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Bailey's
Take on Pirate Sports
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From the Anchor Desk
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
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By Brian Bailey |
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Summer sizzle brews pigskin
fever
©2005 Bonesville.net
The temperatures
are in the high 90’s. The heat index is at 110. Thunderstorms provide
nightly entertainment.
It all means
that Pirate football is near.
I love the summertime. I enjoy going to the baseball and softball fields,
watching my son and daughter or maybe their friends play in regular season
and all-star games.
Greenville and
eastern North Carolina have a long history of success on the diamonds. The
trip to Williamsport for the Greenville boys is one of my greatest memories
in covering sports.
But enough is
enough. It’s time for football!
The players are
all set to check into camp on Thursday, Aug. 4th.
That date is
sort of a misnomer, because this East Carolina team has worked as hard as it ever
has this summer under new strength coach Mike Golden.
I met Coach
Golden recently and he’s got that same gleam in his eye that another ECU
strength coach, Jeff Connors, had.
Its just part of the recipe. That gleam, that demeanor, a strength coach has
to be a little crazy.
All reports say Golden is doing a great job and that
we will all see the results this fall on the gridiron.
The players will
practice for the first time on Friday, Aug. 5th, before hosting the
media for picture day on Saturday, Aug. 6th.
The squad will
work out in shells until Tuesday, Aug. 9th when the team will go in
full pads for the first time.
The only
scrimmage on the early schedule is on Friday, Aug. 26th. It’s not clear as
of yet just how open this or any other scrimmage will be for fans and media.
Media consultants for a day
I was on campus
on Wednesday as a part of a forum on interviews conducted by Tom McClellan,
Director of Athletics Media Relations.
I was joined by
Troy Dreyfus of Pirate Radio 1250 and Nate Summers of the Daily Reflector.
We each talked
to the group of new freshman athletes about our different role in covering
East Carolina athletics.
I was really
surprised by the group’s interest level. They asked several questions and
really seemed to want to know everything they could about dealing with
the media.
I was also
impressed by McClellan’s memo to the group. He stressed several points of
interests.
He wrote that in
television interviews what the public sees breaks down like this: 65 percent
body language, 25 percent tone and 10 percent content.
I had never
really thought about it this way, but it makes sense.
I stressed
to the group that dressing the part was key. If you know you’re going to be
interviewed on camera, make sure you are neatly dressed.
McClellan also
wrote to the group about wearing a cap. He said to make sure that it was an
“East Carolina” hat, and to never wear it backwards on camera.
Believe it or
not, it had to be said.
I’ve seen
Pirates sporting Yankees, Red Sox, NBA caps — even caps representing other
college teams. Players don’t realize how
the public takes to such a thing.
I think the
entire experience was a positive one for both the panel and the athletes.
Maybe our little
get together will pay dividends during a winning Pirate season this fall!
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02/23/2007 01:31:57 AM |
