We've made it a Christmas tradition to air the top local sports stories of 2007 during our Christmas Eve or Christmas Day sportscasts. You can go on our main sports page or the web video player to watch the top 10 local sports stories as it aired. This is something that Hags and I enjoy putting together as it gives us a scope of what we've seen over the past year. We put the top seven stories up on the website for people to vote to set the order.
#10 Local Awards
The Waccamaw Warriors made it back to back Zone Cup championships - the Pawleys Island school had the best overall performance in varsity sports. Myrtle Beach junior guard Ashley Clark captured WPDE's Miss Hoop Zone award while Cheraw's Cliff Matthews captured Mister Hoop Zone before leaving to play football for the Gamecocks -- and earlier in December Myrtle Beach linebacker Bruce Taylor won the 8th WPDE Zoneman Trophy.
Waccamaw has taken great pride in winning the Zone Cup for two straight years and hopefully this award will grow over the years as different schools get the chance to win it. Considering that Cliff Matthews may never take the hardcourt again, I'm glad he got to close his high school career with a Mister Hoop Zone. Cliff finished 2nd in the Zoneman at the end of 2006 - it would have been amazing to have an athlete who won the Zoneman and Mister Hoop Zone. I really feel that Cliff and Bruce are going to carry the Zone banner well not only in college, but beyond that.
#9 A banner year for CCU golf
Alan Terrell's trailed Stanford by just one stroke heading into the final round - the Chants wound up finishing 5th in the NCAA Championships, the highest finish for a CCU athletic team in Division I competition - Dustin Johnson finished his Coastal career as a three time All-American and went to PGA's Q-School and earned a PGA Tour Card - Johnson will compete as a rookie on the PGA Tour in 2008
Alan told Hags and I a couple of years ago that Dustin would be on the tour and he was right on the mark. It's going to be fun to cover the PGA now knowing we've got a local guy who can hopefully do some damage. I don't know if people truly have an idea of how grueling it is to earn your PGA Tour Card through Q-School. It starts with two four round stages and wraps up with six straight rounds that is one of the most pressure filled challenges in all of sports.
#8 Jeff Gordon wins at Darlington
The driver of the #24 Dupont Chevrolet captured a win for the 7th time in his career when he won the Dodge Avenger 500 in May. It was the 78th career Cup win for Gordon who went on to finish 2nd in the Nextel Cup chase behind teammate Jimmy Johnson.
I was convinced that Gordon was going to win the Nextel Cup championship and he would have under the old rules. I remember this race being pushed back to Mother's Day thanks to a Saturday night rainout - Gordon's Mom was in Darlington for the pre-race festivities but didn't stick around until the end. Gordon stayed out on old tires, which is usually a cardinal sin at Darlington. The number of drivers who could pull that feat off at the Lady in Black is a very short list.
#7 Buzz Peterson leaves, Cliff Ellis comes back to coaching
Buzz Peterson left Coastal after two seasons to join the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats as Director of Player Personnel. The Chanticleers were able to lure Cliff Ellis out of retirement. The Former Auburn and Clemson head man came to CCU with over 500 victories and is in the midst of his first season with CCU.
I wrote a blog earlier about Buzz and I really feel fortunate to have been able to work with him closely for those two seasons. His opportunity with the Bobcats is something that could not be passed up and I hope that he can help be a part of turning Charlotte into a winner. Kudos to CCU for going from one big name coach to another. Cliff Ellis has the fire in his belly to build the Chanticleers into a mid-major power. The arena hitting a dead end should also be lumped in with this story as it will be awhile before we see a facility that can really take CCU basketball to the next level. I still think that CCU basketball will get that shot in the NCAA Tournament in the next 3-5 years.
#6 CCU Baseball wins 50, hosts NCAA Regional
The CCU baseball team takes top local sports story #6. Gary Gilmore's crew reached the 50 win mark in 2007 and won a Big South Championship to earn a #1 seed in the NCAA Baseball Regionals. The Chants earned a host bid by playing at the home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans - the highlight of the weekend was a sellout crowd as #2 seed Clemson outlasted CCU 11-8. The Chants reached the championship game, but lost to the Tigers 15-3 to have their season come to an end.
My two favorite images of 2007 are the top story (see below) and sitting in the bullpen during the Clemson/CCU game and seeing the sold out crowd at Coastal Federal Field. Gary Gilmore has poured his heart into making Chanticleer baseball a legitimate power and the program took a huge step that weekend. The whole weekend gave Myrtle Beach some serious credibility in terms of hosting a major sports event. CCU is close to getting over the hump and making it to a Super Regional. They were literally one arm away from doing that in 2007.
#5 Clemson wins 9 on the gridiron, beats the Gamecocks on a last second field goal
The Clemson Tigers 9 win season is our 5th biggest story of the year. Clemson put themselves in a position to reach the ACC championship game, but faltered late in a loss to Boston College. Following that disappointment, the Tigers went to Williams-Brice Stadium and delivered a clutch performance against the Gamecocks. Mark Bucholz's field goal as time expired gave the Tigers a 23-21 win over their archrival and reached the 9 win mark. Clemson is in the Chick Fil A Bowl on New Year's Eve against the Auburn Tigers.
After losses to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, Tommy Bowden was ready to get fired, then Clemson was thinking ACC Championship game until Aaron Kelly dropped a ball that was painful to watch and gave Boston College a trip to Jacksonville. Then Mark Bucholz not only save Tommy Bowden's job, but gives him a big pay raise to boot. I think it's unfortunate that Bowden has spent more time on the hot seat than any other college coach in the nation, but it's amazing how he handles it.
#4 Gamecocks lose five straight, miss out on a bowl
An up and down season at South Carolina is story #4. The Gamecocks were flying high following a Thursday night win over the Kentucky Wildcats and a #6 national ranking, but after getting to 6-1, South Carolina proceeded to lose five straight games and miss out on a bowl invitation.
It was shock on both ends - when the Gamecocks beat Kentucky and sat at #6 after beating UNC, I couldn't believe that USC was a top 10 team. On the other end, I couldn't believe this team was playing its way out of the bowl landscape. Every team has injuries and excuses, but I think that Jasper Brinkley's injury was more devastating than people took stock of. The Gamecock fans continue to be the most loyal and patient fans in all of sports. Steve Spurrier's recruiting efforts over the last couple of years should begin to pay dividends.
#3 - Six players with local ties selected in 2007 NFL Draft
Story #3 is a Draft Day to remember. Five former WPDE All Zoners were selected in the 2007 Draft highlighted by 2003 Zoneman winner Lawrence Timmons selected in the first round by the Pittsburgh Steelers. His Wilson high teammate Justin Durant went to the Jaguars in round two, Lake View's Anthony Waters was a 3rd round selection by San Diego, while Brandon Frye and Fred Bennett were drafted by the Houston Texans. Coastal Carolina got their first ever draftee when Tyler Thigpen was a 7th round pick by the Minnesota Vikings - Thig was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs and made his debut against the San Diego Chargers - teammate Quinton Teal went undrafted, but has seen significant playing time with the Carolina Panthers.
For Hags and me, this was the clear cut no-brainer #1 local sports story, but I give credit to our local viewers who are passionate about high school sports and I really do respect that. We knew that Lawrence Timmons was going to go in the first round, but it was still surreal to hear a guy that we covered so extensively in high school sit next to Drew Rosenhaus and see his dreams come true. We were also so happy for Darryl Page who had not one, but two guys drafted in the first two rounds. That's crazy! Then there was the total shock when we heard Tyler Thigpen's name called in round seven. We were in the office and five minutes later, I was at Thig's apartment and he already had his Minnesota Vikings hat on. I don't know if anyone realized how good he was until he was gone.
#2 Back to back state football titles for Cheraw
The Braves went to Williams-Brice Stadium and put on a dominating performance against Chapman in the 2A state title game. Cheraw scored on its first 9 possessions and used the star power of Travis Small, Montrell Evans and Jaron Brown to score a 58-14 win. Johnny White's team has now won 28 games in the last two years and has two championship rings to go with it.
I've seen some steamrollers in my day, but this may have been the most dominating high school performance by a team that I witnessed in person on the big stage. On the first play from scrimmage, Travis Small busted one for about 50 yards and all the camera people were scrambling. We all had our track shoes on for the next 90 minutes. I knew Jaron Brown was a good player, but he showed me that he is going to be a great college player with his individual performance in Columbia. Everyone had Dillon pegged to win it all in 2A, but Cheraw bounced back from a couple of early losses to become a juggernaut.
#1 Wilson wins state crowns in basketball and football
Not one, but two state championships at Wilson. The Florence school delivered a 3A state basketball championship in March when Mister Hoop Zone Finalists Dominique Lacy and current Gamecock Sam Muldrow were electric in a 67-50 win over Greenville at the Colonial Center -- the Tigers weren't done there - this time on the gridiron. Wilson won four straight playoff games on the road and then perservered in a 14-12 win against Chester.
Here's the amazing stat of this story. How many home playoff games did Wilson have in basketball and football during their state title runs? Answer: ZERO. Both teams did it as #3 seeds which is indeed a rarity. I spoke earlier about my two personal favorite images of this season. One was the scene at the CCU baseball regional and the second was standing just a foot away from Darryl Page as he got his Gatorade bath and the tears streaming down his face. Fifteen years coaching the Tigers and he finally got to feel what it was like to be a state champion. I hope one day to be there when Jackie Hayes, Chuck Jordan and Scott Earley get to do the same thing.
It really was a great year. Myrtle Beach is not considered a "big time" market, but there's such a great array of things to cover and the list of the top sports stories of the year reminds me of that. I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Ballots and Choices
I probably should put the effort into voting for the President of the United States that I do for my Zoneman and Heisman ballots, but the fact of the matter is that I will most likely not break down Giuliani, McCain, Obama and Hillary like I do Tebow, McFadden, Brennan and Daniel.
HEISMAN BALLOT
When it comes to the Heisman, I usually like to get a personal list of guys that I really try and eyeball. Here's what I had for this year:
Colt Brennan, Hawaii QB
Chase Daniel, Missouri QB
Dennis Dixon, Oregon QB
Glenn Dorsey, LSU Defensive End
Darren McFadden, Arkansas Running Back
Tim Tebow, Florida QB
Pat White, West Virginia QB
In the end, it really came down to this: Tebow or McFadden for the top vote, Brennan/Daniel/White for 3rd place. Tebow's only real knock is the three losses, but considering all that happened in college football, everyone got knocked down in 2007. I watched McFadden run crazy on both the Gamecocks and LSU. But Tebow is just a freak (I mean that in the complimentary nature, not the join the circus label). Over 20 TD passes, over 20 TD runs - it's never been done. I never have and never will penalize a player for being a freshman or sophomore. Tebow is not the best pro prospect, if that were my basis then it would be McFadden followed by Colt Brennan then Glenn Dorsey. So here is my Heisman ballot:
1st - Tim Tebow
2nd - Darren McFadden
3rd - Colt Brennan
Dennis Dixon getting hurt really showed how valuable he was to Oregon, and the same can be said for Pat White who got hurt in the Pitt game and then the Mountaineers fell apart. It was very tough to pick Brennan over White, but I go with Colt in a photo finish.
