The best and worst announcers

Our good friend Randy Capps — who we’ll be hanging with at the K-Tribe game tonight — has yet another great post on his soon-to-be-award-winning (doggone, that’s a lot of hyphens!) blog. It’s about the top (and worst) play-by-play announcers in sports.

My take: I think he’s just about right on in all of it. I can’t stand Chris Berman anymore, but Gus Johnson is fantastic.

My only two differences: I would’ve had Dick Vitale in my top 3; I know he’s over-the-top much of the time, but his love of college basketball just comes through every time he’s in front of a mike.

Also, I’d have Jim Nantz in there somewhere in the positive category. A lot of time, he’s Billy Packer’s partner, so Packer takes away from him. But Nantz can do it all and sell me on his knowledge every time.

THIS is why Randy Capps rules…

Check out his latest musings on his blog. Not to ruin any of his excellent work, but I particularly enjoyed this:

What exactly was Danica Patrick going to do when she got to Ryan Briscoe’s pit in the waning moments of the Indy 500? She’s five-foot nothing, a hundred and nothing. Maybe she was going to nag him until he apologized. Hard to say.

RC — you’re one of the best bloggers/sports writers in North Carolina. You need to post more often!

Farewell to a good friend

This comes about a week too late, but I wanted to send my congratulations and farewells to a very, very good friend of this blog (and me): Jacksonville Daily News Sports Editor Paul Thompson. “P.T.” is one of the great guys in this business who decided to get out of it and finally make some REAL money — he’s into the real estate game now in Raleigh.

He spent 12 years in Actionville and did a fine job with the Daily News. Newspapers need more guys like P.T. — who are passionate and truly love what they do.

Paul was a mentor to me when I came to Eastern N.C., helping me become acclimated to the area. I could not have done what I’ve done without his help.

Good luck, buddy. At least I can’t lose any more newspaper bets to you now!

A sad, poignant story

This is a great day for Kinston as the Vikings boys’ basketball team prepares to play for the 3A state title, but please take 15 minutes sometime over the next few days and read this story/column by ESPN’s Bill Simmons. If this doesn’t move you, make you sad or angry, then you’re not human.

My react: Growing up as a lower-middle class white person, I realize I’ll never understand the appeal of gangs. And I know we have a growing gang problem in Kinston. I don’t want to write this story in our town. Please, please — what can we do to stop this?

Catching up

Been a couple of days since I had a chance to post here, with the Regionals upon us and all. Instead of writing 20 posts, thought I’d just put everything here in one:

• I’ll be updating the blog live tonight and Friday from Minges Coliseum for the Kinston and South Lenoir games, respectively. Not sure I’m going to be able to make it to Greenville for Jones Senior’s game on Thursday, but if I’m not there, the good folks from New Bern will be there
• Unless you get the paper edition of TFP (since it’s not been posted online until after 12 noon today), you probably haven’t seen the bet that Henderson Daily Dispatch Sports Editor Randy Capps and I have going. My boy over at King’s Barbecue (Joe Hargett) and Lovick’s Cafe (Steve Lovick) have placed some of their tasty food along with a Kinston hat and Free Press gear against Capps in a bet over tonight’s game. You can read my smack column here, and Randy’s column here.
• Thank you to everyone who sent me and boys “congratulations” on our first-place North Carolina Press Association award for top sports section in the state. It’s the first time The Free Press has won the award and we’re very proud of it
• If the Vikings make it that far, they won’t have to worry about Concord in the state championship. The Spiders didn’t even make it to Kernersville Glenn, 86-69, in a sectional final
• I really wanted to get baseball and softball previews going this season before their seasons started, but we’ve really gotten overwhelmed with basketball this year. I’m still going to do a feature on every team, but — obviously — there won’t be previews. My apologies to you fans, players and coaches
• In the next couple of days, I’m going to start running a schedule of “today’s games” here on the blog, so you’ll know what’s going on in and around our area. It’ll include every sport that has been turned in to us. That way, if you know the score (and the coach doesn’t call it in to us), you’ll have it here on the blog
• What do you think of the new look of the blog?

My ugly mug on TACC-9

I did a segment about prep basketball with TACC-9’s Chris Hemeyer for his “Sportstalk” show; if you’re interested in watching it, here are the times on TACC-9:

Today (Thursday) — 9 p.m.

Friday — 6:30 a.m.

Saturday — 11 a.m.

Sunday — 5:30 p.m.

Hemeyer, who is also the voice of the Kinston Indians, does an excellent job with this show. Check it out.

