Simpson's Redemption

When I was in the edit bay listening to Mel Kiper, Jr's comments on Jerome Simpson getting drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the second round, I thought back to all the times that I may have had a skewed view of football talent. After all, I cover more Coastal Carolina games and hence, more FCS games than the higher level BCS and perhaps I was caught up in that level. Could Chanticleers really make an NFL roster? Tyler Thigpen and Quinton Teal disproved that theory last season. I always thought Jerome Simpson was a special talent who could actually play on Sundays. I truly thought that he would be the first CCU player to play in the NFL (although I'm more than happy to be wrong thanks to Thig and Quinton). It really is mind boggling that CCU has produced three NFL players (and hopefully a fourth with Mike Tolbert). Kiper more or less said that when talking about all the big school receivers on the draft board and a guy from Coastal Carolina is the Bengals answer to helping a receiving corps that may have an AWOL Pro Bowler in Chad Johnson.

As Cincinnati and the NFL learns more about Jerome Simpson, I will always remember seeing him at Coastal Grand Mall folding T-shirts at Champs Sports like any other college student working a part time job. How satisfying will it be for Jerome to have his jersey in that same Champs store a few years down the road?! More than that, Simpson provides a valuable lesson in bouncing back from adversity.

It's a long lost memory now, but CCU fans will always remember the dreaded Super Safety. Back in 2005, I wrote a column in Palmetto Pigskin Preview about one of the lowest points in CCU football history.

From Palmetto Pigskin Preview
November 23rd, 2005
With ten seconds to go, Coastal Carolina was a mere strategic snap away from everything they were looking for: a second Big South title, a second ten win season, and a reason to watch the Division I-AA football playoff pairings show with a close eye. When I saw Jerome Simpson back in punt formation, it was easy to see what the play call was. You’ve got the guy with the best hands, and one of the fastest on the roster. Take the snap, melt down that ten seconds on your way to the back of the End Zone, and take a safety. All that was left to do was celebrate. But then it happened. Think Chris Webber calling timeout when Michigan didn’t have any left in the NCAA Tournament, or Bill Buckner watching the ball in between his legs, or Joe Pisarcik fumbling for the NY Giants in victory formation, as Herman Edwards gave the Philadelphia Eagles an improbable win.
Jerome Simpson was supposed to run into the end zone, but instead went out of bounds at the 4 yard line, giving Charleston Southern 1.5 seconds to ruin Coastal’s 2005 season. And that’s what exactly happened two overtimes later.
Simpson made a mental error, and there’s no defense for it. The look of devastation on his face five seconds after it happened was all the proof you needed.
In September, Jerome Simpson had the #1 play on ESPN SportsCenter. His highlight in the last game of the season was the antithesis of a top play.
University of Memphis basketball player Darius Washington, Jr. had three free throws in the Conference USA Championship to get his team to the NCAA Tournament last year. After making the first free throw to get within one against Louisville, he proceeded to miss both free throws to lose in a heartbreaking fashion. Washington dropped to the ground and pulled his jersey over his head. As the whole nation watched this, something funny happened. Rather than rip the athlete, people across the country embraced him from emails to letters and phone calls. They were able to give him the confidence to get back on the court and put the miscue behind him. The whole country doesn’t know about Simpson’s miscue, but everyone who is associated with Coastal Carolina football does. The challenge on the entire Chants football family (fans, coaches and players) is to be there for Jerome through a long off-season and keep him on track to get back on the gridiron and excel.
Imagine if your son or best friend was the person making that mistake. We live in a world that has negativity. At some point, Simpson will have to deal with an angry email or unruly fans shouting at him on the field. Hopefully, the support of fans, family and friends will dwarf the bad apples he’s bound to come across.
Football is a “what have you done for me lately” kind of sport. People will forget Simpson’s amazing performance that was a huge reason for the Chants upset of James Madison. They’ll forget him attracting double teams to give other receivers the chance to shine.
Jerome Simpson was supposed to run into the End Zone. He has two more years of football at Coastal Carolina, and will never forget that play. It’s my hope that he does run into the end zone many times in the future, and he bounces back from this adversity.

Fast forward three years. Yes, Simpson did bounce back from that adversity. It's a tired cliche, but the term "Everything happens for a reason" fits in this situation. Jerome could have went the other way and never been the same player he was before that fateful play. If Jerome didn't face that bump in the road, perhaps he would not have trained as hard or stayed humble when success came his way. Instead the opposite happened - Jerome matured and used the pain of that disappointment to become an NFL wide receiver. Jerome and his family were driving home from a flea market when Cincinnati head coach Marvin Lewis called to tell him that he was about to be a Bengal. Simpson pulled over on the highway and began jumping up and down crying tears of joy and celebrating with his family. A whole legion of CCU fans were jumping up and down as well.

Mailbag

I want to thank the folks who have told me that they enjoy the blog. I now realize that people are actually reading this and I'm not just talking to myself so as a result I'm going to start cranking out some entries. Here are a few of the working titles I'll be writing about in the coming weeks.

"Camraderie on the Diamond"
"My link with Pete Sampras"
"There's a guy with one arm pitching a no-hitter at Yankee Stadium"

For now, I wanted to take the time to answer some questions I have gotten in the past few weeks. We used to have a forum section on the old website where I rattled off responses on a regular basis. I will try and wrangle questions up every month or so and post the answers here. Feel free to email me at 15sports@wpde.com and I'll do my best to try and answer your question. Now on to the mailbag:

Hello,Rick I watch 15 news and I thank you do a great job telling the sports,but would like to ask you why you don't cover Florence Darlington technical College Baseball team,I never hear you say nothing about them.My reason is, my son LA Owens is there he is one of there pitchers. I thank you might remember him from Dillon High School he was one of the wide receivers #3 just wanted to know why you didn't cover FDTC baseball team. - Lucille Owens

Lucille:
I appreicate you getting in touch with us. This is the perfect example of how we put something on the radar and try and cover. We get spread thin during baseball with having to cover the Pelicans, USC, Clemson and CCU. We already did a feature on the FMU baseball team as they are a nationally ranked Division II power and we need to get cracking on high school baseball as the playoffs are right around the corner. I remember LA well on the gridiron playing for Jackie Hayes and I hope that he can use FDTC as a springboard to another opportunity in college baseball. Please keep in touch and while I can't guarantee we'll go out there, I can promise you we'll do a story if he signs to play college baseball at another school.
Has WPDE dropped the Zone Cup incentive they have done for the past three years for high school teams? It's no longer posted, and hasn't been for a 2-3 months.
Has WPDE dropped the Zone Cup incentive they have done for the past three years for high school teams? It's no longer posted, and hasn't been for a 2-3 months.

Has WPDE dropped the Zone Cup incentive they have done for the past three years for high school teams? It's no longer posted, and hasn't been for a 2-3 months. From: Keith

Keith:
The Zone Cup is alive and well. Our website is set up in such a way that stories have a shelf life of about 3-4 days. We updated the Zone Cup standings after each round of state championships. The last update was right after the high school basketball state championships. I think we need to make the Zone Cup a permanent link on the left side of the sports page and will get cracking on that. I have to navigate through the corporate ladder on our new website so things take a little bit more time, but I will get this to be a permanent fixture on wpde.com so folks can keep tabs all year long.

