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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
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By Brian Bailey
Sports Anchor of WNCT-TV 9 |
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Sports Saturdays: Non-stop action, morning to
night
©2003 Bonesville.net
If you are a Pirate sports fan, then it just doesn’t get any better then
this past Saturday. The day began with a football scrimmage, finished with a
baseball game, and there's more to come as the weeks of spring unfold.
The day began with a spring football scrimmage. Coach John Thompson’s
open policy was on grand display, so that all of the football junkies around
could get at least a taste of football in March.
The sound of about 150 people clapping rang out through an otherwise
empty Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. It was a sound we haven’t heard in quite
sometime.
Football scrimmages are just fun to watch. Many of us, myself included,
may not know exactly what we are seeing. Still, the effort and the
enthusiasm were easily noticed, and those factors were abundant on Saturday
morning.
East Carolina hosted Louisville in softball in a doubleheader. The Lady
Pirates' bats were silent for the most part all weekend, as ECU was shut out
in all three games in the series.
Then at night, the Pirate baseball team looked for and got revenge on a
Charlotte team that took the first game of the series on Friday night. ECU
rolled in game two, and then rallied to take the series on Sunday with a
come from behind win.
Mix in a little NCAA basketball action on the tube, and this was some
kind of weekend for the Pirate faithful.
Just in case you missed anything, don’t worry. There are several other
great spring weekends ahead, especially with the return of “The Great Pirate
Purple Gold Pigskin Pig-out Party” later on in April.
Big Dance doesn’t disappoint
The NCAA tournament continues to be one of the great sporting events each
year.
There is no way to write a script this compelling. There is nothing else
in sports that compares, as underdog after underdog comes through with
unlikely success.
The Big East is a perfect 8-0 so far, as Pitt, Syracuse, Connecticut and
Notre Dame all head to the regional semifinals.
Marquette carries the Conference USA banner into the Sweet 16. Louisville
was the league's trendy pick to make the Final Four, but the Cards fell at
the hands of Cinderella entry Butler. Memphis and Cincinnati were first
round victims.
The Golden Eagles will take on Pittsburgh, one of the hottest teams in
the tournament. The Panthers, along with Kentucky, really had easy times in
their first two games.
Duke and Maryland represent the ACC in the Sweet 16. The Terrapins will
take on Michigan State in their South Regional Semi-final. That’s a match up
of the sixth and seventh seeds, so you have to like the Terps' chances.
That is, unless you watched Michigan State blast Florida. Either the
Spartans are really good, or the Gators were really overrated.
Duke takes on Kansas in one of the West regional semifinals. The Devils
struggled before putting Colorado State away on Thursday. Duke easily
discarded Central Michigan, and now Mike Krzyzewski and company have their
sights set on another Final Four.
That Duke vs. Kansas match up may be the best pairing in the Sweet 16.
I think the Jayhawks are primed to make a run at finally winning that
elusive national title for Roy Williams. But Coach K seems to have a
blueprint on the NCAA tournament, making this a most intriguing match up.
Good luck to Marquette from Conference USA, and here’s hoping you’re
still alive in your office pool!
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Brian Bailey.
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archives.
02/23/2007 01:26:24 AM
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