ZONEMAN BALLOT
We really use the same criteria for the Zoneman as the Heisman does for its award. Real open ended: the most outstanding player in the WPDE viewing area. The 40 ballots go to the 34 head coaches along with 6 media members representing the area. My ballot is just one of 40 and has no extra weight or influence, but for me the legacy of the award is very important. For me, I will not vote for a player that has questionable grades. It is my preference to have players who are qualified to play Division I FBS or FCS football. I am looking for the total package, both on and off the field. The person who wins this award is a representative of what it stands for. The fact that we have one Zoneman winner in the NFL and hopefully more to come in the future just gives the award instant credibility. There have been years where my first place vote did not win the Zoneman and there are times where the player I vote in the top three doesn't even make the podium (this year is an example).
Here's my Zoneman Ballot for 2007:
1st - Bruce Taylor, Myrtle Beach
2nd - Dakota Derrick, Conway
3rd - Jordan Lyles, Hartsville
When I first posted the blog, I thought my ballot was Taylor/Golson/Derrick, but looking back on some notes, I eventually made it Taylor/Derrick/Lyles. I was torn between the four and finally put it in the order above. I truly think that Everett Golson could win more than one Zoneman if he continues to be the path he is on. Dakota Derrick was the definition of a leader and really fell under the radar. It is a shame that he was not a North South All Star and I'm sure he's disappointed that he's not on the Zoneman podium, but he was on my podium as well as Hags and I hope that it is a small consolation.
PICKING THE ALL ZONE TEAM
The first thing we do is get the Zoneman ballots from our 40 voters. Once that is done, we begin to piece together the 50 man All-Zone team. It is something that Hags and I take very seriously. We've established two criteria to "lock you in" on the All-Zone team for starters:
1. Shrine Bowl selection
2. Division I commitment or offers from major D1 schools
This year, that list was longer than most years (which is a great thing!)
Most times, a North South All-Star selection will get you on the team, but we have left off some North Southers in years past. This year, we took all 13 local NS All-Stars. From there, we get nominations from all 34 coaches and try and assemble the best team we can. I'll admit on a lot of tie-breakers, I'll take the senior over the junior or sophomore, but we have had more than our fair share of youngsters on the roster. We will always have guys who deserve to be on the roster and aren't on for the simple reason of a numbers game. Myrtle Beach's Matt Smith who led the area in sacks and Tashon Fredrick of Hemingway who was tops in interceptions are both off the team and quite frankly should be on. But you run out of spots too quickly. We had 6 Myrtle Beach players, 2 Hemingway's and just couldn't see us go to 7 and 3 - in a nutshell, that's why those guys are not on. You have a seven win 3A team like Carolina Forest get only one player (Devontre Perason) and a seven win 1A team not get a player at all (Green-Sea Floyds). The decisions are gut wrenching. We try to watch as much game footage as we can and those players that stepped up and made a big play in front of our cameras only help their cause. Teams that go deep in the playoffs certainly get extra consideration. Wilson and Cheraw originally had two players each, but after their great play in November they more than deserved an extra player each. Looking at the spread of players in the final issue of Palmetto Pigskin Preview makes you feel good about the roster we picked, but there will always be those 10 guys that we wish we could get on the roster. We've gone from a 40 man to 45 to now 50 along with 3 Zoneman Finalists.
Congratulations to all of this year's All-Zoners. We are putting the finishing touches on the banquet and truly hope it is a special night for the 53 players we are honoring. It's amazing to think that we already have 7 All-Zoners in the NFL!
A special thanks to everyone at the station who chipped in and made the Chevy End Zone a great showcase for high school football.
HEISMAN BALLOT
When it comes to the Heisman, I usually like to get a personal list of guys that I really try and eyeball. Here's what I had for this year:
Colt Brennan, Hawaii QB
Chase Daniel, Missouri QB
Dennis Dixon, Oregon QB
Glenn Dorsey, LSU Defensive End
Darren McFadden, Arkansas Running Back
Tim Tebow, Florida QB
Pat White, West Virginia QB
In the end, it really came down to this: Tebow or McFadden for the top vote, Brennan/Daniel/White for 3rd place. Tebow's only real knock is the three losses, but considering all that happened in college football, everyone got knocked down in 2007. I watched McFadden run crazy on both the Gamecocks and LSU. But Tebow is just a freak (I mean that in the complimentary nature, not the join the circus label). Over 20 TD passes, over 20 TD runs - it's never been done. I never have and never will penalize a player for being a freshman or sophomore. Tebow is not the best pro prospect, if that were my basis then it would be McFadden followed by Colt Brennan then Glenn Dorsey. So here is my Heisman ballot:
1st - Tim Tebow
2nd - Darren McFadden
3rd - Colt Brennan
Dennis Dixon getting hurt really showed how valuable he was to Oregon, and the same can be said for Pat White who got hurt in the Pitt game and then the Mountaineers fell apart. It was very tough to pick Brennan over White, but I go with Colt in a photo finish.
ZONEMAN BALLOT
We really use the same criteria for the Zoneman as the Heisman does for its award. Real open ended: the most outstanding player in the WPDE viewing area. The 40 ballots go to the 34 head coaches along with 6 media members representing the area. My ballot is just one of 40 and has no extra weight or influence, but for me the legacy of the award is very important. For me, I will not vote for a player that has questionable grades. It is my preference to have players who are qualified to play Division I FBS or FCS football. I am looking for the total package, both on and off the field. The person who wins this award is a representative of what it stands for. The fact that we have one Zoneman winner in the NFL and hopefully more to come in the future just gives the award instant credibility. There have been years where my first place vote did not win the Zoneman and there are times where the player I vote in the top three doesn't even make the podium (this year is an example).
Here's my Zoneman Ballot for 2007:
1st - Bruce Taylor, Myrtle Beach
2nd - Dakota Derrick, Conway
3rd - Jordan Lyles, Hartsville
When I first posted the blog, I thought my ballot was Taylor/Golson/Derrick, but looking back on some notes, I eventually made it Taylor/Derrick/Lyles. I was torn between the four and finally put it in the order above. I truly think that Everett Golson could win more than one Zoneman if he continues to be the path he is on. Dakota Derrick was the definition of a leader and really fell under the radar. It is a shame that he was not a North South All Star and I'm sure he's disappointed that he's not on the Zoneman podium, but he was on my podium as well as Hags and I hope that it is a small consolation.
PICKING THE ALL ZONE TEAM
The first thing we do is get the Zoneman ballots from our 40 voters. Once that is done, we begin to piece together the 50 man All-Zone team. It is something that Hags and I take very seriously. We've established two criteria to "lock you in" on the All-Zone team for starters:
1. Shrine Bowl selection
2. Division I commitment or offers from major D1 schools
This year, that list was longer than most years (which is a great thing!)
Most times, a North South All-Star selection will get you on the team, but we have left off some North Southers in years past. This year, we took all 13 local NS All-Stars. From there, we get nominations from all 34 coaches and try and assemble the best team we can. I'll admit on a lot of tie-breakers, I'll take the senior over the junior or sophomore, but we have had more than our fair share of youngsters on the roster. We will always have guys who deserve to be on the roster and aren't on for the simple reason of a numbers game. Myrtle Beach's Matt Smith who led the area in sacks and Tashon Fredrick of Hemingway who was tops in interceptions are both off the team and quite frankly should be on. But you run out of spots too quickly. We had 6 Myrtle Beach players, 2 Hemingway's and just couldn't see us go to 7 and 3 - in a nutshell, that's why those guys are not on. You have a seven win 3A team like Carolina Forest get only one player (Devontre Perason) and a seven win 1A team not get a player at all (Green-Sea Floyds). The decisions are gut wrenching. We try to watch as much game footage as we can and those players that stepped up and made a big play in front of our cameras only help their cause. Teams that go deep in the playoffs certainly get extra consideration. Wilson and Cheraw originally had two players each, but after their great play in November they more than deserved an extra player each. Looking at the spread of players in the final issue of Palmetto Pigskin Preview makes you feel good about the roster we picked, but there will always be those 10 guys that we wish we could get on the roster. We've gone from a 40 man to 45 to now 50 along with 3 Zoneman Finalists.
Congratulations to all of this year's All-Zoners. We are putting the finishing touches on the banquet and truly hope it is a special night for the 53 players we are honoring. It's amazing to think that we already have 7 All-Zoners in the NFL!
A special thanks to everyone at the station who chipped in and made the Chevy End Zone a great showcase for high school football.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Long Weekend
When the clock struck zero and Coastal Carolina suffered its first defeat at the hands of Delaware State (23-18), CCU fans had to be frustrated by being on the 20 yard line and running out of time before gettting off a final play or two to the end zone. Tyler Thigpen was a master of the two minute drill. There's no question that if he was under center, CCU would have won the game. That's not a knock on the other CCU quarterbacks - that's why Thig is in the NFL. Will Richardson had 66 yards to cover in 1:35 with no timeouts and unforunately, ran out of time.
During football season, I feel like we have 99 yards to go in about a minute. Time management is the single greatest challenge I have from August through December. Take last weekend for example:
Friday
9:30 am - radio appearance on 100.1's Bad Boy show to preview Friday night's football games
I'm usually pretty tired when I get on the radio, but when you hear those matchups you start to get geared up for a big Friday of football. I'm real appreciative of Alan Smothers and the opportunity to promote our show and magazine.
11:00 am - run through of upcoming issue of Palmetto Pigskin Preview and organize weekend's work
32 pages of material have to be done by Monday evening and off to the printer first thing on Tuesday. We usually have some of our feature pages done by now (Ben and Jerry's Unsung Hero, Palmetto Pigskin Spotlight, etc).
1:30 pm - arrive at TV station, begin preparations for Friday night End Zone
This is our gameday. Usually, we're just making sure we have everything in order. We're giving directions, checking our rosters and doing any other prep work that we may need to do. I always tape a pre-game radio report for WCRE in Cheraw. Mitch and George do an awesome job up there.
6:20 pm - anchor 6pm sportscast
6:35 pm - tape 10pm sportscast for CW 21
6:45 pm - depart for Conway at Socastee game
I'm hoping for highlights. The fact of the matter is that we have a short window (for me it's the first half only). You want to be able to have enough highlights to spotlight as many kids as possible. There's nothing more stressful than having to leave a game when it's 0-0.
7:30 pm - shoot highlights of Conway/Socastee game
8:30 pm - return to station with highlights
Socastee hung tough in the first half. We got a good Braves drive for a TD along with two Conway TD's (Thanks Dakota Derrick!) and a Logan Heaps field goal.
8:45 pm - edit highlights of photographers returning to studio
This is stressful. We've got 16 games. On the drive back, I find out we had a camera not working in Turbeville. That means no Johnsonville-East Clarendon highlights. I feel awful that we can't show hilites from those two great towns. Now we have 15 games to edit. I march into the station and crank out the Conway/Socastee higlights then wait for the troops to come in. I get my hands on Hemingway at Waccamaw, South Florence/Wilson, Dillon at Latta, Lake City at North Myrtle Beach, West Brunswick at Myrtle Beach, Timmonsville at Mullins, Aynor at Green Sea-Floyds, South Columbus at Loris. Mark Haggard flies in with two games (Georgetown at Andrews, Carolina Forest at Carvers Bay). Allyson Floyd is taking the scores. We take a feed from Florence with four games. We're always chasing scores. We don't get the Carolina Forest score until 11:05 - 30 seconds later the South/Wilson game comes in. My head is spinning when I get out on the set and I hope that it all comes together.
