I'm not grading out when it comes to updating the blog, but for good reason. These are busy times in the sports world. Here's what we have coming up in the home stretch of the 2009 year:
WPDE Zone Plays of the Year: Beginning on Monday, November 9th, carolinalive.com will have the 2009 Zone Plays of the Year. There are six categories and six finalists in each category. It's always great to see all the great video we've captured during 11weeks of football and it's fun to see which communities rally and get their fans to stuff the ballots with votes.
Cliff Ellis Show : Our final David Bennett Show airs on Sunday November 22nd. On the following Sunday, November 29th we will have our first Cliff Ellis Show. We'll look back on an exciting November for the Chants highlighted by a trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium to face the Duke Blue Devils. We'll take the month of December off and return with shows every Sunday at noon beginning on Sunday, January 3rd
10th Annual WPDE All-Zone Banquet: The banquet will take place on December 10th, and our special will air on Sunday, December 13th on WPDE. This year we are incorporating a North Carolina All-Zone squad as well as a SCISA player of the year. We'll announce the Zoneman Finalists in mid-November and see if Everett Golson of Myrtle Beach becomes just the second two time winner of the Zoneman, joining Marlboro County's Syvelle Newton.
North South/Mr. Football Special: This will air on Sunday December 13th right before the Zone Banquet at 1:30 pm. This is a statewide special that airs in Columbia, Charleston and Greenville and spotlights the exciting week for the North South All-Stars here in Myrtle Beach. In addition, we'll profile the finalists for Mister Football and talk with the 2009 winner.
On Christmas Day, we'll look back on the top 10 local sports stories of 2009. We'll also post this on carolinalive.com as well to look back on another great year of local sports.
So there you have it - a full plate and we're looking forward to another exciting playoffs on the gridiron.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
WPDE Fantasy Football
In case you wondered if the love for the pigskin extends outside of the sports office, you need to look no further than the WPDE Fantasy Football League. Besides making our weekly Palmetto Picks along with you on palmettopigskin.com, we have a 12 team league that's going five years strong.
I have always said we should televise our fantasy football draft, as it is 90 minutes of hilarious entertainment (we may need to put a few beeps in there to keep it off cable!) The highlight for me is having Ed Piotrowski hurry people along with his picks and then watch time stand still as he pours over sheets and takes his time to make a decision. It wouldn't be a WPDE fantasy football draft if that didn't happen!
Rather than bore you with who got who, I wanted to share with everyone some fantastic team names in our league: My squad is called Technical Difficulty, but it can't hold a candle to these teams.
The Heyyyymakers: Allyson Floyd - Allyson's catchphrase is a southern belle "Heyyyy". Great name
The Franchise: Ed Piotrowski - the defending champ and the nickname I coined for the glue of WPDE 10 years ago. It's been 10 years, but Ed still isn't comfortable with the lofty title.
The Rubes: Graeme Moore - another nickname I gave to our young and ambitious reporter. He had the #1 overall pick in our draft (getting the number from a crumpled piece of paper in a Green Sea-Floyds football helmet). He went against the grain and picked Tom Brady and probably got the most ribbing for his interesting picks.
and the team name of the year goes to WPDE weekend anchor Mola Lenghi:
Back to you Myra......
Last month, Ed and I had the chance to play in the Know Your Score celebrity golf tournament at Long Bay to help raise money for Prostate cancer. Among the celebrities on hand were Craig T. Nelson, the great actor from Coach, Blades of Glory and many other films and TV shows. Realizing he was in the presence of a local superstar in Ed Piotrowski, Nelson hammed it up to our cameras and hammed it up with Ed joking about the weather and then totally ad-libbing and tossing back to the studio with the now infamous "Back to you Myra!"
Mola was on the desk when this happened and even though he was totally making it up, who knew how close Myra was to Mola. So no matter what happens, Mola has wrapped up the title for best Fantasy Football team name in 2009. Who would have known that Craig T. Nelson would have such an impact on our fantasy football league???!!!!
I have always said we should televise our fantasy football draft, as it is 90 minutes of hilarious entertainment (we may need to put a few beeps in there to keep it off cable!) The highlight for me is having Ed Piotrowski hurry people along with his picks and then watch time stand still as he pours over sheets and takes his time to make a decision. It wouldn't be a WPDE fantasy football draft if that didn't happen!
Rather than bore you with who got who, I wanted to share with everyone some fantastic team names in our league: My squad is called Technical Difficulty, but it can't hold a candle to these teams.
The Heyyyymakers: Allyson Floyd - Allyson's catchphrase is a southern belle "Heyyyy". Great name
The Franchise: Ed Piotrowski - the defending champ and the nickname I coined for the glue of WPDE 10 years ago. It's been 10 years, but Ed still isn't comfortable with the lofty title.
