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Bailey's
Take on Conference USA
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, October 30, 2001
By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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The Only Game in Town?
�2001 Bonesville.net
Consider it just bad luck that tonight's
East Carolina-Texas Christian showdown is NOT the only game in town.
After all, that was the whole idea
behind playing on a Tuesday. The game would be nationally televised in
some form by ESPN, giving the league exposure on a slow sports night.
But tonight is a HUGE sports night
nationally.
ESPN recently held a poll, to decide
which was bigger, Michael Jordan�s return in the Big Apple, or Game 3 of
the World Series.
Somehow, the ECU-TCU game didn�t make
the poll.
Baseball lost a week of its season after
the terrorist attacks in our country. That pushed the World Series back
one-week.
Michael Jordan was an executive in the
Wizard�s front office when Conference USA made the move to Tuesdays with a
couple of games.
Now, the scene is set for a great sports
night.
Here is my game plan. The Pirates go on
the main screen. I still don�t have my big screen television, so the 27�
RCA will have to do for now.
The World Series will go on the 5�
portable that usually sits on the computer in the other room.
As for Jordan, I�d like to see the
introduction, a hoop or two, and then I�ll wait for the highlights.
Let�s just hope the Pirates give the
highlight folks a play or two to show nationally.
Maybe Not
as Much of a Win-Win as I Thought
Sometimes when you write an opinionated
column you know you are going to catch some heat from somewhere.
Other times, though, you think you�re on
the same page with everybody else, so you are writing to the bandwagon.
Sometimes you�re just wrong.
I really thought that ESPN�s decision to
move the ECU-Southern Miss game time to 11 a.m. solved a lot of problems.
The high school coaches were happy, the
high school athletic association was happy, and I believe even Coach Steve
Logan was pleased.
But several readers showed me a
different side of the 11 a.m. decision.
One reader said he would have to miss a
Pirate game for the first time in 20 years, because he won�t be able to
get back after the holiday. He had plans to get back to Greenville late in
the afternoon on that Friday. Now, he�ll miss the game.
Another reader said that he and his
friends had non-refundable plane tickets, destination Greenville. With the
change, they are now set to touch down just about the same time the
Southern Miss charter takes off after the game.
One other reader asked if I thought the
Malls were planning on closing, to help with the area high schools'
attendance. Obviously, he didn�t understand just how important the gate is
to high school athletics. That comment would come under the �apples vs.
oranges� argument on the subject.
The bottom line is that Conference USA
and East Carolina should stand firm on the issue of playing on Friday
nights.
And I sincerely hope that this �win-win�
deal becomes just that for everybody else.
Changing
of the Guard?
We will soon find out how Greenville and
Eastern North Carolina react to �big-time� basketball outside of the
Atlantic Coast Conference.
An interesting thing happened on my
Monday radio show. I had just as many calls about basketball as I did
about football. This on the night before a very important East Carolina
football game!
I am an admitted big ACC basketball fan.
I grew up that way. I also grew up a fan of all of college basketball and
I am among those who are thrilled that ECU is set to open play in
Conference USA.
Here is one example of just how far
basketball has already come. Back in 1993, on the Tuesday after East
Carolina won its only Colonial Athletic Association championship, I had a
Pirate assistant coach on my radio show.
We got two calls during the hour, one
about basketball and the other about a Pirate football recruit.
Basketball fared better last night, and
it wasn�t even supposed to be a topic of conversation.
ECU vs.
TCU
This Mobile-Alabama Bowl rematch should
be a great football game. The Pirates go in as a 2 1/2 point favorite.
If Leonard Henry continues to run the
football like he�s been running it, then the Pirates will win. Even though
it�s not Coach Steve Logan�s favorite thing to do, the Pirates could
dominate the line, and the time of possession.
TCU has great athletes, but they have a
couple of very disappointing losses.
Will this be the TCU team that played
Nebraska tough?
Or, will this be the TCU team that lost
to Northwestern State and Tulane?
Get ready, because Tuesday night
football is here. It�s not quite a Saturday afternoon of tailgating, but
this time it will have to do.
Brian
Bailey's C-USA Power Rankings [103001]
1. Louisville�The Cards pass another big
test with win over Cincinnati. Pirates/Cards could be a title tilt.
2. East Carolina�The Pirates can�t
afford a stumble against TCU.
3. Southern Miss.�Golden Eagles still
have as much talent as anyone in the league, and beyond.
4. Cincinnati�. Bearcats also stand in
Pirates way next week.
5. UAB�. Blazers picked up big win at
Memphis to keep bowl hopes alive.
6. TCU.� Horned Frogs need win over ECU
to keep their title hopes alive.
7. Memphis.� Tigers may never recover
from Pirate pounding this year.
8. Army.� Todd Berry and Company have a
pair of league wins.
9. Tulane�. Green Wave hopes for better
luck against another service academy in a couple of weeks.
10. Houston�. Cougars still on track to
run the table. First ever Conference USA champs have fallen on hard times.
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Brian Bailey.
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02/23/2007 01:19:44 AM
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