11:15 pm - anchor Chevy End Zone
Not our best show. We had bad highlights at Darlington/Cheraw and Mullins/Timmonsville. Then I make a plenty big mistake. William Lee had an awesome game for Myrtle Beach high and I call him Michael Lee. This is the kind of stuff I beat myself up about. Fortunately, I was able to get him on and correct his name and give him his proper due. We don't want to just throw football highlights up there. We want to tell a story and give all of our towns, big and small, their moment in the sun. We're the SportsCenter of high school football. We want to go in depth and provide entertaining and informative highlights. Over the next three hours, Hags and I will stew and work while trying to figure out how to make things a little better. I imagine coaches do the same thing.
12:15 am - capture show on to internet, post scores on wpde.com
1:00 am - take every game we shot and transfer to internet
The internet is important and we do everything we can to get as much information online as we can. We take great pride that you can log on to our website and get your team's highlights on demand as well as a look at their schedule and results and the ability to go back and look at any of your team's highlights. Then we have a stats page that lists the top 25 players in each category and our high school previews posted from the pages of Palmetto Pigskin Preview.
2:00 am - update team stats, standings pages on wpde.com, provide matchup list for graphics department for next week's show
2:45 am - pack camera gear for trip to Delaware
Hags and I always say we're going to be all business so I can get out early and get that extra hour or so of sleep. It never works out. We always want to do better. You have to put the show behind you now and get ready for the next phase of the weekend.
3:10 am - leave tv station for home
Saturday
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9:15 am - arrive at airport for flight to Washington, DC with wingman Ed Piotrowski
I'd probably be in a ditch if it wasn't for Ed. He's probably been to 90 percent of the road trips I've gone on with CCU and it's always a good time. We quickly realize the camera equipment is too big to carry on the plane, but we are able to get the flight attendant's area and stow the camera in a safe position (Thanks USAir!)
10:30 am - depart Myrtle Beach airport for CCU football trip
12:00 pm - arrive in Washington, DC
The original plan is to connect to Philadelphia, but we realize that we were rolling the dice with the camera stuff and we decide no go on Philly and to just rent a car in DC. We stand on line and right out of the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the oddysey begins. After waiting in line for 20 minutes at Hertz, we find out they only have a minivan for $200. $200 for a 90 mile drive? We can get a limo for that, I think. We walk away from this and shop around. After waiting in a couple of lines, we learn it's Labor Day and there aren't many rental cars available. We get excited that there is a mid size available for a good price, but they don't have a drop off in Dover. We get all the way back to Hertz. A different teller gives us the minivan for $137? How did we save $63? I'll never know. Nearly ninety minutes later, we've got a minivan.
1:15 pm - secure rental car - begin car ride to Dover, Delaware
This is where I seriously considered starting to tape this and make it a reality show. We grab a KIA Minivan. Picture me and Ed P in a minivan. We're cracking up talking about what a babe magnet this is. We pull out and are told that we have the wrong rental car! We were one spot off. So we upgrade from the KIA to a Grand Caravan and we're off! We get text updates that App State is beating Michigan and spend a good portion of the trip trying to come to the realization that App is shocking the world.
3:00 pm - arrive in Dover, Delaware
3:15 pm - pre-game meal at Chicago Pizza Uno
The stadium is right on the main road, so we go across the street and get our first food of the day. Vegetable soup was a solid "A". The football stadium is right across the street from the Monster Mile, home of Dover's NASCAR Nextel Cup race. I notice that there is a casino attached to the track. This intrigues me. I talk Ed into making a side trip. We get there a little after 4:15 and I know we have about an hour before we need to get the rental car back and a taxi over to the stadium. After quickly losing $20, I find a 7 way blackjack video machine. With wingman Ed coaching along, we turned $20 into $170. You would have thought we won a million dollars the way we were carrying on. 5:15 we cashed out and then headed to the rental car place.
5:30 pm - drop off rental car at Hertz, get cab to pick us up and take us to stadium
6:05 pm - arrive at Delaware State for CCU opening game
7:00 pm - shoot highlights from top of roof on press box of CCU at Delaware State for David Bennett Show
We're on the roof and got to spend some quality time with Sam Harper, the former Chants defensive end who's now a graduate assistant. It's a great vantage point to watch the game. The CCU defense played well with the exception of four plays and the offense took a while to get on track. The field was a new kind of turf and it looked ugly. That translated to TV. I don't know why Eric O'Neal didn't get his crack until the 4th quarter. You just got the feeling that it wasn't meant to be for CCU.
10:15 pm - head to the field to get post-game reaction
10:30 pm - get the news that charter plane is to leave 1 hour late (1am)
We were able to fly back on the CCU charter. This beats the alternative which is an all night drive back to Conway and less than 2 hours before taping. The plane was scheduled to take off at midnight, but was pushed back to 1am. Had a great talk with Drew Watson, CCU's secondary coach who informed us that Quinton Teal made the Carolina Panthers 53 man roster. It's an amazing accomplishment. Coach Bennett makes sure that there's not a single piece of garbage on the floor of the visitor's locker room. Even when it's a tough loss, you can see why so many people look up to the coach. Finally at 12:15, five buses roll out on the way to Dover Air Force base. Melanie Bennett, the Laura Bush of CCU football, informs us that there's no laughing on the bus following a loss.
12:45 am - arrive at Dover Air Force Base to wait for plane
Now the night is starting to feel long. Ed and I argue for about 10 minutes if a speck of light near the runway is a plane. Ed eventually was right and a big 737 that took Florida International from Penn State to Miami is now in Dover to pick up the CCU contingent.
1:30 am - depart Delaware for Myrtle Beach on CCU charter plane
Ren McKinnon is a warrior. The injured CCU quarterback is on crutches and you would never know that he has dislocated his hip. His career is over and I'm sure he spent much of that flight thinking about that. Sometimes sports is not fair. Ren spent the better part of a year coming back from an injured ankle to get back on the field and his redshirt senior season will last all of 2 and a half quarters. The plane is quiet as can be except for the rustling of bags filled with sandwiches, chips, cookies and bananas. It might have been a little more lively if CCU had a win. When you're running on fatigue, 45 minute naps can feel like 8 hours. That's what I got on the plane.
2:45 am - arrive at Myrtle Beach International Airport
3:15 am - receive camera and tripod from baggage claim
Ed says goodbye and now it's time for the second wind to kick in and get to work on the David Bennett show.
3:30 am - arrive at WPDE studios, begin to edit the David Bennett Show
Hags is at the studio working on some magazine stuff and feeling bad about not getting South Carolina highlghts (I could write a whole seperate blog on that!)
I start cranking out the highlights - going through play by play and pick anything of significance that we can talk about. After laying in about 25 plays, I crank out some post-game reaction and then begin to enter graphics information. Hags took off at about 4:30 am.
6:30 am - complete editing of the Bennett show
I made the quick trip home to try and get my bearings.
6:45 am - 90 minute nap!
This is usually a big mistake. I needed to stay awake, but I had to stay quiet in the house and put my head down - ballgame.
7:30 am - wake up, shower and head back to the studio
This is the absolute worst! I should have never taken that cat nap. This is where you really have to rally.
7:55 am - McDonald's breakfast biscuits
This is a tradition. One week back in season two, I forgot to bring them and coach joked around about it - haven't forgotten since.
8:05 am - arrive at WPDE studios
8:30 am - Coach Bennett arrives
Coach and I go into the edit bay and look at the highlights. The losses always wear on the coaches, and coach Bennett is no different. He likes to stop certain plays and look at them frame by frame. This is the best part of my job. To have an elite coach giving you football 101 and breaking down film of a game. It doesn't get any better than that.
9:00 am - begin taping of David Bennett Show
The goal here, especially after a loss, is to have the smoothest show possible and get in and out. That more or less happened. We were a little bit heavy and had to edit out a PSA or two on the back end, but we were able to have a good show. Some coaches shows are University shills and you can't ask tough questions. Coach Bennett gives me the green light to ask anything. I addressed the Jerome Simpson assault issue and coach gave some great answers. We also looked at the Jamie Childers redshirt issue with Ren McKinnon out for the year.
10:20 am - Coach's Blog for Palmetto Pigskin Preview
Coach sits down next to my computer and I start typing and he starts talking. It's always a great column and some pretty neat insight. Coach takes off at about 10:45 am.
11:05 am - depart WPDE studio
11:30 am - frantic call to our Master Control!
Find out thanks to cable TIVO that the Bennett Show isn't on the rundown on WPDE. I make a frantic call to our Master Control and tell them to make sure the coach's show airs. Imagine all that work and all that travelling and no show. It all works out and the show airs.
12:00 pm - nap
3:45 pm - return to WPDE for Gamecocks feed
5:00 pm - write issue #3 Palmetto Pigskin
Here's the last leg of the triathlon. Hags does an awesome job with the high school info and I slide those into the 34 sections of the magazine. Then it's writing a CCU, Gamecocks, Clemson and Panthers preview along with filling agate information from high school and college. When it's all said and done, it's a 10-12 hour process on Sunday's depending on my energy level. When CCU is at home, I can usually squeeze in 3 hours on Saturday and get Sunday done in 8 hours.
3:45 am - go to bed!
I get a good seven hours of sleep and then it starts all over again, starting with gathering high school football stats, setting the stage for the week in sports and getting the rundown in place for next week's shows. Then when I get home before midnight, it's one last look through the magazine before it heads to press. You have to love what you do to get through this 12 weeks a year. During football season, it takes a little bit longer to return voice mails and answer emails. Like CCU's quarterbacks, I'm trying to manage that clock the best I can. We are truly flattered by all the folks who take the time to watch our coverage of both high school and college football. I hope this blog shows how much effort we put in and try to deliver the best coverage to our viewers and readers. The clock's ticking - I've got to go - another
During football season, I feel like we have 99 yards to go in about a minute. Time management is the single greatest challenge I have from August through December. Take last weekend for example:
Friday
9:30 am - radio appearance on 100.1's Bad Boy show to preview Friday night's football games
I'm usually pretty tired when I get on the radio, but when you hear those matchups you start to get geared up for a big Friday of football. I'm real appreciative of Alan Smothers and the opportunity to promote our show and magazine.
11:00 am - run through of upcoming issue of Palmetto Pigskin Preview and organize weekend's work
32 pages of material have to be done by Monday evening and off to the printer first thing on Tuesday. We usually have some of our feature pages done by now (Ben and Jerry's Unsung Hero, Palmetto Pigskin Spotlight, etc).
1:30 pm - arrive at TV station, begin preparations for Friday night End Zone
This is our gameday. Usually, we're just making sure we have everything in order. We're giving directions, checking our rosters and doing any other prep work that we may need to do. I always tape a pre-game radio report for WCRE in Cheraw. Mitch and George do an awesome job up there.
6:20 pm - anchor 6pm sportscast
6:35 pm - tape 10pm sportscast for CW 21
6:45 pm - depart for Conway at Socastee game
I'm hoping for highlights. The fact of the matter is that we have a short window (for me it's the first half only). You want to be able to have enough highlights to spotlight as many kids as possible. There's nothing more stressful than having to leave a game when it's 0-0.
7:30 pm - shoot highlights of Conway/Socastee game
8:30 pm - return to station with highlights
Socastee hung tough in the first half. We got a good Braves drive for a TD along with two Conway TD's (Thanks Dakota Derrick!) and a Logan Heaps field goal.