The Rubes: Graeme Moore - another nickname I gave to our young and ambitious reporter. He had the #1 overall pick in our draft (getting the number from a crumpled piece of paper in a Green Sea-Floyds football helmet). He went against the grain and picked Tom Brady and probably got the most ribbing for his interesting picks.
and the team name of the year goes to WPDE weekend anchor Mola Lenghi:
Back to you Myra......
Last month, Ed and I had the chance to play in the Know Your Score celebrity golf tournament at Long Bay to help raise money for Prostate cancer. Among the celebrities on hand were Craig T. Nelson, the great actor from Coach, Blades of Glory and many other films and TV shows. Realizing he was in the presence of a local superstar in Ed Piotrowski, Nelson hammed it up to our cameras and hammed it up with Ed joking about the weather and then totally ad-libbing and tossing back to the studio with the now infamous "Back to you Myra!"
Mola was on the desk when this happened and even though he was totally making it up, who knew how close Myra was to Mola. So no matter what happens, Mola has wrapped up the title for best Fantasy Football team name in 2009. Who would have known that Craig T. Nelson would have such an impact on our fantasy football league???!!!!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Angry College Football Fans: It's not our fault!!!!!
It seems as if I write this blog every college football season, but it needs to be mentioned as often as possible.
Like many of you, I'd love to be watching the Georgia/Oklahoma State game right now, but unfortunately, ABC has us showing the Baylor/Wake Forest game. WPDE knows the passion of college football fans in our area and that's why our management has secured the SEC regional package (the 12:30 pm Saturday games that air on CW 21) as well as additional college games whenever we can carry them (two CCU games will air on CW 21 as well).
Our general manager, Billy Huggins, was well aware that fans here would much rather see Georgia/Oklahoma State than Baylor/Wake Forest. For the past 10 years I've been working at WPDE, the 3:30 ABC game has always been the ACC game in the regional lineup. It doesn't matter if #1 is playing #2 in the nation, if there is a 3:30 game, we will have the ACC game - mark it down - it will be that way the rest of the season to the best of my knowledge.
Our GM requested to air the Georgia/Oklahoma State game and offered to put both games on (Baylor/Wake on WPDE, Georgia/Oklahoma State on CW21). ABC turned that request down.
I don't know what else we can do as a station. If we had the ability to choose the 3:30 or 8:00 pm Saturday games on ABC, I'd put a poll on our website every Monday and announce which game got the most votes on Wednesday and tell the network which game we want. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
A lot of times when you call and complain to the station on the weekend, there are not a lot of people working and fans get more frustrated by not getting a straight answer. This is the straight answer. It doesn't make it any better and it will not fix the problem. It probably is of little consolation, but WPDE does care about its college football fans and we do the best we can to communicate our programming before the game to let people have a chance to find a way to watch the game.
If anyone wants the number to ABC to complain, I'll get it in the office and Monday and be more than happy to pass it along on this blog post.
Like many of you, I'd love to be watching the Georgia/Oklahoma State game right now, but unfortunately, ABC has us showing the Baylor/Wake Forest game. WPDE knows the passion of college football fans in our area and that's why our management has secured the SEC regional package (the 12:30 pm Saturday games that air on CW 21) as well as additional college games whenever we can carry them (two CCU games will air on CW 21 as well).
Our general manager, Billy Huggins, was well aware that fans here would much rather see Georgia/Oklahoma State than Baylor/Wake Forest. For the past 10 years I've been working at WPDE, the 3:30 ABC game has always been the ACC game in the regional lineup. It doesn't matter if #1 is playing #2 in the nation, if there is a 3:30 game, we will have the ACC game - mark it down - it will be that way the rest of the season to the best of my knowledge.
Our GM requested to air the Georgia/Oklahoma State game and offered to put both games on (Baylor/Wake on WPDE, Georgia/Oklahoma State on CW21). ABC turned that request down.
I don't know what else we can do as a station. If we had the ability to choose the 3:30 or 8:00 pm Saturday games on ABC, I'd put a poll on our website every Monday and announce which game got the most votes on Wednesday and tell the network which game we want. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
A lot of times when you call and complain to the station on the weekend, there are not a lot of people working and fans get more frustrated by not getting a straight answer. This is the straight answer. It doesn't make it any better and it will not fix the problem. It probably is of little consolation, but WPDE does care about its college football fans and we do the best we can to communicate our programming before the game to let people have a chance to find a way to watch the game.
If anyone wants the number to ABC to complain, I'll get it in the office and Monday and be more than happy to pass it along on this blog post.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
HS Football Coaches Survey
During End Zone/PPP Media Day, we asked the coaches to fill out a survey with a variety of questions. There were no names put on the answer sheets so no one can be linked to a certain answer, but the results were definitely interesting. Below are the results and I'll break down what my thoughts are on each subject.