Jerramy Stevens and the UW football program

If you have a little time on your hands, take a few minutes (OK, 30 or so) and check out this link at the Seattle Times Web site. It tells the story about former Seattle Seahawk and University of Washington tight end Jerramy Stevens and his legal problems the past few years.

I know collegiate and professional athletes get special treatment; it’s just the way our world is. But the chances and opportunities that Stevens has used and used and used are very disturbing.

A couple of warnings: it’s VERY long (about 259 inches in newspaper-talk), but it’s well worth the read. Follow the links at the end of each page for the next chapter.

Also, there are some disturbing sexual accusations, so if you don’t want to read about that, skip over it.

Brian North heading to the Dark Side

OK, not really. But our good friend, WCTI ABC-12 Sports Director Brian North, is now the news anchor for Fox Eastern Carolina, which airs on Suddenlink channel 11 in Kinston. He will retain his sports directorship for the time being at WCTI, but eventually will probably move full-time to the news side.

Check out my story here.

The news broadcast is going to be a 30-minute show for the first little while, but it will eventually move to an hour with North getting a co-anchor.

North’s first broadcast as a news-dude will be Monday at 10 p.m., and it will run every weeknight at 10.

Here North is looking very news-worthy:

You can congratulate him at tomorrow’s United Way Day of Basketball at Kinston High School.

Back in the office

Trying to catch up with my 250 e-mails and messages that have piled up since I left, but some quick hits in this post before I go in-depth later today/tomorrow:

• Reggie Bullock has indeed verbally committed to North Carolina and is in Chapel Hill as we speak, meeting with Ol’ Roy and the UNC coaching staff
• Wells tells me that the new KHS football coach could be announced as early as tonight, but it will probably happen tomorrow or Friday. And you are going to be impressed about who it is (shocked was probably too strong of a word)
• The baseball position at KHS will probably be filled later this week or early next week
• Thank God Joe Gibbs decided to step down!
• Yes, the Bahamas were fun! I gained about 10 pounds because of good, clean living (yeah, right!) but it was a blast
• I will post the final football standings later today, but it’s going to be close
• Yes, I did win the HBFL over our good friend Randy Capps. If you want details on it, let me know — ’cause I’m not afraid to brag!

Thanks for all the kind e-mails and messages I received while I was gone. I’m going to try to do my best to respond to every one of them. You will probably be overwhelmed with blog entries over the next couple of days.

The ballot for top Kinston sports stories of 2007

Here is the same ballot that I am sending to our sports writers and publisher at The Free Press. If you want your vote to count in the readers’ poll, I need to have your votes for the top 10 stories NO LATER THAN 9 a.m. on Friday. You can either post your votes in the comments section or e-mail them to me at bhanks@freedomenc.com.

Top stories of 2007 ballot

East Carolina extends Athletics Director Terry Holland’s contract to 2011 and gave him a raise, pushing his annual salary to $324,000

Former Greene Central basketball coach Kevin Hart, then an assistant to GC’s Robert Browning, dies on Jan. 14, his 36th birthday

Ayden-Grifton basketball coach Bob Murphrey becomes North Carolina’s winningest active coach with 650th victory on Jan. 18

Rochelle Middle School completes a double-double of winning county championships in football and basketball

Cleveland Indians manager Eric Wedge inducted into the Kinston Professional Baseball Hall of Fame

Jones Senior beats Pamlico in 3 OTs in the semifinals of the Coastal Plains 1A boys’ basketball tournament. The Trojans overcame an eight-point deficit in the second OT to force the third OT

Kinston’s boys win Eastern Carolina 3A basketball tournament

Greene Central’s boys win Eastern Plains 2A basketball tournament

North Lenoir’s girls win Eastern Plains 2A basketball tournament

Jones Senior’s boys win Coastal Plains 1A basketball tournament

Ayden-Grifton’s boys win Carolina 1A basketball tournament

Greene Central football coach Jim Bob Bryant named as an assistant for the Shrine Bowl, becomes the youngest coach in the all-star game’s 71-year history

Donovan Davis and Ethan Mills represent South Lenoir in the NCHSAA 2A wrestling championships in Winston-Salem

South Lenoir’s baseball team upsets two-time defending 2A champ North Lenoir in the season-opener for both teams

The Ayden-Grifton boys’ basketball team advances to the 1A Eastern Regional, but loses to North Edgecombe

The Kinston boys’ basketball team plays for the 3A state championship, losing to Concord

The Parrott Academy boys’ swim team finishes second in the state

Former Kinston star Herbert Hill is named to All-Big East first team at Providence College

Greene Central boys’ basketball coach Robert Browning resigns after two seasons; is replaced by veteran coach David Laton

