Hard to believe that on this weekend a year ago -- OK, it was even later, in April, but it was Easter Weekend -- I stood in the Outfield Club cheering on the Demon softball team and watched snow flurries.
Heavy snow flurries. The Demon baseball team was playing at home the same weekend and there was a little thought given, I heard, to a snow delay because the baseball was white and of course, so were the snowflakes.
It didn't last more than 10-15 minutes, but it was quite a sight. And quite a difference, as today is absolutely beautiful and spring has sprung, no doubt.
It's also odd that for the first time that I can remember, NSU is not hosting any spring sports activity on Easter weekend.
Last night I wished we had been at home when AD Greg Burke sent me a text reporting that Denny Choate had turned an unassisted triple play at Southeastern. THAT would have been neat to see! Talk about finding the Golden Egg (which always evaded me in my Easter Egg hunting days) ...
Happy Easter!
Doug Ireland, SID
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Revisiting the SLC Tournament
Just a few Easter weekend notes from last week's Southland Conference Tournament basketball experience ...
... former Potpourri editor and Current Sauce writer (boy, it's been a long while since that's how he was introduced) Mike Gallien treated me to my first Houston Rodeo experience. Mike's wife and he had four tickets to the March 12 Rodeo. She was overseas working in Russia, and the couple they were going to join couldn't make it, so Mike shook off the disappointment of the Lady Demons' first-round exit (albeit at the hands of tourney champ UTSA) and I joined my friend at the rodeo.
The rodeo - at Reliant Stadium. Not quite the same thing I used to attend as a kid in Jonesboro or on my first trip to a rodeo when I was a tyke in Virginia.
In fact, by the time I was done with my work at the SLC Tournament, I missed all but the vapors of the actual rodeo. I did arrive in plenty of time to settle into our seats for the feature performance by John Fogerty. It was a pretty cool way to spend an evening. Thanks, Mike! ...
... finally had a chance to watch the ESPN2 telecast of the championship game. Kudos to analyst Bucky Waters and play by play man Dave Barnett for their work. Barnett was ill and unable to leave the hotel for Friday night's semifinals. In fact, I don't think he met anybody from NSU but you could not tell it on air - his preparation was outstanding, even down to pronunciations.
Waters, whose spotlight on TV was brightest when he was one of NBC's national analysts along with Al Maguire back before CBS took control of the NCAA Tournament, worked hard to prepare and it showed. He joined the Demons on the team bus to attend their Saturday morning practice at Houston Baptist, then had a grilled chicken sandwich as the team stopped at Popeye's Fried Chicken on the way back to the hotel. He sat with Coach Mike McConathy and gathered a lot of material while sharing a ton of stories about his days as a player at North Carolina State and basketball coach at West Virginia and Duke.
His assistant at WVU was Hubie Brown. They were both from the big city - Waters is from Camden, N.J., and Brown is a Big Apple product. They almost landed a huge recruit for the Mountaineers, but failed to LSU's benefit. Pistol Pete Maravich really wanted to play for Waters at WVU, near a lot of family in nearby Western Pennsylvania, but LSU made a very good offer to Press Maravich to become head coach and that swung the decision south. Pete loved the idea of trying to play where Jerry West did collegiately -- you might not remember that West was almost as slick and flashy as it got in those days in the NBA in the late 1960s.
During the Sunday telecast -- the 11th national television appearance for the Demons since 2000 -- Waters repeatedly expressed his admiration for McConathy and for the deep rotation system the Demons have used to tremendous success in nine seasons with Coach Mike ...
... the practice session at Houston Baptist was made possible through Barbara Tolar, wife of the late Demon football All-America and AFL star Charlie Tolar. Barbara works in the HBU athletic department after four decades of helping run the show at Rice. She is a very proud Northwestern graduate, as was Charlie ...
... one of her former colleagues at Rice, Bill Cousins, helped out at the SLC Tournament as moderator for the press conferences after each game. "Cuz" left Rice about the same time Barbara did, when there was a regime change coinciding with the arrival of erstwhile football coach Todd Graham, who promptly left himself to go to Tulsa a year after taking the Rice job. Well, read between the lines there, but there is no question that Houston Baptist has benefitted from Barbara coming on board and having Cousins involved, too. GREAT people -- expect HBU to continue to rise. The Demons visit the Huskies in hoops next December ...