Just wondering why on your web pages under sports, you have USC, Clemson... but not Coastal Carolina University. You cover them well on TV, have the David Bennett show etc..
Give us our own little notch.. Thanks.. Jeff Linder

Jeff:
This is another great suggestion. You guys have got me in the mode to keep our web guys busy. I've come up with a small laundry list of things that I will try and get added to wpde.com in the coming weeks:

1. WPDE Sports Shootout Golf Tournament page
2. Zone Cup Standings
3. CCU News
4. David Bennett Show page
5. Cliff Ellis Show page

Keep an eye out for these things in the next few weeks!


When will the 2008 WPDE Scholarship form be available on-line. Currently the 2007 is loaded. From: Kelly Bridgers

Kelly:

Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention. This is one thing on the list I was able to get crossed off. The scholarship application is updated and is on the link is on the left hand side of the main page. A reminder that any high school senior in the WPDE viewing area is eligible for our $5,000 scholarship. The money we raise from our annual golf tournament goes to the scholarship fund. Our tournament is set for Friday, May 30th at Wachesaw East in Murrells Inlet. We hope that we can continue to raise $15,000 as we have for the past three years. The deadline to get your application in is Friday, May 2nd. We will look through all of the applications and get it narrowed to a top 5-10 right before the golf tournament. Once we figure out how much money we have raised, we will announce the winners in early June.


Why are you guys not giving any coverage to the Southeastern Baseball Classic From: Faile

The Southeastern Baseball Classic is an outstanding annual high school baseball tournament hosted by Hartsville high school. The Red Foxes lost in the finals of this prestigious event. Part of the battle is information. We have many things going on in many sports all year long. If we had a heads up and reminder of the tournament, that would have helped. The other factor was getting scores called in. If either of those two things happened, we would have had a chance to put it on our radar and try and cover it. A lot of times we get information after the fact, and that doesn't help the cause. We are looking forward to covering Hartsville baseball as they make what should be a deep run in the Class 4A playoffs along with Conway.

For Rich Chrampanis: I know that South Carolina touts its 3 sports as football, basketball, and spring football and that WPDE supports this with its End Zone and Hoop Zone awards. But, how about the other "sports" played in local high schools and at CCU? Consider the following:
baseball/softball - diamond zone
wrestling - mat zone
tennis - court zone
track and field - track zone
golf - green zone (not to be confused with an area in
Iraq with the same name)
Well, you get the idea. Let's have some more "zones"! From: Fred Carpenter

Fred:
Appreciate you checking in. We like to think that we have these sports covered with our Zone Cup program. Like the Sears Cup in NCAA sports, we award points to each high school based on their post-season performance in varsity sports, both boys and girls. Especially in the spring, we try and get to as many spring playoff events as possible as it has a direct impact on the final standings in the Zone Cup race. As I mentioned above, we'll be getting the Zone Cup as a permanent link on the site. Every year, we get the Diamond Zone pitched to us. It's flattering to think that people think enough of our local sports coverage to want even more! It comes down to clock and resources. It's just Hags and me and we have a finite amount of time in each sportscast. Our station goes above and beyond the call of duty to devote an amazing amount of resources to our football and basketball products. That being said, I'm hoping that as the years go by, the Zone Cup catches on and it becomes an award that every high school covets. The Zoneman and Mister and Miss Hoop Zone have prestige in our area thanks to our former winners being in the NFL, NBA and WNBA. The Zone Cup should be on the same level as it is the reflection of an entire school's athletic department. We'll keep putting the spotlight on as many different sports as we can during the school year.

For Rich Chrampanis,
UNC's basketball player is Tyler Hansbrough, not Hansborough. His last name is pronounced Hans-bro. From: Shirley Kirby

Shirley:
I went back and checked the tape, and indeed I turned the ball over with my pronunciation. Roy Williams would have me running the Dean Dome steps for that. I have a ton of admiration for Psycho-T. I do appreciate folks keeping me straight and keeping tabs on me.


Our family relocated to Pawleys Island from the Northeastern part of Ohio (Akron) about three years ago. We are avid sports fans (Cleveland Browns & Cleveland Indians)and I have noticed that when you guys have the sports segment of the daily news you never include any of the northern teams. There are alot of people that live here that are from the north and would like to get game results for their teams (Indians, White Soxes, etc.) and also the football teams. The only ones that you guys ever talk about are the Braves, NY etc. It's bad enough that we can't physically see our teams play regularly but we don't hear about what they are doing. Can you accommodate this? From Kathy Eagan

Kathy:

I'm glad you brought this up as I have had to make this response to many different transplants. First and foremost, I am a transplant as well (like Bruce Springsteen says, I come from somewhere in the swamps of Jersey). I grew up on Warner Wolf (he's the reason I became a sportscaster) and my usual fix of Giants, Jets, Yankees, Mets, Rangers, Islanders and Devils. If there's one thing I've learned is that we have packs of transplants who are passionate about many things. If I had to rank them, here they are and what they want:

1. New York Metro area (Yankees/Mets/Giants/Jets)
2. North Carolina (Tar Heels)
3. West Virginia (Mountaineers)
4. Ohio (Ohio State/Indians/Browns)
5. Philadelphia (Eagles/Phillies)
6. Boston (Red Sox/Patriots)
7. Virginia Tech (Hokies)

The days of covering national sports in a local sportscast are all but gone. I've spoken about this many times, but in this new age of information now, you have to bring a product that is exclusive to the area you live in. In regards to the professional sports, you can get all of those things through ESPN.

The foundation of what we cover is high school sports and three colleges (Coastal Carolina, South Carolina and Clemson). Add to that the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. We have both coaches shows at CCU and we do extensive high school sports coverage because 99 percent of the time, you can't get it anywhere else outside of Myrtle Beach. The same goes for the Gamecocks and Tigers - the fan base of both is very large in our area and quite passionate.

The reason we cover the Atlanta Braves like we do is simple: the Pelicans are the Single "A" affiliate of the Braves and we are at the point as we enter season 10 of the Birds at the Beach that the majority of the Braves lineup has spent some time in Myrtle Beach. Jeff Francouer, Brian McCann and Martin Prado just to name a few. In addition, we are the official local affiliate of the Carolina Panthers.

The next layer of our coverage (and this is where a lot of our national coverage comes in) is following our local products in the pros:

Why did we show Milwaukee Bucks/Washington Wizards highlights last night? Simply because Myrtle Beach's own Ramon Sessions hit the buzzer beater to win the game. The same applies to Raymond Felton (Latta) with the Charlotte Bobcats, Albert Haynseworth (Hartsville) with the Tennessee Titans and the list goes on and on.

Times have changed - we used to show major league baseball scores at 11pm in the break before the sports segment, but that has gone away. Again, the mantra that you can get that kind of information on ESPN or by simply logging on to the internet or getting scores from your favorite team texted to your mobile phone.

