Author: wes-mcelroy

For months on months, NFL general managers, personnel directors, scouts and head coaches have been stewing over game films, combine-workout results, 40-yard-dash times, and bench-press reps. Among their top priorities in this year’s scouting reports will be “individual character.”

This weekend, while you’re watching Mel Kiper Jr. (and his amazingly perfect hair) break down the draft, analysts will be informing you of the draft selections’ highlights and lowlights on the field. Don’t be surprised if you find out more about their personal lives and troubles off the field than you care to know.

Two weeks ago, new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued a landmark decision when he suspended troubled Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones for the 2007 season and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry for eight games.

Goodell’s new conduct policy, supported not only by owners but also by players, is a no-joke decree to the league to clean itself up. It provides some food for thought for personnel directors when they’re deciding whom to select and whom to avoid.

WWJD (What will Joe Do)?

It should be interesting to see what Joe Gibbs decides to do with the Washington Redskins‘ sixth overall pick.

Although Gibbs says it’s still Jason Campbell’s team, recently the Redskins talked to quarterbacks JaMarcus Russell (LSU) and Brady Quinn (Notre Dame).

And don’t rule out another phone call to the Chicago Bears about Lance Briggs or a possible draft selection that could bring Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams or Louisville defensive tackle Amobi Okoye to the nation’s capital.

Ready to receive

Calvin Johnson has the hands and the attitude to be a draft darling.

Sadly, Virginia and Virginia Tech fans know Calvin Johnson (Georgia Tech) all too well. Good news is, his collegiate days are done. At 6"5′ Johnson is better RIGHT NOW than half of the current “number two” wide receivers in the league. He has a Spider-Man leap, a Terrell Owens build and a better (actually terrific) attitude. Reggie Bush was the star of last year’s draft. Johnson is the star this year. It will be interesting to see which NFL quarterback gets to help him shine.

Saving the best for last

Sometimes the most interesting part of the draft occurs towards the end and not the beginning. A prime example is New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marques Colston (Hofstra). Colston was a key element in the Saints’ offense last season. As the Saints reached the NFC Championship game, Colston hauled in 70 receptions, 1000-plus yards and eight touchdowns in 14 games.

In the end, Colston was a finalist for Rookie of the Year along with the top pick, Titans quarterback Vince Young, and Saints teammate Reggie Bush. Not bad for a guy who was not selected until the draft reached its final picks in the last round. Who knows what the 252nd pick of this year’s draft will accomplish?

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. Monday-Friday 4pm-6pm.

My first true love was Lauren Pardini, a pig-tailed brunette, in the first grade. My first true sports love was baseball. I’ve loved it since youth, played it and collected baseball cards. (If you need an extra for your softball team, my e-mail is listed above.) And unlike my courtship of Miss Pardini, baseball has stuck with me through the years—from covering the Waynesburg College Yellow Jackets to the Harrisburg Senators to the Philadelphia Phillies to now the Virginia Cavaliers.

Where’s the game? Followers of America’s pastime have trouble finding their way in this town.

To those who reside in Central Virginia and share my love of baseball, I say: Welcome to the minority. Yes, passionate Orioles, Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox fans do live in the Blue Ridge Mountains area, but we are the few and the proud.

One caller to my radio show last week (a New York transplant to Virginia) said to me, “You bring your passion for baseball with you.”

So true.

But if you were born in Central Virginia and baseball is not on your sports agenda, who can blame you? The closest Major League teams require at least a two-hour drive plus an extra in traffic. And what do you get? A Baltimore club that has had only one winning season in the past decade and the Washington Nationals which look more like Morris Buttermaker’s Bad News Bears than a Major League franchise.

Off the field, when was the last time either franchise sent their annual Winter Fan Caravan to the nether regions of Charlottesville, Orange or Ruckersville?

What have they done for you lately?

Ever try watching a game on TV? Ha! Due to the petty regional ratings wars among Comcast, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and the Baltimore Orioles ownership in 2005-06, trying to find a televised Nationals game during the team’s inaugural two years was like trying to find Jimmy Hoffa.

