ferrum assistant defensive coach<br />
(above), who made a name for himself<br />
as head coach for more than 30 years at<br />
<strong>No</strong>rthside High School, was not happy<br />
with Ferrum’s performance against<br />
E&H.<br />
Thanks to our sponsors<br />
for making our event a winner!<br />
Dan Smith<br />
Tommy Firebaugh photos<br />
Senior Tour Golf<br />
At Blue Hills on Sept. 4, the big winners<br />
were C.B. Sink (left) and Bill Mann<br />
(above). Sink was the Division 1 net<br />
winner with a 59, matching cards; Mann<br />
was the Division 2 net winner with a 64.<br />
Mann also was the Division 2 gross winner,<br />
shooting a 79.<br />
Title Sponsors: WSLS Newschannel 10, Outback<br />
Steakhouse. Gold Sponsors: Fleet Feet Sports,<br />
Jefferson College of Health Sciences, Life Fitness,<br />
<strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong>. Silver Sponsors: Pepsi Bottling Group,<br />
The Redwoods Group, Robertson Marketing Group,<br />
East Coasters Cycling & Fitness. Bronze Sponsors:<br />
Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group, Mariners Landing/<br />
East Lake Real Estate, Tudor’s Biscuit World of VA,<br />
Brandon Animal Hospital of Roanoke.<br />
Donor: Mann & Associates, Inc.
10 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
Still at the<br />
TOP<br />
TIKI BARBER<br />
COMES HOME<br />
<strong>by</strong> Gene Marrano<br />
of<br />
IT’S EVIDENT VERY EARLY<br />
in his new autobiography,<br />
Tiki, My Life in the Game and<br />
Beyond, that former Cave Spring<br />
High School valedictorian Tiki<br />
Barber knows how<br />
to write with flair<br />
and articulation.<br />
In one six-page sequence,<br />
he describes<br />
a simple run from<br />
scrimmage, detailing<br />
all of his thoughts as he<br />
looks for daylight and<br />
follows blockers before<br />
sprinting off into the end zone.<br />
It reads like a graceful description<br />
of ballet choreography.<br />
In another chapter, Barber, who<br />
went on to star at the University of<br />
his<br />
game<br />
Virginia before<br />
a stellar National<br />
Football<br />
League career<br />
with the New<br />
York Giants, vividly<br />
describes<br />
the fine art of<br />
putting on the<br />
too-tight uniforms<br />
favored<br />
<strong>by</strong> football<br />
players who do all they can to<br />
appear like fierce warriors.<br />
Barber appreciated the athletic<br />
skills he honed at Cave<br />
Spring, but would prefer to mention<br />
first the education he received<br />
there as a foundation for his success<br />
outside the game of football.<br />
He’s written several children’s<br />
books with his twin brother —<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Tiki Barber was the keynote speaker at a Sept. 13 Valley Forward forum.<br />
Roanoker and former UVa teammate Walt Derey (right) brought Barber in<br />
Tampa Bay cornerback Ronde<br />
Barber — and may turn them into<br />
an animated television series. He<br />
and Ronde have hosted the satellite<br />
football wrap-up show, The<br />
Barber Shop, for years; he was a<br />
Fox & Friends morning show cohost<br />
and an off-season sportscaster<br />
for the CBS-TV affiliate in New<br />
York at one point.<br />
My Life in The Game and Beyond<br />
(Simon & Schuster) is a good read<br />
from a man who was always looking<br />
ahead, even at an early age,<br />
when both he and Ronde were<br />
being raised <strong>by</strong> single mother<br />
Geraldine Barber. Their father,<br />
J.B., a one-time Virginia Tech tailback,<br />
has never been a part of the<br />
family.<br />
Barber didn’t entirely warm to<br />
football until well into his high<br />
school years, according to the<br />
book, and stayed lighter than he<br />
should have been as a ball carrier<br />
until his junior season at the<br />
University of Virginia.<br />
Before the 1995 season<br />
at UVa, an assistant coach<br />
asked him what he wanted<br />
to be: an Olympic track<br />
star — one of Barber’s<br />
dreams — or a successful<br />
tailback. The<br />
ex-sprinter’s name<br />
can still be seen at<br />
Cave Spring High<br />
School on a tote<br />
board that lists track<br />
records. Barber bulked up, adding<br />
weight and muscle, and two years<br />
later was drafted <strong>by</strong> the Giants in<br />
the second round. The rest is history:<br />
originally thought of as a<br />
Bill Turner photos<br />
third-down back, the 5’9” dynamo<br />
eventually became a starter and<br />
all-purpose yards monster, rushing<br />
for more than 10,000 yards,<br />
catching passes for 5,000 more.<br />
Barber says he feels “not a tinge”<br />
of regret about walking away<br />
from the game after a 2006 season<br />
where he felt like he was slipping,<br />
despite impressive numbers.<br />
The shadow of Willie Mays, Jerry<br />
Rice, Evander Holyfield and others<br />
who stayed far too long in the<br />
arena was always on his mind.<br />
“That was part of it,” says Barber,<br />
quick to add that there were<br />
no “simple answers,” as to why he<br />
walked away from the game at age<br />
31. “I knew that in little ways, I was<br />
losing a step. It did bug me.”<br />
Ex-football running back stars<br />
like Barry Sanders, Robert Smith<br />
and Jim Brown that walked away<br />
near the top<br />
of their game<br />
were ins<br />
p i r a -<br />
tions.<br />
Barber’s high school football coach was Steve<br />
Spangler, now the principal at Cave Spring<br />
Barber appears to burn some<br />
bridges in the book, especially<br />
where now-embattled Giants<br />
See BARBER, Page 16
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 11<br />
Who says the<br />
Roanoke Valley<br />
isn’t a hotbed<br />
for sports<br />
We talk your language. Every fourth<br />
Monday. Available at Kroger, Wal-Mart<br />
and <strong>15</strong>0 other outlets.<br />
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P.O. Box 3285, Roanoke, VA 240<strong>15</strong><br />
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On the Web: www.play<strong>by</strong>playonline.net
12 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
Earning her stripes<br />
<strong>by</strong> Mike Ashley<br />
Alexi Staton stands tall at VMI<br />
GENERALLY SPEAKING, ALEXI<br />
Staton had never really<br />
thought about a military<br />
career.<br />
Too bad, because it turns out she<br />
excels on defense, although privately<br />
she still has a hankering for<br />
offense. That combination of skills<br />
is helping the versatile sophomore<br />
from Roanoke earn her stripes at<br />
VMI while the Keydets move up<br />
the ranks in women’s soccer.<br />
“Alexi’s ball-handling ability and<br />
her offensive strength<br />
were very attractive<br />
when we recruited<br />
her,” says third-year<br />
Keydets coach Bryan<br />
Williams, who had<br />
the team off to the fastest<br />
start in its five-year<br />
history at 3-4-1. “Alexi<br />
is playing an outside<br />
back for us this year<br />
and the back line has<br />
really come together.”<br />
The Keydet kickers have never<br />
won more than seven games in a<br />
season, but they already had three<br />
Alexi Staton<br />
wins <strong>by</strong> mid-September this year,<br />
including two shutouts. Staton, returning<br />
to some old habits despite<br />
playing defense, scored the gamewinner<br />
in a 1-0 win over The Citadel,<br />
VMI’s archrival.<br />
“I had just come into the game<br />
in the first half and I really hadn’t<br />
even touched the ball,” says Staton.<br />
“I was in the right place at the<br />
right time.”<br />
Staton made that synchronistic<br />
trait a staple of her game at<br />
<strong>No</strong>rthside High School, where she<br />
graduated in 2006 as the Vikings’<br />
all-time leading scorer<br />
with 46 goals and<br />
28 assists under coach<br />
Shawn Duff. A twoyear<br />
captain, Staton<br />
helped lead <strong>No</strong>rthside<br />