The other factor is time. We get 2:45 for each show we do Monday-Friday. That time can go by quickly. Five years ago, I could get anywhere between 3:30 and 4:00 - that gave me more time to do the occasional national sports story. I still try and pick the major national sports stories and give them some time, but local sports is first and foremost every day.

I would love to have the transplants come on to the blog and email me questions/comments or thoughts about their favorite teams. Here I have all the space in the world to talk Tar Heels, Indians, or anything.

Since you're an Ohio fan, I will share this - the best pitching performance I ever saw in Myrtle Beach was when a young CC Sabathia pitched a complete game shutout against the Pelicans. I like the makeup of the Tribe - Travis Hafner is an underrated superstar and Victor Martinez is a top 5 catcher that no one talks about. If Carmona can be anywhere near what he was last year and Joe Borowski can get his ERA under 5.00 (that's a selfish request, since he's on my roti team), the Tribe should be able to challenge Detroit and Minnesota in the AL Central.

duckman said...
You are my favorite station to watch for basketball & football scores & highlights. But it seems that when those two sports are over you take a vacation from high school sports. I would like to see more coverage on high school softball & baseball. You not only have some of the best teams in the state right here in the Pee Dee but also in the country.

Duckman:

I appreciate the kind words. It's funny that you say that, because Hags actually did take a vacation after the high school basketball state championships. We have a small window of opportunities to take time off as we generally work 6 or 7 day weeks during football and basketball season. We spend March and April giving attention to college baseball, spring football and the Pelicans. We will go full out for the high school baseball and softball playoffs and get to as many different games as we can over a four week span. We will spend the next couple of weeks trying to pinpoint which teams we need to keep an eye on. Rest assured, things are going to get cranked up with high school baseball and softball!

Great questions from all -- looking forward to doing this again on a regular basis!

Hoop Zone Banquet

Another banquet is in the books and I have to say that the 8th annual Hoop Zone banquet was one of the smoothest we ever had. It was a great season that culminated in an amazingly busy two weekends as our local teams invaded Charleston and Columbia. I've posted in the past about the process of selecting our All-Zone teams and the voting process for the Zoneman and Mister and Miss Hoop Zone, but I feel it's important to reiterate as we inevitably seem to have a lot of questions.
In early January, Hags and I put our mental focus on the high school basketball season. The first thing I do is take out last year's All-Hoop Zone team and see who's returning. Barring a player suspension, major injury or other discipline types of problems, the players who were on last year's team usually returns to the All-Hoop Zone team. After that, we draw a line and develop a watch list. It starts by combing through box scores and getting calls from coaches on Tuesday and Friday night. We did a Hoop Zone honor roll on wpde.com on those nights and it was pretty easy to see who was on that list every time. We would move those on to the watch list and then go out and eyeball as many games as we can. I'm proud to say we had highlights of 74 games on our newscasts this basketball season which I think is a very impressive number for a two man sports department. Hags and I will try and think of how we can be even more efficient and try and get that number closer to 100 next season.
When it comes to playoff time, we look at #1 seeds (region champs) and make sure they are getting serious consideration for an All-Hoop Zone spot. After that, we go through the rest of the brackets and really study who we haven't seen and who deserves consideration. It is very difficult for a player to make the All-Hoop Zone team if their team doesn't make the playoffs. Of our 40 players on this year's team, only one did not make the post-season - Darryl Edge of North Myrtle Beach. Considering he is a 1,000 point career scorer, a 2007 WPDE All-Hoop Zone selection and received Mister Hoop Zone votes, he's an exception to the rule. I know we have a lot of talented players who don't make the team, but this process is the most fair that we know of.
In the past, our process for Mister and Miss Hoop Zone was to collect 15 boys coaches and 15 girls coaches to decide on Mr. and Miss HZ. This year was so unique that we got to that number (17 total ballots when you include mine and Hags) that I didn't feel right about it. With the 17 ballots, Kinard Gadsden-Gilliard had a 1 point lead on Lashay Page and Ashley Clarke had a 2 point lead on Rubylee Wright. Hags and I usually have very similar ballots, but our three picks were all over the place. It's then we realized that you could make a very strong argument for as many as five boys. The most fair thing to do would be to get every coach in the area (34 boys and 34 girls). That's 68 calls! I knew I'd have the piece of mind knowing that it couldn't be more impartial than to do that. So we got on the horn in a big way and collected each and every ballot. What we saw was the same results when we had 17 ballots (Gadsden-Gilliard was up by 2 on Page, Clarke a 6 point margin over Rubylee). However, I felt relieved that we expanded the process to include everyone. Especially on the boys side, a vote or two different could have completely turned things around. The fact that first and fifth place were seperated by only 8 points was amazing. It was a lot more work, but it was good to get input from everyone in our Hoop Zone family.
My mind is always racing a million miles an hour during the banquet and I never get to talk to everyone I want to. Our goal is to make this night special for each and every player that is being honored. I hope we accomplish that goal, because it means a lot not only to Hags and I, but our entire station. I hope our basketball friends appreciate the support shown by WPDE management to spend thousands of dollars in awards, food, etc. so we can make it a special night.
Eight years of Hoop Zone banquets and there's already an awesome legacy. We've got two NBA players, one more on the way soon (Carlos Powell - we're rooting for ya!) and a WNBA player to boot. From there, a long list of Division I and other college basketball players. One of my favorite parts of our website is the Zone history section that lets you drag down a high school and see all of their All-Zone picks over the years. I would like to get that more prominently displayed on wpde.com so folks can take the time to look over who has represented their communities over the years.
I put the section below on our Hoop Zone page, but wanted to put it here as well so our high school and local sports fans can get a full dose of Hoop Zone factoids and trivia:


Here are some fun facts and notes about the Hoop Zone banquet:
Just how far has the Hoop Zone banquet come?
The first WPDE All-Hoop Zone team did not have a banquet. The top 12 boys and girls had pizza in the break room at the old WPDE studios in Florence. Raymond Felton sat in a folding chair when he was announced the first Mister Hoop Zone in 2001. Based on the success of the first season, the Hoop Zone banquet has expanded to a full dinner and 30 minute special held after the week after state champions are crowned. Raymond's second Mister Hoop Zone featured the first true banquet and the airing of "The Truth", WPDE's 30 minute documentary on the current Charlotte Bobcats point guard which won an Edward R. Murrow Regional Award for outstanding documentary.

Two firsts in 2008
Latisha Harris became the first Aynor Blue Jacket to make an All-Hoop Zone team. The junior should be a contender for Miss Hoop Zone 2009. Also, a first - Khadijah Sessions became the first 8th grader to make the squad. The Myrtle Beach guard will try and carry on the Lady Seahawks dominance on the hardwood.

