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Bailey's Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk Wednesday, January 28, 2004 ----- By Brian Bailey Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9

First Super Bowl trip had ECU ties

©2004 Bonesville.net

I’m very fortunate because I’ll be leaving Thursday morning to cover the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII. This will be my second Super Bowl. My first had East Carolina connections.

Ten years ago, I had the chance to travel to Atlanta for Super Bowl XXVIII between the Dallas Cowboys and the Buffalo Bills.

The Cowboys would win their second straight Super Bowl. While most of the media hustled in to get with Troy Aikman or Emmitt Smith, I found the loneliest guy in the place, punter John Jett.

Jett was an outstanding talent during his time at East Carolina. Everyone close to the program knew that Jett had a chance to make it in the NFL.

It is likely that no one thought Jett would still be punting in 2003.

Jett was obviously pleased to be with the Cowboys back on that January night in Atlanta. He was surprised to see us, and was even more taken aback that we wanted to do an interview with him.

Still, even with a Super Bowl ring on the way, Jett was the same old person.

But Jett wasn’t the only Pirate in that Cowboy locker room that night.

Robert Jones was a former first round draft pick of the Cowboys. Jones, though, was apparently in Jimmy Johnson’s doghouse, and told me that night that he planned on coming back strong the next season.

Both Jett and Jones would soon leave the Cowboy’s organization. Jett was a salary cap decision, while Jones moved on with a big contract in St. Louis.

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But before the ECU duo departed the 'Big D,' they would also play very much a part in the Super Bowl XXX championship for the Cowboys.

Not only was it a great experience to cover a Super Bowl, it was a great experience covering Pirates in the NFL’s biggest game.

Lady Pirates on a roll

East Carolina’s Lady Pirates continued building momentum this past weekend, blasting Charlotte 80-55.

Even Coach Sharon Baldwin-Tener was surprised at the outcome.

“Charlotte is a very good basketball team,” said Baldwin-Tener. “We just really rebounded well in the second half. The more shots that you get, the more chances you have to put the ball in the basket.”

East Carolina didn’t get a single vote in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 Poll. That could change, though, as the women get deeper into their Conference USA schedule.

The ladies host Marquette on Saturday afternoon, and then welcome DePaul to town on Monday night. That stretch is the first of two key sets to come.

The second key group of games comes at the end of the season. The Lady Pirates close out their year with trips to Cincinnati, Louisville and Charlotte.

In the preseason, this team was picked to finish 11th in C-USA in a poll conducted by the league's coaches, so they deserve a lot of credit for their 5-0 league start.

Maniacs' web address tweaked

The Minges Maniacs want everyone to know that their place in cyberspace has shifted a tiny bit to mingesmaniacs.com.

This group has done so much to support the Pirate basketball program, and its members deserve a bunch of credit for the atmosphere during games at Williams Arena.

Here’s hoping that ALL of the games will someday have the same type of fever that the Louisville game had. That was as good as it gets for college basketball atmospheres.

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02/23/2007 01:28:52 AM