to the Blue Ridge District<br />
title as a senior.<br />
She also starred for the<br />
Roanoke Star and Valley<br />
AFC soccer clubs,<br />
and that’s where she<br />
developed her true<br />
love for the sport and began to realize<br />
how that passion could have<br />
an impact on her future.<br />
Photos courtesy of VMI Sports Information<br />
Alexi Staton (4) is one<br />
of less than 100 female<br />
students enrolled at VMI<br />
“Mike Thorrel was one of my<br />
coaches and he made me want<br />
to play college soccer,” she says.<br />
“During the summertime he gave<br />
me extra lessons and really helped<br />
me with a lot of the little things,<br />
helping improve my skills.”<br />
That’s important because Staton<br />
says one of her biggest influences,<br />
her mom, Tamela Morgan, never<br />
knew a lot about the game until<br />
Staton started playing and turned<br />
her mother into the classic “soccer<br />
mom.”<br />
“My mom grew up in the Lexington/Fairfield<br />
area and she<br />
didn’t even know there was soccer<br />
until she got to college,” Staton<br />
laughs. “She only played basketball,<br />
but she’s really into sports.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w she watches me and gives me<br />
good advice. She pushed me and<br />
my brothers and sisters to play.”<br />
Good thing, too, because <strong>by</strong> her<br />
senior season at <strong>No</strong>rthside, Staton<br />
was fielding offers from several<br />
Division II programs and contemplating<br />
a career in medicine where<br />
soccer would help her get her foot<br />
in the door with some scholarship<br />
aid.<br />
And that’s about when a letter<br />
from Williams and VMI arrived at<br />
her home.<br />
See STATON, Page 17<br />
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OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 13<br />
<strong>by</strong> Bob Teitlebaum<br />
The Key to success<br />
PHIL KEY IS A MAN OF<br />
ideas.<br />
Because he doesn’t mind<br />
sharing them, the Roanoke<br />
Valley Sports Club is a thriving organization.<br />
While club membership is<br />
somewhat less than the 300-plus it<br />
once enjoyed, the club has grown<br />
financially. Its bank account,<br />
which it draws upon to compensate<br />
guest speakers, has increased<br />
a few thousand dollars due to<br />
Key’s vigorous participation on<br />
the club’s executive board.<br />
He joined the club when Dick<br />
Williams became the president in<br />
2000; soon thereafter, he became<br />
a board member who has developed<br />
a reputation for promotional<br />
ideas.<br />
A Roanoke native, Key’s employment<br />
with IBM took him away<br />
from the valley for 22 years and<br />
when he returned, he was ready to<br />
be proactive.<br />
“We don’t promote the club<br />
enough,” says Key, who stepped<br />
into the role of changing that.<br />
Current club president John<br />
Montgomery has benefited from<br />
Key’s promotions. “He’s been a<br />
tremendous help to the club in two<br />
areas,” says Montgomery, who is<br />
also the publisher of <strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong>.<br />
“He’s helped with programs — doing<br />
the legwork to bring in former<br />
NFL stars Carroll Dale and Alex<br />
Hawkins, among others — and<br />
<strong>by</strong> helping us generate additional<br />
funds to pay for such programs.”<br />
The club, which was founded in<br />
1993 <strong>by</strong> Dan Wooldridge, Charlie<br />
Moir, Joe Thomas, Sr. and others,<br />
holds approximately 10 meetings<br />
a year. That’s nearly <strong>15</strong>0 meetings<br />
since it began, most of which have<br />
been held in the Community Room<br />
at the Salem Civic Center. Average<br />
attendance is approximately 100.<br />
The attendance has a dramatic<br />
spike if people from Virginia Tech,<br />
the University of Virginia or VMI<br />
come to speak.<br />
The best attended meetings take<br />
place late in the summer when<br />
Tech football coach Frank Beamer<br />
and his counterpart at Virginia,<br />
Al Groh, give interested fans previews<br />
of their respective teams.<br />
Traditionally, the two coaches<br />
appear at the same meeting,<br />
bringing on a night of fellowship<br />
and friendly rivalry from members<br />
associated with each school.<br />
This past year, the coaches could<br />
not make it on the same night and<br />
there were two separate meetings<br />
at Hidden Valley Country Club because<br />
the civic center was tied up<br />
with other bookings.<br />
Longtime sports fan invigorates club<br />
Phil Key (left) procured former<br />
Baltimore Colt Alex Hawkins as a<br />
sports club speaker in 2006<br />
Beamer, however, had to cancel<br />
because he was honoring<br />
another speaking engagement.<br />
Beamer was originally set to be in<br />
Lynchburg on April 16, the day of<br />
the mass shootings, and then that<br />
event was rescheduled for July 26,<br />
the night he had intended to be in<br />
Salem. He was replaced <strong>by</strong> defensive<br />
coordinator Bud Foster, who<br />
was equally well-received.<br />
The sports club has been popular<br />
with its base, but innovation<br />
in recruiting has not been its<br />
strength.<br />
Enter Key. He played football and<br />
basketball for old Jefferson High<br />
School and made all-Western District<br />
and Roanoke City-County before<br />
entering the Marines in 1951<br />
and taking off for California before<br />
he could finish high school.<br />
“They were expanding the Marine<br />
Corps,” says Key, who was 17<br />
when he left school. “They had two<br />
divisions at the time, one on the<br />
East Coast and one on the West<br />
Coast.”<br />
Key entered the new West Coast<br />
division and completed his tour<br />
a year-and-a-half later. At 6’4”,<br />
195 pounds, he was big enough to<br />
play college football and earned<br />
a scholarship to the University of<br />
Richmond.<br />
“All my buddies went to Hampden-Sydney.<br />
I didn’t have a car, so I<br />
decided to go with them to Hampden-Sydney,”<br />
Key recalls, instead<br />
of Richmond.<br />
With the Tigers, Key played four<br />
years of football and basketball<br />
while being named to Who’s Who<br />
in American Colleges.<br />
In spite of his early achievements,<br />
Key says at that age he<br />
wasn’t particularly assertive.<br />
“I developed late in life,” he<br />
adds, which helps explain how his<br />
late entry to the Roanoke Valley<br />
Sports Club has coincided with a<br />
flood of new ideas.<br />
First, he hounded The Roanoke<br />
Times to write an article on the<br />
sports club in hopes that it would<br />
be seen <strong>by</strong> people who might decide<br />
it would be a good thing to<br />
become a member.<br />
“The Danville [sports] club is always<br />
covered in their paper and I<br />
thought, ‘Why not us’” he asks.<br />
Key set up a meeting with reporter<br />
Evelio Contreras, providing<br />
him with considerable background<br />
and detail.<br />
The story appeared<br />
in Neighbors in December<br />
of 2005.<br />
Key’s efforts didn’t<br />
stop with a story in<br />
the newspaper. He<br />
came up with another<br />
idea of selling sponsor<br />
tables, appealing<br />
to club members who<br />
were willing to pay for<br />
the privilege of having dinner with<br />
guest speakers.<br />
Of course the speakers had to<br />
be significant enough to carry out<br />
this idea and it was a natural for<br />
the Beamer-Groh meetings.<br />
It has worked whenever one<br />
of Tech’s basketball coaches appears,<br />
as well as when the speaker<br />
has VMI connections.<br />
“It made sense to put members<br />
with speakers and make some<br />
money for the club,” Key explains.<br />
“My mind is always percolating<br />
John A. Montgomery photos<br />
with ideas.”<br />
This particular idea has added<br />