8:45 pm - edit highlights of photographers returning to studio
This is stressful. We've got 16 games. On the drive back, I find out we had a camera not working in Turbeville. That means no Johnsonville-East Clarendon highlights. I feel awful that we can't show hilites from those two great towns. Now we have 15 games to edit. I march into the station and crank out the Conway/Socastee higlights then wait for the troops to come in. I get my hands on Hemingway at Waccamaw, South Florence/Wilson, Dillon at Latta, Lake City at North Myrtle Beach, West Brunswick at Myrtle Beach, Timmonsville at Mullins, Aynor at Green Sea-Floyds, South Columbus at Loris. Mark Haggard flies in with two games (Georgetown at Andrews, Carolina Forest at Carvers Bay). Allyson Floyd is taking the scores. We take a feed from Florence with four games. We're always chasing scores. We don't get the Carolina Forest score until 11:05 - 30 seconds later the South/Wilson game comes in. My head is spinning when I get out on the set and I hope that it all comes together.
11:15 pm - anchor Chevy End Zone
Not our best show. We had bad highlights at Darlington/Cheraw and Mullins/Timmonsville. Then I make a plenty big mistake. William Lee had an awesome game for Myrtle Beach high and I call him Michael Lee. This is the kind of stuff I beat myself up about. Fortunately, I was able to get him on and correct his name and give him his proper due. We don't want to just throw football highlights up there. We want to tell a story and give all of our towns, big and small, their moment in the sun. We're the SportsCenter of high school football. We want to go in depth and provide entertaining and informative highlights. Over the next three hours, Hags and I will stew and work while trying to figure out how to make things a little better. I imagine coaches do the same thing.
12:15 am - capture show on to internet, post scores on wpde.com
1:00 am - take every game we shot and transfer to internet
The internet is important and we do everything we can to get as much information online as we can. We take great pride that you can log on to our website and get your team's highlights on demand as well as a look at their schedule and results and the ability to go back and look at any of your team's highlights. Then we have a stats page that lists the top 25 players in each category and our high school previews posted from the pages of Palmetto Pigskin Preview.
2:00 am - update team stats, standings pages on wpde.com, provide matchup list for graphics department for next week's show
2:45 am - pack camera gear for trip to Delaware
Hags and I always say we're going to be all business so I can get out early and get that extra hour or so of sleep. It never works out. We always want to do better. You have to put the show behind you now and get ready for the next phase of the weekend.
3:10 am - leave tv station for home
Saturday
===========
9:15 am - arrive at airport for flight to Washington, DC with wingman Ed Piotrowski
I'd probably be in a ditch if it wasn't for Ed. He's probably been to 90 percent of the road trips I've gone on with CCU and it's always a good time. We quickly realize the camera equipment is too big to carry on the plane, but we are able to get the flight attendant's area and stow the camera in a safe position (Thanks USAir!)
10:30 am - depart Myrtle Beach airport for CCU football trip
12:00 pm - arrive in Washington, DC
The original plan is to connect to Philadelphia, but we realize that we were rolling the dice with the camera stuff and we decide no go on Philly and to just rent a car in DC. We stand on line and right out of the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the oddysey begins. After waiting in line for 20 minutes at Hertz, we find out they only have a minivan for $200. $200 for a 90 mile drive? We can get a limo for that, I think. We walk away from this and shop around. After waiting in a couple of lines, we learn it's Labor Day and there aren't many rental cars available. We get excited that there is a mid size available for a good price, but they don't have a drop off in Dover. We get all the way back to Hertz. A different teller gives us the minivan for $137? How did we save $63? I'll never know. Nearly ninety minutes later, we've got a minivan.
1:15 pm - secure rental car - begin car ride to Dover, Delaware
This is where I seriously considered starting to tape this and make it a reality show. We grab a KIA Minivan. Picture me and Ed P in a minivan. We're cracking up talking about what a babe magnet this is. We pull out and are told that we have the wrong rental car! We were one spot off. So we upgrade from the KIA to a Grand Caravan and we're off! We get text updates that App State is beating Michigan and spend a good portion of the trip trying to come to the realization that App is shocking the world.
3:00 pm - arrive in Dover, Delaware
3:15 pm - pre-game meal at Chicago Pizza Uno
The stadium is right on the main road, so we go across the street and get our first food of the day. Vegetable soup was a solid "A". The football stadium is right across the street from the Monster Mile, home of Dover's NASCAR Nextel Cup race. I notice that there is a casino attached to the track. This intrigues me. I talk Ed into making a side trip. We get there a little after 4:15 and I know we have about an hour before we need to get the rental car back and a taxi over to the stadium. After quickly losing $20, I find a 7 way blackjack video machine. With wingman Ed coaching along, we turned $20 into $170. You would have thought we won a million dollars the way we were carrying on. 5:15 we cashed out and then headed to the rental car place.
5:30 pm - drop off rental car at Hertz, get cab to pick us up and take us to stadium
6:05 pm - arrive at Delaware State for CCU opening game
7:00 pm - shoot highlights from top of roof on press box of CCU at Delaware State for David Bennett Show
We're on the roof and got to spend some quality time with Sam Harper, the former Chants defensive end who's now a graduate assistant. It's a great vantage point to watch the game. The CCU defense played well with the exception of four plays and the offense took a while to get on track. The field was a new kind of turf and it looked ugly. That translated to TV. I don't know why Eric O'Neal didn't get his crack until the 4th quarter. You just got the feeling that it wasn't meant to be for CCU.
10:15 pm - head to the field to get post-game reaction
10:30 pm - get the news that charter plane is to leave 1 hour late (1am)
We were able to fly back on the CCU charter. This beats the alternative which is an all night drive back to Conway and less than 2 hours before taping. The plane was scheduled to take off at midnight, but was pushed back to 1am. Had a great talk with Drew Watson, CCU's secondary coach who informed us that Quinton Teal made the Carolina Panthers 53 man roster. It's an amazing accomplishment. Coach Bennett makes sure that there's not a single piece of garbage on the floor of the visitor's locker room. Even when it's a tough loss, you can see why so many people look up to the coach. Finally at 12:15, five buses roll out on the way to Dover Air Force base. Melanie Bennett, the Laura Bush of CCU football, informs us that there's no laughing on the bus following a loss.
12:45 am - arrive at Dover Air Force Base to wait for plane
Now the night is starting to feel long. Ed and I argue for about 10 minutes if a speck of light near the runway is a plane. Ed eventually was right and a big 737 that took Florida International from Penn State to Miami is now in Dover to pick up the CCU contingent.
1:30 am - depart Delaware for Myrtle Beach on CCU charter plane
Ren McKinnon is a warrior. The injured CCU quarterback is on crutches and you would never know that he has dislocated his hip. His career is over and I'm sure he spent much of that flight thinking about that. Sometimes sports is not fair. Ren spent the better part of a year coming back from an injured ankle to get back on the field and his redshirt senior season will last all of 2 and a half quarters. The plane is quiet as can be except for the rustling of bags filled with sandwiches, chips, cookies and bananas. It might have been a little more lively if CCU had a win. When you're running on fatigue, 45 minute naps can feel like 8 hours. That's what I got on the plane.
2:45 am - arrive at Myrtle Beach International Airport
3:15 am - receive camera and tripod from baggage claim
Ed says goodbye and now it's time for the second wind to kick in and get to work on the David Bennett show.
3:30 am - arrive at WPDE studios, begin to edit the David Bennett Show
Hags is at the studio working on some magazine stuff and feeling bad about not getting South Carolina highlghts (I could write a whole seperate blog on that!)
I start cranking out the highlights - going through play by play and pick anything of significance that we can talk about. After laying in about 25 plays, I crank out some post-game reaction and then begin to enter graphics information. Hags took off at about 4:30 am.
6:30 am - complete editing of the Bennett show
I made the quick trip home to try and get my bearings.
6:45 am - 90 minute nap!
This is usually a big mistake. I needed to stay awake, but I had to stay quiet in the house and put my head down - ballgame.
7:30 am - wake up, shower and head back to the studio
This is the absolute worst! I should have never taken that cat nap. This is where you really have to rally.
7:55 am - McDonald's breakfast biscuits
This is a tradition. One week back in season two, I forgot to bring them and coach joked around about it - haven't forgotten since.
8:05 am - arrive at WPDE studios
8:30 am - Coach Bennett arrives
Coach and I go into the edit bay and look at the highlights. The losses always wear on the coaches, and coach Bennett is no different. He likes to stop certain plays and look at them frame by frame. This is the best part of my job. To have an elite coach giving you football 101 and breaking down film of a game. It doesn't get any better than that.
9:00 am - begin taping of David Bennett Show
The goal here, especially after a loss, is to have the smoothest show possible and get in and out. That more or less happened. We were a little bit heavy and had to edit out a PSA or two on the back end, but we were able to have a good show. Some coaches shows are University shills and you can't ask tough questions. Coach Bennett gives me the green light to ask anything. I addressed the Jerome Simpson assault issue and coach gave some great answers. We also looked at the Jamie Childers redshirt issue with Ren McKinnon out for the year.
10:20 am - Coach's Blog for Palmetto Pigskin Preview
Coach sits down next to my computer and I start typing and he starts talking. It's always a great column and some pretty neat insight. Coach takes off at about 10:45 am.
11:05 am - depart WPDE studio
11:30 am - frantic call to our Master Control!
Find out thanks to cable TIVO that the Bennett Show isn't on the rundown on WPDE. I make a frantic call to our Master Control and tell them to make sure the coach's show airs. Imagine all that work and all that travelling and no show. It all works out and the show airs.
12:00 pm - nap
3:45 pm - return to WPDE for Gamecocks feed
5:00 pm - write issue #3 Palmetto Pigskin
Here's the last leg of the triathlon. Hags does an awesome job with the high school info and I slide those into the 34 sections of the magazine. Then it's writing a CCU, Gamecocks, Clemson and Panthers preview along with filling agate information from high school and college. When it's all said and done, it's a 10-12 hour process on Sunday's depending on my energy level. When CCU is at home, I can usually squeeze in 3 hours on Saturday and get Sunday done in 8 hours.
3:45 am - go to bed!
I get a good seven hours of sleep and then it starts all over again, starting with gathering high school football stats, setting the stage for the week in sports and getting the rundown in place for next week's shows. Then when I get home before midnight, it's one last look through the magazine before it heads to press. You have to love what you do to get through this 12 weeks a year. During football season, it takes a little bit longer to return voice mails and answer emails. Like CCU's quarterbacks, I'm trying to manage that clock the best I can. We are truly flattered by all the folks who take the time to watch our coverage of both high school and college football. I hope this blog shows how much effort we put in and try to deliver the best coverage to our viewers and readers. The clock's ticking - I've got to go - another
Sunday, July 22, 2007
It's Here
It was a great sight to see 33 of 34 teams in our area come to Brooks Stadium and get ready for the high school football season. This is the second year we've put on a Media Day and we're getting close to getting things down to an exact science. Each team brought their top five or six players along with head coaches and it was an invaluable resource to have all this information compiled in a four hour period. That one day is going to be a huge tool in how we cover high school football in 2007.
A big thank you to Sonic and Ben and Jerry's who took on the task of feeding 175 high school football players. Once again, Sonic is sponsoring our team of the week segment where we pick a game and the winner joins us live in the studio. Every team will get Sonic combo meals. Ben and Jerry's is on board this season by sponsoring our "unsung hero" segment. This will give us an opportunity to make a fuss over some of the great lineman in our area. Having special segments like this helps take our show to the next level.