Should High Schools test players for steroid use? 47 % YES 53% NO
This is a bit surprsing to me as it points towards a steroid problem at some area high schools. It would be tough to get the funding and guidelines for a steroid testing program at the high school level.
Do two a day practices in pre-season need to be adjusted due to heat concerns?
44% YES 56% NO
Over the summer, the national high school trainers outlined a highly reccomended schedule for starting high school football workouts in the preseason in an effort to avoid a heat related death. South Carolina has not adopted any policy, while the NCAA has it set up that you can not have two a day workouts on back to back days. It would not surprise me at all to see the NCAA policy trickle down to every high school. The hope is that it doesn't take a death of a high school player in the Palmetto State to force the issue.
Does South Carolina do a sufficient job of recruiting our area? 56 % YES 44% NO
In my ten years at WPDE, this has been an underlying theme. It seems as if the Gamecocks come into the recruiting game late when it comes to players from our area or they do not pay much attention to them at all. Right now, Cliff Matthews of Cheraw is the jewel recruit of this area who went to USC. It is unfair of me to be too critical of the Gamecocks recruiting staff - it seems to me that they are recruiting our parts just as much as everyone else, but they are usually on the short end of the stick when it comes to the elite players from our area.
Does Clemson do a sufficient job of recruiting our area? 79% YES 21% NO
All you need to do is simply scan the Clemson roster to see the success the Tigers have had in our area. From Derrick Hamilton to Anthony Waters and Michael Hamlin to current Tigers Quandon Christian, Jaron Brown, Jonathan Willard, Scotty Cooper, JaMarcus Grant and Malliciah Goodman, Dabo Swinney and his staff have been able to get our elite athletes to come to Death Valley.
Does Coastal Carolina do a sufficient job of recruiting our area? 70% YES 30% NO
The Chants have picked their spots well and have stolen some players from our backyard, starting with Aundres Perkins of West Florence in the first recruiting class. From there, All-Americans Quinton Teal of Marlboro County and Brad Poston from West Florence started a tradition that includes names like Racheed Gause, Chris Walls and Carolina Forest's Tommy Frasier. The biggest challenge for David Bennett and his staff is to convince the 'tweeners that they are better off playing at Coastal Carolina for four years than to sit on the bench in the ACC or SEC for two to three years. The Chants track record of producing 4 NFL players in six years should be sufficient in accomplishing that.
Is there a drug problem at your school? 32% YES 68% NO
I exepcted this number to be a little higher. It's encouraging to see that the majority of our schools are not dealing with this.
Do too many teams make the playoffs? 29 % YES 71 % NO
I would be giving a "Yes" vote to this. It seems as if the first round of the playoffs has too many lopsided affairs. I'd like to see region champs get a bye in round one and let 2 and 3 fight it out.
Are you pleased with the way the SCHSL governs high school football?
85% YES 8% NO 7% Undecided
I would have thought there would have been more "No" votes especially since some of our schools have been disciplined by the league over the years, but Jerome Singleton should be happy with this number.
Who is the coach in our area who you respect the most?
Chuck Jordan, Conway: 23.5%
Jewell McLaurin, Lake View: 11.7%
Burney Bourne, Waccamaw: 5.8%
Tim Renfrow, Socastee: 5.8%
JR Boyd, Lamar: 5.8%
Nate Thompson, Carvers Bay: 5.8%
I don't know this for a fact, but I assume that nearly all of Horry County and the beach area voted for Chuck and rightfully so. Beyond his ability to coach young men on the gridiron, Jordan has literally built the Conway program into something special. He was the catalyst behind the new fieldhouse and he has sent countless players onto college and given them an education that they might not have gotten if he wasn't there. There are so many outstanding coaches in the area who got votes like Jackie Hayes of Dillon, Darryl Page of Wilson and Jeff Calabrese of Hartsville who are worthy of being on this list as well.
Where do you think the HS football state championships be held?
Columbia: 79%
Doesn't matter: 9%
Coastal Carolina: 6%
Home site: 6%
No brainer here. The beach schools and even the Pee Dee have the longest trek to Death Valley. Williams-Brice Stadium is smack dab in the middle of the state and is the most logical place to play the state championships.
In one word, what is the biggest challenge you face as a coach?
Money/support: 20.5%
Attitude/commitment: 20.5%
Parents: 11.7%
I would have thought parents won this before we started, but both money and attitude make a lot of sense as to great challenges.
Our high school football previews begin on Monday, August 3rd and we are working on expanded web coverage as well as some new segments this season. Until then, Hags and I will take turns living in the edit bay and getting ready for the 2009 season.
