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Insights and Observations
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Read Henry Hinton's
feature story on veteran Hollywood actress and ECU alum
Beth Grant in
Bonesville Magazine. |
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Henry's Highlights
Thursday, October 28, 2004
By Henry Hinton |
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Army game assumes new
benchmark status
©2004 Bonesville.net
Every program has ebbs and flows and, right now, it is
obvious that East Carolina is ebbing.
Most schools also have a rival by which they measure
their own significance. For East Carolina, that program over the years has
been Southern Mississippi.
It is interesting that during John Thompson’s years as
the defensive coordinator in Hattiesburg, the ECU program was measuring
itself against the Golden Eagles. I remember a couple of blowouts that made
the Pirate coaching staff realize they had a lot of work to do. I also
remember the victories over USM, few as they were, that felt real good.
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I would argue that while fans always wanted to beat
N.C. State and North Carolina, it was the Southern Miss game that coaches
always used as the litmus test to see where the program really was.
Last Saturday’s whipping at the hands of the Eagles was
a bitter pill for everyone. I’m sure no one took it harder than Thompson
himself. It points out just how steep the hill really is.
Isn’t it interesting that the new test to see if ECU
can measure up will come against Army, a team that has never defeated the
Pirates. Being favored coming into Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium will be something
new for the Black Knights.
Hey, come to think of it being favored anywhere will be
new for Army.
New head coach Bobby Ross has his team on a two-game
win streak and it was nearly three but for a late score by Texas Christian
three games back.
The Black Knights will be confident coming into
Dowdy-Ficklen. The Pirates, who played uninspired on Saturday, have their
work cut out for them.
The term “must win” is over-used in college sports but
this game against Army means everything right now for this football program.
The Pirates can ill-afford to lose to a program that has been on the bottom
of college football as long as anyone can remember.
The day will be filled with lots of excitement on the
periphery. Military Appreciation Day means a lot more this time around. This
will be the first time the U.S. Military Academy has ever come and played a
game in Greenville during wartime.
There will a flyover of four Apache helicopters just
before the national anthem at approximately 2:40 pm. Some of the top brass
from area bases and the North Carolina National Guard will be on hand.
Before you leave your seat at halftime for a soft drink, make sure you stay
to hear the 82nd Airborne Chorus sing God Bless America. It should be quite
emotional.
There is also a pre-football scrimmage by both the
men's and women’s basketball teams on Saturday with Sharon Baldwin-Tenor’s
squad starting at 10:30 and Bill Herrion’s team taking the floor after that
between noon and 12:30. The Pirate basketball squad will also hang around
for autographs and pictures after the scrimmage around 2 p.m.
Now, if there can just be another gridiron victory
after all that, we’ll all have a happy Saturday night.
If not, well... I prefer not to think about it.
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02/23/2007 10:14:09 AM |