Here's some news and notes from Media Day:
* Damien Sowells is back at Dillon There was a lot of talk in the off season about Damien going to play across town at Dillon Christian, but in the end, he's staying a Wildcat. Damien very well could have been the best player not to make the All-Zone team last year - I'm sure he'll be able to get to the banquet and help Dillon contend for a 2A state championship.
* There are three newcomers that everyone is talking about:
Everett Golson, Myrtle Beach
This freshman quarterback is so good he may share time with Drew Ellis who is one of the top returning quarterbacks not only in the area, but the state of South Carolina. This is a very good problem for Scott Earley to have. It makes sense to use a two quarterback system and play the hot hand.
Shon Carson, Lake City
Another freshman who area coaches have been talking about for the better part of two years. The list of people who can step in and start at tailback at a class 3A school is a short list. I'm looking forward to see what this young man can do.
Heath Jackson, North Myrtle Beach
Ohio has a stellar reputation for high school football, so when you see that Jackson caught over 100 passes as a freshman, this transfer should raise plenty of eyebrows.
* It's going to be a good year for recruiting
We already have four Division I commitments sewn up:
Spencer Benton, Myrtle Beach Kicker - Clemson
Bruce Taylor, Myrtle Beach LB - Virginia Tech
Jimmy Howell, West Florence P - Northwestern
TJ Johnson, Aynor OL - South Carolina
Here's four more players with Division I offers on the table
Jonathan Williard, Loris LB - Multiple offers including Clemson, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee
Ingram Bell, Saint James ATH - Vanderbilt and Duke offers
Jaron Brown, Cheraw WR - Multiple offers including Clmeson, USC, Tennessee and West Virginia
Justin Lewis, Johnsonville OL/DL - NC State offer
That gives us eight and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The Myrtle Beach duo of LB Evan Rose and TE Andrew Power should get some long looks as well as Carvers Bay DL Dyrell Porcha.
What's nice is the fact that all of these athletes appear to have their grades in order and qualifying won't be an issue. When it's all said and done, this might be the best year in terms of number of Division I signees.
The summer vacation is officially over. We're in full football mode from here on out. Here's what you can expect in the month of August from WPDE Sports:
* 34 Chevy End Zone High School Previews - check the full schedule at wpde.com
* Palmetto Pigskin Preview - 15 issues of everything football in South Carolina - high school, college and NFL - our first issue comes out on August 23rd. Don't forget to sign up for the Palmetto Picks contest and pick games against us to win a plasma TV and even more prizes than last year!
* Chevy End Zone Season Premiere: Friday, August 17th - we've got 50 minutes of wall to wall high school football highlights
* Gamecocks/Clemson Preview - Tuesday, August 28th at 7:30 pm - We'll breakdown Clemson and the Gamecocks and hear from coaches Spurrier and Bowden as well as our local players
* CCU Preview with David Bennett - Wednesday, August 29th at 7:30pm - Coach and I breakdown the Chants 2007 season with features and a detailed look at CCU's depth chart.
Looking forward to another great season - if you're looking for me, it's a safe bet to check our edit bay at the station as I'll be living in there for about the next three weeks!
A big thank you to Sonic and Ben and Jerry's who took on the task of feeding 175 high school football players. Once again, Sonic is sponsoring our team of the week segment where we pick a game and the winner joins us live in the studio. Every team will get Sonic combo meals. Ben and Jerry's is on board this season by sponsoring our "unsung hero" segment. This will give us an opportunity to make a fuss over some of the great lineman in our area. Having special segments like this helps take our show to the next level.
Here's some news and notes from Media Day:
* Damien Sowells is back at Dillon There was a lot of talk in the off season about Damien going to play across town at Dillon Christian, but in the end, he's staying a Wildcat. Damien very well could have been the best player not to make the All-Zone team last year - I'm sure he'll be able to get to the banquet and help Dillon contend for a 2A state championship.
* There are three newcomers that everyone is talking about:
Everett Golson, Myrtle Beach
This freshman quarterback is so good he may share time with Drew Ellis who is one of the top returning quarterbacks not only in the area, but the state of South Carolina. This is a very good problem for Scott Earley to have. It makes sense to use a two quarterback system and play the hot hand.
Shon Carson, Lake City
Another freshman who area coaches have been talking about for the better part of two years. The list of people who can step in and start at tailback at a class 3A school is a short list. I'm looking forward to see what this young man can do.
Heath Jackson, North Myrtle Beach
Ohio has a stellar reputation for high school football, so when you see that Jackson caught over 100 passes as a freshman, this transfer should raise plenty of eyebrows.
* It's going to be a good year for recruiting
We already have four Division I commitments sewn up:
Spencer Benton, Myrtle Beach Kicker - Clemson
Bruce Taylor, Myrtle Beach LB - Virginia Tech
Jimmy Howell, West Florence P - Northwestern
TJ Johnson, Aynor OL - South Carolina
Here's four more players with Division I offers on the table
Jonathan Williard, Loris LB - Multiple offers including Clemson, South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee
Ingram Bell, Saint James ATH - Vanderbilt and Duke offers
Jaron Brown, Cheraw WR - Multiple offers including Clmeson, USC, Tennessee and West Virginia
Justin Lewis, Johnsonville OL/DL - NC State offer
That gives us eight and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The Myrtle Beach duo of LB Evan Rose and TE Andrew Power should get some long looks as well as Carvers Bay DL Dyrell Porcha.
What's nice is the fact that all of these athletes appear to have their grades in order and qualifying won't be an issue. When it's all said and done, this might be the best year in terms of number of Division I signees.
The summer vacation is officially over. We're in full football mode from here on out. Here's what you can expect in the month of August from WPDE Sports:
* 34 Chevy End Zone High School Previews - check the full schedule at wpde.com
* Palmetto Pigskin Preview - 15 issues of everything football in South Carolina - high school, college and NFL - our first issue comes out on August 23rd. Don't forget to sign up for the Palmetto Picks contest and pick games against us to win a plasma TV and even more prizes than last year!
* Chevy End Zone Season Premiere: Friday, August 17th - we've got 50 minutes of wall to wall high school football highlights
* Gamecocks/Clemson Preview - Tuesday, August 28th at 7:30 pm - We'll breakdown Clemson and the Gamecocks and hear from coaches Spurrier and Bowden as well as our local players
* CCU Preview with David Bennett - Wednesday, August 29th at 7:30pm - Coach and I breakdown the Chants 2007 season with features and a detailed look at CCU's depth chart.
Looking forward to another great season - if you're looking for me, it's a safe bet to check our edit bay at the station as I'll be living in there for about the next three weeks!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
So long Buzz
He won a national championship at North Carolina. His college roommate was Michael Jordan. He climbed the coaching ladder all the way to the SEC. Everything about Buzz Peterson's resume is "big time". But it didn't take long for me to find out that Buzz had the furthest thing from a big time attitude. Thanks to David Bennett telling Buzz that he should do his coaches show with us, we got an opportunity to do a CCU basketball coaches show for the first time. I have to admit I was a little bit nervous heading into the first season. After all, Buzz was used to ESPN and a coaches show that had a huge staff and plenty of resources. It didn't take long for all of us to realize that coach Peterson was just like one of us. Sure, I'd be a little bit embarassed when I'm setting up the tripod in Radford, Virginia or High Point, North Carolina to tape our coaches show segment, but Buzz never looked down on us. I can recall about four or five times where a tape or microphone wouldn't be working and we'd have to reshoot. As a matter of fact, I always got the feeling he enjoyed the challenges we faced in putting a show on the air each and every Sunday.
It was amazing to see the switch that was turned on in the middle of his first season at CCU. The team really struggled in December and early January, but all of the suddent the Chants bought in to Peterson's attitude towards playing winning basketball and what ensued was a magical run that led CCU to within nine seconds of an NCAA Tournament berth. That wasn't the most impressive thing I witnessed in the Buzz Peterson era. I remember being on the road and Coastal was on their way to a double digit loss. Jack Leasure hit the floor hustling after a loose ball and his body was sprawled on the ground. All four of his teammates on the floor rushed over to help their teammate up. That particular moment, which happened probably hundreds of times over the past two seasons, really to me defines the Buzz Peterson era at Coastal Carolina.
When the first Buzz leaving Coastal rumors started following the 2005/06 season, I learned an important lesson. When stories broke that Peterson was packing his bags for the College of Charleston and that "the deal was done", I was worried that I was missing the scoop. All along, Buzz had kept in contact with me and was up front about everything that was going on. The temptation was there to go with unreliable sources and hope you get the big story, but during the entire four week span that story developed, I only had one source - Buzz Peterson. As he was in the midst of major decisions that impacted not only his career, but his entire family, he always made it a point to keep me in the loops - something he didn't have to do.
It's a bittersweet feeling for me. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that Buzz has an opportunity to be on the ground level of building a winning franchise in the NBA in his home state of North Carolina and to work alongside his close friend Michael Jordan. Trust me on this - Buzz has a great basketball mind. If you spent time in the edit bay watching game film, you would pick up on this in a hurry. On the other side, I am saying goodbye to one of the true highlights of my career (thank goodness I am still getting to spend Sunday's talking Coastal football with David Bennett!) I hope that we get the opportunity to continue to promote CCU basketball through our coaches show no matter who the new coach is, but I will always be grateful to Buzz for giving me a chance to sit by his side and talk CCU hoops. It's the same thing with Coach Bennett - when you sit next to a tremendous coach, great motivator and an outstanding communicator, you get that little extra boost of adrenaline to bring your "A" game even if you are working on three hours sleep on a Sunday morning.
I really think that Buzz could still be at Coastal Carolina. If there was a shovel in the ground in the proposed CCU arena, things might be different. I don't know if certain people on campus appreciated the impact that Buzz had on taking Chanticleer basketball to the next level. If I could use one word to sum up Buzz Peterson it would be class. Even though he's back in the big time, I know that if I set up that tripod at Bobcats Arena by myself and do an interview with him sometime soon, he'll have a big smile and we'll laugh about the old coaches shows and talk some more basketball.
It was amazing to see the switch that was turned on in the middle of his first season at CCU. The team really struggled in December and early January, but all of the suddent the Chants bought in to Peterson's attitude towards playing winning basketball and what ensued was a magical run that led CCU to within nine seconds of an NCAA Tournament berth. That wasn't the most impressive thing I witnessed in the Buzz Peterson era. I remember being on the road and Coastal was on their way to a double digit loss. Jack Leasure hit the floor hustling after a loose ball and his body was sprawled on the ground. All four of his teammates on the floor rushed over to help their teammate up. That particular moment, which happened probably hundreds of times over the past two seasons, really to me defines the Buzz Peterson era at Coastal Carolina.
When the first Buzz leaving Coastal rumors started following the 2005/06 season, I learned an important lesson. When stories broke that Peterson was packing his bags for the College of Charleston and that "the deal was done", I was worried that I was missing the scoop. All along, Buzz had kept in contact with me and was up front about everything that was going on. The temptation was there to go with unreliable sources and hope you get the big story, but during the entire four week span that story developed, I only had one source - Buzz Peterson. As he was in the midst of major decisions that impacted not only his career, but his entire family, he always made it a point to keep me in the loops - something he didn't have to do.