Should High Schools test players for steroid use? 47 % YES 53% NO
This is a bit surprsing to me as it points towards a steroid problem at some area high schools. It would be tough to get the funding and guidelines for a steroid testing program at the high school level.
Do two a day practices in pre-season need to be adjusted due to heat concerns?
44% YES 56% NO
Over the summer, the national high school trainers outlined a highly reccomended schedule for starting high school football workouts in the preseason in an effort to avoid a heat related death. South Carolina has not adopted any policy, while the NCAA has it set up that you can not have two a day workouts on back to back days. It would not surprise me at all to see the NCAA policy trickle down to every high school. The hope is that it doesn't take a death of a high school player in the Palmetto State to force the issue.
Does South Carolina do a sufficient job of recruiting our area? 56 % YES 44% NO
In my ten years at WPDE, this has been an underlying theme. It seems as if the Gamecocks come into the recruiting game late when it comes to players from our area or they do not pay much attention to them at all. Right now, Cliff Matthews of Cheraw is the jewel recruit of this area who went to USC. It is unfair of me to be too critical of the Gamecocks recruiting staff - it seems to me that they are recruiting our parts just as much as everyone else, but they are usually on the short end of the stick when it comes to the elite players from our area.
Does Clemson do a sufficient job of recruiting our area? 79% YES 21% NO
All you need to do is simply scan the Clemson roster to see the success the Tigers have had in our area. From Derrick Hamilton to Anthony Waters and Michael Hamlin to current Tigers Quandon Christian, Jaron Brown, Jonathan Willard, Scotty Cooper, JaMarcus Grant and Malliciah Goodman, Dabo Swinney and his staff have been able to get our elite athletes to come to Death Valley.
Does Coastal Carolina do a sufficient job of recruiting our area? 70% YES 30% NO
The Chants have picked their spots well and have stolen some players from our backyard, starting with Aundres Perkins of West Florence in the first recruiting class. From there, All-Americans Quinton Teal of Marlboro County and Brad Poston from West Florence started a tradition that includes names like Racheed Gause, Chris Walls and Carolina Forest's Tommy Frasier. The biggest challenge for David Bennett and his staff is to convince the 'tweeners that they are better off playing at Coastal Carolina for four years than to sit on the bench in the ACC or SEC for two to three years. The Chants track record of producing 4 NFL players in six years should be sufficient in accomplishing that.
Is there a drug problem at your school? 32% YES 68% NO
I exepcted this number to be a little higher. It's encouraging to see that the majority of our schools are not dealing with this.
Do too many teams make the playoffs? 29 % YES 71 % NO
I would be giving a "Yes" vote to this. It seems as if the first round of the playoffs has too many lopsided affairs. I'd like to see region champs get a bye in round one and let 2 and 3 fight it out.
Are you pleased with the way the SCHSL governs high school football?
85% YES 8% NO 7% Undecided
I would have thought there would have been more "No" votes especially since some of our schools have been disciplined by the league over the years, but Jerome Singleton should be happy with this number.
Who is the coach in our area who you respect the most?
Chuck Jordan, Conway: 23.5%
Jewell McLaurin, Lake View: 11.7%
Burney Bourne, Waccamaw: 5.8%
Tim Renfrow, Socastee: 5.8%
JR Boyd, Lamar: 5.8%
Nate Thompson, Carvers Bay: 5.8%
I don't know this for a fact, but I assume that nearly all of Horry County and the beach area voted for Chuck and rightfully so. Beyond his ability to coach young men on the gridiron, Jordan has literally built the Conway program into something special. He was the catalyst behind the new fieldhouse and he has sent countless players onto college and given them an education that they might not have gotten if he wasn't there. There are so many outstanding coaches in the area who got votes like Jackie Hayes of Dillon, Darryl Page of Wilson and Jeff Calabrese of Hartsville who are worthy of being on this list as well.
Where do you think the HS football state championships be held?
Columbia: 79%
Doesn't matter: 9%
Coastal Carolina: 6%
Home site: 6%
No brainer here. The beach schools and even the Pee Dee have the longest trek to Death Valley. Williams-Brice Stadium is smack dab in the middle of the state and is the most logical place to play the state championships.
In one word, what is the biggest challenge you face as a coach?
Money/support: 20.5%
Attitude/commitment: 20.5%
Parents: 11.7%
I would have thought parents won this before we started, but both money and attitude make a lot of sense as to great challenges.
Our high school football previews begin on Monday, August 3rd and we are working on expanded web coverage as well as some new segments this season. Until then, Hags and I will take turns living in the edit bay and getting ready for the 2009 season.
