N.C. State 30, ECU 24, OT

Some thoughts about the NCSU-ECU football game, which I covered for TFP:

• Perhaps the Pirates aren’t as good as we/I thought they were. With West Virginia and Va. Tech struggling, those wins — however big they were at the time — just aren’t that impressive now. Coupled with the loss to a 1-2 N.C. State team (that will be lucky to finish .500) and it’s beginning to look like ECU might not be as solid as we thought.
• I’m betting ECU falls out of the top 25 this week. If not, they’ll be borderline (24 or 25). I’m not sure the Pirates are worthy of top 25 right now.
• Now, the good news: ECU might not lose another game and their schedule is set up for that type of run. If they did finish 11-1, win the C-USA title game (probably held in Greenville), there’s no reason they can’t finish top 10. A BCS bid might be hard now, though.
• This was my first game at Carter-Finley since the improvements. The stadium looks FANTASTIC. I’ve covered NCAA football in approximately 22-25 stadiums; Carter-Finley is now among the top 3 or 4.
• The Wolfpack crowd was awesome, too. I was in State’s end zone in the final 5 minutes of the game and — literally 2 hours after the game ended — my ears are still ringing. Good crowd.
• ECU’s Van Eskridge is a junior — but he’s NFL-caliber. The plays he made today were awesome. He’s going to be playing on Sundays in a couple of years.

My picks: Week 5

Prep

Kinston at Greene Central: KHS

South Lenoir at Jones Senior: JS

Raleigh St. David’s at Parrott Academy: SD

Ayden-Grifton at D.H. Conley: A-G

East Duplin at James Kenan: ED

College

East Carolina at N.C. State: ECU

Virginia Tech at North Carolina: VT

LSU at Auburn: LSU

Florida at Tennessee: UF

Arizona at UCLA: Arizona

Pro

Carolina at Minnesota: Car

Arizona at Washington: Wash

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia: Phil

Cleveland at Baltimore: Cle

Dallas at Green Bay: Dall

Come on! Get excited about PIRATE BASKETBALL! (or at least CHARLES BARKLEY!)

From the East Carolina University media department:

GREENVILLE, N.C. — The East Carolina University men’s and women’s basketball teams will hold the annual Purple-Gold Fan Jam, Friday, Oct. 17, inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum to celebrate the beginning of basketball practice.

The 2008 Fan Jam will run from 5 p.m. to approximately 6:30 p.m. Admission is free; doors will open at 4:45 p.m. and concessions will be available.

The event will feature routines by the ECU dance team, introductions, scrimmages by the ECU men’s and women’s basketball teams, and a special performance by the Zooperstars, who were recently featured on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” The event will be hosted by Oldies 107.9 radio personality Jeff Diamond.

ECU basketball season ticket holders, Pirate Club and Student Pirate Club members are also invited to attend Pirate All-Access on October 25 with Basketball Hall of Fame Member and TNT analyst Charles Barkley.

The event will feature a closed practice beginning at 12 noon and guests will have the opportunity to meet Barkley.  Following practice all basketball season ticket holders will be invited to a meet-and-greet with Barkley and the ECU basketball coaching staff in Harvey Hall beginning at 3 p.m.

Information on purchasing season tickets is available on-line at www.ecupirates.com.

My take: The first part of this, I was all like, “Whatever.” But the second part? CHARLES FREAKING BARKLEY is coming to Greenville?

I get into the ECU games because I’m a media-type, but I’ll be darned if this doesn’t make me WANT to buy a season ticket. But only if I got to hang with the future governor of Alabama.

A quick Barkley story: Back in 1992, when he was still a 76er, I actually bought Barkley a drink. I was at the old Scoreboard Restaurant in Charlotte (STILL the best sports bar/restaurant I have ever frequented; it’s a travesty it doesn’t exist any longer) and he and some of his “crew” were in a roped-off, VIP part of the restaurant. Although me and my boys couldn’t muster up the courage to go talk to him, we sent him a drink. We watched it get delivered to him and the waitress told him who sent it to him.

