Friday, August 29, 2008
New River Valley sports fans wait for some answers
Questions, so many of them, and I want answers.
I want them now.
Patience is not a strength here, though. Patient I must be. I'm in no position to be making demands.
The mind races in the pursuit of truth. That race is being lost, though.
Fact is, some of the questions will start to be answered tonight.
Maybe.
More likely, though, some weeks must pass before the facts start to emerge.
So with a mighty attempt at composure and restraint, five questions are posed.
Who has a hair dryer?
Or maybe we need a helicopter.
Coal baron-owned choppers, legend has it, have been employed from time to time west of here to dry out a piece of real estate so it will be sufficient to the task of hosting an athletic event.
Now friends, I don't know exactly how much rain fell around here Thursday because when these queries were prepared, newspaper deadline was earlier in the day with more rain presumably on the way.
If that rain was anything like the deluge that washed out Wednesday's scheduled start for the Elizabethton at Pulaski Appalachian League playoffs, somebody better get the squeegees out at Calfee Park.
Should the start of the three-game set have been twice-delayed, as weather forecasts suggest it might, the last chance to get it in on schedule is tonight.
Failing that, other arrangements to play and finish the postseason will be discussed, none of them particularly palatable for Pulaski.
The mighty Mariners have earned that postseason home game and so have their loyal partisans.
So fire up that chopper.
Whose pressure cooker is the deepest?
The squeeze is particularly on two high school football players. As luck would have it, two of them face off tonight in Blacksburg.
Blacksburg quarterback Trey Gresh and Giles all-purpose guy Cody Journell have a lot of work to do. They are leading teams that have precious few veterans known to more than their classmates and next of kin.
Gresh and Journell have probably been told they don't have to do it all.
They'll probably try to anyway.
Who of their colleagues will help them?
Pass the peas, please
Wonder what they talked about at dinner the other night before the Giles-Narrows volleyball game over at the Burtons' house.
Just wondering, given that Savanna Burton was on her way hammering spikes for Narrows, and her mother, Erin, was thinking of ways to counter same in her role as Spartans coach.
Get those moving vans rolling
I, for one, can't contain my enthusiasm at the prospect of the unveiling of the new Bill Brown Stadium in Blacksburg. Football (not to mention the most successful of all Bruins sports, soccer ) needs a new showcase in these parts.
But if you knew coach Brown, as I did, you know he was one man who did not tolerate folks being late.
The question, then: When are they going to throw those gates open? There are people out here who want to buy some popcorn and take a seat for a ball game.
Who has the horses?
With five races to go at Motor Mile Speedway, Late Model Stock lead foot Phillip Morris leads his nearest competitor, Kelly Kingery, by 146 points. Davin Scites is 160 back.
Can they catch the Ruckersville Rocket?
Giddyup.