Within the last two weeks, Major League Baseball has decided not to totally screw its out-of-market viewers. First, MLB extended its deadline for reaching an agreement with the cable companies to carry out-of-market games, and then it closed a deal with iN DEMAND. There was a strong possibility that MLB could have gone exclusively with Direct TV, thereby cutting out 200,000 viewers. The number doesn’t sound like much, but it would have been a bad idea for baseball to start cutting itself off from paying viewers.

But MLB’s ignorance of the areas that lie outside of a major market city has created a regional backlash that even affects local baseball.

Has anyone noticed that the No. 3 ranked baseball team in the NCAA plays in Charlottesville? Do you know that one of the most beautiful ballparks in America, UVA’s Davenport Field, is in your own backyard? The field is so attractive, in fact, that EA Sports placed it in the videogame, MVP ’07 NCAA Baseball.

The truth is that Central Virginia is only one of baseball’s forgotten areas. There are more suburbs than major markets after all.

Major League Baseball and Commissioner Bud Selig will tell you that attendance is at an all-time high and that financial success is abundant.

The present looks very good, but what about the future?

(Author’s Note: Miss Pardini remains a good friend and a successful singer in California and New York… Should have stuck with the girl, and not the game.)

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. Monday-Friday 4pm-6pm.

Here’s a personal admission: NASCAR never interested me growing up. Sitting, during an afternoon, watching cars go round and round on TV was somewhere between golf “pre-Tiger Woods” and observing grass growing. Oddly, with age comes open-mindedness.

NASCAR is no longer the sport of the stereotypical slack-jawed redneck. From a marketing standpoint, there might not be a league or association that does it better then NASCAR. Brand marketing?  NASCAR fans not only know their driver by the make of the car but by the sponsor on the hood, the rear, and above the door.

Two-time Cup Series winner Terry Labonte says of the safety side of NASCAR, “Everybody kind of wanted to ignore it and it kind of caught up with them.”

Truthfully, before this column goes any farther, it is only honest to admit that I still don’t sit inside on a sunny Sunday afternoon to watch the boys go round and round.  Yet my appreciation for this sport (yes, it is a sport) has grown tremendously.

Specifically, the admiration is for the science of the sport. Every twist and turn of a nanometer. Fuel injection, balance, and alignment. In baseball, you cheat by placing cork in your bat. NASCAR’s equivalent is raising the rear of your car to influence the aerodynamics. The control of these delicate features is the main reason drivers were less then excited by the innovation of the Car of Tomorrow.

“I think the bottom line is that everyone’s got to remember they developed this car for safety reasons,” said retired driver and two-time Cup Series winner Terry Labonte. “They were able to incorporate a lot of safety features in the car that weren’t in the older cars.”
The Car of Tomorrow is the new body design on NASCAR’s Nextel Cup Series created with the concepts of “safety innovations, performance and competition, and cost efficiency for teams,” according to NASCAR.com. NASCAR’s safety restrictions have grown leaps and bounds in the past half-decade.  Sadly, the landmark reason came at the death of the sports’ legend Dale Earnhardt.

“Years ago, the safety side of it was something people didn’t talk about a whole lot,” said Labonte. “Everybody kind of wanted to ignore it and it kind of caught up with them.”
The car enhances the safety of the drivers at the same time the technological advancement has erased several drivers comfort level inside their cars as well as their teams’ understanding of the new design.

“If they’ve got things going good, the team’s running good, and the car’s working good, they don’t want nothing to change,” added Labonte. “So this is a whole new deal. The car is completely different. The set up is different. You know, I can see why a lot of guys don’t like it.”   

NEXTEL Cup drivers have all been dealt the same hand, and despite the changes which are uniform to all teams, the bottom line remains the same: win.

“It’s like anything else, when the competition is faced with something new a lot of them kind of don’t like it and will complain about it or whatever.  But I think after they run a while, everybody’s going to get used to it, adapt to it, and make it work,” laughingly adds Labonte.  “Somebody’s going to win a race every Sunday, so you’re either going to complain about it and not run well or work and get it figured out.” 

