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BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, July 28, 2008
By Brian Bailey |
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Signs of grid season
cropping up all over
By
Brian Bailey
©2009 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
East Carolina coach Skip
Holtz spent his Monday
in Memphis playing golf
and representing East
Carolina at Conference
USA’s football kickoff.
Conference USA saved on
expenses by just
bringing the coaches in.
The coaches played in a
golf tournament
yesterday. The AutoZone
Liberty Bowl Golf Outing
benefitted St. Jude
Hospital in Memphis.
The coaches and players
will be a part of an
interactive video
teleconference on
Thursday. To save on
expenses, each coach and
a player will conduct a
video teleconference on
their own individual
campus.
Coach Holtz and C-USA
preseason defensive
player of the year
C.J. Wilson will speak
to the media from Joyner
Library on East
Carolina’s campus at
noon to kick off the
event.
You can access the
interviews on the
Conference USA web site
at
www.conferenceusa.com.
East Carolina is
the pick to win the
East Division
of the league in voting
by members of the media
that cover teams in the
league. Houston was the
pick to win the West,
and the Cougars got the
slight edge over East
Carolina in voting for
the overall conference
champion.
The calendar really
cranks up when we turn
the page over to August
for Pirate football.
On Saturday, as local
high schools get set to
open camp, East Carolina
will host its annual
women’s clinic.
If you are a female and
a football fan, this
would be the best thirty
dollars you could spend.
Coach Holtz and his
staff do a great job
with the clinic. I’ve
covered it a couple of
times, including last
year, and saw nothing
but smiles from the
ladies. There are two
groups, one for
beginners and one for
the experienced fans.
Each lady receives a
football survival kit as
part of the clinic.
All questions are
welcome, and some of
them are really funny.
Last year one of the
ladies asked about a
receiver going in
motion. She asked if he
was going to end up on
that side, why didn’t he
just start over there.
She had a point.
The entire squad reports
to camp on August 6th.
Summer camp is a real
grind, but the very
start of camp is always
filled with anticipation
and enthusiasm.
Media day is set for
Saturday, Aug. 8. It
always seems like media
day is a little early,
with just one day of
practice completed.
However, teams have so
much work to do that
most coaches want to get
as many of the media
responsibilities out of
the way as possible.
Camp really gets going
on Wednesday, Aug. 12
with the start of
two-a-day practices. The
season opener is the
light at the end of the
tunnel. Players often
think that light is the
train, but playing on
Saturday is the carrot
that gets most of the
guys through the rigors
of camp.
The first scrimmage of
the summer is on
Saturday, Aug. 15. The
Pirates will conduct
scrimmages on the next
Saturday as well, and
then complete the
scrimmage part of the
summer with their final
scrimmage on the last
Friday of August.
The scrimmages are very
different in nature. One
of the early scrimmages
is to look at many of
the younger players, to
try and see which of
those will make the
travel squad and
possibly work on special
teams.
The vets work more in
the second scrimmage,
while the finale is a
basic walk-through to
get set for the season
opener.
East Carolina will host
Appalachian State at
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on
Sept. 5 at noon.
Usually the summer is a
long drag. Maybe it was
East Carolina’s run in
the baseball regionals
that shortened the
summer, but it seems
like it has flown by.
The best time of the
year is quickly
approaching.
BB
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07/28/2009 02:36:25 AM |
