I am a hopeless optimist, as illustrated by the nickname my coworkers had for me at one of my earliest newspaper jobs. I wrote so many happy, positive feature stories at The Shelby Star in the early ‘90s that I was dubbed “Lite Brite.” Someone even brought the glowing peg board toy into the office one day and plugged it in as a decoration for my cubby. So it is admittedly … [Read more...]

David Blackwell knows that his defense is more highly ranked this season, and he likes much of what he has seen from his players in East Carolina’s past two games. But Blackwell can’t dwell on the good news when plays like South Florida’s 80-yard fourth quarter touchdown run in Saturday’s 20-13 defeat are still lodged in his memory. “I think as a coach you always try to … [Read more...]

Natural disasters like hurricanes might strike every socioeconomic class equally, but it’s a fact that those with more resources are better equipped to weather the wind and rain and recover from their effects. The same was true for intercollegiate athletic teams that found themselves in the path of Hurricane Florence last week. Consider a team like East Carolina football, … [Read more...]

Among other atypical aspects of East Carolina’s opening football weekend was the fact that an unexpected Sunday game robbed the Pirates of a day of preparation for UNC-Chapel Hill. But since everyone in purple seems to agree that the chief adjustments this week need to be mental, the abbreviated week might not be a major issue. “We just know we made a few mental mistakes,” … [Read more...]

EDITOR'S NOTE: Column has been updated to provide correct information about available donor opportunities for access to the three club levels of the south tower of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. East Carolina athletic officials know that the Pirate Nation will have to exhibit extra patience since its team’s home stadium is also an active construction zone. But they also hope that … [Read more...]