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2010 AutoZone Liberty Bowl Daily Report & Photo Blog No. 4

Brian Bailey's photo gallery for Friday is directly below. His daily report is below the slide show.

Links to Day-by-Day Coverage: Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday

PHOTOS TAKEN THURSDAY, DEC. 31, 2009, AND FRIDAY, JAN. 1, 2010
(This gallery includes 12 photographs. Click the left or right pointers to slide the thumbnail navigation strip.)

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John Ellis presents Skip Holtz with a painting of Lou Holtz celebrating Arkansas' 1978 Orange Bowl victory. (Photo: Brian Bailey, ©Bonesville.net)

 

DAILY REPORT: FRIDAY, JAN. 1, 2010

KEY LINKS:  Daily Report...  Photo Blog...  Audio Clips...

Calm prevails on Liberty Bowl Eve

By Brian Bailey

WNCT-TV 9 Sports Director Brian Bailey is on the scene in Memphis bringing daily coverage of bowl week to Bonesville's readers and Channel 9's viewers. The week climaxes Saturday with East Carolina's Liberty Bowl showdown with Arkansas.

MEMPHIS — Friday proved to be a much more tranquil day during this bowl week. There was no controversy. Things were pretty much back to normal.

Both East Carolina's Skip Holtz and Arkansas' Bobby Petrino met the media for one final time today. Holtz announced at that time that both Jonathan Williams and Leonard Paulk would be suspended indefinitely and miss Saturday's game.

The whole thing was over something stupid, and most young adults already know that you don't conduct yourself at a banquet, or anywhere, the way Williams and Paulk did yesterday.

But that incident will not have anything at all to do with the Pirates on game day. I firmly believe that the quality group of seniors are so focused that they won't blink once they start playing without the two players lost to "Sugargate." (Some of the players were calling it that because the whole incident was over sugar. David Hall with the Kinston Free Press joked that the game went from the Liberty Bowl to the Sugar Bowl! I thought that was pretty funny.

The Liberty Bowl parade was another great success. It really puts you in the mood for a bowl game. Today was my fourth Liberty Bowl parade, and they've all been outstanding. Pirate fans came out in force and it was a most festive atmosphere.

The Pirate football squad gathered late in the afternoon for a picture session. It was cold during the get together, and the weather may be even colder for game day.

The squad was loose but focused and I think you'll see the Pirate's best tomorrow night.

Bowl weeks fly by, and this has been an interesting one for sure.

I can't wait for the game, and then I look forward to getting back home and back to a normal routine after the holidays.

Best of luck to Coach Holtz and the Pirates against the Hogs!

Content: Brian Bailey. ©2010 Bonesville.net and WNCT-TV 9. All rights reserved.

 

PAGE UPDATED 01/03/10 05:41 AM.

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