Waiting to Eat
Of the 34 SCHSL teams in the WPDE viewing area, there are now only four schools that have not had a boy or girl make the All-Hoop Zone team in our eight year history:

East Clarendon
Lake View
Lamar
Waccamaw

The Two Timers
Ashley Clarke joins an exclusive list of two time Mister and Miss Hoop Zone winners:

Raymond Felton (2001,02)
Ramon Sessions (2003,04)
Christina Dewitt (2005,06)
Ashley Clarke (2007,08)

Third time's the charm:
Only 11 players in our eight year history have made the All-Hoop Zone team three times. Mr. Hoop Zone Finalist Lashay Page of Dillon became just the second boys player while Ashley Clarke, Michelle McGee and Rubylee Wright bring the girls "3-timers" to 9:
North Myrtle Beach's Christina Dewitt is the one and only four time All-Hoop Zone selection.

Three time WPDE All-Hoop Zone selections:
Boys
Lashay Page (Latta 05,06 Dillon 08)
RaSean Dickey (Marlboro County 2002-04)

Girls
Ashley Clarke (Myrtle Beach 05,07,08)
Michelle McGee (Andrews 2006-08)
Rubylee Wright (Latta 2006-08)
Tomay Johnson (Andrews 2004-06)
Latasha Hayward (Hemingway 2003-05)
Zaporia Carr (North Myrtle Beach 2003-05)
Andrea Robinson (Wilson 2003-05)
Christina Dewitt (North Myrtle Beach 2002-05) * 4 time selection *
Tyesha Ervin (Darlington 2002-04)
Sasha Reaves (Mullins 2001-03)

Banquet Fixtures
Here's the breakdown of the most banquet appearances in eight years (boys, girls and combined)

Most All Hoop Zone boys selections

1. Marlboro County 12
2. Wilson 11
3. Myrtle Beach 10
3. Hemingway 10
5. Mullins 7

Most All Hoop Zone girls selections
1. Myrtle Beach 12
2. Wilson 11
3. Darlington 7
3. Mullins 7
3. North Myrtle Beach 7

Combined boys and girls All Hoop Zone selections
1. Myrtle Beach 22
2. Wilson 22
3. Marlboro County 15
4. Mullins 14
4. Hemingway 14

Let Me Put You on Hold

Ok, this blog entry is like a Quentin Tarantino movie -- the buildup just prior to the final scene airs at the beginning of the flick. Then you get wrapped up in the entire story and then the scene airs in its correct order and it ties it all together. This isn't nearly as good as Pulp Fiction or Kill Bill, but you get the idea......

Saturday night 10:47 pm, edit bay at WCIV-TV in Charleston
Three edits to go and the high school basketball story is ready to get zapped into outerspace via the magic of satellite from Charleston to our sports office in Myrtle Beach. All I have to do is book the satellite window from CNN. I have to feed before 11pm because WCIV's newscast can not feed during the beginning of its show. Eight minutes to spare, I can book a 10:55pm to 11:00pm window and get the story to WPDE and recap a long and exciting day of high school hoops. When CNN answers, I calmly tell them I need to book a 10:55 window - and then I hear "Let me put you on hold....." (panic and thoughts of dry heaving are now setting in)

(This is where we do the Tarantino thing and go back to the beginning of the story)

When it comes to the local sports media in South Carolina, the bar is raised extremely high when it comes to covering high school sports, especially football and basketball. For the first time since I've been here, the lower state finals (state semifinals) has been moved to one site. The Citadel in Charleston would play host to eight total games over two days - two on Friday, six on Saturday. When the dust settles after the quarterfinals, we have a total of five local teams playing for a trip to the state championship. The Hartsville girls played on Friday, and the Hemingway boys, Mullins boys and Myrtle Beach boys and girls were all in action on Saturday.

There are two shows on Saturday. The 6pm newscast will have the Hemingway boys and the Mullins boys will be in progress as the show goes to air. The 11pm newscast will be a recap of all four games. This is the part of the job that is nearly as important as being on the air. It's time to hatch a plan to be able to bring back the highlights and post game reaction from all of these games. The loyal fans of these schools expect nothing less than for us to deliver the goods.

There seems to be an unwritten rule in the sportscaster fraternity: you try and help your colleagues from other markets as much as you can. I can't tell you how much respect I have for nearly every sports department in our state as they live to that creed. A phone call down to Scott Eisberg, the weekend sports guy at WCIV in Charleston gets the plan in motion. You have to remember that these guys have a full plate of work to do and can easily brush off an outside market looking for some help, but Scott is the antithesis of that. Not only is he going to help us out on Saturday with an edit bay and feeding out highlights, he's going to grab some highlights of the Hartsville game on Friday so we don't have to come down for two straight days. Saint Scott has got free golf and anything else we can do for him in Myrtle Beach for a very long time.

So now it's off to the Citadel on Saturday morning to get a 1pm tipoff of Hemingway and Bamberg-Ehrhardt. The Tigers are so athletic and put on an impressive display in advancing to the 1A state title game. After shooting an on camera intro and outro on campus, I make a 15 minute journey back over the Ravenel bridge to the WCIV studios where I get into an edit bay with a tape ready to edit. Every station has their editing system set up a little different, so it takes me about five minutes to get acclimated, but in about 25 minutes, Hemingway's story is ready to be told. It's 4:00pm - so I'm on my way back to campus to shoot a little bit of the Mullins game for the 6pm show. Scott had to shoot two college baseball games and the 2A girls game so our paths never cross, but we have our plan in place. I'll grab the Mullins/Burke game for 15 minutes, head back to WCIV where he can have highlights for his show and he'll send the Hemingway piece and Mullins highlights on satellite to Hags at 5:30 pm.

Mullins has a 17-11 lead in the 1st when I leave to go back to the studio. I'm there just before 5:00, crank out a few highlights and hand the tape to Scott. It's now a little after 5:10 and I'm back to the Citadel to get the rest of the Mullins game. 5:30 rolls around and the two stories are on their way back to Myrtle and I get the text from Hags that all is good. Part one of the day: mission accomplished.

Mullins loses an absolute heartbreaker. Dante Cooper made a great offensive rebound and go to the free throw line with 3.2 seconds left. Two free throws and it was likely overtime. The poor kid misses the second shot and Mullins perfect season is over. Mark Gerald is nothing but class, and comes out and answers the post-game questions from the media.

The Myrtle Beach girls finally got past their demon and gave some revenge to North Charleston. Mickey Hunter was all smiles and it's always a great story to interview the local team when they are on the winning side. One game to go-- Myrtle Beach boys against Crestwood. I heard the Knights were extremely athletic and were a favorite to not only get past the Seahawks, but go all the way in 3A. In the back of my mind, I'm set to leave this game at halftime if Crestwood has a double digit lead. It would be pushing 9:15 pm - I can get back to WCIV at 9:30 and have a full hour to recap four games. That's a good cushion. The Seahawk boys changed the plan in a hurry. Darius Hemingway and Everett Golson were on fire and raced out to an 18-3 lead after one. I knew right then and there I was going the distance. Playing true team basketball, MB hung on for a 58-55 win. Now, the clock is ticking. Two quick interviews with DeAndre Scott and Darius Hemingway and the race is on.

