Leitao looks ahead to ’08-’09
Story by Chris Graham
sportsdom@ntelos.net
Listen to today’s “SportsDominion Show,” featuring an interview with UVa. basketball coach Dave Leitao. Show Length: 11:20.
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Eleventh in scoring defense. Eleventh in field-goal-percentage defense. Eleventh in three-point-percentage defense.
Eleventh in steals. Twelth in blocked shots.
It’s hard to win when you can’t stop the other team from scoring.
This message was reinforced to Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao this season.
And it will be a focal point for Leitao and his staff in the offseason.
“From this point where we’re at right now until school gets out after final exams, we can still have some semblance of organized not necessarily full-out practice, but organized basketball with coaching instruction. So obviously we’ll use that time judiciously so that we can make sure that we start the process of what I had said in getting our guys to refocus on what truly is important in terms of winning,” Leitao said today in a teleconference interview with reporters. Read more
Rasoul, Richardson talk budget, taxes
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Bob Goodlatte threw down the gauntlet.
“Their budget proposal calls for $683 billion in new taxes over the next five years. That would mean a tax increase for more than 116 million American taxpayers, who will face an average tax hike of $1,800. And while obviously businesses large and small and wealthier individuals will face higher tax increases, this is something that will hit middle- and lower-middle-income Americans very, very hard,” said Congressman Goodlatte, R-Sixth District, at a March 10 news conference at the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport in Weyers Cave in which he criticized the budget proposal of House Democrats that includes a rollback of the George W. Bush tax cuts for middle-class and wealthy families.
Goodlatte was also critical of Democrats for proposing spending beyond even what spendthrift Republican President George W. Bush put forth in his $3 trillion budget proposal.
But that’s one side of the story. The other comes in the form of a pair of Democrats who are battling for the right to challenge Goodlatte in the November election, Sam Rasoul of Blue Ridge and Drew Richardson of Augusta County.
I asked both Rasoul and Richardson to respond to Goodlatte’s attacks against congressional Democrats.
Protecting our children
Column by Bob Goodlatte
It has become almost commonplace to turn on the evening news or visit an online news source and see the headlines detailing a terrible crime involving a child. While most of us shudder at the thought of a child being harmed, each year hundreds of thousands of children are victims of abuse, neglect, or violence.
It is time that we take back our communities and strengthen protections for our children.
As a member of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus, I have long been concerned about the safety of the most vulnerable among us. The caucus has worked to build awareness around the issue of missing children, and to create a cohesive voice in Congress on the issue so that we might introduce and pass legislation that will strengthen law enforcement, community organizing and school-based efforts to address child abduction. Read more
Moran addresses run at governor nomination
Story by Chris Graham
newdominion@ntelos.net
Look at the 2009 Democratic Party gubernatorial race one way, and it looks an awful lot like the 2008 Democratic Party presidential race.
You’ve got two candidates in both who are perceived as being basically dead-even right now who you have to assume will fight to the death for the nomination while the Republicans appear to be solidly unified behind a single standardbearer.
Substitute Creigh Deeds and Brian Moran for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and Bob McDonnell for John McCain, and you’re ready to go. Read more
Just doing their job
Column by Chris Graham
newdominion@ntelos.net
Just wondering …
Where are all the people who were so concerned that The New York Times was playing partisan politics when it reported on allegations of ties between Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain and a female lobbyist that his aides had reportedly warned him could be damaging to his political future? Read more
Ends around
Story by Chris Graham
sportsdom@ntelos.net
Listen to today’s “SportsDominion Show” to hear Virginia football coach Al Groh talk about tight end John Phillips. Show Length: 6:18.
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Tom Santi – gone.
Jonathan Stupar – gone.
Seventy-six catches, 777 yards, five touchdowns – gone.
One tight end who caught a pass returns for Virginia in 2008. And Bath County product John Phillips has a lot riding on his massive shoulders heading into his senior season.
“Oh, clearly, yeah,” UVa. football coach Al Groh said today in response to a question from a reporter about whether Phillips could be counted on to catch 50 balls next season.
Phillips, a 6-6, 257-pound rising senior, caught 17 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns in 2007 while serving primarily as the “constant on-the-line stable tight end while the other two were movement tight ends,” according to Groh.
“That’s been his spot the better part of the past two years, and he’ll continue in that,” Groh said.
But Phillips will have to be more productive out of the end slot than he has been the past two years. The trio vying for the right to replace Santi and Stupar is comprised of rising sophomores Mark Ambrose (6-5, 215), Andrew Devlin (6-6, 255) and Joe Torchia (6-5, 237). Read more
Dancing (the hulu) with the stars
Posted March 31, 2008
Carly at the Movies column by Carl Larsen
There’s a new website out there that’s just made for us fans of movies and TV (guess that about covers everybody, right?), and it’s there for your inspection at www.hulu.com.
Please check it out just once. After you read this column, of course.
This brand-new website, launched March 12, is a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., and even though it’s still expanding, there’s a good selection of old and new TV shows and clips along with movies (more added all the time). There are limited commercials – but really limited. I mean, you can choose to watch a Coming Attractions just like at the movies or put up with mini-commercials throughout the TV show. I watched a brief pitch for “Mama Mia,” then sat back at my monitor and enjoyed a full-screen screening of something I’ve had a Jones for for some time: the pilot episode of “Picket Fences” from back in 1992. Read more
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