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. 4pm-6pm M-F.

Cavalier football fans need another quarterback concern like they need a hole in the head.

Sophomore Jameel Sewell, who took over the position last season in the third game of the year against Western Michigan, is recovering from off-season wrist surgery that has left the team with questions rather then security.

“I think anytime a quarterback’s passing arm has been surgically repaired, until he’s throwing his fastball again there’s always a question,” said Virginia Head Coach Al Groh.

Sophomore quarterback Jameel Sewell’s off-season wrist surgery is possibly a cause for concern.

Heading into the annual spring mini-camp, Groh stressed two primary targets of issues including quarterback and kicker, where production was clearly down in the 2006 season.

“I think we still have some of the same question marks. We still have questions. Does it get answered by performance?” said Groh, on the day prior to opening of spring practice. “When we kick the ball is it going through the uprights?  Because of a different set of circumstances, we still have question marks at quarterback.”

Sound familiar?

“They were the two biggest questions entering spring practice last year, they were the two biggest questions entering camp, and they remained that way in the early part of the season and in some cases during the course of the season,” added Groh of not only the quarterback position but a kicking game that will feature Noah Greenbaum, Chris Gould and newcomer Chris Hinkebein (who will arrive in August). Virginia desperately needs consistency.  “A lot of different areas of the team should be much improved,” said Groh. “They are much improved from where they were on this day last year.  Those are the two positions that you can be a lot improved at those other positions but the guy who kicks it and throws it has a lot to do with what the outcome is.”

This past week Virginia lost last year’s leading wide receiver Kevin Ogletree with a torn anterior cruciate ligament during practice. Ogletree logged 52 receptions, 582 yards, and four touchdowns last season.

Alongside concern in the spring comes optimism for the fall. “I think I got a real positive vibe,” said senior defensive end and preseason All-American candidate Chris Long.  “I feel like we got a real great group of guys. I feel like we’re showing flashes of being a real powerful, big-time team. We just need to tighten it down in some areas and I think that’s what spring ball is for.”

Across from Long on the offensive line stands 315 lbs. of optimism in the form of  guard Branden Albert, who is not only ready to anchor a unit, that improved as last season went on, but ready to embrace the step-up role on the team.

“(I’m) trying to be a leader this year and hopefully trying to be in one of those big leadership roles and help this team out,” said Albert.  “I think by my play, alone, I became a leader.  Now I’m being vocal and showing by example that I can be a leader and that’s my focus now.”

The focus of this team is simple and far from being hidden.

“Win the Atlantic Coast Conference,” said Groh of this team, who chants “ACC champs” when they break their huddle at the end of practice. “If you’re in a conference for any other reason then that, you’re in the conference for the wrong reason.”

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. 4pm-6pm M-F.

The echoes of Sean Singletary’s rim-rattling three-point effort have faded. The NFL draft is still a month away and how much can you really get juiced up for spring football?

The Boys of Summer are back.  Grab a hot dog and some Cracker Jacks, crank up the ball game on the radio, and ditch the steroid talk for at least a day.

Monday is the purest sports day of the year….It’s Opening Day!!!!

If Gary Sheffield keeps his ego in check while staying healthy, this could be the bat that gets the Tigers back to the Series.

Ten questions on my mind heading into the 2007 season

10. Can the Washington Nationals actually be worse than last year? 
9. How will Barry Zito (San Francisco), Greg Maddux (San Diego), and Jason Schmidt (Los Angeles) change the NL West?
8. Could Carlos Zambrano be right? Does the 99-year championship drought of the Chicago Cubs end this year?
7. Will the Detroit Tigers have a dream-season hangover? Despite falling short of winning the World Series, Detroit was the story of the baseball season in 2006.  How do they come out in 2007?  
6. Will the New York Yankees be able to get it done?  I’ll give you 11 reasons they should: Posado, Giambi, Cano, A-Rod, Jeter, Abreau, Matsui, Mussina, Rivera, Andy P, and Chen Ming!!!!!
5. Is the Boston Red Sox rotation as good as it looks on paper? Schilling to Beckett to Dice K to Papelbon to Wakefield……that’s just sick!!!!! 
4. When and where will Barry Bonds hit 755 and 756 and how will the crowd react?
3. Will this ridiculous George Mitchell steroid investigation produce any piece of useful information?
2. Is Dauisuke Matsuzaka going to be the real-deal rookie in Boston?
1. Will this finally be the year my Philadelphia Phillies win the World Series?