9:53 pm - one hour and 2 minutes until deadline -- I can feed at 11:10pm if I have to, but that is always risky. Hags needs to have time to take in the feed, load into our system and turn it around. The first thing I do is call Hags and get him the graphics information so he can at least have that. I've got about a three minute budget for this story which is challenging enough when you have four games, three of the games were wins and the loss was a down to the final second heartbreaker. I took notes on my BlackBerry the whole time and I quickly rattle out the order of the interviews:
1. DeAndre Scott, Myrtle Beach
2. Ashley Clarke, Myrtle Beach
3. Mark Gerald, Mullins
4. Tashan Frederick, Hemingway

It's pitch black dark and I'm on a highway. I see the Ravenel Bridge in the rear view mirror and I realize I'm going the wrong way. It's now 10:00 pm and I'm trying to be like one of those Olympic biathletes. Those guys can lower their heart rate to about 30 beats per minute and shoot a bullseye with a gun from about 500 yards away. I then realize that if I was a biathlete I would have probably shot a volunteer instead of a target and realize I'm not that calm, cool and collected. A quick turnaround and I'm back on my way.

10:13pm - parking lot, WCIV. Camera in the back seat, I pull it on the ground and grab the microphone. Yes, the glamorous world of TV. I'm on my knees in a parking lot and anyone talking by would have thought I was just talking to myself. The BlackBerry notes are lit up and I go through each game as concise as I can. The story is told on tape and I'm on my way into the edit bay. I've got three different tapes that have the four games, post-game interviews, my intro and my voice of the higlights on it.

This is where sportscasting is like sports. The clock is up and there's no timeouts. It's classic risk/reward. I stayed to get the excitement of the Myrtle Beach boys pulling off the upset. I've got a great shot of the fans swarming the court and cheering with the players along with a great reaction from Coach Scott. By doing that, I'm risking all four games making the air. In less than an hour, if the story isn't done, we have what we refer to in our business as a crash and burn. Hags has a three minute hole in his 4:30 show and will have to scramble for a backup plan. You go through game by game - parking lot audio, find the interview, parking lot audio, find the interview (repeat). Then you need to find the baskets to match what you talked about. At 10:32 pm, I've got everything laid down, just need to find the baskets. You go through the tape and one by one, you start covering up the black holes to tell the story.

That's where we get to 10:47 pm, the beginning of the movie. I've got four "holes" left to cover and the piece is done. One Tashan Frederick closeup, two Quentin Brown baskets and a shot of fans to close out the piece. I see the light at the end of the tunnel and know that I can get this done is 5-6 minutes. A call to CNN and I'm on my way. "Let me put you on hold...." That's what the CNN guy tells me. I have to multi task and get the other parts of the piece covered. Frederick shot, in. Quentin Brown hoop and foul, in. All the while, I'm hearing a CNN radio news update while I'm still on hold. Surely, he'll be telling me we're all set for a 10:55 pm feed. I find the second Brown bucket and lay it in - I'm one edit away form completion - it's 10:52 pm. As I'm completing the piece for air, finally I get a human voice. We can't do it at 10:55 pm, but we have you all set for 11:00pm.

First thought: 12 hours of work are about to go down the drain. Biggest high school games of the year, and I'm about to drop the ball. Scott says, don't worry we can do it at 11:10 pm. I book the window for 11:10 and we get it set. It's now 10:57 - and I have to tell Hags to get ready for a late feed. Hags is remarkably calm (that's a very good thing!). As soon as WCIV's first block of news is done, we've got the green light to feed. The satellite window actually opens up a couple of minutes early and we're beaming it back to the Beach.

Happy Ending - the piece runs on the 11pm news without a hitch and we cover all four games in which three of our local teams qualify for the state championship. It couldn't have been done without the help of Scott at WCIV.

That's the behind the scenes world of what we do. This isn't intended to be a "look at me and what we pulled off" kind of piece. The fact of the matter is that my colleagues in this state do these kind of things every single day. They do it in Columbia, Greenville, Charleston and our competition does it in Myrlte Beach/Florence. The TV news business is all about deadlines and you'll find that the balance between success and failure is a very thin line. What's great about working in TV in South Carolina is that everyone indeed tries to look out for each other. Greenville is giving Clemson baseball highlights, Columbia will give us Gamecocks highlights. On this day, I was able to shoot a couple of Charleston games for WCIV and help their cause. It's an honor to be able to be a part of a group of dedicated sportscasters who are passionate about covering Palmetto State sports.

So we get the win for this week -- now it's time to figure out how to get three state championship games in Columbia and CCU's final men's basketball game in Charleston back into your living rooms on Saturday night. Let me put you on hold....I'm going to need a few minutes to figure that out.

Life on the Road

I'm reading a book by fellow Garden State resident Kevin Smith, who is one of my favorite film makers. He grew up in the same area that I did, although I've never met him. He's responsible for one of the first breakout indie films ever, Clerks, as well as Dogma, Chasing Amy and Mall Rats to name a few. His book is basically a highly detailed blog of his every day life. For some reason, it has inspired me to set a goal of doing a little more blogging than I have been. Sometimes I am reluctant to write about the behind the scenes minutia of my life as a sportscaster, but after reading the same reservation in the beginning of Smith's book, I realize that perhaps folks may enjoy knowing how the sausage is made in the TV sports factory. Besides that, I can have a little bit better of a reference point when I tell these long stories to friends and colleagues years from now. And maybe my kids can enjoy these tales down the road. So with that, here are the adventures of my Virginia road trip.
First of all, road trips are so much better with my wingman, Ed Piotrowski, who shoots highlights and navigates the Southeast almost as good as he forecasts hurricanes. We often joke about how there is always some excitement and drama when we leave the WPDE nest. Flying solo is no different.
The Cliff Ellis show airs on Sunday's at noon, like many coaches shows across the nation. What makes our show a bit of a challenge is that the majority of games in the Big South are Saturday and Monday. CCU is usually home for two games or on the road for two games. The logistics on the calendar pointed to one major challenge: the VMI/Radford road swing in February. VMI is about 7 1/2 hours from home base, with Radford about 6 1/2 hours. In the past, we would split the trip up - I get the Saturday game and drive back to the beach and then Hags getting on the road Monday morning for the second leg. The VMI game was slated for a 1pm tipoff and it left little margin for error with the Friday night show duties wrapping up about 12 hours earlier. I rolled the dice and came up with a plan:

1. Fly to Roanoke early Saturday morning
2. shoot the VMI game
3. drive to Lynchburg, Virginia and go to the ABC affiliate (WSET-TV) and feed out the highlights for the news as well as the Cliff Ellis Show segment
4. SLEEP on Sunday
5. Shoot the Radford highlights on Monday night
6. Fly back Tuesday morning in time to get back on the anchor desk.

After calling WSET and getting the go ahead that I can go to their station and feed our stuff out of their satellite truck, it was time for the mission to begin. Thanks to Coastal's win over Winthrop, coach Ellis and I taped segments 2, 3 and 4 in the studio on Thursday afternoon. All that was missing was a 4:46 second hole that would contain the VMI highlights and post-game reaction.