It's a bittersweet feeling for me. On the one hand, I'm thrilled that Buzz has an opportunity to be on the ground level of building a winning franchise in the NBA in his home state of North Carolina and to work alongside his close friend Michael Jordan. Trust me on this - Buzz has a great basketball mind. If you spent time in the edit bay watching game film, you would pick up on this in a hurry. On the other side, I am saying goodbye to one of the true highlights of my career (thank goodness I am still getting to spend Sunday's talking Coastal football with David Bennett!) I hope that we get the opportunity to continue to promote CCU basketball through our coaches show no matter who the new coach is, but I will always be grateful to Buzz for giving me a chance to sit by his side and talk CCU hoops. It's the same thing with Coach Bennett - when you sit next to a tremendous coach, great motivator and an outstanding communicator, you get that little extra boost of adrenaline to bring your "A" game even if you are working on three hours sleep on a Sunday morning.
I really think that Buzz could still be at Coastal Carolina. If there was a shovel in the ground in the proposed CCU arena, things might be different. I don't know if certain people on campus appreciated the impact that Buzz had on taking Chanticleer basketball to the next level. If I could use one word to sum up Buzz Peterson it would be class. Even though he's back in the big time, I know that if I set up that tripod at Bobcats Arena by myself and do an interview with him sometime soon, he'll have a big smile and we'll laugh about the old coaches shows and talk some more basketball.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Teeing it up for the kids
It's 10:00 am on Monday morning and my phone keeps ringing. Every time I pick it up, there's bad news on the other line. This team has to drop out, this celebrity won't be coming to play....I start to feel real despair as it seems that our charity golf tournament is on the verge of disaster. We get to play in so many of these kinds of events throughout the year, and all we're looking to do is give the people who are coming out to support our cause a great day of golf and fun. The stress level gets right to the point of overwhelming and you ask yourself, "Why I am I putting myself through all of this?!"
Sometimes when you get an idea, the hardest thing to do is to stick with your vision and see it through to the end. During my first year at WPDE, I was so moved by the genuine sense of community the high school sports circle has in the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand, I decided to give something back to them by creating a scholarship fund. One thing you'll learn about putting on an event is that you'll find a long list of people who are more than willing to come out and have a good time, but not too many who want to put in the work and effort to make that event happen. The first WPDE golf tournament was held at Wild Wing and we raised a little over $5,000. It was a great start, but it was a real basic nuts and bolts golf outing. Ed Piotrowski was there and told me that he wanted to help me out to make the tournament even better. It was that moment that gave the scholarship fund life and many years down the road will be the most significant thing that happened to the WPDE Scholarship fund. Ed was able to get Steve and Bonnie Hughes from Conway Chrysler Dodge on board. In all honesty, they should name a street after Steve and Bonnie in Conway. They give back in so many different ways, yet always keep a low profile about it. Over the past seven years, we've had so many different things thrown in our direction, but we can always count on Steve and Bonnie's support.
Fast forward seven years and we've raised over $100,000 for high school seniors. I had two good friends who came to play in our first event and I really want them to come back to see how the tournament has evolved. The restaurants on the par 3 have become a staple. Your focus on golf goes away when you have a big plate of Damon's Ribs in the golf cart. We really need to personally thank over 100 businesses along the Grand Strand who don't hesitate to give us a hole sponsorship or a free round of golf.
Most charitable foundations or organizations are structured and have a committee to do just about anything. As I said at the end of the tournament, Ed and I take all the money we raise and put it in the bank and hope we have enough money to promise what we raised. We received over 70 applications for this year's scholarship and we had the unenviable task of picking just three. There were honestly about a dozen who totally deserved a $5,000 scholarship and the WPDE on-air team and our boss, Victoria Spechko, get into a passionate discussion about who wins the three spots. This year, Julian McLain of Dillon, Meridith Lien of Saint James and Myrtle Beach's Mac Sanders won the $5,000 scholarships. Their stories will be airing June 13th to the 15th and be on wpde.com to watch through web video. When you read the essays and see the genuine reaction of shock and joy when we announced at the tournament they won the scholarship, it's all worth it.
My goal is to raise $1,000,000 in scholarships and we're only 10 percent of the way there. Seeing that number on a computer screen is intimidating, but I know that down the road it could happen. I hope that one day, the WPDE Scholarship Board of Directors expands beyond Ed and myself to the athletes that star in the NFL, NBA and MLB from our backyard in the future. With their support, the WPDE Scholarship fund can be providing high school seniors with a big boost for many years to come. Until then, Ed and I will hold down the fort.
Sometimes when you get an idea, the hardest thing to do is to stick with your vision and see it through to the end. During my first year at WPDE, I was so moved by the genuine sense of community the high school sports circle has in the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand, I decided to give something back to them by creating a scholarship fund. One thing you'll learn about putting on an event is that you'll find a long list of people who are more than willing to come out and have a good time, but not too many who want to put in the work and effort to make that event happen. The first WPDE golf tournament was held at Wild Wing and we raised a little over $5,000. It was a great start, but it was a real basic nuts and bolts golf outing. Ed Piotrowski was there and told me that he wanted to help me out to make the tournament even better. It was that moment that gave the scholarship fund life and many years down the road will be the most significant thing that happened to the WPDE Scholarship fund. Ed was able to get Steve and Bonnie Hughes from Conway Chrysler Dodge on board. In all honesty, they should name a street after Steve and Bonnie in Conway. They give back in so many different ways, yet always keep a low profile about it. Over the past seven years, we've had so many different things thrown in our direction, but we can always count on Steve and Bonnie's support.
Fast forward seven years and we've raised over $100,000 for high school seniors. I had two good friends who came to play in our first event and I really want them to come back to see how the tournament has evolved. The restaurants on the par 3 have become a staple. Your focus on golf goes away when you have a big plate of Damon's Ribs in the golf cart. We really need to personally thank over 100 businesses along the Grand Strand who don't hesitate to give us a hole sponsorship or a free round of golf.
Most charitable foundations or organizations are structured and have a committee to do just about anything. As I said at the end of the tournament, Ed and I take all the money we raise and put it in the bank and hope we have enough money to promise what we raised. We received over 70 applications for this year's scholarship and we had the unenviable task of picking just three. There were honestly about a dozen who totally deserved a $5,000 scholarship and the WPDE on-air team and our boss, Victoria Spechko, get into a passionate discussion about who wins the three spots. This year, Julian McLain of Dillon, Meridith Lien of Saint James and Myrtle Beach's Mac Sanders won the $5,000 scholarships. Their stories will be airing June 13th to the 15th and be on wpde.com to watch through web video. When you read the essays and see the genuine reaction of shock and joy when we announced at the tournament they won the scholarship, it's all worth it.
My goal is to raise $1,000,000 in scholarships and we're only 10 percent of the way there. Seeing that number on a computer screen is intimidating, but I know that down the road it could happen. I hope that one day, the WPDE Scholarship Board of Directors expands beyond Ed and myself to the athletes that star in the NFL, NBA and MLB from our backyard in the future. With their support, the WPDE Scholarship fund can be providing high school seniors with a big boost for many years to come. Until then, Ed and I will hold down the fort.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The Righteous Path
If I had to pick the most satisfying aspect of my job, it's when the kids that we cover so intensely in high school go on to bigger and better things at the next level. I got chills when David Stern announced Raymond Felton's name going to the Charlotte Bobcats with the 5th pick in the 2005 NBA Draft, and when Lawrence Timmons hugged his mom after getting selected 15th in the first round by the Pittsburgh Steelers a couple of weeks ago. There's no need to pick sides for me in the Clemson/South Carolina rivalry because I root equally for both schools thanks to former WPDE All-Zoners making key contributions for both programs. Whether it's Anthony Waters or Michael Hamlin running right over after a Clemson win or Syvelle Newton doing the same in Columbia, I always felt proud of our guys stepping up on the major sports stage.
Lately, I've been on the other end of the spectrum with news of former high school athletes getting in trouble with the law. Since we live in a country where you are innocent until proven guilty, it's not fair to get into the details, but there have been two crimes in recent weeks that have involved former high school athletes that were household names on our Friday night franchises. Usually, sports is an escape for potential trouble and the number of positives far outweigh the negatives when it comes to athletes benefitting society. We always try to get a message across to the members of our All-Zone teams on how they represent their community and they are in an elite group that is quickly becoming a legacy. The question that needs to be presented to each of our All-Zoners is this: What path are you going to walk down? Will you be like Lanard Stafford of Carvers Bay who not only walked on to Steve Spurriers Gamecocks and starts at fullback, but is on his way to an engineering degree. The other path is one that never works out. When the news department knocks on our door and asks us if we know the name of a former athlete at Blank High, Hags and I cringe as we cue up the video of a touchdown or a three point basket. Here's hoping that future All-Zoners take the righteous path. Coastal Carolina's David Bennett says the same thing to his team on a regular basis "Do Right". It's two simple words. If people can think about those two words when presented with a chance to walk down the right path, maybe we can keep our former All-Zoners out of the news headlines and back into the sports section.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
NASCAR's Coming
Following the excitement of the NFL Draft, we're getting ready for another busy weekend when NASCAR takes over Darlington. The meteoric rise of the sport when it comes to the mainstream has been nothing short of amazing. It also reflects in the way we cover Darlington weekend. We used to go wall to wall for just about the entire race weekend, but as the sport grew, it has become more and more difficult to deliver the same coverage we have as in the past. It used to be that we would do a 60 minute special on Friday night with live appearances from the drivers. When you look back on those shows, our list of guests included such legends as Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Ray Evernham, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch and a long list of others. It got to be that it became so hard to get guests to appear on our live race show that we simply can't do it. The fact of the matter is Dale, Junior, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and all the other big names have had so much of their time impacted throughout the year that coming on WPDE's race show on Friday night is never going to happen anymore. Five years ago, that was a different story. I like the good folks at Darlington and I applaud the effort they have put in to not only keep their race, but have one of the best weekends on the NASCAR calendar. That being said, local media coverage is a low priority to everyone involved with the sport. What's interesting is that it was local media that really helped bring the sport to where it is today. We'll be doing a 30 minute race special on Saturday night May 12th at 6:30 pm, just before the start of the race. It used to be that track officials and NASCAR would be giddy with getting that kind of exposure on a local television station. That's not the case anymore.
It actually used to be fun to go to the track. I remember when Jim Hunter was the president at Darlington and called me the Thursday before a race weekend and asked me to stop by Governor's Run golf course. He told me he had a couple of guys that wanted to talk about the race - Dale Earnhardt, Senior and David Pearson. That was pretty awesome. My all time favorite piece of video we ever shot was Mark Haggard talking with Dale, Senior while he was grilling hamburgers in front of his hauler after a Friday morning practice. Then there was video of me and Darrell Waltrip doing the Ickey Shuffle to close our race special (I can understand why NASCAR doesn't want anyone to see that). Those days are gone. The entire weekend is such a free for all that I totally understand why the drivers have little to no patience to talk to the local media when they have the national folks followed by the print media and us hounding them from beginning to end. There's no structure to the race weekend.