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Way We Get By
Prior to coming to Myrtle Beach in 2000, I spent four and a half years in Bangor, Maine as the sports director of the ABC affiliate in town. When I wasn't scraping ice or dodging moose, I was working alongside a great group of people. The tin building we effectionally called "Circle 7" was far from a premiere broadcasting facility (we thought it could serve well as the center of a Stephen King novel), but there were so many talented folks who worked hard to get out of the snow and on to other stops in their career.
Two of my friends behind the scenes, Aron Gaudet and Dan Ferrigan, wanted to have a career in film making. I always thought the TV business was a tough racket, but go ahead and try and make a film and then figure out a way to get it to the big screen without the help and power of a Warner Brothers or some other big studio.
Aron and his fiance, Gita Pulapilly, found the subject for a documentary. Aron's mother, Joan, was living by herself in Bangor and was going around the clock to Bangor International Airport to greet troops as they were leaving and coming back to Iraq.
The Way We Get By took four years to make and is much more than the storyline outlined below. Three subjects are the focal point of the film and it's just as much about how the troops help keep them going as it is the amazing story of the dedication they have to saluting the armed forces and what they do for their country.
Here's what makes this film tremendous. There's no political agenda whatsoever and it gives a respect to the elderly that doesn't get enough credit in society.
Sure, I'm biased - after all both Gaudet and Ferrigan are 11 year members of my Maine Media Roti League and the round the clock promoting of the movie has Aron's Goodfellas in an uncharacteristic struggling season, but this is a great film. The photography and editing is top notch and weaves the story without the typical documentary that has the booming voice setting the table for each segment.
The Way We Get By will be airing across the nation on Veteran's Day on PBS stations and is continuing to work its way around the country winning numerous film festivals. I hope to get it to play at the Myrtle Beach Film Festival. Anyone with a military connection in their family will be touched by the movie.
Look - the next 50 blogs I write will be about sports. For me to step out of my universe and be genuinely moved by a non-sports documentary says something. On a personal note, Aron and Dan were behind the lens when we did a series of Sports Challenges in Bangor. It is amazing to see how far they have come. It's a great lesson to believe in something and see it through even though when things look bleak. I have so much admiration at the perserverance when lack of funding jeopardized the movie ever getting to the screen. Sometimes you get so immersed in a project you can stress yourself out wondering if anyone else will get what your trying to say. Aron and Dan and the rest of the crew didn't give up when times got tough and the result is a pile of awards with more coming.
To see trailers, reviews, etc check this link out: www.thewaywegetbymovie
To see trailers, reviews, etc check this link out: www.thewaywegetbymovie.com
Two of my friends behind the scenes, Aron Gaudet and Dan Ferrigan, wanted to have a career in film making. I always thought the TV business was a tough racket, but go ahead and try and make a film and then figure out a way to get it to the big screen without the help and power of a Warner Brothers or some other big studio.
Aron and his fiance, Gita Pulapilly, found the subject for a documentary. Aron's mother, Joan, was living by herself in Bangor and was going around the clock to Bangor International Airport to greet troops as they were leaving and coming back to Iraq.
The Way We Get By took four years to make and is much more than the storyline outlined below. Three subjects are the focal point of the film and it's just as much about how the troops help keep them going as it is the amazing story of the dedication they have to saluting the armed forces and what they do for their country.
Here's what makes this film tremendous. There's no political agenda whatsoever and it gives a respect to the elderly that doesn't get enough credit in society.
Sure, I'm biased - after all both Gaudet and Ferrigan are 11 year members of my Maine Media Roti League and the round the clock promoting of the movie has Aron's Goodfellas in an uncharacteristic struggling season, but this is a great film. The photography and editing is top notch and weaves the story without the typical documentary that has the booming voice setting the table for each segment.
The Way We Get By will be airing across the nation on Veteran's Day on PBS stations and is continuing to work its way around the country winning numerous film festivals. I hope to get it to play at the Myrtle Beach Film Festival. Anyone with a military connection in their family will be touched by the movie.
Look - the next 50 blogs I write will be about sports. For me to step out of my universe and be genuinely moved by a non-sports documentary says something. On a personal note, Aron and Dan were behind the lens when we did a series of Sports Challenges in Bangor. It is amazing to see how far they have come. It's a great lesson to believe in something and see it through even though when things look bleak. I have so much admiration at the perserverance when lack of funding jeopardized the movie ever getting to the screen. Sometimes you get so immersed in a project you can stress yourself out wondering if anyone else will get what your trying to say. Aron and Dan and the rest of the crew didn't give up when times got tough and the result is a pile of awards with more coming.