The plan was all set until a phone call came at 10:30 pm to the sports office on Friday night. WSET said their truck was being used by CNN at Virginia Tech and would not be at their station thanks to a Bill Clinton speech. Blacksburg was about an hour further than the original route and all of the sudden, the deadline got a lot tighter. Thank goodness, the good folks at WSET said I was more than welcome to come to their truck and edit and still feed my stuff out! Stress level is high and what little sleep I was going to get is about to be more restless.

I arrived at the airport at 4:55 am and got to Roanoke no problem. After renting a small blue box from National Car Rental (I'm a company man - got to keep those expenses down), I tooled to Lexington, Virginia and was in the media parking lot at 10:30 am. I had 2 1/2 hours to spare and I took a nap in the car. When I woke up 70 minutes later, I realized something -- I took a nap in this same parking lot in a different cheap rental car two years earlier prior to a CCU/VMI football game. How crazy is that? What frightens me is that I could be doing the same thing this fall, unless Ed makes the VMI trip with me!

The Chants build a 17 point lead in the second half and Jack Leasure is on fire with 9 three pointers. But just like in January, the blue chickens fade down the stretch and lose a game that they really should have won. Final score: VMI 88 CCU 83. Next up is interviews and taping my intros and outros to the segments as well as doing the highlights in the camera. When I get to the satellite truck, I'll cover the sound of the highlights and match them up with the video. Three stories to do and the clock is ticking.

Now it's time to rant about something we call in the trade "one man band". A one man band is someone who has to do it all himself or herself. Shoot the video, do the interviews, the whole nine yards. The biggest challenge of the one man band is shooting yourself on camera. After all, if the picture looks crooked or out of focus, it doesn't matter what your story is, the viewer will be completely distracted. After running the litmus test of setting up the shot, I finally have myself in the center, in focus and looking like there's a cameraman with me. I'm just ready to launch into my on camera introduction when a flying basketball heads right towards the unmanned camera. My first reaction is to dive for the ball like Logan Johnson trying to get a turnover, but I realize it's too late. Fortunately, the camera gently brushes the tripod and the camera is safe, but my shot is now completely out of whack. Back to the drawing board. I'm ninety percent done with my work when I'm told that an alumni basketball game is about to start. Exit stage right and I'm now in the corridor of the VMI gym doing the highlights of the game. I keep track of the plays I'm going to use on my Blackberry and the stray people walking by look at me like I'm a reject from sportscaster camp: on my knees talking in a hallway with great enthusiasm about CCU's first half play. Finally, it's one more camera set up outside for a Monday pregame feature on the Radford game and I'm in the car at 3:38 pm.

Virginia Tech is about a 90 minute drive and I'm doing the math. Best case scenario is a 5pm arrival and the sportscast is 80 minutes away. If I don't get lost, I can get my stuff cranked out for the newscast by 5:30-5:45 pm, feed the story to Mark and phase one will be complete. After that, I'd piece together the Ellis Show segment and the Monday preview and feed that out later on. I call the sat truck and the operator says I'm all set, but I have to be done by 7:15 pm as CNN will take the truck over for former President Clinton's speech in Hokie land. Now the deadline is super tight: one 1:45 news segment, one 4:46 coach's show segment, one 1:30 Monday preview piece to get done in about 2 hours.

Mapquest is my friend! I get into Blacksburg and the good folks at WSET steer me towards their truck at about 5:05 pm. One problem - parking is gobbled up and the open spaces are yellow taped thanks to Clinton. Now the clock is really ticking and I have to talk a Virginia Tech security guard that I am a member of the media and I need to get to the satellite truck even though I'm driving the blue Chevy box that is hardly a TV station vehicle. Video tapes and a camera bag do the trick and the kind Hokie secruity staffers carve me out a spot. I tell them that Bruce Taylor, our Myrtle Beach high linebacker and Hokie recruit will be bringing some extra tackles this fall thanks to the kind deed.

Now it's my gametime. I get the tape in to the editor and start cranking out as fast as I can. Starting at about 5:11pm and getting done at 5:40, I have a tidy recap of the game for Mark's 6pm newscast as well as some highlights for WSET to use on their show. Call CNN and at 5:45, the magic of TV has highlights beaming from Virginia Tech to the WPDE sports office. It's 5:50 and I have 85 minutes to get two more pieces done. Normally, it takes me about an hour or so to go through an entire game and pick out the highlights. I didn't have that luxury, but thanks to adrenaline and nausea, I'm in the clubhouse at 6:40 pm and back on the phone with CNN. At 6:55 pm, the show is beamed back to Myrtle Beach and I breathe a sigh of relief.

This is when fatigue sets in. I'm tempted to find the nearest hotel and crash, but I realize that I have a 6am flight out of Roanoke on Tuesday. Rather than make a 45 minute drive on Tuesday, I'd rather set up shop in Roanoke, go to Radford on Monday and then return to Roanoke and have a short trip to the airport. I push up highway 81 with just about an hour to go before I can seriously relax and forget about the 4am to 7pm run that I am currently on.

I'm not a savvy traveller and with the uncertainty of the TV world, I figure I'd find a hotel no problem. I get to Roanoke near the airport and see a Hyatt Place hotel. I walk in and see the lobby under major construction, but decide to check in anyways. It's a real nice room, but as I turn the TV on, there's only about 10 channels and half of them have horrible reception. I was ready to get some food and watch the Bud Shootout and realized that it was definitely not snowing in Daytona, just on my TV set. As tired as I was, I did something I've never done before -- I walked out. I told the front desk folks, sorry and moved on to look for another hotel. I hit the TGIF for a to go order and pray I can find a hotel with a working TV. 30 minutes later, Courtyard by Marriott has the answer and I'm chilling out by 10pm watching Dale Earnhardt, Junior celebrating a victory. Eight years in South Carolina and I realize that my wife is right -- I am a closet gearhead! I left a hotel because I couldn't watch the race with a clear picture!

I've got Sunday completely to myself and plenty of big plans. No sightseeing, no work, just a simple plan: sleep late, hit the excercise room, watch Dustin Johnson (CCU golfer) play his 4th round at Pebble Beach playing with Vijay Singh in the final group, go to the movies and relax. I wake up at about 11:30 am and realize that the TV won't turn on and neither will the lights. Gusty winds in Roanoke caused a power outage. The front desk said that we'll probably be back with power by 3:00. I ventured out to the IHOP and then did some reading in the room along with a little Tiger Woods 2008 on PSP. Now it's nearing 4:00 pm and still no power. The estimate has been moved to about 5:00 pm. I decide to hit a 4:40 pm showing of Juno at the movie theater.