Yes, I got a quick wave and a head nod. And yes, that’s one of the high points of my life.

Holtz: It would take “very special situation” to leave ECU

Here’s a nugget from WRAL in Raleigh: East Carolina University football coach Skip Holtz tells Bob Holliday it would take a “very special situation” for him to leave Greenville.

My take: If Notre Dame were to come knocking at the end of the year, how could he turn them down? But that’s about the only job I could see Holtz leaving ECU. I know Pirate Nation pretty well now and my feeling is that it will pay pretty much any amount of money (within reason, of course) to keep Holtz in Greenville.

How much is that going to change in January, though, if the Pirates are 12-0 and playing in a BCS game?

Pick these games, Week 5 — with NEW updates

Update1: To the guys who have already picked, if you want to change your Arizona/UCLA pick, feel free; I had the wrong location for the game.

Update2: Randy Capps and Comet65, check your picks; you don’t have them all in. 

 — BCH 

Prep

Kinston at Greene Central

South Lenoir at Jones Senior

Raleigh St. David’s at Parrott Academy

Ayden-Grifton at D.H. Conley

East Duplin at James Kenan

College

East Carolina at N.C. State

Virginia Tech at North Carolina

LSU at Auburn

Florida at Tennessee

Arizona at UCLA

Pro

Carolina at Minnesota

Arizona at Washington

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia

Cleveland at Baltimore

Dallas at Green Bay

SBI to take over ECU investigation

From ECU Police Chief Scott Shelton:

 

 

At the request of the East Carolina University police, the State Bureau of Investigation has agreed to take over the investigation into reports that some law enforcement officers exercised excessive force in responding to fans who rushed onto the field after the football game against West Virginia on Sept. 6.

    ECU Police Chief Scott Shelton, who contacted the SBI on Thursday and met with SBI Agent Renee Robinson on Friday, said that his department has discontinued its investigation and turned all its information over to the SBI.   Shelton said that because of the number of different law enforcement agencies that provided security at the game, it is appropriate for an independent office to conduct the investigation. ECU police were assisted at the game by officers from the Greenville, Winterville and Kinston police departments and the Pitt County and Lenoir County sheriff’s offices.  

 

Shelton said that after the SBI completes its investigation, Pitt County District Attorney Clark Everett will decide whether to bring charges against any law enforcement officers.

 

 

My take: In this whole messed-up situation, this is the best development. Maybe, we’ll finally get to the bottom of this … but I still want to see the details of the pre-game briefing.

My picks, Week 4

Prep

West Craven at Kinston: WC

North Lenoir at South Lenoir: NL

Parrott Academy at Raleigh Cresset Christian: APA

Ayden-Grifton at Greene Central: AG

Southern Wayne at Jones Senior: SW

College

East Carolina at Tulane: ECU

Navy at Duke: Duke

Michigan at Notre Dame: Michigan

Wisconsin at Fresno State: Wisconsin

Ohio State at USC: USC

Pro

New Orleans at Washington: Wash

Chicago at Carolina: Carolina

Indianapolis at Minnesota: Indy

San Diego at Denver: SD

Pittsburgh at Cleveland: Pitt

A statement from the Kinston Dept. of Public Safety about the ECU post-game situation

From the Kinston Department of Public Safety:

The Kinston Department of Public Safety has concluded its investigation into the events surrounding the ECU vs West Virginia football game on Saturday, September 6, 2008.  Our Department was forwarded one formal complaint by the ECU Police Department. This complaint involved a pre-game altercation which resulted in an arrest for Resist Obstruct and Delay and two counts of Damage to Personal Property.

The Professional Standards Section has also reviewed video footage and has attempted to conduct interviews with involved parties.  Only limited information has been received.  Cooperation from involved parties, specifically regarding actions and events leading up to what has been captured in video footage has been limited.  The failure of all parties to be forthright with information has limited our investigation.  The investigation has also determined that alcohol consumption played a role in the actions of some spectators involved in altercations.