To see trailers, reviews, etc check this link out: www.thewaywegetbymovie
To see trailers, reviews, etc check this link out: www.thewaywegetbymovie.com
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
May Mailbag
Now that Darlington and the high school season in the rear view mirror, I can catch up on some emails. The world of sports is vast, both national and local and it's tough to keep everyone happy, but we do the best we can. I also enjoy letting our viewers know why we do the things we do. So here are this month's questions:
Anita writes:
Why is there sports shows for High School football and basketball, but no reports for any other HS sports, such as baseball, soccer, etc. Are these not just as important? Thanks
Anita - I seem to get these questions all the time. After finishing up the spring sports season, I can give you the best explanation possible. We have had a lot of high school baseball, softball and soccer fans that have voiced their displeasure with our lack of coverage in the months of March and April. In recent years, we've made it a point to focus on the post-season in the spring sports and we really went all out in covering the post-season. We were able to get to a number of teams who made great runs in the playoffs. The logistics of getting from diamond to diamond or soccer pitch to soccer pitch makes things very hard to devote a show to these sports. On Saturday afternoon, I was in Pawleys Island and had the opportunity to participate in John Fox's charity golf tournament at Caledonia. After the event, I went to Waccamaw High School for the Warriors quarterfinal game against Barnwell. I got there with 25 minutes to go in the second half in a scoreless game at approximately 3:00 pm. In a thriller, the Warriors scored a 1-0 win in quadruple overtime. I left the school at 4:30 pm and arrived at our studio at 5:15 pm. Simple math dictates that I invested 3 hours for a 20 to 30 second highlight clip. No complaints here, it was great to get a sudden death game winning goal and the folks in Waccamaw were awesome and grateful for the coverage. But unlike football or basketball where you can get to multiple locations in a span of 2 to 3 hours, it is much more difficult to do that in other sports. On Monday, we had three local teams playing for softball state championships. South Florence and Johnsonville were both playing around 6:00 pm. We had to choose one or the other as we would not have gotten signficant highlights for both.
For high school football, thanks to our tremendous sponsorship we are able to get 8 to 10 shooters to help us put together our 50 minute show. After that, we are a two man department trying to do our best to cover 34 high schools.
Jack Lutes writes:
That's it, I'm done watching WPDE!!!!
Though I totally enjoy watching "most" of your 6, 10 (and sometimes 11 PM) news programs, I can honestly say today, I have watched for the last time. And you can thank your so called sports director, Rich Crampanis for that.
Today, he covered golf in Hilton Head, tennis in Charleston, High school lacrosse, NBA basketball in Boston and Braves baseball. No mention of our local pro baseball team, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. I understand that people are interested in all the sports and believe me, I enjoy hearing the results of all the other events but would it hurt to at least mention last night's score or a few words about tonight's game?
Come on, give us a break and at least mention our local guys. He fails to mention them more than he does mention them.
Count me as a new viewer for another (newer) local station. They might not have the news and weather coverage of WPDE but the sports coverage has to be better that what you try to pass off as quality sports reporting.
Jack Lutes
Jack was fired up and I called him directly. On this particular night, the Pelicans were playing at 7pm and we didn't do a story at 6pm. The modern news cycle usually dictates a rundown with entirely fresh material. There are some times when we have a big local story at 11pm that we would re-run the following day at 6pm usually with a different twist to it. In the old days, the local TV sportscast would be one of the few places along with the newspaper to get your sports information. The fact of the matter is that you can get the scores of the Pelicans on their website, the Carolina League's website as well as the newspaper. We make it a point to report their score on the 11pm news if they are on the road and we continue to go to nearly every home game during the season. What I find ironic is that Hags and I have been to more Myrtle Beach Pelicans combined than just about anyone (media, front office, etc). That's why I was a little miffed that Jack was coming down on us. You can criticize us about some things, but saying we don't cover the Pelicans well is a little out of bounds. Jack wrote a nice email back which I appreciated and we will continue to do our best in giving extensive coverage of the Birds in 2009.
Carol Colaner writes:
Yesterday,May 13 St James high baseball won their game so to go Lower State Championships.A local team and not a mention on your sports news ?????