a few thousand dollars to the club<br />
treasury.<br />
Prominent speakers can command<br />
high dollar, but the sports<br />
club has never paid more than<br />
$2,500 for a meeting. Most programs<br />
cost $500 or less.<br />
(Charlottesville’s Howie Long,<br />
an NFL Hall of Famer and prominent<br />
broadcaster on the Fox network,<br />
has been known to receive<br />
$40,000 for a single appearance.)<br />
Key reasons that with betterknown<br />
speakers, the membership<br />
rolls might increase.<br />
“We have a lot of money; why<br />
not bring in a [well-known] speaker<br />
and maybe charge a little more<br />
for a ticket” Key asks.<br />
The club’s current dues are $30<br />
a year. A family membership costs<br />
$40. Dinner is an additional $12.<br />
Key wasn’t finished, though. His<br />
next original thought was a special<br />
achievement award to honor<br />
sports people in the Roanoke Valley.<br />
“I thought there are a lot of<br />
people in the club with interesting<br />
backgrounds and achievements<br />
and everyone would be interested<br />
in knowing what they had done,”<br />
Key says.<br />
“I like to make people feel good<br />
and do something for them.”<br />
So far, Jim Lugar, Dave Osborne,<br />
Carlton Waskey, the late<br />
Len Mosser, Wooldridge, Moir,<br />
Don Divers, Bill Shrader, Dave<br />
Ross, this writer, Harry Bushkar,<br />
Carroll Moffit, Galen Conner,<br />
Ned Baber and Wallace Coffey<br />
are among those who have been<br />
honored.<br />
Each one received a certificate<br />
and a place on the permanent<br />
Key with former Green Bay Packer Carroll Dale<br />
(center) and sports club board member Jim Lugar<br />
plaque displayed at each club<br />
meeting.<br />
Perhaps Key’s most touching<br />
subject turned out to be the late<br />
George Preas, a great football<br />
player at Virginia Tech and for the<br />
Baltimore Colts during their best<br />
days under Johnny Unitas. Preas<br />
was honored in the fall of 2006, not<br />
long before his death.<br />
“We had [former Colts star] Alex<br />
Hawkins as the main speaker and<br />
See KEY, Page 17
14 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
Bridesmaid finish placates Avalanche<br />
Salem surviv roster turnover to lace as league runner-up<br />
<strong>by</strong> Gene Marrano<br />
TEN MINUTES OR LESS<br />
after the Salem Avalanche<br />
lost the fourth and deciding<br />
game of the Mills Cup Championship<br />
Series to the Frederick Keys<br />
on Sept. 11, players were packing<br />
up to head to their respective<br />
homes.<br />
In fact, there were equipment<br />
bags and trunks already sitting<br />
in the hallway. Some were on cell<br />
phones with wives, girlfriends or<br />
family members — if those people<br />
weren’t in town already to watch<br />
the Carolina League finals.<br />
The post-game meal was a quieter<br />
affair than usual. Even though<br />
the Avs struggled at times in <strong>2007</strong><br />
as injuries and call-ups played<br />
havoc with the roster, it’s never<br />
easy to lose a championship.<br />
Some players, many of whom<br />
will not return to Salem Memorial<br />
Baseball Stadium next year, lingered<br />
first in the dugout to watch<br />
the Frederick Keys accept the Mills<br />
Cup trophy from league president<br />
John Hopkins. That came after<br />
the Keys gathered for picture-taking<br />
in front of the visitors’ dugout<br />
and doused each other with cheap<br />
champagne.<br />
There were bright spots for the<br />
Avalanche this year, which finished<br />
the season earning its wildcard<br />
playoff berth with a re-made<br />
roster. Outfielder Billy Hart, one of<br />
those who actually stayed around<br />
for the duration of the year, got hot<br />
in the second half and made a late<br />
run to win the Carolina League<br />
batting crown with an average of<br />
.305.<br />
The former USC football and<br />
baseball player beat out another<br />
Californian, teammate Mitch Einertson,<br />
on the last day of the sea-<br />
son. The center fielder also hit .305,<br />
a fractional point or two behind<br />
Hart — and settled for the league<br />
MVP trophy with his 87 RBI.<br />
“Who would have thought Billy<br />
Hart would have been a batting<br />
champion <strong>No</strong> one worked harder<br />
than Billy all year long,” said<br />
manager Jim Pankovits, who also<br />
praised Einertson for taking advantage<br />
of the opportunity when<br />
other players got hurt or were promoted.<br />
“[Einertson] just took off — from<br />
the middle of May until the end of<br />
the season he was <strong>by</strong> far the most<br />
consistent hitter and deserving<br />
of the MVP, no doubt of that,” the<br />
manager said.<br />
Pankovits hailed the work of<br />
pitcher Chris Blazek, thrust into<br />
the closer’s role after the All-Star<br />
break. Blazek came up big in the<br />
postseason.<br />
Infielder Wladimir Sutil “will<br />
play at a higher level” after shining<br />
in the postseason as well.<br />
From where he was at the beginning<br />
of the year as a returning<br />
player and a sub, stuck behind<br />
people like the touted Eli Iorg<br />
— who later went down with an<br />
injury — Hart said he learned it<br />
was all about getting through the<br />
grind.<br />
“Every at-bat and every game<br />
counts,” said Hart. Being in the<br />
playoffs was the icing on the<br />
cake. “It’s all about winning ball<br />
games.”<br />
He hopes to move up next<br />
spring. Hart was confident all year<br />
that even with the call-ups and injuries,<br />
the Avalanche could make<br />
it to the second season.<br />
“We had a lot of good players<br />
on this team throughout the year<br />
[and] we had a lot of really good<br />
players move on to Double A. It’s<br />
Bill Turner<br />
Bill Turner<br />
Billy Hart (left) won the batting title<br />
Bill Turner<br />
MVP Mitch Einertson<br />
always a good accomplishment to<br />
go to the finals,” said Hart as he<br />
loaded a plate with his post-game<br />
meal for the last time. “It was<br />
fun.”<br />
“You can’t really look at it as<br />
a disappointment,” said hitting<br />
coach Chuck Carr of losing in the<br />
championship round. “The way we<br />
started, even in the second half [of<br />
the season], it didn’t look like we<br />
were going to come this far. They<br />
just have to look at it as another<br />
chapter in the book.”<br />
During Carr’s three seasons in<br />
Salem, the Avs went from a onegame<br />
playoff, to the first round last<br />
season, and the Mills Cup championship<br />
series this year.<br />
In the second half-season, with<br />
several key pitchers called up to<br />
AA Corpus Christi, “the offense<br />
really knew they had to go out<br />
there and put up some numbers,”<br />
said Carr.<br />
Being in a pennant chase will<br />
help these young players down<br />
the road, the former major leaguer<br />
said.<br />
It’s all about focus.<br />
“That hard work all season…<br />
that’s when it pays off. The thing<br />
is, who focuses the most [in the<br />
postseason].”<br />
As for Hart coming on strong<br />
and capturing the batting title,<br />
Carr indicated it was “more of a<br />
confidence thing as he started<br />
progressing. [Hart] has the ability<br />
to make it, but he’s going to have to<br />
cut loose that shyness.”<br />
Pankovits doesn’t know where<br />
he will be next year after completing<br />
his second season as manager<br />
in single-A Salem. Such is life with<br />
a big league organization like the<br />
Houston Astros, which fired manager<br />
Phil Garner and general<br />
manager Tim Purpura in August<br />
— just two years after the Astros<br />
were in the World Series. Purpura<br />
was director of minor league development<br />
when Pankovits was a<br />
roving instructor.<br />
After the last game against Frederick<br />
and his good<strong>by</strong>es to players,<br />
the former major league utility<br />
