OP_081519

OPPrairie.com sports
the orland park prairie | August 15, 2019 | 39
fastbreak
THURSDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
Some local characters get TV time
JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY
MEDIA
1st and 3
SOME ULTIMATE FACTS
ABOUT THE ULTIMATE
VOLLEYBALL CLUB
1. Pocahontas not PC
The club’s new
owner, Joel Anderson
(above) went
to Pocahontas High
School in Iowa, with
the now-controversial
nickname of
the Redskins.
2. Double deuce
The club’s previous
owner, Erin Lorenz,
founded the club
and ran it for 22
years.
3. A lot of spikes
The club boasts
of close to 600
athletes and over
the years, some of
the best Sandburg
players have played
there.
Jeff Vorva
Sports Editor
Who says there is
nothing good on
TV?
OK, I will admit there
is a lot of garbage on the
boob tube. I once made
the unwise proclamation
“Television will never get
lower than this!” when I
first saw “Love Connection.”
I was wrong. There are
shows that make “Love
Connection” look like
“Masterpiece Theater.”
But there are some
good shows, as well. And
if there is someone you
know on TV, that’s pretty
cool.
As editor of The Tinley
Junction and The Orland
Park Prairie, I caught a
double-dose of fun television
in a two-day stretch
after Orland Park’s Sam
Travis hit a big home run
for the Boston Red Sox
and Tinley Park’s Jon Zaghloul
pitched an inning
in a college wooden-bat
league.
Austin and power
Travis, a Providence
Catholic graduate, belted
a two-run homer in a win
over Kansas City on Aug.
5 to help snap a sevengame
losing streak for the
Boston Red Sox. It was
his first career Fenway
Park home run.
After the game, he
was interviewed by New
England Sports Network’s
Guerin Austin, who
tweeted that the green
dress she was wearing that
night helped snap the losing
streak.
Well, Travis gets a little
credit, too.
“I’m just staying within
myself,” Travis told her.
“I’m more relaxed. I’m
not trying to do too much.
I’m just trying to barrel
things up and, you know,
it’s worked out. We just
have to keep it going.”
Since making his major
league debut in 2017,
Travis has had his ups and
downs and has been to
the minors and back more
times than he cares to.
He is getting a little more
consistent playing time as
an outfielder and he is enjoying
the increased time.
“You come up here and
you get spot starts here
and there...it’s not an
excuse you want to come
through for your team
whenever you get called
upon. But the more I’m
out there, the more comfortable
I am, for sure.”
Travis, one of the few
players in Major League
Sam Travis, shown in 2017, belted his first Fenway Park
home run for the Boston Red Sox to help snap a sevengame
losing streak. BILLIE WEISS/BOSTON RED SOX
Baseball who doesn’t
wear batting gloves, had
a career-high 83 at bats
through Thursday, Aug.
8, with three homers and
11 RBI.
Loul-a-palooza
So how in the heck did
a skinny kid with Elvis
Costello/Buddy Holly
glasses who is a freelance
writer for 22nd Century
Media get a live interview
on “SportsCenter:
AM” on Aug. 6?
I’ve asked a lot of
questions about this dude
since I inherited him as
a student columnist in
2018.
How in the heck did
he get big names such as
Roger Clemens and Metta
World Peace to come on
his internet radio show
last year?
How in the heck did he
get political firecracker
Sean Spicer to come on
his sports show this year
when Spicer has been
relatively quiet these
days?
With all he has accomplished,
why in the
heck is he still willing to
work for a jerk boss like
me? (He will be covering
football games for us this
fall.)
Anyway, this summer
he was willing to take one
of the most un-glamorous
of un-glamorous jobs, as
he was the publicity man/
announcer for the Crestwood
Panthers, a team
full of college kids that
played in the woodenbat
Midwest Collegiate
League. Somehow, he
managed to turn this
entry-level position into a
national appearance.
Manager Isaac Valdez
kick-started this story by
telling the 19-year-old
Zaghloul (who played
baseball for Andrew) to
suit up during the season
finale on Aug. 4. In the
ninth inning our hero
came into the game and
gave up a run in an inning.
End of story? Not if
you know Jon.
He put a little video
together and sent it out
to as many people as he
could around the country.
Most people ignored
it. ESPN thought it was
cool.
So two days later,
Zaghloul was sitting in
a studio in Chicago and
was live for a couple of
minutes telling his story. I
was disappointed he was
wearing different glasses
instead of the Costello/
Holly specials, but he
came across great. If he
was nervous, he didn’t
show it. He seemed calm
and was having fun with
it.
“My baseball career
was all but over, or so I
thought, until [Aug .4]
and it was just great to
get back out there and
help my team stay in the
game,” he told ESPN host
Randy Scott. “It was a
nice feel-good way to end
the season.”
LISTEN UP
“As far as the overall program goes, you
can’t disrupt something that it already great.”
Joel Anderson - New Ultimate volleyball owner on
not making big changes to the program
WHAT2WATCH
GIRLS GOLF
2:30 p.m. Saturday Aug. 17
• Sandburg opens the 2019-2020 high school sports season at
the Providence Invite-Midlothian Challenge.
Index
38 - Going Places
35 - Athlete of the Week
Compiled by Sports Editor Jeff Vorva,
j.vorva@22ndcm.com