... Speaking of Huskies, I guess that was a Northeastern Huskies logo that some intern in Bristol, Conn., built into graphics for the ESPN2 telecast, in lieu of the Demons' trademark flaming N logo. The "Sports Leader" did not seem so in that respect, especially considering the big splash the Demons made just two years earlier in March Madness -- and the fact that it was the fourth straight ESPN2 telecast in four straight SLC Tournament finals. Credit to Jared Florreich of the SLC media relations staff for noticing the bad logo on a courtside monitor about 75 minutes before tip time Sunday, and letting the local producer know that a change was required. The local crew did get most of the graphics fixed but there were some -- including the university bio graphic -- still displayed using the wrong logo. Arrrrrrrrrgggghhh.
... One reason I was rooting for UTA last night vs. Memphis: Anthony Vereen. The SLC Tournament MVP is a class act. In the moments after the Mavs' 82-79 win over the Demons, after enjoying a celebration with teammates, family and friends, Vereen left that group and went over to the NSU bench, consoling and congratulating NSU players. Sportsmanship is not a thing of the past, and in some cases, it's not acknowledged often enough. Well done, Anthony!
Doug Ireland, SID
Doug Ireland, SID
... former Potpourri editor and Current Sauce writer (boy, it's been a long while since that's how he was introduced) Mike Gallien treated me to my first Houston Rodeo experience. Mike's wife and he had four tickets to the March 12 Rodeo. She was overseas working in Russia, and the couple they were going to join couldn't make it, so Mike shook off the disappointment of the Lady Demons' first-round exit (albeit at the hands of tourney champ UTSA) and I joined my friend at the rodeo.
The rodeo - at Reliant Stadium. Not quite the same thing I used to attend as a kid in Jonesboro or on my first trip to a rodeo when I was a tyke in Virginia.
In fact, by the time I was done with my work at the SLC Tournament, I missed all but the vapors of the actual rodeo. I did arrive in plenty of time to settle into our seats for the feature performance by John Fogerty. It was a pretty cool way to spend an evening. Thanks, Mike! ...
... finally had a chance to watch the ESPN2 telecast of the championship game. Kudos to analyst Bucky Waters and play by play man Dave Barnett for their work. Barnett was ill and unable to leave the hotel for Friday night's semifinals. In fact, I don't think he met anybody from NSU but you could not tell it on air - his preparation was outstanding, even down to pronunciations.
Waters, whose spotlight on TV was brightest when he was one of NBC's national analysts along with Al Maguire back before CBS took control of the NCAA Tournament, worked hard to prepare and it showed. He joined the Demons on the team bus to attend their Saturday morning practice at Houston Baptist, then had a grilled chicken sandwich as the team stopped at Popeye's Fried Chicken on the way back to the hotel. He sat with Coach Mike McConathy and gathered a lot of material while sharing a ton of stories about his days as a player at North Carolina State and basketball coach at West Virginia and Duke.
His assistant at WVU was Hubie Brown. They were both from the big city - Waters is from Camden, N.J., and Brown is a Big Apple product. They almost landed a huge recruit for the Mountaineers, but failed to LSU's benefit. Pistol Pete Maravich really wanted to play for Waters at WVU, near a lot of family in nearby Western Pennsylvania, but LSU made a very good offer to Press Maravich to become head coach and that swung the decision south. Pete loved the idea of trying to play where Jerry West did collegiately -- you might not remember that West was almost as slick and flashy as it got in those days in the NBA in the late 1960s.
During the Sunday telecast -- the 11th national television appearance for the Demons since 2000 -- Waters repeatedly expressed his admiration for McConathy and for the deep rotation system the Demons have used to tremendous success in nine seasons with Coach Mike ...
