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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Friday, August 1, 2003
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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Don't look now but today is
August 1st
�2003 Bonesville.net
Things are about to get very busy around the East Carolina
campus. The football team will report, though many of the players have been
in town all summer. The conditioning tests will be taken and then before you
know it, we are into the football season.
I am anxious to get started. Greenville and eastern North
Carolina just can�t get enough news about Pirate football. However, things
have been slow of late as the summer continues on.
I�m looking forward to working with Coach John Thompson in
his first year. He is a bundle of energy and enthusiasm. I�ve heard some
fans wonder aloud if the coach will act this same way if the team gets off
to a bad start.
I say he�ll be even more enthusiastic, but I�m certainly not
predicting a slow start. Sure, the schedule is difficult, but that�s the
challenge this year. This is a program that needs to take the advice of Al
Davis with the Raiders. Davis is known for saying, �Just win, baby.�
Cincinnati will be a difficult assignment on the holiday
weekend. But truthfully, Cincy won�t have a raucous crowd to deal with.
Former Coach Steve Logan would often talk about creating your own enthusiasm
on the road. That may be the case when the Pirates visit the Bearcats.
I�m really looking forward to the West Virginia game that
next Saturday. I saw the Mountaineers against Virginia in the Continental
Tire Bowl in Charlotte last year. The Cavaliers made the Mountaineers look
silly in the blowout. West Virginia, though, has some great talent, and will
bring a good football team to Greenville.
That first month is packed with five games. Next up is the
road assignment at Miami. This will be difficult, but Pirate fans know that
it certainly won�t be an impossible assignment. No question, though, the
�Canes are the best team on the Pirate schedule.
Then it�s back on the road to play at Wake Forest. The Deacs
always give the Pirates fits, and this, too, will be a difficult assignment.
Finally in the first month, it�s the Tuesday night home game
with Houston.
I�m on record as saying that I wish all of the games were on
the traditional football Saturdays. However, the entire town gets a buzz
going through it on these special TV game nights. People take off work
early, or don�t go in at all to get ready for the prime time exposure.
Of these first five games, one has to think that the
Pirates' best chance for a win will come against the Cougars in week five.
Does that mean we�re predicting a 1-4 start. Certainly not!
The Pirates could very easily steal one in Cincinnati on
Labor Day. West Virginia would then walk the plank in front of a hostile,
sellout crowd in week 2.
Back to back wins would make for a nice, national story for
ECU and Miami. Regardless of that outcome, the team would then travel to
Winston-Salem with another big batch of Pirate fans on hand, before coming
back home for the Houston game.
Things really heat up in week six, with North Carolina
making a first ever appearance at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
OK, so I�m getting ahead of myself�.
Meet the Pirates Night
Don�t forget that the ninth annual Meet the Pirates Night,
East Carolina's preseason football fan fest, is set for Saturday, August
16th at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium.
Pirate football fans are invited to bring the whole family
for a catered meal and get to know the 2003 ECU football team. Players and
coaches will be seated among fans in a relaxed dinner setting.
Meet the Pirates will return to the north (upper deck) side
of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Entrance at Gate 7 will begin at 6:30 p.m. with
dinner starting at 7 p.m. Meal tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for
children 12 and under. Advance reservations are required.
Seating is limited and reservations will be accepted through
Friday, Aug. 8, at 12 noon on a first-come, first-served basis.
For ticket ordering information for the 2003 Meet the
Pirates Night, call (252) 328-4530. Checks may be mailed to: Meet the
Pirates, ECU Sports Marketing, Ward Sports Medicine Building, Greenville, NC
27858.
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Brian Bailey.
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02/23/2007 01:25:17 AM |
