VMI alum named D-League player of the week
Staff Report
VMI sports: www.vmikeydets.com
Reggie Williams, the Keydets’ all-time leading scorer and 2008 graduate of VMI, has been named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games played during the week of Dec. 21.
Williams led Sioux Falls to a 2-0 record last week, including two home victories over the Springfield Armor. Read more
Stanford rallies to knock off JMU men
Wells scores 29 in losing effort for Dukes
Staff Report
JMU sports: www.jmusports.com
Jeremy Green scored all of his 15 points during the second half as Stanford rallied for an 80-76 non-conference men’s basketball victory over turnover-plagued James Madison Tuesday.
JMU scored the game’s first nine points and was in front 36-34 at halftime before the host Cardinal led for much of the final period. Read more
The Junior Opry is back
Talent showcase returns to Stage4 Jan. 3
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Bob Campbell wanted to bring his Virginia Junior Opry back to the Staunton area. Jeff McDaniel wanted it back, too, because he knew a Staunton-based Opry show could pull from a wide base of local talent.
“And here we are,” said Campbell, who with McDaniel, a ShenanArts veteran who connected with Campbell at a Virginia Junior Opry show in Clifton Forge earlier this year, is putting on a Junior Opry performance on Sunday, Jan. 3, at Stage4 Theatre in Verona.
Campbell has moved the Opry back and forth between the Staunton area and the Clifton Forge area for the past 10 years. Campbell, a member of the popular local act The Coachmen, has wanted to find a home in the Staunton-Augusta area for the show modeled on the Grand Old Opry since getting the series going. Read more
#24 UAB coming to town
Bennett: ‘A very good test’
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Alabama-Birmingham comes to the John Paul Jones Arena Wednesday night for a game against Virginia as a newly-minted member of the Associated Press Top 25.
At 11-1, and owning wins over Cincinnati (64-47 on Dec. 16) and Butler (67-57 on Dec. 22), the Blazers are looking to add to their NCAA Tournament resume with a win on the road over an ACC team.
“They’ve had some impressive wins. They really handled Cincinnati. Their last win against Butler was impressive, South Alabama. They’re playing really well. Lost one early, and pretty much have – they beat my alma mater, Green Bay, so that hurts – so they obviously have played good basketball,” said first-year UVa. coach Tony Bennett, whose 6-4 Cavs are themselves in search of a signature win. Read more
Creampuffs, my …
Cut Seth Greenberg some slack on early-season schedule
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
I get tired of hearing how if you’re, say, Virginia Tech, you’d better put together a marquee nonconference schedule, because if you don’t, you know, you’re committing some grand sin.
Case in point: an article by Roanoke Times Virginia Tech beat writer Mark Berman on Sunday that took Seth Greenberg to the woodshed for having a strength of schedule rating in the 250 range.
“The Hokies are off to a 10-1 start thanks to a soft schedule,” Berman wrote in the piece, which goes on to blast Greenberg for scheduling a home-and-home series with Georgia instead of getting together with a tougher SEC foe and doing the same with Penn State instead of getting another Big 10 team. Read more
UVa. women open Classic with victory
‘Hoos to face Liberty in championship game
Staff Report
UVa. sports: www.virginiasports.com
The 20th-ranked Virginia women’s basketball team defeated Samford, 69-60, on the opening day of the Marriott Cavalier Classic at John Paul Jones Arena. UVa senior guard Monica Wright (Woodbridge, Va.) led all scorers with 28 points and added nine rebounds and six steals.
With the win, Virginia’s record improved to 8-3 on the year. The Cavaliers advance to the championship game of the Marriott Cavalier Classic for the 22nd time as they look to win their sixth-straight title. UVa’s opponent in the 7 p.m. championship game on Tuesday (Dec. 29) will be Liberty, as the Flames dispatched Cornell, 70-40, in the earlier game of the tournament. Read more
Homecoming
Brown leads Flames to Marriott Cavalier Classic title game with 18-point effort
Staff Report
Liberty U. sports: www.libertyflames.com
Playing less than 30 miles east of her hometown, Liberty redshirt freshman Devon Brown tallied 18 points against Cornell Monday evening, leading three Lady Flames in double digits as Liberty reached Tuesday night’s Marriott Cavalier Classic title game with an impressive 70-40 victory over the Big Red at the John Paul Jones Arena.
The Lady Flames, returning from a 13-day Christmas break, improve to 7-2 on the season. Read more
McDonnell: Va. ‘eager to get started’ on offshore drilling
Gov.-elect writes letter to Secretary of Interior to push ’11 lease sale
Staff Report
McDonnell online: www.bobmcdonnell.com
Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell today released a letter that he sent last week to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar cautioning against any delay in a scheduled 2011 lease sale involving drilling interests off the Virginia coast.
The letter comes as published reports have Salazar considering a revision to federal policy regarding drilling dating back to the Bush administration. McDonnell made offshore drilling a key part of his 2009 gubernatorial campaign as a way of providing revenues for transportation-system improvements.
“More than fifteen months have passed since the United States Congress allowed the federal moratorium on exploration and development of oil and natural gas resources off the Atlantic Coast to expire, and President Bush repealed a similar executive order banning such action. This cleared the way for Virginia to be the first state on the Atlantic seaboard to explore and drill beginning in 2011. Virginia is eager to get started,” wrote McDonnell in the Dec. 23 letter. Read more
Wolf to Obama: ‘Please stop these releases’
Congressman also calls for public release of info on detainees
Staff Report
Rep. Wolf online: www.wolf.house.gov
10th District Congressman Frank Wolf is again calling on the Obama administration to halt the release of Guantanamo Bay detainees to countries like Yemen in the wake of an attempt by a man with ties to extremist groups in Yemen to detonate an explosive device in a passenger jet over Detroit on Christmas Day.
“I implore you again to immediately halt these releases and answer the questions of the American people about your policies and who you are releasing. They deserve to know,” Wolf wrote in a letter dated today to President Obama.
“It is inconceivable that you would release terrorist detainees to Yemen and Afghanistan at the same time you are launching missiles at terrorist targets. Please stop these releases.” Read more
Vasquez, Scott earn ACC hoops honors
Staff Report
ACC sports: www.theacc.com
Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez has been named ACC Player of the Week, while Miami’s Durand Scott earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors.
Vasquez averaged 26.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 8.0 assists while leading the Terps to victories over Winston-Salem State and Florida Atlantic. For the week, the Caracas, Venezuela, native shot .583 (21-for-36) from the floor, including .600 (6-for-10) from behind the arc.
In earning the Player of the Week Award for the fifth time in his career, Vasquez had a double-double in Tuesday’s 98-55 win over Winston-Salem State with a season-high 27 points and 11 assists. The senior guard closed out the week with a 26-point, eight-rebound and five-assist effort in Maryland’s 72-59 victory over Florida Atlantic Sunday. Read more
Wrong way on Afghanistan
Column by Eleanor LeCain
Submit guest columns: freepress2@ntelos.net
In March 2003, I traveled to Afghanistan to facilitate a leadership training for a group of Afghan women who were hoping to help lead their country away from the abyss that had been Taliban rule.
Afghans I met – men and women – were grateful that the U.S. had knocked the Taliban out of power. They wanted to get an education and a job, but there were few schools and jobs available. Read more
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The Rant | I want my DSS
Posted on December 29, 2009 · Leave a Comment
Video Essay by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
But what looks good on paper doesn’t always make sense in terms of real-world impact.
AFP editor Chris Graham explores the issue and warns of possible impending doom on the regional-cooperation front in today’s Rant. Read more
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