Predictions

National League
East-Philadelphia Phillies
Central-Chicago Cubs
West-San Diego Padres
Wild Card-Los Angeles Dodgers

American League
East-Boston Red Sox
Central-Detroit Tigers
West-Oakland Athletics
Wild Card-Cleveland Indians

NLCS-Dodgers vs. Phillies
ALCS-Red Sox vs. Indians
World Series-Red Sox over Dodgers

Player I’m looking forward to seeing the most: Philadelphia’s Ryan Howard.

He won the Rookie of the Year in his first go round and then the MVP last year. What’s he got planned for Act Three?

Rookie my eyes are on: Matt Garza, Minnesota pitcher.

Brad Radke has retired and Francisco Liriano is out for the year. The Twins need a No.2 to support Johan Santana.

New acquisition that intrigues me: Gary Sheffield in Detroit.

If the Tigers keep the focus they had last year and Sheffield keeps his ego in check while staying healthy, this could be the bat that gets the Tigers back to the Series.

Coaching challenge of the year: Manny Acta, Washington.

This year is just a stepping stone to the future. After auditioning 36 different starting pitchers in spring training, his rotation is basically the pick of the litter.

Acta still must find a way to sooth the nerves of veterans like Ryan Zimmerman, Austin Kearns, Chad Cordero, and Felipe Lopez when this team nears 100 losses.

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. Monday-Friday 4pm-6pm.

Bob Motley is not a name that gets tossed around on Baseball Tonight. If you asked 10 so-called “baseball purists” who he is, the smart money would say not a one would know.
Motley is the last living umpire from the Negro Leagues and sadly, one of the last living men affiliated with that era of baseball.

As an umpire in the Negro Leagues, Bob Motley rubbed shoulders with Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neil.

Recently, Mr. Motley shared 10 minutes of his eventful life with yours truly.

C-VILLE: What is your fondest memory of the great Satchel Paige?

Bob Motley: He was a great pitcher. His ball seemed like when it got closer to the plate, it took another speed and kind of zipped into the catcher’s mitt.

To tell you a story about him, one time, he struck out two batters in one [inning], walked towards me and said, “Ump, I wanna strike out the next batter. Can I call my team off the field?” 

I said, “No, you can call the guys in closer but can’t walk off the field because it’s against the rules.”

He called them all in. They stood near the [base paths] and I didn’t give him no break and the next three strikes came right over the heart of the plate.

Based on our national history at that time in America, what were some of the hardships of being affiliated with the Negro Leagues?

As you know, we didn’t know no better. The Negro Leagues were just like the American and National Leagues because on a Sunday they drew 40,000 to 60,000 people in the stands.
Until Jackie Robinson went to the Brooklyn Dodgers and several other ball players followed to the majors, we didn’t know any different. The Negro Leagues was the Negro Leagues.

It’s been documented that over the past decade the interest, the attendance, and the numbers of African-American ball players are down in the minors and Major Leagues. As someone whose life was the Negro Leagues, is this a hard pill to swallow?

It’s affected me pretty much because as you know baseball’s been my life, all my life. And I don’t see the kids playing like they used to play. Used to be, you can go to any city, walk in a neighborhood, and see kids playing baseball. Now you see kids out shooting basketball.
As you go to the ball park, you don’t see that many black people attending the ball games.

It disturbs me, very much so.

What impact did the late Buck O’Neil leave on baseball?

Buck O’Neil should have been in the Hall of Fame.

I traveled with Buck O’Neil for about 50 years and I even put Buck out of a ball game one time in Memphis, Tennessee, and [it turned out] I didn’t have a place to stay and we [ended up] staying in the same bed and he never did complain to me that night [about the game].