Movies during football and basketball season are a big treat so I was excited to go even if it was by myself. I was totally buying into the Oscar buzz and one of the most underrated actors in the game, JK Simmons, doing another fantastic performance when with 10 minutes to go, the projector is toast. No fade to black, just cut straight to black. Juno was about 10 minutes away from getting tied up in a nice bow and now a poor 16 year old kid who's handling his first mini crisis comes running into the theater out of breath. The power is out, but we can get a pass to see any movie at the theater in the future. Not helpful for me! More importantly, how does Juno end? The poor kid does about the worse job explaining the end of the movie - kind of like when you didn't know the answer to an essay question in high school and you just fill the blank page up with as much bs as possible to try and get some credit for just filling the space. Finally, a woman in the theater comes to the rescue and gives a much better explanation as she has seen the movie already. My wife was preturbed that I saw this movie since this was on the date movie list and not the "go see that on your own list". Semi-pro with Will Ferrell falls into this category along with a host of other comedies. She wasn't as mad when she knew I got jipped on the ending.

As I leave the theater, I realize it is now pitch black dark as most of the area is in the heart of the power outage. It sinks in that the Marriott Courtyard is probably a black cavern fit for a horror movie. My scouting report was dead on. I am given a flashlight by the staff and I walk by myself in the pitch black stairwell to room 409 and hunt and peck for my belongings. Hauling the camera and the duffel bag it is time to check out of Roanoke and go on another road trip. After getting shot down in Blacksburg, Christiansburg comes to the rescue and I have found a room 10 miles away from CCU's next opponent, Radford.

Monday night comes and the Chants are able to rally for a win against the Highlanders. Coach Ellis and I crank out a show segment so he doesn't have to come into the studio mid-week, I load the camera on to the team bus so it arrives back in Conway safely and I'm back in the blue box. With all that has gone on, I'm ready to come home. I call National to see how much it would cost to drop the car off in Myrtle Beach. I didn't want to get to the hotel at 10pm and know that I have to wake up at 4am to drive 45 minutes north, drop off the rental car and head to two flights before landing at 10:30 am. I was ready to get on the highway and get home. $250 surcharge changed that thought process and I sat by myself at Denny's eating a post-game meal.

I did get up at 4am and got to the airport and landed at 10:30 am in Myrtle Beach. I was back to work at about 3pm and already figuring out the high school basketball playoffs, the Ellis Show and catch up on the dozen or so things that needed attention.

So there you have it - it's like you were sitting in the little blue box next to me and lived the whole road trip. I'm sorry if it was boring or uninteresting, but it was fun to get down on the blog. It was a long trip and it was challenging, but it feels good to have that show on the air Sunday at noon and the die hard Chants basketball fans getting their fix of every twist and turn of the CCU basketball season.

Blog notes
* JK Simmons reference above. Schillinger from Oz (one of the scariest bad guys in cable TV history. Pop in an episode of Oz to a group of teen troubled kids and watch the crime rate go down. He was also Peter Parker's editor in Spiderman and was awesome as the Detroit Tigers manager in the Kevin Costner movie "For Love of the Game" which is also underrated (a little too much Kelly Preston love interest angle, but the Vin Scully play by play was tremendous).

* Dustin Johnson finished tied for 7th and maybe would have done better if I was yelling at the TV to help guide his putts in (oh, well).

* The scariest part of the whole trip might have been me driving down the highway during the wind gusts and the little blue box bouncing around two lanes like Kyle Busch with a loose condition at Bristol.

The Hoop Zone

I've gotten a number of emails asking about the Hoop Zone and I felt that it was only right for me to explain what we're doing this season for high school basketball.
This was a very difficult decision that I made and spent a lot of time thinking it through. In short, our 30 minute Friday format is no longer on the air, but we will continue to provide extensive coverage of high school basketball. We will also continue our tradition of honoring the top players in our area with the annual Hoop Zone banquet and the presentation of Mister and Miss Hoop Zone.
It used to be that the three members of the sports department could cover 10 high school basketball games on a Friday night and we could get a couple of extra games from our colleagues. Since last year, our sports staff is now at two and we have added a 7pm newscast which is a very important part of what we're doing as a station and something that I'm proud to be associated with.
When you add it all up starting with the holiday basketball tournaments and wrapping it up with the state championships, we'll shoot anywhere between 125 and 150high school games. We're going to devote nearly our entire sports time on Tuesday's and Friday's to high school basketball as well as increase what we do at wpde.com in terms of posting scores and top performers.
The Hoop Zone is alive and well. I appreciate the folks that have written in and asked about the show and hope they understand that we're just going about it in a different way. Feel free to email us and let us know how your team is doing. We will spend much more time on days other than Friday's concentrating on high school hoops than we have in the past. Thanks again to all our great local sports fans and rest assured that we'll continue to work hard to cover as many communities and stories as we can.

Looking Back on 2007

We've made it a Christmas tradition to air the top local sports stories of 2007 during our Christmas Eve or Christmas Day sportscasts. You can go on our main sports page or the web video player to watch the top 10 local sports stories as it aired. This is something that Hags and I enjoy putting together as it gives us a scope of what we've seen over the past year. We put the top seven stories up on the website for people to vote to set the order.

#10 Local Awards
The Waccamaw Warriors made it back to back Zone Cup championships - the Pawleys Island school had the best overall performance in varsity sports. Myrtle Beach junior guard Ashley Clark captured WPDE's Miss Hoop Zone award while Cheraw's Cliff Matthews captured Mister Hoop Zone before leaving to play football for the Gamecocks -- and earlier in December Myrtle Beach linebacker Bruce Taylor won the 8th WPDE Zoneman Trophy.

Waccamaw has taken great pride in winning the Zone Cup for two straight years and hopefully this award will grow over the years as different schools get the chance to win it. Considering that Cliff Matthews may never take the hardcourt again, I'm glad he got to close his high school career with a Mister Hoop Zone. Cliff finished 2nd in the Zoneman at the end of 2006 - it would have been amazing to have an athlete who won the Zoneman and Mister Hoop Zone. I really feel that Cliff and Bruce are going to carry the Zone banner well not only in college, but beyond that.


#9 A banner year for CCU golf
Alan Terrell's trailed Stanford by just one stroke heading into the final round - the Chants wound up finishing 5th in the NCAA Championships, the highest finish for a CCU athletic team in Division I competition - Dustin Johnson finished his Coastal career as a three time All-American and went to PGA's Q-School and earned a PGA Tour Card - Johnson will compete as a rookie on the PGA Tour in 2008

Alan told Hags and I a couple of years ago that Dustin would be on the tour and he was right on the mark. It's going to be fun to cover the PGA now knowing we've got a local guy who can hopefully do some damage. I don't know if people truly have an idea of how grueling it is to earn your PGA Tour Card through Q-School. It starts with two four round stages and wraps up with six straight rounds that is one of the most pressure filled challenges in all of sports.

#8 Jeff Gordon wins at Darlington
The driver of the #24 Dupont Chevrolet captured a win for the 7th time in his career when he won the Dodge Avenger 500 in May. It was the 78th career Cup win for Gordon who went on to finish 2nd in the Nextel Cup chase behind teammate Jimmy Johnson.

I was convinced that Gordon was going to win the Nextel Cup championship and he would have under the old rules. I remember this race being pushed back to Mother's Day thanks to a Saturday night rainout - Gordon's Mom was in Darlington for the pre-race festivities but didn't stick around until the end. Gordon stayed out on old tires, which is usually a cardinal sin at Darlington. The number of drivers who could pull that feat off at the Lady in Black is a very short list.


