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DAILY REPORT:
FILED MONDAY, DEC. 27, 2010
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Pirates
apply finishing touches in the cold
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 WNCT-TV 9 Sports
Director Brian Bailey is on the
scene in Washington, DC, bringing
daily coverage of bowl week to Bonesville's readers
and Channel 9's viewers. The week
climaxes on Wednesday with East
Carolina's Military Bowl
showdown with Maryland. |
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By
Brian Bailey
WASHINGTON, DC — A busy
bowl day for the East Carolina football team opened with
a 10 a.m. practice. While Washington, DC, missed much of
the snow that blanketed Eastern North Carolina, the cold
weather continued. The winds were up, putting the wind
chill factor somewhere in the 20's for Monday's workout.
The Pirates worked
special teams early on, and then put the final touches
to the game plan for Wednesday's Military Bowl. East
Carolina is scheduled for a brief walk through at RFK
Stadium on Tuesday, but Monday's work was the last real
work the team will do.
"This was it," said
Pirate coach Ruffin McNeill. "We'll have just a brief
deal tomorrow, but our work is done. And I was pleased
with the team's entire focus leading up to this point."
McNeill joined Melvin
Patterson and Dwayne Harris at the podium for the
Military Bowl's final news conference leading up to the
game. Maryland's contingent included coach Ralph
Friedgen, along with Torrey Smith and Alex Wojciak.
Friedgen, who was fired
by Maryland last week, was the media's focus in the news
conference.
"Being with the players
for the last time, it's pretty special," said a very
emotional Friedgen. "It's like you died a slow death and
everything you've experienced is for the last time. It's
been a very stressful week for me, especially from an
emotional standpoint."
That emotion will be
one of the keys in this year's game between East
Carolina and Maryland. I asked Coach Friedgen if he
thought it would help, or hurt his Terrapins.
"I don't know," he
said. "I hope we play well, and we'll have to against a
very explosive East Carolina football team."
The Pirates took a tour
of the Capitol Building later in the day. The team
picture looked impressive. (See photo gallery at the top
of this page.)
"It was a great shot,"
said McNeill. "Now we're looking forward to the game
itself."
Monday night's
activities concluded with a "Battle of the Bands." The
problem was that East Carolina's band was snowed in and
didn't make it to the fight.
That battle will have
to be played out on game day now.
Content:
Brian Bailey. ©2010 Bonesville.net and WNCT-TV 9. All
rights reserved. |