... the practice session at Houston Baptist was made possible through Barbara Tolar, wife of the late Demon football All-America and AFL star Charlie Tolar. Barbara works in the HBU athletic department after four decades of helping run the show at Rice. She is a very proud Northwestern graduate, as was Charlie ...
... one of her former colleagues at Rice, Bill Cousins, helped out at the SLC Tournament as moderator for the press conferences after each game. "Cuz" left Rice about the same time Barbara did, when there was a regime change coinciding with the arrival of erstwhile football coach Todd Graham, who promptly left himself to go to Tulsa a year after taking the Rice job. Well, read between the lines there, but there is no question that Houston Baptist has benefitted from Barbara coming on board and having Cousins involved, too. GREAT people -- expect HBU to continue to rise. The Demons visit the Huskies in hoops next December ...
... Speaking of Huskies, I guess that was a Northeastern Huskies logo that some intern in Bristol, Conn., built into graphics for the ESPN2 telecast, in lieu of the Demons' trademark flaming N logo. The "Sports Leader" did not seem so in that respect, especially considering the big splash the Demons made just two years earlier in March Madness -- and the fact that it was the fourth straight ESPN2 telecast in four straight SLC Tournament finals. Credit to Jared Florreich of the SLC media relations staff for noticing the bad logo on a courtside monitor about 75 minutes before tip time Sunday, and letting the local producer know that a change was required. The local crew did get most of the graphics fixed but there were some -- including the university bio graphic -- still displayed using the wrong logo. Arrrrrrrrrgggghhh.
... One reason I was rooting for UTA last night vs. Memphis: Anthony Vereen. The SLC Tournament MVP is a class act. In the moments after the Mavs' 82-79 win over the Demons, after enjoying a celebration with teammates, family and friends, Vereen left that group and went over to the NSU bench, consoling and congratulating NSU players. Sportsmanship is not a thing of the past, and in some cases, it's not acknowledged often enough. Well done, Anthony!
Doug Ireland, SID
Doug Ireland, SID
Supporting the SLC
That's what it might have appeared former Demon football player John Dippel was doing Friday night at the AllTel Arena in North Little Rock during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Dippel was seated on the scoretable, in the first seat next to the visiting team's bench, watching the Southland Conference Tournament champion UTA Mavericks take on top-seeded Memphis.
Actually, Dippel works in the management staff for the AllTel Arena, and his seat was surely a function of his job. But he had the best view in the house of how UTA remained competitive with Memphis, despite the final 87-63 margin. It was a 10-15 point game until about the final 10 minutes of play and never faded into a typical 1-16 first-round hammering.
Dippel also had insider access, although not nearly as precious, last February when his former coach at NSU, Sam Goodwin, was one of the 12 inductees in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame ceremonies held on the arena floor.
"Dip" was a two-time Academic All-America selection in 1994-95, winning first-team honors in 1995.
Dippel was seated on the scoretable, in the first seat next to the visiting team's bench, watching the Southland Conference Tournament champion UTA Mavericks take on top-seeded Memphis.
Actually, Dippel works in the management staff for the AllTel Arena, and his seat was surely a function of his job. But he had the best view in the house of how UTA remained competitive with Memphis, despite the final 87-63 margin. It was a 10-15 point game until about the final 10 minutes of play and never faded into a typical 1-16 first-round hammering.
Dippel also had insider access, although not nearly as precious, last February when his former coach at NSU, Sam Goodwin, was one of the 12 inductees in the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame ceremonies held on the arena floor.
"Dip" was a two-time Academic All-America selection in 1994-95, winning first-team honors in 1995.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Back in the business
Former Lady Demon volleyball coach Leigh Mullins, who turned around NSU's program before moving to North Carolina, is getting back into college coaching.
She will be announced Thursday as the new head coach at Campbell College in the Tar Heel State. The director of athletics there is Stan Williamson, former AD at Nicholls and a Louisiana Tech graduate.
Leigh has been a frequent visitor to Natchitoches since leaving at the end of the 2005 season to relocate with her husband Ty and their baby girl Avery. Ty, a helicopter pilot in the military, does most of his work out of that area.