player appeared to be a bit redeyed<br />
as he looked back on a long<br />
season. “We spend six months together;<br />
it’s like a family,” said Pankovits<br />
as he sat in the manager’s<br />
office. Home is not far way for the<br />
Richmond-area resident.<br />
“It’s a long haul but it happens<br />
every year. Fortunately a lot of<br />
these guys have a bright future<br />
and will be playing a long time. I’ll<br />
see them a number of years in the<br />
future.”<br />
Did he see the Avalanche making<br />
it to the championship round<br />
earlier in the season<br />
“I didn’t even see this team,” he<br />
said. “This is a brand new team<br />
except for a few players that we<br />
started with. That’s a tribute to the<br />
organization. All the new guys we<br />
plugged in did a great job. That’s<br />
very unusual that we could continue<br />
to have such a consistent<br />
season from start to finish with all<br />
the changes.<br />
“A great year [with] a disappointing<br />
finish…but a lot of fond memories,”<br />
said Pankovits about <strong>2007</strong>.<br />
“I think I’m pretty demanding in<br />
how much I asked them to work,<br />
but they never complained.<br />
They showed up every day and<br />
worked their [butts] off.”<br />
There was plenty to be learned<br />
from chasing the Mills Cup trophy,<br />
about preparation and performing<br />
in stressful situations<br />
— “which it seemed like every<br />
game we were in,” according<br />
to Pankovits. “They will benefit<br />
from those experiences the rest<br />
of their careers.”<br />
Having finished two games<br />
short of a Carolina League title<br />
despite a season full of upheaval<br />
won’t look bad on the managerial<br />
résumé of Jim Pankovits, either.
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY <strong>15</strong><br />
On the surface, field value underestimated<br />
IN HIS COLUMN ON PAGE 6,<br />
Bob Teitlebaum says that I have<br />
a tendency to write about playing<br />
surfaces. That’s true, because<br />
I’m writing about facilities. That’s<br />
the old news guy in me. New facilities<br />
mean improvements within<br />
the community. They often mean<br />
more economic impact for sports<br />
and happier residents.<br />
The number of people who actually see an improved quality of life with<br />
artificial surfaces on football fields is fairly small, limited mostly to those<br />
souls who had to try to get mud out of white jerseys and pants after rainy<br />
nights on the field.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w they just have to sweep their homes and automobiles to get out<br />
the hundreds of little rubber grains that get in shoes, socks and cling to<br />
uniforms.<br />
I also love new golf courses. Actually, I like all golf courses, and I love<br />
to play golf. For some reason I’m just not very good at it. This fact used to<br />
make me angry, but I realized a mad golfer isn’t a better golfer, he’s just<br />
more miserable.<br />
In this issue on page 16, I’ve<br />
included a story about a new<br />
facility in Craig County that’s<br />
somewhere between the stages<br />
of hope-for-someday and opening-day-is-scheduled.<br />
Craig County is an amazing<br />
Salem<br />
Stadium<br />
place in that the people who<br />
want things like new fields and<br />
facilities make plans, figure out<br />
what they need, decide how to<br />
get it, then go do it. I love the spirit. I wonder how that would work on this<br />
side of Catawba Mountain.<br />
There’s a new golf course being built in Mt. Pleasant called Ballyhack. I<br />
wrote about it some 18 months ago, but there were delays in finishing another<br />
project, so groundbreaking was delayed until this summer. <strong>No</strong>t to<br />
worry, very few of us were going to get to play it, anyway. It’s for big-money<br />
out-of-towners who don’t mind dropping large sums of cash for large<br />
homes they will rarely visit, located around an expensive golf course they<br />
will rarely play. But still, there are worse things to do with land than build<br />
golf courses — trees and grass don’t hurt much.<br />
Mt. Pleasant residents should hope that Roanoke County officials don’t<br />
notice them sitting out there with open land around…or there will be<br />
a permit to build a Wal-Mart issued so fast they’ll never know what hit<br />
them.<br />
This is offensive<br />
There was an interesting scene on the sidelines of the Virginia Tech vs.<br />
Ohio football game on Sept. <strong>15</strong>. Athletic Director Jim Weaver, fresh off issuing<br />
his ridiculous injunction on the Marching Virginians’ percussion<br />
section for a cheer that one or two people may (or may not) have complained<br />
about, stood there while from the front row, just behind his left<br />
shoulder, some maroon-clad moron shouted absolute profanities toward<br />
opposing players and game officials.<br />
Rewind a bit: The Tech band plays a drum beat when the offense gets<br />
inside the opponent’s 20-yard-line, known as the red zone, exhorting the<br />
team to score a touchdown. The beat plays three repetitions, followed <strong>by</strong><br />
a chant among Hokie faithful of “Stick it in! Stick it in! Stick it in!”<br />
Granted, they mean stick the ball in the end zone, and granted as well,<br />
it is a kitschy little double entendre, as college students often seem to enjoy.<br />
Big deal. It’s a college football game. The phrase is not dirty unless<br />
the listener chooses to interpret it that way. It’s not profane and it is not<br />
disrespectful to the opponent.<br />
I was all for Weaver’s attempt to quell booing. Booing is classless.<br />
Chanting to your own offense is not.<br />
But the things the fan at the Ohio game was shouting were classless,<br />
vulgar and offensive. There were children just a few feet from him. Yet no<br />
one did a thing about it.<br />
If Weaver wants to cut out offensive behavior, he needs to address real<br />
jerks like that — and there are plenty in every stadium I’ve ever been to<br />
for a game — and stop worrying about a band’s chant.<br />
Things in sports I could do without — a continuing series<br />
OK, show of hands, how many of you are going to scream the next time<br />
you hear “threw him under the bus”<br />
Fill in the pronoun of choice. It could be “threw you under the bus,” or<br />
“her,” “me” or even a proper or common noun.<br />
Enough with the bus. It’s played.<br />
It wasn’t that good of a quip when it was first coined, but it quickly became<br />
a cliché, and now it’s just a tired old remark. If that’s all the talking<br />
heads of television and radio can think to say, they need to have their<br />
creative license revoked.<br />
Coolspeak phrases like that usually come and go, fads of the moment,<br />
like the length of athletic shorts. So when is this thing going to go the way<br />
of the Britney Spears’ relevance and disappear<br />
Also on the list of things that were never as interesting as intended,<br />
but are now just uberannoying, are those robot graphics Fox Sports uses.<br />
They are supposed to look like the Terminator, or something similar, and<br />
look like cyber warriors. Of course I’m speculating on what they’re supposed<br />
to be and why. It’s just guesswork, really, because I don’t know why<br />
a television network as big as Fox uses such cheesy graphics. It makes no<br />
sense.<br />
Why not just get old video of cylons in Battlestar Galactica and superimpose<br />
them with a football or hockey stick. That blue light going back<br />
and forth would look pretty cool in a cage-style goalie helmet.<br />
Memo to 3 Daughters Media<br />
I’ll be happy to continue to listen to ESPN Radio on the stations you<br />
now own, but could you please make this possible <strong>by</strong> maintaining a<br />
signal without constant eruptions of static or those strange, rumbling<br />
buzzes