It has been determined by the ECU Police Department that no criminal charges will be brought against any Law Enforcement Officers.  Personnel actions taken against any involved employee(s) are confidential and will not be released.

We would recommend that ECU request an independent review of this incident.  Areas of focus should be on pre-game instructions, officer conduct, the conduct of spectators and interagency communications.  The results of this review could be utilized to prevent future incidents.  The Kinston Department of Public Safety would cooperate fully with this review.

The Kinston Department of Public Safety is committed to enforcing all laws of the State of North Carolina in a fair and equitable way.  It is our Department’s philosophy that all citizens will be held to the same
standards.

The Kinston Department of Public Safety is prepared to reopen the investigation if additional, creditable information is received.

My (initial) take: This is from the Kinston Police Department, not the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office, which is where the person/deputy who is applying the blows to an unseen person is from on the video.

Still, it says a lot to me. I feel the KPD and Sheriff’s Office were doing — albeit a bit too heavy-handed, perhaps, in the deputy’s case — what they/he were/was instructed to do.

I want to know what was said in the pre-game briefing. I am getting off-the-record comments from several sources telling me that the briefing specifically told all the officers to not allow students on the field, at all costs. If that is true, that could explain why the Lenoir County deputy did what he did.

Pick these games, Week 4

Prep

West Craven at Kinston

North Lenoir at South Lenoir

Parrott Academy at Raleigh Cresset Christian

Ayden-Grifton at Greene Central

Southern Wayne at Jones Senior

College

East Carolina at Tulane (like anyone’s going to pick against the Pirates?)

Navy at Duke

Michigan at Notre Dame

Wisconsin at Fresno State

Ohio State at USC (and yes, I mean Southern Cal, not South Carolina)

Pro

New Orleans at Washington

Chicago at Carolina

Indianapolis at Minnesota

San Diego at Denver

Pittsburgh at Cleveland

Morning News Report; Sept. 9, 2008

EAST CAROLINA POST-GAME MESS GOES NATIONAL

Yep, this is the positive light we want Kinston (and Eastern North Carolina) in nationally … USA Today and AOL are reporting about the post-game fiasco at East Carolina on Saturday. No one will verify that it was Kinston or Lenoir County cops or deputies beating the crap out of students, but that should come out shortly.

Our morning news guy, Jon Dawson, is at the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office now (10 a.m.) getting information.

My take: As I said yesterday, we don’t need to jump to conclusions here. We don’t know if an officer or deputy was jumped or what happened.

Even if a local officer or deputy is culpable in this instance, this shouldn’t reflect on the entire Kinston Department of Public Safety or the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office. Like you, I just want to find out what happened.

UNION SEEKS TO RECALL SCHWARZENEGGER

Say it ain’t so! A prison guard union in California is seeking to recall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The union is claiming that the Governator “has done absolutely nothing” in his term. For his part, Ah-nold says he will not be terminated intimidated.

My take: Yeah, all that was pretty gay. Please accept my apology.

It was fun, though!

OLBERMANN, MATTHEWS YANKED BY MSNBC

Right-wingers rejoice! Ultra-left winger Keith Olbermann and talking head Chris Matthews were pulled from campaign coverage by MSNBC over the weekend. Apparently, the network was being cast as being too “leftist”.

My take: And exactly how long did it take for MSNBC to figure this out? I consider myself a political centrist, but even I could see how biased these two were.

Do you remember when Olbermann was just a funny, intelligent guy on SportsCenter with Dan Patrick? Wish we could go back to those days…

The iPod shuffle

In Too Deep — Genesis

Pimp Juice — Nelly

I’ll Be Missing You — Puff Daddy and the Family

When It’s Love — Van Halen

Feel The Silence — Goo Goo Dolls