#7 Buzz Peterson leaves, Cliff Ellis comes back to coaching

Buzz Peterson left Coastal after two seasons to join the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats as Director of Player Personnel. The Chanticleers were able to lure Cliff Ellis out of retirement. The Former Auburn and Clemson head man came to CCU with over 500 victories and is in the midst of his first season with CCU.

I wrote a blog earlier about Buzz and I really feel fortunate to have been able to work with him closely for those two seasons. His opportunity with the Bobcats is something that could not be passed up and I hope that he can help be a part of turning Charlotte into a winner. Kudos to CCU for going from one big name coach to another. Cliff Ellis has the fire in his belly to build the Chanticleers into a mid-major power. The arena hitting a dead end should also be lumped in with this story as it will be awhile before we see a facility that can really take CCU basketball to the next level. I still think that CCU basketball will get that shot in the NCAA Tournament in the next 3-5 years.

#6 CCU Baseball wins 50, hosts NCAA Regional

The CCU baseball team takes top local sports story #6. Gary Gilmore's crew reached the 50 win mark in 2007 and won a Big South Championship to earn a #1 seed in the NCAA Baseball Regionals. The Chants earned a host bid by playing at the home of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans - the highlight of the weekend was a sellout crowd as #2 seed Clemson outlasted CCU 11-8. The Chants reached the championship game, but lost to the Tigers 15-3 to have their season come to an end.

My two favorite images of 2007 are the top story (see below) and sitting in the bullpen during the Clemson/CCU game and seeing the sold out crowd at Coastal Federal Field. Gary Gilmore has poured his heart into making Chanticleer baseball a legitimate power and the program took a huge step that weekend. The whole weekend gave Myrtle Beach some serious credibility in terms of hosting a major sports event. CCU is close to getting over the hump and making it to a Super Regional. They were literally one arm away from doing that in 2007.

#5 Clemson wins 9 on the gridiron, beats the Gamecocks on a last second field goal
The Clemson Tigers 9 win season is our 5th biggest story of the year. Clemson put themselves in a position to reach the ACC championship game, but faltered late in a loss to Boston College. Following that disappointment, the Tigers went to Williams-Brice Stadium and delivered a clutch performance against the Gamecocks. Mark Bucholz's field goal as time expired gave the Tigers a 23-21 win over their archrival and reached the 9 win mark. Clemson is in the Chick Fil A Bowl on New Year's Eve against the Auburn Tigers.

After losses to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech, Tommy Bowden was ready to get fired, then Clemson was thinking ACC Championship game until Aaron Kelly dropped a ball that was painful to watch and gave Boston College a trip to Jacksonville. Then Mark Bucholz not only save Tommy Bowden's job, but gives him a big pay raise to boot. I think it's unfortunate that Bowden has spent more time on the hot seat than any other college coach in the nation, but it's amazing how he handles it.


#4 Gamecocks lose five straight, miss out on a bowl
An up and down season at South Carolina is story #4. The Gamecocks were flying high following a Thursday night win over the Kentucky Wildcats and a #6 national ranking, but after getting to 6-1, South Carolina proceeded to lose five straight games and miss out on a bowl invitation.

It was shock on both ends - when the Gamecocks beat Kentucky and sat at #6 after beating UNC, I couldn't believe that USC was a top 10 team. On the other end, I couldn't believe this team was playing its way out of the bowl landscape. Every team has injuries and excuses, but I think that Jasper Brinkley's injury was more devastating than people took stock of. The Gamecock fans continue to be the most loyal and patient fans in all of sports. Steve Spurrier's recruiting efforts over the last couple of years should begin to pay dividends.


#3 - Six players with local ties selected in 2007 NFL Draft

Story #3 is a Draft Day to remember. Five former WPDE All Zoners were selected in the 2007 Draft highlighted by 2003 Zoneman winner Lawrence Timmons selected in the first round by the Pittsburgh Steelers. His Wilson high teammate Justin Durant went to the Jaguars in round two, Lake View's Anthony Waters was a 3rd round selection by San Diego, while Brandon Frye and Fred Bennett were drafted by the Houston Texans. Coastal Carolina got their first ever draftee when Tyler Thigpen was a 7th round pick by the Minnesota Vikings - Thig was picked up by the Kansas City Chiefs and made his debut against the San Diego Chargers - teammate Quinton Teal went undrafted, but has seen significant playing time with the Carolina Panthers.

For Hags and me, this was the clear cut no-brainer #1 local sports story, but I give credit to our local viewers who are passionate about high school sports and I really do respect that. We knew that Lawrence Timmons was going to go in the first round, but it was still surreal to hear a guy that we covered so extensively in high school sit next to Drew Rosenhaus and see his dreams come true. We were also so happy for Darryl Page who had not one, but two guys drafted in the first two rounds. That's crazy! Then there was the total shock when we heard Tyler Thigpen's name called in round seven. We were in the office and five minutes later, I was at Thig's apartment and he already had his Minnesota Vikings hat on. I don't know if anyone realized how good he was until he was gone.


#2 Back to back state football titles for Cheraw
The Braves went to Williams-Brice Stadium and put on a dominating performance against Chapman in the 2A state title game. Cheraw scored on its first 9 possessions and used the star power of Travis Small, Montrell Evans and Jaron Brown to score a 58-14 win. Johnny White's team has now won 28 games in the last two years and has two championship rings to go with it.

I've seen some steamrollers in my day, but this may have been the most dominating high school performance by a team that I witnessed in person on the big stage. On the first play from scrimmage, Travis Small busted one for about 50 yards and all the camera people were scrambling. We all had our track shoes on for the next 90 minutes. I knew Jaron Brown was a good player, but he showed me that he is going to be a great college player with his individual performance in Columbia. Everyone had Dillon pegged to win it all in 2A, but Cheraw bounced back from a couple of early losses to become a juggernaut.

#1 Wilson wins state crowns in basketball and football

Not one, but two state championships at Wilson. The Florence school delivered a 3A state basketball championship in March when Mister Hoop Zone Finalists Dominique Lacy and current Gamecock Sam Muldrow were electric in a 67-50 win over Greenville at the Colonial Center -- the Tigers weren't done there - this time on the gridiron. Wilson won four straight playoff games on the road and then perservered in a 14-12 win against Chester.

Here's the amazing stat of this story. How many home playoff games did Wilson have in basketball and football during their state title runs? Answer: ZERO. Both teams did it as #3 seeds which is indeed a rarity. I spoke earlier about my two personal favorite images of this season. One was the scene at the CCU baseball regional and the second was standing just a foot away from Darryl Page as he got his Gatorade bath and the tears streaming down his face. Fifteen years coaching the Tigers and he finally got to feel what it was like to be a state champion. I hope one day to be there when Jackie Hayes, Chuck Jordan and Scott Earley get to do the same thing.

It really was a great year. Myrtle Beach is not considered a "big time" market, but there's such a great array of things to cover and the list of the top sports stories of the year reminds me of that. I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and a happy new year.