He was a gentlemen man! We started the Negro Baseball Museum in Kansas City.

He was a fine gentleman who should’ve got into the Hall of Fame!

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. 4pm-6pm M-F.

You want more madness?

Yes, it’s that time of the year to ink in the brackets and make up the always unbelievable excuse for why you get sick on the same Thursday every year. 

A noteworthy bald-headed commentator for ESPN would say, “It’s the Madness, Baby!”

This year the field of 65 welcomes back the Virginia Cavaliers.

The real question is: Does this team need any more “madness”?

The 2006-2007 Virginia men’s basketball season has had more twists and turns then the paternity investigation into Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter’s father.

Will it be the Full Monty for ‘Hoos fans if Virginia wins the NCAA title?

From the Michael–Buffer-opening-of-John Paul Jones Arena-comeback-win-vs.-Arizona to a mediocre beginning to the debacle in Puerto Rico to a three-game ACC losing streak to a seven-game ACC winning streak (including the shot of the year by Sean Singletary against Duke) to the beatdown in Blacksburg to the how- did-they-get-that-win-vs.-Georgia Tech? to the Virginia Tech redemption in Charlottesville to a few hours later when North Carolina fell apart to Georgia Tech putting the Cavaliers atop the conference to the collapse at Wake Forest 40 hours later.

Any true orange-and-blue fan has already swallowed enough Maalox to get through the regular season, that he should have a good base in his belly for tip-off Thursday.

“In the NCAA tournament, there will be inordinate amount of upsets, or one would perceive to be an upset, but in reality the only upset is that there is a team that carries a little bit more of an emotional high then the other,” said Virginia basketball Head Coach Dave Leitao, who has been to the tournament with the University of Connecticut as an assistant under Jim Calhoun.  “And it sounds corny with all that’s on the line to talk about it in that way but there’s going to be something that happens for your team and against your team and how you respond to those will mean if you make more plays as the game grows older.”

Virginia’s return to the NCAA tournament is their first appearance since March 16, 2001, under Pete Gillen, when the Cavaliers fell short to Gonzaga 86-85.

Leitao has made good on his verbal vision for this team when he spoke at his hiring April 16, 2005.
Virginia was selected to finish eighth in the conference preseason rankings, so while the missed opportunity to win the conference outright with a regular season-ending loss to Wake Forest was disappointing, a shared title with North Carolina needs to be noted as an accomplishment.

“It’s a learning experience,” said Leitao, the ACC Coach of the Year. “Everything we do right now is still uncharted territory and sitting here calling ourselves champions or being in first place in this league is uncharted territory for all these guys and all the things we’ve been able to do are all first-time experiences.”

There’s a first for everything and the NCAA will be just that in a few short hours.

Bust out the excuses for work, the brackets, and the Maalox. Wahoos, the madness is about to get elevated.

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. M-F 4pm-6pm.

Last Friday, the day after the death of Boston Celtics great Dennis Johnson, there was much remembering of a man that the legend Larry Bird called the greatest teammate he ever had. 

Along with his passing, the questions arose why Johnson had never been placed into the Hall of Fame and why had he continued to fall through the cracks.

It’s a miracle that many kids today have never heard of the U.S. hockey team’s victory over the Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics.

Certain media members that Friday, including Washington Post columnist Michael Wilbon, discussed with ESPN Radio’s Dan Patrick how Johnson became forgotten after his playing days were done.  Had a younger, upcoming generation of media and voters never realized his importance in his era?

First of all, as a 28-year-old member of the media, let me stick up for my generation—we didn’t keep Dennis Johnson out of the Basketball Hall of Fame in the first place. Just as the generation of Wilbon and Patrick weren’t the first to leave a man like Buck O’Neil out of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Yet on the day after Johnson’s passing, the conversation between Patrick and Wilbon was so dead-on accurate because the truth of the matter is whether it be younger fans, athletes, or media members, there is a dying appreciation for sports history.

As time goes on fewer and fewer can remember who came before and, more importantly, their significance.

