01

The sun also sets

Alright. First, let’s get one thing straight.
East Tennessee State needs the Ohio Valley Conference way more than the OVC needs the Buccaneers.
By my count, the OVC has 10 schools that are recognizable by name alone to most good sports fans across the country. (Sorry Southeast Missouri State – you’ve still got to work on that Q rating.)
The Atlantic Sun? Um … four. Five? OK, six at best.
But once you go past that, you’re definitely pushing it – University of South Carolina Upstate just doesn’t roll off the tongue like Tennessee Tech or Murray State, now does it?
So, technically, OVC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher’s sudden little trip to Johnson City next week should be a nice early-morning wake-up call to an ETSU athletic administration that has been ignoring a variety of major issues while harmlessly swatting away at smaller ones the past four years.
And credit is given where credit is due: ETSU President Paul Stanton said he’ll listen.
“We don’t know what we think right now,” Stanton said in his office Monday morning. “We’d listen if it was Conference USA or whomever coming in. The [Southeastern Conference]. We’d sit and listen. I’d be a fool not to sit and listen.”
But, like dad said, listening and doing are two completely different things.
Moreover, even if Stanton falls hard for the OVC – and even if he’s able to convince everyone below him on the ladder that the Bucs should return to the league they left for the Southern Conference way back in 1978 – making a full-circle trip back to the OVC would not in any way equal an instant return to glory or even semi-regular national recognition for ETSU athletics.
First, there’s the football issue.
No matter how you swing, splice or dice it, it’s hard to keep your athletic program’s name in the increasingly muddied picture of national collegiate sports when you’re not even playing one of the most popular sports in the United States of America.
Five months out of the year, ETSU athletics barely exist to anyone outside the Johnson City area anymore.
Is that solely because the school dropped football?
Absolutely not.
Does not having football abet a steadily worsening situation?
Yes. Absolutely.
Administration officials will own up to this, while various Buc coaches will silently nod their heads and say a lot more off the record.
Even more importantly, though, Steinbrecher was adamant that the OVC was not looking at ETSU and thinking “football” at the same time.
In fact, there’s only one real reason that Steinbrecher is even talking to ETSU next week: The OVC recently dropped its football requirement and ETSU no longer plays the game.
Point: Steinbrecher and the OVC view ETSU as a simple fill-in piece for their incomplete jigsaw puzzle.
And what’s this mean for anyone who ever wants to see ETSU play football again?
Well, if in four years the Bucs are playing conference games against Tennessee State and Austin Peay instead of North Florida, ETSU won’t be any closer to bringing back football and honoring the 83 years of hard work, memories and tradition it left in the dust when it dropped the sport in 2003.
Moreover, it probably means that the words “Buc” and “football” will actually be farther apart than ever before.
Then there’s the issue of ETSU being a “dead campus.”
Athletic Director Dave Mullins openly admits that the Bucs long have struggled to create and build on something that most Division I universities take for granted: school pride.
The Bucs currently struggle to get 1,500 warm bodies to attend men’s basketball games right now, and they handed out free tickets for Friday night’s game against Mercer to anyone who’s ever seen or heard of the color blue … read into that what you will.
Would ETSU joining the OVC help fix this?
Possibly.
“One of the biggest things we have going for us is our longstanding rivalries,” Steinbrecher said. “We have fierce rivalries between competitive schools that interest fans.”
Yet, all in all, big picture, the OVC is simply not the answer Buc fans are longing for.
And any thoughts/hopes/dreams of ETSU rejoining the OVC are, quite frankly, sad.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I completely understand where they’re coming from. People don’t want to watch a place they once loved slowly become covered in rust. But ETSU joining the OVC would be like applying a bandage to a free-flowing arterial rupture.
And Stanton knows it.
“Would it be a step forward, a step back, or a step sideways?” Stanton rhetorically asked on Monday.
Hey, kids: If you have to ask about something that seems questionable, you probably shouldn’t do it.
ETSU doesn’t need to move sideways. ETSU needs to move forward. Now.
Is the OVC a nice thought?
Yes.
The once-proud Bucs playing in the A-Sun is annoying to some, frustrating to others and embarrassing to many.
But ETSU and its fans would be much better served if the school’s athletic administration fixed a few flat tires before they decided to pack everything up, gas up the van, and haul everything off to another conference once again.
(And shouldn’t this be about the time that some mysterious, big-name donor steps in and says something totally ... mysterious, like “Hey, Paul. If you do this and this and make this happen, I’ll give you this ...”?)
| (276) 645-2569

Posted by Brian T. Smith

There are some things in American Life that are almost obligatory - our responsibility as red-blooded American citizens.

