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Insights and Observations
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Watch for Henry Hinton's feature story on veteran Hollywood actress and ECU alum Beth Grant in Bonesville Magazine.

Henry's Highlights Friday, August 20, 2004 By Henry Hinton

Buffet line open for Pirate fans

©2004 Bonesville.net

Football season cannot be far away. Already there is a buzz about John Thompson’s second squad.

For Pirate fans who cannot get enough to satisfy their appetites, the new menu of nightly radio programs is already here.

Our station, Talk 1070 WNCT-AM, launched its ECU-oriented programs Thursday evening with the first installment of The Brian Bailey Show. Brian’s guest was ECU strength coach John Greico. Greico’s enthusiasm is infectious.

Commencing next week Talk 1070 will be diving into its new season of programs in earnest. Mondays this year, we will air a new program at 7 p.m. called “The Sports Verdict,” which will feature a couple of new characters in the radio market along with ECU’s all-time leading scorer, Kevin Miller. Miller will be joined by “The Professor” and “Yankee Boy” and this program promises to be provocative and entertaining.

Tuesday nights at 7 p.m., we’ll air the replay of Coach Thompson’s weekly news conference.

Wednesdays will be extra-special this year on Talk 1070. Starting this coming week, you will be able to get on the air perspective from the guys you are used to reading from Bonesville.net. Get ready for The Bonesville Power Hour every Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Patrick Johnson will host the writers. The lineup will feature guys who cover the Pirates in depth, including Denny O’Brien, Al Myatt, Brian Bailey, Ron Cherubini and yours truly.

Recruiting gurus Sammy Batten and Thad Mumau will also make occasional cameos on this new program that will delve deeply, without flinching, into ECU sports topics and other happenings in college athletics.

The Power Hour will be followed by Coach Thompson’s weekly call-in show hosted by the Voice of the Pirates Jeff Charles on Wednesday nights from 8-9 p.m.

Thursday night at 7 p.m. will be the new day and time for Bailey’s weekly call-in show. This is the 17th year Brian has done a weekly radio show and ECU fans have come to enjoy his weekly visits with Pirate assistant coaches and other area sports personalities.

Friday nights during the season will be reserved for a look at Saturday’s game with Patrick Johnson’s Friday Night Pirate Preview. Showtime for this program, which starts the night before the West Virginia game, will soon be announced pending Talk 1070’s high school football coverage.

It’s a Pirate fan smorgasbord on Talk 1070 this season. All of the programs above, with the exception of Thompson’s call-in show on Wednesday nights and Friday Night Pirate Preview, will be simulcast in 55,000 homes on Cable 7 TV in the Greenville-Washington-Williamston television markets.

All of our programs will also be available live online and archived for listening at a later date. The programs can be accessed through Bonesville.net or a link from talk1070.com.

Kicker storms the links

Speaking of Kevin Miller, the golfer-turned-kicker-turned-golfer, has just achieved a life-long goal of qualifying for and playing in the United States Amateur. Miller returned from his experience at the Wingfoot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, NY, on Thursday.

The U.S. Amateur, which features the best amateur golfers in the world, is played each year at this time. Miller had attempted to qualify in 2003 but had not made the necessary score in the first round.

“I could never try to qualify while I was playing football here because the tournament is always in August,” said Miller, “so it was nice to get in in just my second attempt.”

312 players from around the world started on the difficult Par 70 track on Monday. Miller had a great day, shooting 2 over in the first round, good enough to tie for 11th after one day of play.

However, Tuesday he struggled to hit the fairways on the wet course after heavy downpours and also lost a putting touch that was extraordinary on day one.

Miller missed the cut by just one stroke, shooting a 79 and finishing 11 over par.

In spite of missing the cut, the 24-year old Virginia Beach native was not despondent about the experience.

“It is a great feeling to know that I can play with the best amateur golfers in the world,” he said.

Those players making the cut are now involved in match play which is being televised through Sunday on ESPN.

Garrard on the tube

Former Pirate great David Garrard got some nice nationwide publicity Wednesday night on the NFL Network. In an attempt to give fans a little insight as to what goes on behind the scenes during training camp, the network is following the Jacksonville Jaguars all the way through the beginning of the season.

Garrard was the the main focus during the second segment of the hour-long show. He was seen explaining his battle with Crohn's Disease and how he is feeling of late. The piece featured Jags’ starting quarterback Byron Leftwich talking about how tough it was to see David in a hospital bed and some good-natured ribbing about how big Garrard’s already large head looked when he lost all his weight!

It was apparent that Garrard and Leftwich have a solid relationship and a mutual respect for each other. The segment also featured Jags head coach Jack Del Rio expressing his feelings about Garrard as a player. Perhaps Del Rio’s best compliment to the former ECU star was that “David is an even better person.”

Del Rio went on to say that the Jags were very fortunate to have a capable backup like David. Lets all hope David's recovery continues to be successful, and he can find some playing time very soon.

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02/23/2007 10:13:53 AM