|
BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
-----
By Brian Bailey |
 |
Wounds run
deep after loss
©2006 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
|
THE BRIAN
BAILEY SHOW |
|
|
 Tune
in on the radio or catch the live Internet feed
of The Brian Bailey Show with WNCT-TV 9
Sports Director Brian Bailey, each Monday
night from 7-8 p.m. |
|
Select Live Stream |
TALK 1070 INSTANT REPLAY:
Catch
past Brian Bailey Shows,
 including
Monday night's program featuring guest Harold
Robinson: |
|
Select Archive Clip |
|
Bonesville Bytes
SKIP HOLTZ PRESS CONFERENCE:
 Replay
Coach Skip Holtz' remarks from his Monday
media luncheon. (Recorded by Brian Bailey) ... |
|
Select Archive Clip |
|
|
It could have been
the way East Carolina lost to Rice on
Saturday.
It could have been the
ramifications of the loss.
I believe it was a combination
of both.
For Pirate coach Skip Holtz,
it was as tough a loss as he says he’s ever been a part of.
“It’s my job to get these guys
back up,” said Holtz. “I know how the coaches feel and I think I know how
these players feel.
"The players have so much
invested with the blood, sweat and tears that they’ve shed on the football
field. This one was tough.”
Holtz tried to think back to a
similar feeling as a player or a coach after a loss.
“I’ll equate it to 1986 when I
was at Notre Dame. We were number one in the country and lost on a last
second field goal to Boston College. It just rips your heart out.”
Holtz says the key now is to
try and bounce back. He knows that it won’t be easy, with a holiday to
contend with this week, and
the rivalry that is an East Carolina-N.C. State
football game looming on Saturday.
“We have to make sure that the
pain and the hurt doesn’t affect our preparations for N.C. State,” Holtz
said. “The loss just really hurts because we were playing for so much and we
had so many opportunities.”
Holtz said that several
players shed tears while watching the game films on Sunday. While not naming
names, Holtz said that anyone and everyone that had a chance to make a play
late was hurt.
East Carolina must now travel
to Raleigh to play N.C. State, while keeping an eye on the scoreboard for
the Southern Miss-Marshall game. A Thundering Herd win
would send East Carolina to Houston
next week for the Conference USA championship game.
Holtz says he doesn’t care how
his team makes it to that game; he just wants a chance to play for a league
title.
“We had the opportunity to
(go) through the front door for the conference championship game, but we
stubbed our toe,” said Holtz. “Now, we’ll take a shot through the back door.
I would just like for this team to get a shot at a conference championship.”
“We can only control what we
can control," continued Holtz. "We have to put the Rice game behind us and
get ready for a talented N.C. State football team. We’ll certainly have our
hands full.”
Road success on the hardwood
Congratulations to the East
Carolina basketball team and head coach Ricky Stokes
for their win at UNC-Greensboro on
Saturday night.
Jeremy Ingram and Darrell
Jenkins scored 19 points apiece as the Pirates ended a 12 game road losing
streak.
East Carolina could have just
as easily been 3-0 on the season,
barely letting one slip away at
Richmond last week.
Ironically, East Carolina got
off to a bad start, as the Spartans scored the game’s first ten points.
Ingram, Jenkins and company righted the ship after that and the Pirates went
on for a rare win on the road.
East Carolina is back in
action tonight, hosting Limestone.
The Pirates also play at home
this weekend. That game was moved from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon
after the ECU-N.C. State football game
was moved to Saturday night for TV.
If you haven’t seen the new
and improved Pirate basketball team, try to get out and watch them this
week. They have a couple of outstanding young big men and they’ll play hard.
Wins still won't come easily,
but taking two out of the first three, including one on the road, is
certainly a good start!
Happy Thanksgiving
I personally hope all of you
in the Pirate Nation have a great Thanksgiving. We all have so much to be
thankful for! It should be a great weekend of turkey, football and the
Pirates on Saturday!
BB
Send an e-mail message to
Brian Bailey.
Click here to dig into Brian Bailey's Bonesville
archives.
04/21/2008 07:03:01 PM |