Fireworks on July 4. Turkey on Thanksgiving. Voting on election day.
OK, so maybe that one isn’t as obligatory - but watching the Super Bowl is.
No event is more widely watched each year than the Super Bowl. In fact, half of the top 20 highest-rated television programs in U.S. history are Super Bowls, according to Nielsen Media Research, and since so many people watch Super Bowls in groups or at parties, that number is probably skewed. Since 2000, eight of the top 10 most-watched shows are Super Bowls.
I once got a fantastic history book for Christmas which chronicled the first 24 Super Bowls, and the author of one of the prologues posed the question “does anyone NOT watch the Super Bowl?”
It was inconceivable to me then, but not anymore.
Fox and the NFL are salivating all the way to the bank over the likelihood that New England will beat the New York Giants and become just the second team in history to go undefeated (everyone is making a big deal over the Pats going 19-0 to the 1972 Dolphins’ 17-0, but you can’t really break a perfect record). Speculation abounds that this could be the highest-rated Super Bowl ever, which compels one question.
What else is on?
Any good college basketball games that day? Reruns of “Law & Order?” How about “Masterpiece Theater” on PBS, or highlights of some awesome Senate subcommittee meeting on C-SPAN?
My personal lack of interest in this year’s game stems partly from an extreme distaste for pretty much anyone associated with the Patriots and the Yankees-like hype they get from most national media outlets. The fact that the “other team” in the game is from New York doesn’t help. It’s almost like watching the Yankees and Red Sox in the American League playoffs.
Of course, lots of people who don’t care about either team will watch the Super Bowl anyway. That’s where the obligatory part comes in. The game is subordinate to The Event itself, as though it’s as much a status symbols as a sporting event. Everbody else is watching, so you don’t want to be the one who doesn’t, even if you - gasp - don’t care about football.
Realistically, when you judge the game based on its drama, the Super Bowl almost never lives up to its billing. Of the 41 previous games, you could probably count the number of games which were thrilling contests on one hand. Contrast that with events like the Final Four, World Series or even the NBA Playoffs, which, partly because there are more games involved, rarely disappoint the true sports fan.
Then again, the Super Bowl, for all its splendor, isn’t really for sports fans as much as The Consumer, is it? Hence the $2.7 million price tag for 30-second ad spot, the halftime show that’s longer than most high school football games, and the eight-plus hours of coverage to retread on stories that have already been told countless times during the agonizing two-week period between final two rounds of the playoffs.
Anyone involved with the NFL likes to make football a metaphor for life, in which case the Super Bowl is the perfect gag. More than 90 million people spend half their Sunday watching a game in which they have no vested interest.
Then again, 90 million is a relatively small minority in America, so I guess some people don’t watch the Super Bowl after all.
Only the Super Bowl can make the majority feel like a minority. Which side, then, will you be on this Sunday?

Posted by From the Archives

As you can tell, a lot of the talk around these parts has been about former Graham High School star Ahmad Bradshaw’s participation in next Sunday’s Super Bowl.
The rookie running back for the New York Giants is the latest area player to compete in the big game.
This week I’ll take a look at the local players that have competed in the big game and how they did in the showcase. 
First up, is the first guy that represented the area in the Super Bowl.
Wise native Carroll Dale has played in the most Super Bowls of any area player, suiting up in three of the first eight world championship games.
In 1967, Dale started at wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers in the first Super Bowl – or as it was also known: the AFL vs. NFL championship game—at the Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. Dale caught four passes for 59 yards as Green Bay cruised to a 35-10 win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
A little known fact is that Dale actually caught a 64-yard touchdown pass from Bart Starr in the second quarter. However, it was nullified due to an illegal procedure penalty.
Just one year later, Dale was on the winning side of Super Bowl II as the Vince Lombardi-coached Packers earned a 33-14 win over the Oakland Raiders at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Dale started at wide receiver again and caught four passes for 43 yards.
Dale’s final Super Bowl appearance came in Super Bowl VIII and he was on the losing side of that one. Dale, whose career was winding down, started at wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings in their 24-7 setback to the Miami Dolphins. Dale didn’t catch a pass in that game, which was played at Rice Stadium in Houston.
Dale was a true pioneer for athletes in this area and also a guy that became accustomed to the big stage.