16 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
FACILITIES<br />
Rural community knows how to get it done<br />
<strong>by</strong> Christian Moody<br />
WHEN SOMETHING NEEDS<br />
to be done in Craig County,<br />
people figure out if they’ve<br />
go the wherewithal to do it. Do<br />
they have the location The resources<br />
The money<br />
About <strong>15</strong> years ago, a track was<br />
built behind Craig County High<br />
School — in one day. All of the labor,<br />
all of the material and all of<br />
the equipment were donated. The<br />
track cost the school nothing.<br />
Craig County residents know<br />
not to ask the county government<br />
for favors. The budget is small, the<br />
tax-base smaller, and paying for<br />
the school system, landfill and the<br />
few other services takes up most of<br />
the money left in a county with no<br />
stoplights, one incorporated town<br />
of less than 300 residents, millions<br />
of trees and two-thirds of its land<br />
belonging to the U.S. Forest Service,<br />
which pays no property tax.<br />
So when residents wanted a<br />
place for their kids to play ball that<br />
was similar to sports complexes<br />
in Salem and Botetourt County, it<br />
was up to them.<br />
Thus the Craig County Recreation<br />
and Conservation Association<br />
was born.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w, the “Field of Dreams,” as<br />
it’s called, is a goal the CCRCA is<br />
trying to achieve. It will be a new<br />
complex of athletic fields that will<br />
coach Tom Coughlin is involved,<br />
calling him a tough “one-size-fitsall”<br />
coach that wouldn’t cut him<br />
any slack in practices when his<br />
body began aching more as an aging<br />
veteran.<br />
“It got played up in New York<br />
that I retired because of Tom<br />
Coughlin…or because I was tired<br />
of being beat up. It’s a confluence<br />
of a lot of things,” Barber says.<br />
But football was never going to<br />
be all that Barber was about and<br />
he turned in his uniform after the<br />
2006 season following a 10-year<br />
NFL career. He lives in Manhattan<br />
with his wife, Ginny, his sweetheart<br />
since college, and their two<br />
young sons. Barber’s elaborate<br />
“crib” was featured on a halftime<br />
show last year. He’s now a correspondent<br />
for NBC’s Today show<br />
and a studio host on that network’s<br />
Sunday Night Football telecast.<br />
Craig County has no stoplights, millions of trees, and<br />
two-thirds of its land belongs to the U.S. Forest Service<br />
allow recreational teams from<br />
Craig to practice and host home<br />
games.<br />
The CCRCA’s complex is in the<br />
final planning stages. The last permits<br />
were expected to be approved<br />
and signed in late September. All<br />
that’s left to do is build it.<br />
Problem is, that might be the<br />
hardest part. It’s certainly the<br />
most expensive, and money is not<br />
exactly lying around. There are no<br />
large treasure chests of cash waiting<br />
for a good project.<br />
Tracy Surface, the chairwoman<br />
of the CCRCA, said the overall<br />
cost of the project, if fully funded,<br />
would be between $600,000 and<br />
$700,000. That’s if everyone who<br />
works on the project is paid.<br />
Barber<br />
From Page 10 One of his first assignments for<br />
Today was at Virginia Tech after<br />
the April 16 shootings.<br />
Even though the Barbers have<br />
no formal ties here any more<br />
— Geraldine moved out of the<br />
valley after she retired from her<br />
Roanoke County administrative<br />
job a few years ago — Barber came<br />
back in the middle of September<br />
at the behest of his friend and former<br />
UVa teammate, Walt Derey,<br />
who is part of the Valley Forward<br />
movement.<br />
That group — led <strong>by</strong> local businessman<br />
John Lugar — wants to<br />
keep more young professionals<br />
here in the valley and held a Sept.<br />
13 forum where people could<br />
mingle with local government<br />
and civic leaders, asking questions<br />
about the valley’s future.<br />
Barber came in as keynote<br />
speaker to talk about how the Roanoke<br />
area had shaped him, how<br />
important it is to build a sense of<br />
But in Craig County, volunteerism<br />
is not only alive and well, it’s<br />
essential. Plans are in place for<br />
heavy equipment to be used to<br />
clear the site, near the campus the<br />
three county schools share about<br />
two miles east of New Castle on<br />
Virginia 6<strong>15</strong>.<br />
The land is already deeded to<br />
the CCRCA, purchased from Glen<br />
Whitlow.<br />
<strong>Vol</strong>unteers have agreed to clear<br />
the land, grade it and prepare it to<br />
be ball fields.<br />
Like other sports complexes,<br />
four diamonds will radiate from a<br />
central hub.<br />
One will be a regulation baseball<br />
field with 90-foot baselines<br />
and a grass infield. Another will be<br />
community here.<br />
One of those looking on at a news<br />
conference before the forum was<br />
Steve Spangler, now<br />
the principal at Cave<br />
Spring High School.<br />
He was Tiki and<br />
Ronde’s head coach<br />
at the Southwest Roanoke<br />
County school in<br />
the early ’90s.<br />
“Any time he comes<br />
home it brings back<br />
memories,” Spangler<br />
says. “Those guys have<br />
Bill Turner<br />
amazed me from when<br />
they were in high<br />
school,” he recalls of<br />
the Barber twins. “The<br />
sky was the limit. Every time you<br />
thought they got to one plateau<br />
they moved it up another notch.”<br />
Spangler remembers Barber as<br />
being “very highly motivated” in<br />
high school. “I’m just as proud as<br />
I can be of them. I knew they were<br />
Donna Earwood<br />
a regulation softball field with 300-<br />
foot fences, while the other two<br />
will be for t-ball or little leagues<br />
with 200-foot fences.<br />
A football field will be laid out in<br />
the outfield of the baseball field.<br />
Gene Hannah is heading an action<br />
committee that’s selling firewood<br />
as a fundraiser. Hannah’s<br />
group will raise money earmarked<br />
for fuel for the heavy equipment<br />
that will be donated.<br />
The CCRCA raised money the<br />
past two years raffling off a new<br />
Ford pick-up truck. The drawing<br />
this year will be at the Craig County<br />
Fall Festival on Oct. 13.<br />
The CCRCA is also looking for<br />
sponsorships and grants. The state<br />
has offered a $25,000 matching<br />
grant.<br />
Still, it’s a long way from the<br />
total amount needed to build the<br />
fields, the fences, the central tower<br />
and, ultimately, the lights that will<br />
stand over the fields.<br />
Surface said while the work of<br />
Hannah, Mac McCaleb and other<br />
volunteers is beyond value, the<br />
money trickles in. The project<br />
will be a pay-as-you-go effort that<br />
might take years to complete, but<br />
it’s going to be done with sweat,<br />
with community, with volunteerism,<br />
and without debt.<br />
Craig County residents know<br />
how to get it done, even if they<br />
have to do it themselves.<br />
special athletes.”<br />
Being considered a special<br />
athlete obviously meant something<br />
to the proud<br />
and ambitious man<br />
known simply as Tiki<br />
to many in the game.<br />
Single-name athletes<br />
like Tiger, Peyton and<br />
Michael are in a separate<br />
category from the<br />
mainstream.<br />
“I didn’t want to be<br />
the guy who not only<br />
was hearing from other<br />
people but was saying<br />
to myself, ‘I’m not<br />
Tiki Barber the same anymore.’ So<br />
I walked away while I<br />
still could, at the top of my game.”<br />
After all, whether it’s broadcasting<br />
or another profession — Barber<br />
hints in the book that politics<br />
are one future possibility — there<br />
are plenty of playing fields left to<br />
conquer.