NASCAR also is very protective of their logo and rights. All of the coverage from the race weekend including our 30 minute race special is not allowed to be show on our website in any way shape or form. NASCAR does this so you have to log on to www.nascar.com to see anything NASCAR on the internet. I would rather see them have the right to link any local television station's coverage of an event on nascar.com and allow the station's to post it on their website as well. How interesting would it be to log on to their site and see all of the local coverage of a race. You'd get so many different angles from media outlets and you'll spend more time on nascar.com which is their #1 goal anyways. The internet has become unchartered waters for professional sports and media coverage. The NFL kicked many local TV stations off the sidelines because of the footage they put on the internet. NASCAR is doing the same thing. What's funny is there will be someone from the front office logging on to wpde.com and checking our site. Don't think we took the weekend off on race weekend when it comes to internet coverage -- we've been called into the NASCAR hauler and been parked on the world wide web.
It actually used to be fun to go to the track. I remember when Jim Hunter was the president at Darlington and called me the Thursday before a race weekend and asked me to stop by Governor's Run golf course. He told me he had a couple of guys that wanted to talk about the race - Dale Earnhardt, Senior and David Pearson. That was pretty awesome. My all time favorite piece of video we ever shot was Mark Haggard talking with Dale, Senior while he was grilling hamburgers in front of his hauler after a Friday morning practice. Then there was video of me and Darrell Waltrip doing the Ickey Shuffle to close our race special (I can understand why NASCAR doesn't want anyone to see that). Those days are gone. The entire weekend is such a free for all that I totally understand why the drivers have little to no patience to talk to the local media when they have the national folks followed by the print media and us hounding them from beginning to end. There's no structure to the race weekend.
NASCAR also is very protective of their logo and rights. All of the coverage from the race weekend including our 30 minute race special is not allowed to be show on our website in any way shape or form. NASCAR does this so you have to log on to www.nascar.com to see anything NASCAR on the internet. I would rather see them have the right to link any local television station's coverage of an event on nascar.com and allow the station's to post it on their website as well. How interesting would it be to log on to their site and see all of the local coverage of a race. You'd get so many different angles from media outlets and you'll spend more time on nascar.com which is their #1 goal anyways. The internet has become unchartered waters for professional sports and media coverage. The NFL kicked many local TV stations off the sidelines because of the footage they put on the internet. NASCAR is doing the same thing. What's funny is there will be someone from the front office logging on to wpde.com and checking our site. Don't think we took the weekend off on race weekend when it comes to internet coverage -- we've been called into the NASCAR hauler and been parked on the world wide web.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
My first year as a draft geek
The NFL Draft has become its own sporting event. In the past, I've watched ESPN's wall to wall coverage for two days with an occasional stopping point on my remote control, but this year will be different. In the previous six NFL drafts, we've had a grand total of two local players drafted (Derrick Hamilton to the 49ers and Robert Geathers, Junior to the Bengals). Now, this weekend promises to be an End Zone celebration. It looks as if six players from the Zone nation and maybe even the first Chanticleer will have their name on an index card in New York City.
Lawrence Timmons - Florida State (Wilson HS - 2003 WPDE Zoneman)
I know that he's going to have a lucrative and great career as an NFL linebacker, but I always thought he would be an elite tight end if he played on that side of the ball instead of defense. The mock drafts of the world have him slotted at Pittsburgh at #15, the Bengals at #18 or the Giants at #20. If he's around at 20, why wouldn't the G-men give him a try. The last time they drafted a linebacker out of Florence it worked out pretty well for them. He's got a bust in Canton now (Harry Carson).
Justin Durant - Hampton (Wilson HS - 2004 WPDE Zoneman Finalist)
Darryl Page has got to be the proudest person in the Pee Dee on April 28th. You can imagine the thrill of coaching a player who gets a player drafted in the NFL -- coach Page gets two guys who will likely get drafted in day one. Hags and I were always baffled that Justin was not recruited by South Carolina and Clemson. We always said that he was major Division I quality. The NFL scouts agree. It looks like he'll be a late 2nd round or 3rd round pick.
Fred Bennett - South Carolina (Manning - 2001 WPDE All-Zone)
Scouts look at character during all the pre-draft interviews and this, in my opinion, is Fred Bennett's biggest strength. He's such a class act off the field and got a lot of experience and insight from former Gamecocks Ko Simpson and Jonathan Joseph who are in the league right now. Fred should go in round three.
Brandon Frye - Virginia Tech (Myrtle Beach - 2001 WPDE All-Zone)
I always get a kick out of seeing the footage of Brandon when he was at our banquet and where he's at now in terms of size. You have to give a lot of credit to Scott Earley for seeing his potential and getting him to Division I at Virginia Tech. He's got pagan strength and I'm guessing he's going to have a very solid NFL career. It's looking like he'll be a round 4 selection.
Anthony Waters - Clemson (Lake View - 2001 WPDE Zoneman Finalist)
He's one of my all-time favorites. Whenever I went to a Clemson game, he made it a point to get fired up for our camera. He had a chance to leave after his junior season for the draft, but came back and tore his ACL in week one of his senior year. He's getting a college degree and has no regrets. He's going to probably be a day two pick, but whatever team picks him is going to get a steal. I'm hoping that his knee gets back to where it was, because if it does, he's going to be a great NFL player.
Syvelle Newton - South Carolina (Marlboro County - 2001 and 2002 WPDE Zoneman)
He's one of the most intriguing guys in the entire draft. His pro days were hampered by a hamstring injury so his stock isn't through the roof right now, but we all know that football is much more than running the 40 yard dash. I have to think that someone is going to take a late round chance on him. I can't wait to see how an NFL team will utilize Syvelle. He's going to be anxious to prove to everyone that he can play at the next level. When Syvelle is motivated, watch out.
Tyler Thigpen - Coastal Carolina
I've said this before in the office and people might have laughed at me six months ago -- if Tyler Thigpen was quarterback at Clemson, the Tigers would have won the Orange Bowl. Here's a guy who has greatly benefitted from three pro days (CCU, Clemson and SC State) to go along with individual workouts. Thig will get a contract as an undrafted free agent. That's a 100 percent guarantee, but thanks to some dazzling private workouts, it's become more and more of a possibility that he'll get drafted in the late rounds. The best case scenario is for Tyler to get an opportunity at an NFL camp and work his way up the depth chart and get some seasoning in NFL Europe.
It's going to be a banner weekend for the Zone nation. Like Mel Kiper and the rest of the draftniks, I'll be hanging on every pick from beginning to end hoping to hear some of our guys have their professional football dreams come true.
Lawrence Timmons - Florida State (Wilson HS - 2003 WPDE Zoneman)
I know that he's going to have a lucrative and great career as an NFL linebacker, but I always thought he would be an elite tight end if he played on that side of the ball instead of defense. The mock drafts of the world have him slotted at Pittsburgh at #15, the Bengals at #18 or the Giants at #20. If he's around at 20, why wouldn't the G-men give him a try. The last time they drafted a linebacker out of Florence it worked out pretty well for them. He's got a bust in Canton now (Harry Carson).
Justin Durant - Hampton (Wilson HS - 2004 WPDE Zoneman Finalist)
Darryl Page has got to be the proudest person in the Pee Dee on April 28th. You can imagine the thrill of coaching a player who gets a player drafted in the NFL -- coach Page gets two guys who will likely get drafted in day one. Hags and I were always baffled that Justin was not recruited by South Carolina and Clemson. We always said that he was major Division I quality. The NFL scouts agree. It looks like he'll be a late 2nd round or 3rd round pick.
Fred Bennett - South Carolina (Manning - 2001 WPDE All-Zone)
Scouts look at character during all the pre-draft interviews and this, in my opinion, is Fred Bennett's biggest strength. He's such a class act off the field and got a lot of experience and insight from former Gamecocks Ko Simpson and Jonathan Joseph who are in the league right now. Fred should go in round three.
Brandon Frye - Virginia Tech (Myrtle Beach - 2001 WPDE All-Zone)
I always get a kick out of seeing the footage of Brandon when he was at our banquet and where he's at now in terms of size. You have to give a lot of credit to Scott Earley for seeing his potential and getting him to Division I at Virginia Tech. He's got pagan strength and I'm guessing he's going to have a very solid NFL career. It's looking like he'll be a round 4 selection.
Anthony Waters - Clemson (Lake View - 2001 WPDE Zoneman Finalist)
He's one of my all-time favorites. Whenever I went to a Clemson game, he made it a point to get fired up for our camera. He had a chance to leave after his junior season for the draft, but came back and tore his ACL in week one of his senior year. He's getting a college degree and has no regrets. He's going to probably be a day two pick, but whatever team picks him is going to get a steal. I'm hoping that his knee gets back to where it was, because if it does, he's going to be a great NFL player.
Syvelle Newton - South Carolina (Marlboro County - 2001 and 2002 WPDE Zoneman)
He's one of the most intriguing guys in the entire draft. His pro days were hampered by a hamstring injury so his stock isn't through the roof right now, but we all know that football is much more than running the 40 yard dash. I have to think that someone is going to take a late round chance on him. I can't wait to see how an NFL team will utilize Syvelle. He's going to be anxious to prove to everyone that he can play at the next level. When Syvelle is motivated, watch out.
Tyler Thigpen - Coastal Carolina
I've said this before in the office and people might have laughed at me six months ago -- if Tyler Thigpen was quarterback at Clemson, the Tigers would have won the Orange Bowl. Here's a guy who has greatly benefitted from three pro days (CCU, Clemson and SC State) to go along with individual workouts. Thig will get a contract as an undrafted free agent. That's a 100 percent guarantee, but thanks to some dazzling private workouts, it's become more and more of a possibility that he'll get drafted in the late rounds. The best case scenario is for Tyler to get an opportunity at an NFL camp and work his way up the depth chart and get some seasoning in NFL Europe.
It's going to be a banner weekend for the Zone nation. Like Mel Kiper and the rest of the draftniks, I'll be hanging on every pick from beginning to end hoping to hear some of our guys have their professional football dreams come true.