Posted by Tim Hayes

Junior ETSU point guard sets up Buc shooters

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Johnson City, Tenn. – Jocolby Davis spent the first half of this season fighting for recognition and a consistent spot in East Tennessee State’s starting lineup.
Davis can stop fighting.
He’s earned it.
“He’s aggressive,” said Buccaneers coach Murry Bartow. “We’ve told him to try and get us eight or nine assists a game if he can. Score if it’s there, but just be an attack guy and get to the paint. He’s a hard guy to keep out of the paint … he’s doing a nice job right now.”
Davis, a 6-foot-1 junior point guard who transferred from Georgia Perimeter Community College, was a sparkplug for ETSU on Sunday afternoon.
He consistently mixed quick, agile moves with streamlined passes. And Davis’ ability in the first half to thread North Florida’s interior defense and find Buc teammates waiting open-handed on the perimeter keyed ETSU’s 92-68 win over the Ospreys inside the Memorial Center before an announced crowd of 3,562
The Bucs have now won three consecutive Atlantic Sun conference contests and are 6-2 in their last eight games.
“I’m just being more aggressive,” said Davis, who scored two points, dished out a team-high four assists and added two rebounds and a block. “I attack, find the open spot, and look for my shooters. I know they’re gonna come through for me and make big shots.”
Kenyona Swader poured in a game- and season-high 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Bucs (11-9, 5-2), while Travis Strong added 18 points and Kevin Tiggs recorded 14 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
Stan Januska scored a team-high 17 points for UNF (1-18, 0-7).
Strong and Swader were the main beneficiaries of Davis’ selfless offerings. The duo combined to hit 54.5 percent (6 of 11) of their 3-point attempts, while ETSU shot 43.1 percent (28 of 65) from the field for the game and hit 80 percent (28 of 35) of its free throw attempts.
“Jocolby’s a real good point guard, a real good penetrator,” Strong said. “He keeps his head up and really sees the floor well. He gets us all going.”
Meanwhile, the Ospreys hit just 14.3 percent (2 of 14) of their 3-point attempts and provided ETSU with 24 second-chance points.
The Bucs’ offense found early success inside the paint. Andrew Reed (12 points) and Swader scored 10 of ETSU’s first 11 points, and all their baskets came within five feet of the goal.
A short-range jump shot by Reed gave the Bucs an 11-7 advantage with 15:35 remaining in the first half.
Yet ETSU’s interior defense was just as porous in the early going. North Florida pulled within 13-12 when Kyle Groothuis knocked down a layup, was fouled, and hit a free throw to complete a three-point play.
Davis, Strong and Swader then helped ETSU build its first substantial lead.
Davis’ quick first step off the dribble allowed him to exploit the Ospreys’ zone defense, and he consistently kicked out to Strong and Swader on the perimeter.
“Attack, attack, attack – that’s all the coaches tell me to do,” Davis said.
A deep 3 from the top of the key by Strong made it 28-16 Bucs with 6:35 remaining in the first half.
ETSU took a 48-32 lead into halftime.
The Bucs then stretched their advantage to 57-35 with 14:35 to go in the second half when Reed sprinted down the court to block an Ospreys dunk attempt, ETSU recovered the loose ball, and Strong hit a 3 from the left wing seconds later.
“Kenyona and Travis are really giving us an incredible lift right now,” Bartow said. “Kenyona’s playing great; Travis is shooting the ball great. Kenyona’s probably playing the best he’s ever played.”
| (276) 645-2569

Posted by Brian T. Smith

For the first time since August, this Sunday will not feature any football. The powers that be in the National Football League insist that a two-week break take place between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.
That means that the media hype or the big event is endless and an hour-by-hour update of New England Patriots QB Tom Brady is available on ESPN for the next eight days.
At least one thing to keep people from Southwest Virginia interested will be Bluefield native Ahmad Bradshaw. The former Graham High School is emerging as a breakout star for the New York Giants and scored a key touchdown last week in the NFC title game.
Ironically, Bradshaw didn’t play in the Giants’ loss to New England during the final week of the regular-season due to a calf injury. So this will be his first look at the unbeaten team.
So now prediction time.
What is your pick for the Super Bowl?
How do you think Bradshaw will fare against the Patriots?
Do you want to see the Patriots make history and go undefeated?

Posted by Tim Hayes