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 17<br />
Staton<br />
From Page 12<br />
“It was late in the spring of my<br />
senior year and I got a letter from<br />
Coach, and I decided I might as<br />
well look at VMI,” she recalls. “My<br />
dad and my uncle both graduated<br />
from VMI so I knew a little about<br />
it already. I went there and I liked<br />
it the most of all the schools I had<br />
seen.”<br />
And Staton took to the lifestyle,<br />
so much in fact, that she now plans<br />
on commissioning in the Navy after<br />
she graduates. Ultimately, she<br />
would like to go to flight school,<br />
and that goal is within her reach<br />
as long as she keeps her grades up<br />
and keeps building on the foundation<br />
VMI establishes in all cadets.<br />
It’s particularly tough on women,<br />
though, with less than 100 females<br />
among the 1,300 total Keydets.<br />
A lot of the women there are<br />
athletes, too, trying to build VMI’s<br />
fledgling women’s programs<br />
against great odds at the Division<br />
I level.<br />
“We have to recruit student-athletes<br />
that are strong academically<br />
and interested in what VMI has to<br />
offer,” says Williams, who seems<br />
to be getting pretty good at finding<br />
those recruits. He has five sophomores<br />
and six freshmen among<br />
his small, 16-player roster, part of<br />
the team’s challenge going against<br />
larger programs with many more<br />
experienced players.<br />
“VMI teaches you to keep at it<br />
and never give up,” says Staton.<br />
“I’m really glad to be part of this<br />
team. We only have two seniors<br />
but I think everyone has picked up<br />
a leadership role at times to make<br />
it work.”<br />
Staton is learning about leadership,<br />
too, already an Echo Company<br />
corporal in the Corps of Cadets.<br />
Like all the cadets, she went<br />
through the Rat Line her freshman<br />
season, the baptism of fire<br />
that makes or breaks a VMI man<br />
or woman.<br />
“That’s the toughest thing I’ve<br />
ever gone through,” she says. “It<br />
was pretty hard. That and getting<br />
used to so many new things can be<br />
overwhelming. Just learning the<br />
rules like how to wear a uniform,<br />
how to march, just the military<br />
lifestyle.”<br />
Staton says being part of a team<br />
within the corps helped, but despite<br />
what outsiders might think,<br />
she says her fellow females at the<br />
Institute are tougher on each other<br />
than even the men.<br />
“Most of the girls give each other<br />
a harder time at VMI,” she says.<br />
“I guess because it’s so hard for us.<br />
If one of us messes up, then the<br />
corps kind of looks at us as one so<br />
we have to make sure that the girls<br />
remain in good standing.”<br />
But Staton’s freshman season<br />
was tougher for other reasons, too.<br />
An ankle injury kept her out of all<br />
but seven games and the competitor<br />
in her ached. She hurt more this<br />
preseason — a recurrence of the<br />
ankle injury and a chronic stomach<br />
problem sidelined her for the<br />
season-opening win over Howard,<br />
and she came off the bench against<br />
The Citadel.<br />
Ultimately, one in a long line of<br />
doctors finally figured out Staton<br />
had developed lactose intolerance.<br />
Dairy is out of her diet, the ankle is<br />
better and Staton has been back in<br />
the starting lineup ever since.<br />
With her back on the backline<br />
and with a big assist from the<br />
freshmen goalkeeping duo of Angela<br />
Redmond and Heidi Beemer,<br />
the Keydets allowed just two goals<br />
in the next four games, Williams’<br />
plans are coming together. He<br />
loves Staton using her offensive<br />
skills from the backfield to bring<br />
the ball forward and initiate offense.<br />
Mom, becoming quite the soccer<br />
aficionado, enjoys Staton’s<br />
game, too. She rarely misses a VMI<br />
contest, and all that while she and<br />
Staton’s stepfather, Kirk Morgan,<br />
coordinate the sports schedules<br />
of Staton’s younger sister and two<br />
brothers.<br />
Key<br />
From Page 13<br />
“I never really realized how<br />
much work they had to do getting<br />
me everywhere all the time until I<br />
got to college,” Staton says. “They<br />
come to every single one of my<br />
home games and most of the away<br />
games they can get to.”<br />
Staton has extensive future travel<br />
plans, too. She’s planning on naval<br />
flight school, and that makes<br />
sense. Her career is just starting to<br />
take off.<br />
it made sense to honor George,”<br />
says Key. Hawkins and Preas were<br />
once teammates.<br />
Unfortunately, Preas was in<br />
poor health and unable to attend.<br />
He was represented <strong>by</strong> his wife,<br />
B.J. Preas, who accepted the honor<br />
for her husband. It was <strong>by</strong> far<br />
the most touching meeting ever<br />
held <strong>by</strong> the sports club. B.J. Preas’<br />
acceptance speech was from the<br />
heart, Key says, and she still get<br />
accolades for the words she uttered<br />
that night.<br />
Key’s son, Phillip, Jr., like his<br />
father, played football at Hampden-Sydney<br />
where he started at<br />
running back.<br />
His daughters, Rachel Boyer<br />
and Shelley Blackwell, live in<br />
Danville. Blackwell was a teen<br />
tennis star with a state ranking.<br />
He has four grandsons, all of<br />
whom have played the violin since<br />
they were 5 years old. The oldest,<br />
Delos Boyer, plays in a concert<br />
orchestra using a violin that belonged<br />
to his great-great-grandfather.<br />
Key’s granddaughter, Lucy<br />
Blackwell, “is only 4 and has her<br />
own violin,” Key says proudly.<br />
Delos, who stands 6’5”, is projected<br />
to grow another three inches<br />
and wears a size-16 shoe. He<br />
might be a major player in Division<br />
I athletics.<br />
Boyer plays on the George Washington<br />
High School junior varsity<br />
football team in Danville. He also<br />
will play basketball, probably on<br />
the varsity level. Amazingly, in<br />
this day of early recruiting, Boyer<br />
has received no attention despite<br />
making excellent grades.<br />
Though Key is beyond conventional<br />
retirement age, he’s still one<br />
of the busiest men in Roanoke.<br />
After a 36-year career working for<br />
IBM, he retired in 1992 and entered<br />
into a partnership with an<br />
associate in Florida.<br />
“We have computer software<br />
that permits large manufacturing<br />
companies to use energy more effectively,”<br />
he says. “It’s like getting<br />
better gas mileage.”<br />
With the new sports club year<br />
just getting underway, it’s going<br />
to be interesting to see what else<br />
Key comes up with for the board<br />
to consider.<br />
It’s safe to assume he’s not out of<br />
ideas.<br />
(Bob Teitlebaum is also a member<br />
of the Roanoke Valley Sports<br />
Club’s board of directors.)<br />
Deans<br />
From Page 18<br />
two states,” he ticks off effortlessly.<br />
Deans, now 59, was once a backup<br />
guard for the Patriots, who went to<br />
the state AAA final in 1966 when<br />
he was a junior. Coming back to<br />
coach his alma mater was always<br />
a goal. “Patrick Henry’s been my<br />