Friday, April 13, 2007
My run in with Imus
I remember having the TV on the background and stopping by on a Sunday evening as the Ladies Final Four was on and watching Rutgers put a thumping on LSU. Vivian Stringer was the head coach of the Iowa Lady Hawkeyes when I started my on-air TV career and already had an immense respect for her program. I knew that Rutgers was a very young team and they enjoyed a trip to the championship game losing to Tennessee. Outside of the niche audience, no one really paid attention to Tennessee, Rutgers or anything from the world of college basketball female style. Then Don Imus made the remarks he did on a national radio show. What happened from there certainly transcends sports. Rather than explore the freedom of speech issue or the obvious offensive statement on a racial and female equality level, I truly feel bad for the girls on the team. They should be looking back on an amazing season and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Instead, they led the national news with their press conference responding to comments made by someone they never met. The reason I write about this is because I did have one confrontation with the infamous Mr. Imus. Following my freshman year in college, I was an intern at WFAN radio in New York City. I commuted 90 minutes from New Jersey Monday through Friday and worked as an intern on the 10am to 1pm shift manned by Ed Coleman and Mike Francessa. At the time, Chris "Mad Dog" Russo was an update guy and just starting to become a fixture on New York sports radio. Mike and the Mad Dog is one of the biggest sports radio shows in the nation now. I was 19 years old and thrilled to be working in such a big time environment. The lead in to the show was Imus in the Morning. One of my duties was to bring in carts into the studio for the board operator prior to the show. Normally, I would do this in the minutes before the 10am show went on the air. For some reason, Ed Coleman asked me to bring the carts in early one day. Imus was in his second to last break and I went into the control room. The studio is seperated by glass and I walked in to the control room and stacked the carts where I usually did. I never said a word, but Imus who was in commercial and 20 feet away seperated by glass freaked out asking "What the hell is that geek doing in our studio?" He wouldn't let it go. He was like a tyrant demanding that I leave the area. I was shocked. I have walked this earth for 36 years and there has been only one time in my life that I wanted to physically harm a human being and Don Imus gets that honor. I kept my head down and walked out of the studio. The guys I interned for told me to just laugh it off as they shook their heads. If there is one thing I took out of that day it was that I would never make an intern feel like I did on that day. There was a scene in the Howard Stern Movie Private Parts that showed Stern getting the door slammed in his face by Imus when he first came to WNBC. I always said that was an accurate portrayal. I will not pass judgement on his suspension and the road ahead, but as Don Imus is in the eye of a pretty vicious storm, I wish I could go back in time to the other side of that studio glass and pick my head up and look him in the eye now.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
The Augusta Black List
It is really starting to feel like spring for two reasons: Opening Day and the Masters. I thought I would share a funny, yet heartbreaking story about the famed Augusta National. When I got the sports director job at WPDE in February of 2000, I was excited for so many reasons -- one of them being a chance to cover the Masters with it lying right on the South Carolina border. As I went through my usual ritual of making arrangements and getting media credentials, I discovered a harsh reality. Years before my tenure began at WPDE, the station would regularly cover the Masters. I was told that on one occasion, there was a problem securing a photographer or an extra body to help out, and the station did not cover the event and never picked up their credentials. From that day forward, WPDE Sports has been on Augusta National and their "black list". Every other year I have made the attempt to try and make my plea to get us back in the good graces of Augusta National. After all, I was not here when the infraction took place. Augusta likes their tradition and without fail, I have gotten a polite rejection letter whenever I have requested to get back on the media list. I did not attempt to do it this year, but now with azaleas blooming and my envy of hoping to step foot on the grounds one day, I will make it a point to try and get WPDE back into the Augusta National family. I can promise you this -- if we ever do get back in, we will make sure to cover it year in and year out! One thing about Augusta National, they do things their own way. It is why the Masters is one of the most special sporting events in the entire world (these are the kind of lines I write in my emails/letters, yet I am still locked out of the gates!)
Friday, March 23, 2007
Kentucky fans are rabid....but not that rabid
Tubby Smith was 10 for 10 in NCAA Tournament appearances, four Elite 8 spots and a 1998 national championship, but in hoops crazy Kentucky, it was not enough. Smith was not fired, but certainly the lofty perhaps unrealistic expectations in Lexington were enough to get Tubby to pack his bags and head to the Big Ten and Minnesota. I wonder the sense of relief Tubby feels for leaving the pressure cooker of Kentucky basketball and heading to a kinder, friendlier domain in the Midwest. In the midst of these thoughts, I got some serious perspective that while we take our sports in America quite seriously, we do not have the problems that other sports do. Take cricket for example. I learned that cricket is a big deal overseas when I watched SkySports, which is the Great Britian version of SportsCenter. I was fascinated by a one hour show that was 30 minutes of soccer news and highlights to go along with 20 minutes of cricket news and highlights mixed in with just a little bit of golf and tennis at the end. How can a sport with a tea break make the steroid scandal in baseball look like a minor problem? Bob Woolmer was the head cricket coach for Pakistan who were playing in a World Cup tournament in Jamaica. Following an upset loss to Ireland on Saint Patricks Day, the 58 year old was found strangled to death in his hotel room the next day. Cricket is not only a sport that is wildly popular in places like India, South Africa and Britain, but has more problems than any American sport as I found out in this ESPN.com article http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/news/story?id=2809756 Blood Doping....fixed matches....murder. Could you imagine how our country would react to something like this happening in the NFL, NBA or MLB? There is no question that we have passionate fans whether it is college basketball, college football, the NFL or our favorite major league baseball team. All of the sudden, Kentucky fans who just want to make a regular trip to the Final Four do not seem so obsessive. I hope we never see the day where one of our national pastimes has a "cricket" problem.
Monday, January 1, 2007
WPDE Sports Manifesto
I have been the sports director at WPDE since February of 2000 and have taken great pride in our station’s commitment to the local sports scene. In addition to our 19 sportscasts a week, the WPDE sports team locally produces over 40 speciality programs outside the realm of the newscast. I would like to use this space to give folks an outline of what we do throughout the course of the year.
FALL
The End Zone
This is our 50 minute high school football show that has become a Friday night fixture in our lineup. The WPDE team brings you 16-20 games of action each and every week with one of the highlights of the show featuring a winning team joining us live in the studio. wpde.com has web video of the show along with stats and each team’s schedule and results.
The End Zone Banquet
Each December, we cap off the high school football season with a banquet honoring the top 45 players in our area with a live 60 minute show. The highlight of the evening is the presentation of the ZONEMAN Trophy, WPDE’s version of the Heisman, given to the best high school football player in our area as voted upon by area coaches and media.
The David Bennett Show
Every Sunday at noon during the football season, coach David Bennett takes us through every twist and turn of Coastal Carolina’s football season. In addition to full highlights of every CCU game, the show has features on the program and player profiles.
South Carolina and Clemson
The Gamecocks and the Tigers are a statewide phenomenon and even though both schools are hours away from our market, WPDE Sports brings extensive coverage of both football programs throughout the season.
Carolina Panthers
WPDE is the pre-season home of the Carolina Panthers as well as regular recaps of games from Charlotte throughout the NFL season.
Palmetto Pigskin Preview
A free, weekly 36 page football magazine available at Sonic locations in the Florence/Myrtle Beach area. This publication has the full rundown on Coastal Carolina, South Carolina, Clemson, the Carolina Panthers and the high school football scene.
WINTER
The Hoop Zone
30 minutes of wall to wall high school basketball beginning in January. This show is one of the most unique sports programs in local television. The show’s debut in 2001 featured current NBA star Raymond Felton of Latta live with his team in the studio. It’s a chance to shine the spotlight on girls athletics on the high school level.
The Hoop Zone Banquet
The top 15 boys and top 15 girls in the area are honored and awarded Mister and Miss Hoop Zone. The list of previous winners include Raymond Felton of the Charlotte Bobcats, Ramon Sessions of Nevada, and Casaan Breeden of Florida State. Miss Hoop Zone winners include North Carolina Lady Tar Heels stars LaTangela Atkinson and Christina Dewitt.
Buzz Peterson Show
Coastal Carolina’s men’s basketball coach Buzz Peterson’s debut season featured 20 wins and a trip to the Big South Championship game. Coach breaks down each CCU game as well as conducts a coaches clinic and features on the CCU players and behind the scenes.
SPRING
The Zone Cup
Modeled after the NCAA’s Sears Cup, WPDE Sports awards the top high school in the viewing area for overall athletic performance in varsity athletics. 21 varsity sports scored points to a school’s overall score. The competition concludes in May and the first year of Zone Cup competition provided a tie between Myrtle Beach and Cheraw.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans
WPDE Sports provides extensive coverage of the Atlanta Braves "A" affiliate. Over the years, such major league names as Rafael Furcal, Marcus Giles, Jeff Francouer, Brian McCann and Adam LaRoche have called Myrtle Beach home before making it to the show.
Darlington Race Weekend
Mother’s Day weekend is the new home for Darlington’s Nextel Cup weekend. WPDE Sports provides full coverage of NASCAR’s best as they visit the "Fenway Park" of racetracks.
SUMMER
WPDE Celebrity Sports Shootout
Heading into its 6th year, the charity golf event at Wachesaw East has topped $75,000 in overall earnings. The money raised from the tournament goes to $5,000 scholarships to high school seniors who apply to the WPDE Sports Scholarship Fund.
High School Football Previews
Beginning in August, WPDE Sports provides 34 training camp reports from every high school football team in the area to get ready for the season premiere of the End Zone.
FALL
The End Zone
This is our 50 minute high school football show that has become a Friday night fixture in our lineup. The WPDE team brings you 16-20 games of action each and every week with one of the highlights of the show featuring a winning team joining us live in the studio. wpde.com has web video of the show along with stats and each team’s schedule and results.
The End Zone Banquet
Each December, we cap off the high school football season with a banquet honoring the top 45 players in our area with a live 60 minute show. The highlight of the evening is the presentation of the ZONEMAN Trophy, WPDE’s version of the Heisman, given to the best high school football player in our area as voted upon by area coaches and media.
The David Bennett Show
Every Sunday at noon during the football season, coach David Bennett takes us through every twist and turn of Coastal Carolina’s football season. In addition to full highlights of every CCU game, the show has features on the program and player profiles.
South Carolina and Clemson
The Gamecocks and the Tigers are a statewide phenomenon and even though both schools are hours away from our market, WPDE Sports brings extensive coverage of both football programs throughout the season.
Carolina Panthers
WPDE is the pre-season home of the Carolina Panthers as well as regular recaps of games from Charlotte throughout the NFL season.
Palmetto Pigskin Preview
A free, weekly 36 page football magazine available at Sonic locations in the Florence/Myrtle Beach area. This publication has the full rundown on Coastal Carolina, South Carolina, Clemson, the Carolina Panthers and the high school football scene.
WINTER
The Hoop Zone
30 minutes of wall to wall high school basketball beginning in January. This show is one of the most unique sports programs in local television. The show’s debut in 2001 featured current NBA star Raymond Felton of Latta live with his team in the studio. It’s a chance to shine the spotlight on girls athletics on the high school level.
The Hoop Zone Banquet
The top 15 boys and top 15 girls in the area are honored and awarded Mister and Miss Hoop Zone. The list of previous winners include Raymond Felton of the Charlotte Bobcats, Ramon Sessions of Nevada, and Casaan Breeden of Florida State. Miss Hoop Zone winners include North Carolina Lady Tar Heels stars LaTangela Atkinson and Christina Dewitt.
Buzz Peterson Show
Coastal Carolina’s men’s basketball coach Buzz Peterson’s debut season featured 20 wins and a trip to the Big South Championship game. Coach breaks down each CCU game as well as conducts a coaches clinic and features on the CCU players and behind the scenes.
SPRING
The Zone Cup
Modeled after the NCAA’s Sears Cup, WPDE Sports awards the top high school in the viewing area for overall athletic performance in varsity athletics. 21 varsity sports scored points to a school’s overall score. The competition concludes in May and the first year of Zone Cup competition provided a tie between Myrtle Beach and Cheraw.
Myrtle Beach Pelicans
WPDE Sports provides extensive coverage of the Atlanta Braves "A" affiliate. Over the years, such major league names as Rafael Furcal, Marcus Giles, Jeff Francouer, Brian McCann and Adam LaRoche have called Myrtle Beach home before making it to the show.
Darlington Race Weekend
Mother’s Day weekend is the new home for Darlington’s Nextel Cup weekend. WPDE Sports provides full coverage of NASCAR’s best as they visit the "Fenway Park" of racetracks.
SUMMER
WPDE Celebrity Sports Shootout
Heading into its 6th year, the charity golf event at Wachesaw East has topped $75,000 in overall earnings. The money raised from the tournament goes to $5,000 scholarships to high school seniors who apply to the WPDE Sports Scholarship Fund.
High School Football Previews
Beginning in August, WPDE Sports provides 34 training camp reports from every high school football team in the area to get ready for the season premiere of the End Zone.
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