Once Avery was big enough, Leigh started substitute teaching and quickly was persuaded to become principal of a private school by parents impressed with her disclipline and approach.
Good luck to her in this new position; watch to see Campbell make progress in volleyball!
She will be announced Thursday as the new head coach at Campbell College in the Tar Heel State. The director of athletics there is Stan Williamson, former AD at Nicholls and a Louisiana Tech graduate.
Leigh has been a frequent visitor to Natchitoches since leaving at the end of the 2005 season to relocate with her husband Ty and their baby girl Avery. Ty, a helicopter pilot in the military, does most of his work out of that area.
Once Avery was big enough, Leigh started substitute teaching and quickly was persuaded to become principal of a private school by parents impressed with her disclipline and approach.
Good luck to her in this new position; watch to see Campbell make progress in volleyball!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Big winds
There's half a backstop now at the Demon Diamond.
High winds swept through the area today and damage resulted at the NSU softball field. The field tarp, although staked down and weighted, was pulled up and carried into the third base side of the backstop. The weight of the tarp and the force of the wind bent poles, tore loose cables and netting, and also damaged the bullpen fence behind the NSU dugout.
Campus police sounded the alarm shortly after 11:30 and quickly a crew including police, staff from the campus grounds crew, athletic facilities director Alan Pasch and assistant Katie Harris, and the softball coaches and athletic administrators were fighting the winds for control of the tarp.
It took probably five minutes for the crew to gain enough manpower to pull it down. The tarp was shredded. Eventually, players and others helped load the tarp onto a flatbed.
As coach Becky McMurtry pointed out, the good news is nobody was struck by the stakes that were ripped up by the force of the wind pulling the tarp from the ground. The Weather Channel indicated winds were gusting up to 32 mph; I have to believe there was a lot more force at times, based on this damage and other sights around campus and Natchitoches.
Ironically, as the NCAA Basketball Tournament began tonight with the Opening Round Game in Dayton, it was nearly exactly seven years ago a severe storm hit Natchitoches early on the Monday morning the Demon basketball team was heading out of town to catch its flight to Dayton. Wind damage that morning included a tree knocked into the roof of my bedroom and miles away, damage to Lady Demon basketball coach James Smith's house and the near demolition of his neighbor's home.
Talk about the Ides of March.
Doug Ireland, SID
Monday, March 17, 2008
Happy Second Anniversary
"Demons can win it with a three, tie it with a two.
"Rogers, to Forges. Forges with a 3, right wiiiinng, no good (audible crowd moan).
"Wallace has the rebound, tipped out long.
"With three, with two, Wallace, right corner, YESSSSSSSSSSS! YESSSS! Cinderella! YESSSS! (crowd roaring)
"A half second, Brunner lobs it ahead, shot is no good, DEMONS WILL WIN IT! THE NORTHWESTERN STATE DEMONS HAVE DONE IT! (crowd erupts)
"CINDERELLA HAS COME TO AUBURN HILLS. The Northwestern State Demons, Sixty-four, Sixty-threeeeeee!"
March Madness on St. Patrick's Day, 2006 ... great call by Patrick Netherton, Demon Sports Network.
"Rogers, to Forges. Forges with a 3, right wiiiinng, no good (audible crowd moan).
"Wallace has the rebound, tipped out long.
"With three, with two, Wallace, right corner, YESSSSSSSSSSS! YESSSS! Cinderella! YESSSS! (crowd roaring)
"A half second, Brunner lobs it ahead, shot is no good, DEMONS WILL WIN IT! THE NORTHWESTERN STATE DEMONS HAVE DONE IT! (crowd erupts)
"CINDERELLA HAS COME TO AUBURN HILLS. The Northwestern State Demons, Sixty-four, Sixty-threeeeeee!"
March Madness on St. Patrick's Day, 2006 ... great call by Patrick Netherton, Demon Sports Network.
Sorry no posts Sunday from Katy
The wireless connection courtside at the Merrell Center was unavailable to most of us on press row for some mysterious reason. It got fixed sometime late in the game. Oh, well. Will try to catch up on sights and sounds for you as the much calmer than hoped week goes along.
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