The Kinston baseball team upsets No. 7 C.B. Aycock, 10-9, on March 23

North Lenoir forms sports hall of fame; inducts three – including Wayne Floyd – in first class

The Lenoir Community College baseball team rises to No. 1 in the NJCAA D-II poll for the second consecutive year

The Kinston/Lenoir County Sports Hall of Fame inducts its second class, including George Whitfield and Donna Horton White

The North Lenoir baseball team completes its second straight undefeated run through the Eastern Plains 2A to win its third consecutive conference championship

The LCC baseball team wins the Region 10 championship for third straight season, advance to NJCAA District Tournament, where the Lancers (42-14) lose in three games

South Lenoir’s baseball team loses in the NCHSAA 2A Eastern semifinals to Whiteville

The East Carolina baseball team advances to the championship game of the Conference USA tournament before losing to Rice

The North Lenoir baseball team finishes second in the 2A title game to East Rutherford, breaking a two-year championship streak

North Lenoir’s Sthil Sowers drafted in the 22nd round of the MLB draft by the Cleveland Indians

The Kinston Indians win both halves of the Carolina League Southern Division race

Chris Gimenez of the Kinston Indians wins the home run derby at the Carolina League-California League All-Star Game in Stockton, Calif.

Former Kinston star Herbert Hill drafted in the second round by Utah, but it is later traded to Philadelphia

Former Kinston star Jerry Stackhouse signs a three-year contract extension with the Dallas Mavericks, which pays him more than $6 million a year

South Lenoir basketball coach Jimmy Smith coaches in the East-West basketball game in Greensboro

The Kinston boys’ basketball team wins the prestigious East Coast Invitational in Jacksonville on July 15

Former Greene Central star Brandon Sutton is named MVP of the East-West football game in Greensboro

Ricky Stokes resigns to take position in ECU athletic office, but later leaves the school altogether. Mack McCarthy is named the interim head coach

Baseball and basketball coach Bert Potter resigns at Bethel Christian Academy; is replaced by veteran coach Gerald Garner

Nationally-recruited defensive end Quinton Coples transfers from Kinston High School to Hargrave Academy in Virginia

Longtime Greene Central Athletics Director James “Rabbit” Fulghum is promoted to the Greene County AD position; Fulghum had been in the position since 1969; he is replaced by B.J. Bass

Russell Brann resigns as the GC baseball coach; is replaced by Scott Jones

ECU quarterback Rob Kass gets a DWI on the eve of team’s first game; suspended for one game

The Kinston Indians season ends in the first round of the Carolina League playoffs

Former North Lenoir star and recently-graduated Mount Olive star Elijah Rouse signs a pro contract with a Danish team

The Kinston football team wins the second straight Freedom Cup by defeating North Lenoir, 21-7

Ben Hartman’s 39-yard FG leads ECU past UNC, 34-31

North Lenoir football team finishes 0-11 and finishes season with school-record 13-game losing streak

Kinston volleyball team finishes with most wins (10) and first playoff appearance

North Lenoir’s volleyball team loses for the first time in 23 games in the second round of the NCHSAA 2A playoffs to Hillsborough Orange

Jones Senior wins nine straight games – including an undefeated run through the Coastal Plains 1A – to advance to the third round of the 1A playoffs. The nine wins ties a school record that was set in 2006

The Parrott Academy football team advances to the 8-man semifinals for the eighth straight season

The ECU football team lets a chance at the C-USA title slip through its fingers with a loss at one-win Marshall

Kinston sophomore forward Reggie Bullock ranked second in nation by scout.com for the class of 2010

ECU’s Chris Johnson named C-USA’s special teams player of the year

Kinston High School, which was a 4A school as late as 1996, drops to the 2A ranks in the 2009-10 academic year. North Lenoir, which has been 2A for the past eight seasons, rises back to the 3A ranks

Kinston fires football coach Tony Edwards after only two seasons

ECU AD Terry Holland admits to giving his brother more than $16,000 in academic aid through the athletic office; later writes a check covering the amount

The ECU basketball team defeats N.C. State for the first ACC win for the Pirates in 58 attempts

Former Kinston football star Quinton Coples named to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 5, 2008

The Kinston basketball team plays USA Today’s No. 1 team, Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s in the first round of the Bank of America City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers, Fla., losing 72-44. The Vikings finish seventh in the tournament

Kinston baseball coach Eddie Loesner resigns to accept similar position at Northern Nash

The ECU football team defeats Boise State, 41-38, in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, for its first postseason victory since 2000. The Pirates finished 8-5

Kinston Indians manager Mike Sarbaugh is promoted to Double-A Akron after two seasons in Kinston