Carol - plain and simple we did not get a score called in. We made it a point to focus on the winner's bracket games in our coverage during the playoffs and did not shoot the Saint James win on Wednesday night. Here's the other dilemma we have. I am anchoring the news at 6 and 7pm. I couldn't get to the Finway Park until 8pm and I'm sure the game is nearly over. Congratulations to the Sharks on a great season - I'm glad we were able to get to their district win over Myrtle Beach
Anita writes:
Why is there sports shows for High School football and basketball, but no reports for any other HS sports, such as baseball, soccer, etc. Are these not just as important? Thanks
Anita - I seem to get these questions all the time. After finishing up the spring sports season, I can give you the best explanation possible. We have had a lot of high school baseball, softball and soccer fans that have voiced their displeasure with our lack of coverage in the months of March and April. In recent years, we've made it a point to focus on the post-season in the spring sports and we really went all out in covering the post-season. We were able to get to a number of teams who made great runs in the playoffs. The logistics of getting from diamond to diamond or soccer pitch to soccer pitch makes things very hard to devote a show to these sports. On Saturday afternoon, I was in Pawleys Island and had the opportunity to participate in John Fox's charity golf tournament at Caledonia. After the event, I went to Waccamaw High School for the Warriors quarterfinal game against Barnwell. I got there with 25 minutes to go in the second half in a scoreless game at approximately 3:00 pm. In a thriller, the Warriors scored a 1-0 win in quadruple overtime. I left the school at 4:30 pm and arrived at our studio at 5:15 pm. Simple math dictates that I invested 3 hours for a 20 to 30 second highlight clip. No complaints here, it was great to get a sudden death game winning goal and the folks in Waccamaw were awesome and grateful for the coverage. But unlike football or basketball where you can get to multiple locations in a span of 2 to 3 hours, it is much more difficult to do that in other sports. On Monday, we had three local teams playing for softball state championships. South Florence and Johnsonville were both playing around 6:00 pm. We had to choose one or the other as we would not have gotten signficant highlights for both.
For high school football, thanks to our tremendous sponsorship we are able to get 8 to 10 shooters to help us put together our 50 minute show. After that, we are a two man department trying to do our best to cover 34 high schools.
Jack Lutes writes:
That's it, I'm done watching WPDE!!!!
Though I totally enjoy watching "most" of your 6, 10 (and sometimes 11 PM) news programs, I can honestly say today, I have watched for the last time. And you can thank your so called sports director, Rich Crampanis for that.
Today, he covered golf in Hilton Head, tennis in Charleston, High school lacrosse, NBA basketball in Boston and Braves baseball. No mention of our local pro baseball team, the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. I understand that people are interested in all the sports and believe me, I enjoy hearing the results of all the other events but would it hurt to at least mention last night's score or a few words about tonight's game?
Come on, give us a break and at least mention our local guys. He fails to mention them more than he does mention them.
Count me as a new viewer for another (newer) local station. They might not have the news and weather coverage of WPDE but the sports coverage has to be better that what you try to pass off as quality sports reporting.
Jack Lutes
Jack was fired up and I called him directly. On this particular night, the Pelicans were playing at 7pm and we didn't do a story at 6pm. The modern news cycle usually dictates a rundown with entirely fresh material. There are some times when we have a big local story at 11pm that we would re-run the following day at 6pm usually with a different twist to it. In the old days, the local TV sportscast would be one of the few places along with the newspaper to get your sports information. The fact of the matter is that you can get the scores of the Pelicans on their website, the Carolina League's website as well as the newspaper. We make it a point to report their score on the 11pm news if they are on the road and we continue to go to nearly every home game during the season. What I find ironic is that Hags and I have been to more Myrtle Beach Pelicans combined than just about anyone (media, front office, etc). That's why I was a little miffed that Jack was coming down on us. You can criticize us about some things, but saying we don't cover the Pelicans well is a little out of bounds. Jack wrote a nice email back which I appreciated and we will continue to do our best in giving extensive coverage of the Birds in 2009.
Carol Colaner writes:
Yesterday,May 13 St James high baseball won their game so to go Lower State Championships.A local team and not a mention on your sports news ?????
Carol - plain and simple we did not get a score called in. We made it a point to focus on the winner's bracket games in our coverage during the playoffs and did not shoot the Saint James win on Wednesday night. Here's the other dilemma we have. I am anchoring the news at 6 and 7pm. I couldn't get to the Finway Park until 8pm and I'm sure the game is nearly over. Congratulations to the Sharks on a great season - I'm glad we were able to get to their district win over Myrtle Beach
Monday, April 20, 2009
The area's greatest athlete passes
Over the weekend, Felix "Doc" Blanchard of Bishopville died in his Texas home at the age of 84. If Blanchard was playing during the ESPN and internet era, he would have been as big a name as Tim Tebow. The Army running back was the first junior to win the Heisman and won back to back national championships in 1944 and 1945.