life.”<br />
Deans has never looked back<br />
and says he knew when it was time<br />
to quit coaching. The only time he<br />
misses it is while he is watching a<br />
game and formulating strategy.<br />
“How I would have liked to have<br />
done things, in order to stop one<br />
great player, like a J.J. Redick.”<br />
Deans says he was the master<br />
of “junk defenses” when he was<br />
coaching.<br />
In 1988, the Patrick Henry Patriots<br />
played and beat Washington,<br />
D.C., powerhouse DeMatha at the<br />
Roanoke Civic Center, in front of<br />
the largest crowd ever to see a high<br />
school game in Virginia. The attendance<br />
was “9,632 fans,” recalls<br />
Deans. That game led to a series<br />
of basketball extravaganzas that<br />
he helped organize for years at<br />
the Salem Civic Center. In recent<br />
times, a game between Oak Hill<br />
and Redick’s Cave Spring Knights<br />
packed the arena.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w Deans has jumped back<br />
in the fray with next February’s<br />
Member One Valley Shootout,<br />
which features Hidden Valley<br />
High School boys’ and girls’<br />
teams, Salem High School and a<br />
pair of military academies. Local<br />
amateur coach and scout Steve<br />
Myers, whom Deans knew when<br />
both worked for the Dazzle, enlisted<br />
his help.<br />
“I really wasn’t looking to get<br />
back into it, [but] he’s a basketball<br />
nut,” he says of Myers, who has<br />
contacts that helped recruit teams<br />
for the first Shootout.<br />
“I’ve known him for years,” says<br />
Myers of Deans in return. “His experience<br />
with putting on tournaments<br />
has been a big plus.”<br />
The Salem Kiwanis Club is pitching<br />
in and West Virginia attorney<br />
Scott Long is a co-sponsor. Long’s<br />
son plays for Hargrave Military,<br />
which battles Massanutten in the<br />
last game on Feb. 2.<br />
“I’m the kind of guy that likes<br />
to stay busy,” understates Deans.<br />
“I’m just loving life right now.”
18 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong><br />
LEGENDS OF THE GAMES<br />
Deans: ‘Patrick Henry’s been my life’<br />
<strong>by</strong> Gene Marrano<br />
WE’VE ALL SEEN THOSE<br />
commercials with actor<br />
Dennis Hopper, declaring<br />
that retirement isn’t just about riding<br />
off into the sunset anymore,<br />
sitting in a<br />
rocker on the<br />
front porch as<br />
the rest of the<br />
Legends of<br />
the Games<br />
Thirty-eighth in a Series<br />
world whizzes<br />
<strong>by</strong> at a faster pace.<br />
Woody Deans has taken that to<br />
heart: since he retired three years<br />
ago, the former two-time Group<br />
AAA state championship basketball<br />
coach at Patrick Henry High<br />
School has stayed very involved<br />
with athletics there. He announces<br />
football and basketball games on<br />
the public address system, along<br />
with handling some supervisory<br />
chores, the five-year part-time<br />
work that comes<br />
with an early retirement<br />
package.<br />
That’s not all<br />
Deans has been up<br />
to. He works parttime<br />
in the golf<br />
pro shop at Hanging<br />
Rock with his<br />
friend, Billy Mc-<br />
Bride, Jr., and also<br />
helps out former<br />
Roanoke Catholic<br />
basketball player<br />
Kevin Dill at the<br />
p r o m o t i o n - o r i -<br />
ented Adventures<br />
in Advertising in<br />
downtown Roanoke.<br />
Local recreation<br />
teams and schools are among his<br />
clients.<br />
“Very flexible, that’s why I like<br />
working here,” says Deans of the<br />
Franklin Road firm. “If I want to<br />
go play golf, I go play golf.”<br />
That job at Hanging Rock allows<br />
Deans to play three to four rounds<br />
of golf a week. He’ll only admit that<br />
his handicap “has come down”<br />
since he left PH.<br />
A growing passion and the extra<br />
time to practice golf have led to his<br />
participation in the Roanoke Valley<br />
Senior Tour, now in its second<br />
year. Deans has notched one win<br />
(gross score) and a second place.<br />
“I was very proud [of the win at<br />
Draper Valley],” he adds. <strong>No</strong>t having<br />
to put in “those 13-, 14-hour<br />
days,” like he did at Patrick Henry<br />
has been good for his game.<br />
Basketball has never strayed far<br />
from Deans’ heart; he spent two<br />
years on the game-day staff of the<br />
Roanoke Dazzle, calling the action<br />
for others that recorded the stats.<br />
“It was a perfect fit for me because<br />
I knew basketball,” says<br />
Woody Deans retired as Patrick Henry’s AD three years ago and now<br />
handles PA duties for football and basketball, among other activities<br />
Deans of working with the nowdefunct<br />
professional team. Last<br />
year he operated the clock on<br />
games at Roanoke College and<br />
he may do that at the Salem Civic<br />
Center this winter. And he’s now<br />
the co-founder of a high school<br />
basketball event, the Member One<br />
Valley Shootout, which debuts in<br />
February.<br />
His eyes well up easily when<br />
thinking about the time his wife,<br />
Suzy, baked brownies for the PH<br />
basketball teams — when they<br />
won. Brownies in part fueled state<br />
titles when future NBA player<br />
George Lynch was there (1988) and<br />
when Curtis Staples helped shoot<br />
the Patriots to the championship<br />
four years later. “If I’d known I was<br />
going to be so successful I’d have<br />
bought stock in Duncan Hines,”<br />
Deans laughs.<br />
Thinking about their daughters,<br />
Jenny and Kristie, also brings out<br />
the sentimentality in Deans. It<br />
probably doesn’t hurt that Kristie<br />
works at the Congressional Country<br />
Club in Maryland, which hosted<br />
Tiger Woods’<br />
invitational tournament<br />
this summer.<br />
She got her father<br />
tickets to the<br />
event after Deans<br />
had seen Woods<br />
perform at Pinehurst<br />
previously.<br />
Ironically, the<br />
Deans family lived<br />
in the Cave Spring<br />
area while their<br />
daughters grew<br />
up; one time he<br />
encouraged Jenny<br />
Bill Turner photos<br />
to go sit with the<br />
Knights’ faithful in<br />
the student cheering<br />
section when<br />
he coached against them.<br />
“I will, but I really want you<br />
to win,” she told him under her<br />
breath.<br />
Of the new PH football stadium<br />
and gymnasium,<br />
which he<br />
helped design<br />
with architect<br />
Richard Rife,<br />
the former health and physical<br />
education teacher declares, “I am<br />
so thrilled that Roanoke City has<br />
finally done something first class<br />
in the area of athletics and facilities.<br />
I’m happy for the kids and the<br />
teams.”<br />
In the new gym, Deans worked<br />
with Rife to design space behind<br />
the player benches so people won’t<br />
walk in front of them (a pet peeve<br />
while he was coaching) and suggested<br />
where the officials’ locker<br />
rooms should be placed.<br />
“It’s first class,” reiterates Deans,<br />
who sat down with Rife a halfdozen<br />
times or more to go over the<br />
plans. “He came back and came<br />
back. What we talked about…it’s<br />
in there.”<br />
That includes new weight-lifting<br />
and training rooms, more space<br />