Last Thursday, on my radio show on the 27th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice when the U.S. hockey team shocked the world by defeating the Soviet Union:
Me: Go ahead, caller.
Caller: Yeah, I’m a history teacher and I asked my class today if they knew what the “Miracle on Ice” was and not one raised their hand.
Me: What grade do you teach?
Caller: Seniors.

I weep for the future.

It’s the friggin’ Miracle on Ice. I don’t care if you live in Lake Placid or Charlottesville, the significance of that moment will never be matched.  More then a hockey game, it was the greatest sports moment ever in one of the darkest times in American history.

Yes, this is sports. It’s not life or death but with being a fan comes some responsibility to share an appreciation of sports from the past with the present.

Do you share with your children the way my dad told me about the night Emile Griffith killed Benny “The Kid” Parrett in the ring while he was watching the Gilette Calvacade of Sports with my grandfather, or how he got to see Bob Gibson pitch at Connie Mack Stadium and decades later sat in the stadium as Pete Rose broke Stan Musial’s all-time National League hits record?

Griffith, Parrett, Gibson, Rose, Musial….mention those names to a 14-year-old today and they would think you are squawking Japanese.

We are degrading into a new era that is going to remember Terry Bradshaw as the bald guy who talks football with Howie Long rather then the quarterback who won four Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. 

In sports, if we don’t learn from it, speak of it, and teach it, it’s the next generation that will miss out.

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840am. 4pm-6pm. Monday-Friday.

Following National Signing Day earlier this month, Virginia football Head Coach Al Groh (www.virginiasports.cstv.com) took a few minutes to sit down and talk to C-VILLE Weekly about his recruiting class, his coaching staff, and an interesting off-season.

University of Virginia football’s Al Groh recently got a rare chance to think like a fan, and not a coach, while on the sidelines of the AFC Championship game.

C-VILLE: National Signing Day is done and quarterback Peter Lalich’s name has emerged in this class; prior to that, much has been made about this young man. Just how good is he?
Al Groh: He’s got a chance to be real good. Not only does he have skill but he’s got the right type of mindset for it and that is he thinks “being a quarterback” 24 hours a day.
That’s who he is and that’s what he likes to do. He’s been an exceptional student in high school just off of his native intelligence and his responsibility to do well but his passion goes along with what his talent is.

That’s no different than someone who’s a great piano player, who makes good grades but is smart enough to recognize where that person has an exceptional talent and he understands that’s the case with him.

Defensive coordinator Mike London’s name was rumored to be involved in the start of the Old Dominion football program. Since then he has issued a statement saying he wants to remain at Virginia. Can you describe the uniqueness he added to your defensive improvements this past season?

Mike is a coach of high passion and energy and intensity. That’s important at all positions on the field, all 22 spots, but particularly on defense.

He really brought that energy on a day-to-day basis, heck, on a play-to-play basis during the course of practice.  So it’s that energy and that fire that really became part of the personality of the defense and so much of the way Mike coaches.

I understand you got to be on the sidelines of the New England Patriots during the AFC Championship?

Besides the competition and watching the players and the coaches work, in our games I try to center all my thoughts, my vision, and my hearing on what occurs on the field, that is in between the lines and try to block out anything beyond that as much as the crowds, the sounds, everything because I’m there for one particular job and it takes my concentration. I’m there for a different reason, in a different capacity than most other people who are at the games.

So this gave me an opportunity to kind of take those blinders off and take those ear plugs out and take in the whole atmosphere before the game and the fans and enjoy the noise when I’m usually trying to block it out. It gave me a good perspective on how that can impact a game.

What’s your gut feeling? Do we see your good friend Bill Parcells as a head coach again in the NFL?

No. I think I’m just going to answer that on things I’ve heard him say (to me). His statements, while not definitive, were more that I wouldn’t rule out just as his (previous) retirement statement. I wouldn’t rule out his being involved with football but probably the odds are against his being on the field again.

Wes McElroy hosts “The Final Round” on ESPN 840 am. Monday-Friday 3-5pm.