In 2004, Mark Haggard and I decided to take on the project of profiling the 15 greatest athletes from the Pee Dee and Grand Strand. We selected a panel of local experts who had a lot of experience and insight in our area to vote on the top athletes from our area. As always, lists like this are subjective. Here is the list we had in 2004:
WPDE's 15 Greatest Athletes of the Pee Dee and Grand Strand
#15: Reggie Sanders (Florence) - MLB
#14: Anthuan Maybank (Georgetown) - Olympic Gold Medal
#13: Buddy Baker (Florence) - NASCAR
#12: Terry Kinard (Sumter) - NFL
#11: Jumpy Geathers (Georgetown) - NFL
#10: Willie Puddin' Head Jones (Dillon) - MLB
#9: Bobo Newsom (Hartsville) - MLB
#8: Pearl Moore (Florence) - women's basketball (FMU)
#7: John Abraham (Lamar) - NFL
#6: Levon Kirkland (Lamar) - NFL
#5: Harry Carson (Florence) - NFL
#4: Cale Yarborough (Sardis) - NASCAR
#3: Freddie Solomon (Sumter) - NFL
#2: Bobby Richardson (Sumter) - MLB
#1: Doc Blanchard (Bishopville) - Heisman Trophy winner
We did this project five years ago. A couple of interesting things. First, our top three athletes came from what would now be considered outside of our viewing area. If we were to do this list again, we would likely exclude the Sumter players, but keep Bobby Richardson as he lives part of the year here on the Grand Strand. At the time, Harry Carson was not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but now he is. I always thought that Carson and Cale Yarborough should have been higher on this list.
Five years later, there would be new names that you would argue could make the top 15list:
Raymond Felton (Latta) - NBA
Ramon Sessions (Myrtle Beach) - NBA
Albert Haynesworth (Hartsville) - NFL
Lawrence Timmons (Florence) - NFL
Robert Geathers, Jr. (Georgetown) - NFL
Dustin Johnson (Myrtle Beach) - PGA
This was a fun project that gave us a great history lesson on our area when it comes to athletes. Doc Blanchard was a very private person and we were fortunate enough to talk to him just outside of Manning when he came to visit his sister. Blanchard never got to play in the NFL, because he chose to honor his military commitment. If there's one thing this project taught us, this area is a fertile ground when it come to elite athletes. Perhaps a couple of years down the road, we will re-visit this project and update our 15 greatest athletes from the Pee Dee and Grand Strand.
Just to put Blanchard's legacy in perspective. Imagine if a modern day Heisman winner went #3 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the draft and went to Iraq or Afghanistan instead and never played pro football. That's what Blanchard did to serve our country and a lifetime of "what if" when it comes to professional football.
In 2004, Mark Haggard and I decided to take on the project of profiling the 15 greatest athletes from the Pee Dee and Grand Strand. We selected a panel of local experts who had a lot of experience and insight in our area to vote on the top athletes from our area. As always, lists like this are subjective. Here is the list we had in 2004:
WPDE's 15 Greatest Athletes of the Pee Dee and Grand Strand
#15: Reggie Sanders (Florence) - MLB
#14: Anthuan Maybank (Georgetown) - Olympic Gold Medal
#13: Buddy Baker (Florence) - NASCAR
#12: Terry Kinard (Sumter) - NFL
#11: Jumpy Geathers (Georgetown) - NFL
#10: Willie Puddin' Head Jones (Dillon) - MLB
#9: Bobo Newsom (Hartsville) - MLB
#8: Pearl Moore (Florence) - women's basketball (FMU)
#7: John Abraham (Lamar) - NFL
#6: Levon Kirkland (Lamar) - NFL
#5: Harry Carson (Florence) - NFL
#4: Cale Yarborough (Sardis) - NASCAR
#3: Freddie Solomon (Sumter) - NFL
#2: Bobby Richardson (Sumter) - MLB
#1: Doc Blanchard (Bishopville) - Heisman Trophy winner
We did this project five years ago. A couple of interesting things. First, our top three athletes came from what would now be considered outside of our viewing area. If we were to do this list again, we would likely exclude the Sumter players, but keep Bobby Richardson as he lives part of the year here on the Grand Strand. At the time, Harry Carson was not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but now he is. I always thought that Carson and Cale Yarborough should have been higher on this list.
Five years later, there would be new names that you would argue could make the top 15list:
Raymond Felton (Latta) - NBA
Ramon Sessions (Myrtle Beach) - NBA
Albert Haynesworth (Hartsville) - NFL
Lawrence Timmons (Florence) - NFL
Robert Geathers, Jr. (Georgetown) - NFL
Dustin Johnson (Myrtle Beach) - PGA
This was a fun project that gave us a great history lesson on our area when it comes to athletes. Doc Blanchard was a very private person and we were fortunate enough to talk to him just outside of Manning when he came to visit his sister. Blanchard never got to play in the NFL, because he chose to honor his military commitment. If there's one thing this project taught us, this area is a fertile ground when it come to elite athletes. Perhaps a couple of years down the road, we will re-visit this project and update our 15 greatest athletes from the Pee Dee and Grand Strand.
Just to put Blanchard's legacy in perspective. Imagine if a modern day Heisman winner went #3 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the draft and went to Iraq or Afghanistan instead and never played pro football. That's what Blanchard did to serve our country and a lifetime of "what if" when it comes to professional football.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
