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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
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By Brian Bailey |
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New ritual reinforces drive
for redemption
©2004 Bonesville.net
Every time East Carolina's football players huddle this summer, they
leave by reciting one simple word as a team.
Every player has a hand on a teammate. Someone takes the lead.
“Respect on three,” that player will shout. “One, two, three… RESPECT!”
That, more then any other theme, will dominate the player’s thoughts come
August.
“We break it down every time with respect,” said senior running back Art
Brown. “A lot of teams don’t respect us. For us to gain respect we have to
win games and that’s our motivation.”
Marvin Townes agrees.
“We know what we have to do,” Townes said. “The past is the past. It’s
going to take hard work but we know what 1-11 feels like.”
New football strength coach John Grieco is getting much of the credit for
this new attitude.
“We’ve got a great group of guys,” said Grieco. “They are chomping at the
bit to get the national respect they should be getting.”
Grieco does bring another positive to the table.
“I really feel that these guys have put last year behind them,” he said.
“Their attitude has been great. This is going to be the beginning of a
special era here.”
Positive overload
By the very nature of the word, a "problem" is supposed to carry a
negative tone.
However, the Pirate “problem” at running back is one that many teams
would dearly love to have.
Art Brown has worked hard to get back into the lineup this fall. Brown
has an outstanding work ethic but is still just a bit leery of taking that
first hit in August.
“I’m going to have a little butterflies because it’s been a while since
I’ve been out there,” said Brown. “As far as the knee, getting it banged up,
well I really didn’t hurt it in a football manner. I’ll at least have the
mental edge on that part.”
In case you haven’t seen Marvin Townes of late, get ready. Townes is
absolutely cut, an amazing looking physical specimen.
“I can’t wait to get started after sitting out this spring with my
ankle,” said Townes. “These workouts are tough, but we all know that the
hard work will pay off.”
Add in Robert Tillman to the mix and the Pirates do have a nice “problem”
at the running back position.
Players arrive back on campus on August 9th, but most if not all have
been here all summer long.
The first day of practice is August 10th.
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02/23/2007 01:29:33 AM |