in locker rooms and extra storage,<br />
plus an indoor running track.<br />
Deans was athletic director for<br />
seven years after ending his run of<br />
25 years as a basketball coach and<br />
PE teacher.<br />
“You just couldn’t handle both,”<br />
he says about the prospect of<br />
coaching and being athletic director<br />
at the same time. “<strong>No</strong>t at a<br />
Triple A school.”<br />
He started coaching at Jackson<br />
Middle School, then coached the<br />
last-ever Jefferson junior varsity<br />
team in 1973-’74. When Jefferson<br />
High School varsity coach Dick<br />
Kepley went to PH, he took Deans<br />
along. Deans coached the JV team<br />
for nine years and then the varsity<br />
for 13 after Kepley left.<br />
“Six districts, four regionals and<br />
See DEANS, Page 17
OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong> PLAY BY PLAY 19<br />
Headlines you’ve missed that I will miss<br />
SIDELINES<br />
<strong>by</strong> Mike<br />
Ashley<br />
AS A PRACTICING JOURNAList,<br />
I have been remiss in not<br />
mentioning the passing of<br />
the Weekly World News, a longtime<br />
staple of the grocery-store checkout<br />
experience.<br />
The WWN printed its last issue<br />
in late August (though it’ll continue<br />
online, but that doesn’t help me while I’m on line at the grocery<br />
store). And I would have brought this up sooner but I was temporarily<br />
kidnapped <strong>by</strong> aliens who looked like Bigfoot but gave me a wondrous<br />
diet plan imparted to them four years ago <strong>by</strong> Elvis, who is alive and well,<br />
and living in Tazewell.<br />
I already miss the WWN, if for no other reason than I can only take so<br />
many checkout publications with Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and<br />
Paris Hilton on the cover. Them, I’ve heard enough from. Give me more<br />
Loch Ness Monster stories or tales of bat-boys or half-humans or enchiladas<br />
that look like The Pope. Come to think of it, I had a burrito at El<br />
Rodeo last week that looked just like The Pope’s hat.<br />
Fortunately, I had been looking ahead to this sad time in the Fourth Estate<br />
when the WWN was snatched away from us. See, I collect headlines<br />
and story ideas from many publications because I never know when the<br />
<strong>Play</strong> <strong>by</strong> <strong>Play</strong> <strong>October</strong> deadline is gonna sneak up on me and I can’t write<br />
another word about Barry Bonds or Michael Vick or Bill Belichick or<br />
Tim Donaghy.<br />
So I reached into that musty desk drawer this week and unearthed<br />
some gems I had been saving from all over, and some of them even have<br />
something to do with sports. Let’s go chronologically and add a WWN<br />
headline:<br />
Schools <strong>No</strong>t For Swingers Anymore<br />
Schools in Broward County, Fla., have posted “<strong>No</strong> Running” signs on<br />
their playgrounds. Swings, merry-go-rounds and any other equipment<br />
with moving parts have been eliminated as a result of $561,000 paid out<br />
to settle 189 claims of playground injuries. What does that leave on the<br />
playground Grass<br />
Maybe I was a more diligent kid than those we have today but I always<br />
assumed the risk of hopping on the Jungle Gym or parking my carcass<br />
in the swing. Have you looked at kids today We need them to step away<br />
from the Happy Meal and get out and run.<br />
Ba<strong>by</strong> Born with Soccer Ball for Head<br />
Nine months after Germany hosted the World Cup, births were up 10 to<br />
<strong>15</strong> percent in the country. The event, described as a month-long party in<br />
the (now literal) Fatherland, was more than the soccer-crazed Germans<br />
could handle. “The excitement they felt during the matches seems to have<br />
lasted and been employed in other ways after the final whistles.”<br />
The German team was a surprise, reaching the semifinals before<br />
Italy gave them the boot. But not before the happy Germans got their<br />
NEW FROM MOUNTAIN DEW<br />
Introducing Mountain<br />
Dew Game Fuel,<br />
the same Mountain Dew flavor<br />
with a blast of citrus cherry<br />
and 30% more caffeine for<br />
a unique and invigorating<br />
taste.<br />
<br />
corner kicks.<br />
STEVIE WONDER BAGS 10-POINT BUCK<br />
In April, the Texas legislature planned to “make it easier for the blind to<br />
hunt with guns.” As good an idea as this sounds on paper, what it means<br />
is that Texas is easing a ban on laser-sights on high-powered rifles, “a hindrance<br />
to blind hunters, who generally ‘sight’ their targets <strong>by</strong> having a<br />
friend tell them where to aim.” There’s a Dick Cheney joke in here somewhere,<br />
but I don’t play partisan punch lines.<br />
Rep. Edmund Kuempel said this measure “will get more blind people<br />
back into the outdoors,” something I don’t have a problem with as long as<br />
they’re not pointing a gun my way.<br />
Sales of Braille orange jackets are said to be brisk in the Panhandle.<br />
Trappist Monk Little League Team Wins Local Title<br />
Cincinnati Little Leaguers have been banned from traditional baseball<br />
“chatter” unless it’s “positive in nature.”<br />
“<strong>No</strong> batter, no batter” and “Saaa-wing, batter” have been banned on<br />
the playing fields because, well, some kids can’t hit a baseball. Which is<br />
probably the reason I’m sitting here typing this instead of playing in the<br />
big leagues. I don’t blame the host of outfielders who crept in closer and<br />
the third basemen who heckled me, but apparently I could now contact<br />
my attorneys and seek legal action against them.<br />
To help, though, here’s a new politically correct cheer for Cincinnati<br />
Little Leaguers: “We want a pitcher, not an underwear-stitcher…unless of<br />
course you aspire to a career in high fashion or something like that, and<br />
then it’s just fine with us, Hey.”<br />
Dancing While Seeing Stars<br />
A Chicago woman plans to sue her dance partner for “negligent dancing.”<br />
The woman was apparently grabbed <strong>by</strong> the arms and tossed in the<br />
air <strong>by</strong> an “overenthused” co-worker at an office party, and she suffered a<br />
fractured skull.<br />
Reportedly, the man has counter-sued Arthur Murray.<br />
I knew I was in trouble the last time I was in a club and I asked a girl to<br />
dance, and she had me sign a release form.<br />
Attorneys for Britney Spears are monitoring the situation closely, too,<br />
after her negligent dancing effort on MTV’s Video Music Awards show.<br />
VIRGINIA IS FOR GANG-BANGERS<br />
Virginia’s new tourism campaign, “Live Passionately,” was accompanied<br />
with a logo featuring a pair of hands with thumbs and forefingers<br />
forming a heart. Unfortunately, this sign is already known widely as the<br />
symbol representing Chicago’s notorious gang, the Gangster Disciples.<br />
To make it up to the street gang-bangers, they’ve been invited for a<br />
weekend in Williamsburg to hang with the colonials, walk the meancobblestone<br />
streets and sell Jimmy Crack Corn to the locals.<br />
I tell you, a couple of hits of Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don’t care.
20 PLAY BY PLAY OCTOBER 1, <strong>2007</strong>