#10 'Hoos rally to beat VMI, 4-3
John Barr (Sr., Ivyland, Pa.) hit a two-out RBI double to score the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as the No. 10 Virginia baseball team picked up a 4-3 victory over VMI Wednesday afternoon in the 2011 home opener at Davenport Field.
While the game was played on a chilly, cloudy afternoon, the game drew 2,175 fans – by far the most spectators for a Virginia baseball home opener. The previous high was 1,567 last season.
Virginia’s offense was silenced for most of the day by VMI starting pitcher Coby Cowgill – the Cavaliers managed just three hits off him and six total. UVa scored the game’s final three runs in the seventh and eighth innings to rally for the win. Read more
AFP to offer marketing, PR class through PVCC, Artisans Center
Augusta Free Press is offering a class on marketing and PR through Piedmont Virginia Community College and the Artisans Center of Virginia.
The class – being offered on Thursday, March 31, and Tuesday, May 3, at The Stultz Center on the PVCC campus in Charlottesville – is geared to teaching techniques for self-promotion and marketing for small-business owners and artists.
The one-day, three-hour class will offer tips for simple and affordable ways to enhance your website as well as time-saving tips for extending your social media channels. Not comfortable boasting? Learn practical tips to help you toot your own horn without blowing it.
Instruction will cover how to position your PR online, write press releases that catch an editor’s eye and create printed materials for events that will draw your audience in.
By the end of the session you will have a sound foundation to begin putting your public-relations strategy into immediate use.
Chris Graham and Crystal Graham from Augusta Free Press LLC will serve as co-instructors for the class.
The class fee is $45 per person.
Register online at www.pvcc.edu/instructional_divisions/workforce_services/register.php.
Hoops dreams: Fishburne basketball clinic teaches Y kids court, life lessons
The hook to the youth basketball players at the Waynesboro YMCA to get them out for a group practice Tuesday night was that practice was going to be led by members of the nationally ranked FIshburne Military School postgraduate basketball team.
In between the drills emphasizing proper ballhandling, defensive movement and shooting techniques, the players and FMS coach Ed Huckaby imparted some imporant life-lesson messages to the youngsters.
“When we talk about work ethic, we’re not just talking about work ethic on the floor,” said Huckaby, who likes talking about his team’s cumulative 3.35 grade point average as much as its Top 10 national ranking and roster that includes 14 players committed to Division I schools next year.
To Huckaby, it’s not basketball first or academics first that makes his program a success.
“Everything you do comes first,” Huckaby said. “You go to the basketball court and work hard. Work equally as hard in the classroom. Treat the academics, the classroom, your citizenship, your demeanor, your work ethic, your respect for other fellow human beings, your Christian life and walk, treat it all equally, and it will all take care of itself.”
Players in the five-team YMCA Junior Division took part in the clinic. Huckaby and Y executive director Jeff Fife are putting together plans to do multiple clinics for Y hoopsters next winter.
“I was very impressed and pleased with Fishburne and their athletes. Coach Huckabee’s message on character development, being excellent in the class room, and giving full effort both off and on the court was well received by our kids,” Fife said. “I enjoyed watching the athletes interact with our kids and work on skills development. The energy and enthusiasm was inspiring, and I look forward to future activities with Fishburne and their postgraduate program.”
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Story by Chris Graham. More Y news at WaynesboroYMCA.com.
#1 'Hoos cruise past Mount St. Mary's
No. 1 Virginia (2-0) rode a career-high eight points from Steele Stanwick on Tuesday afternoon, as the Cavaliers cruised past the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers (0-1) inside Klöckner Stadium, 22-6.
“It was a bit of a surprise, in the locker room before the game the team was very quiet and I wasn’t sure we were ready to give that kind of effort,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “But we were ready right from the beginning. We were very good at getting the ball up off the ground and since we were doing that we were able to control the pace of the game. Mt. St. Mary’s was never able to get a run against us, so we kept getting the ball back – I give our guys a lot of credit – it was a good day overall.” Read more
Stinespring loses play-calling duties at Tech
Virginia Tech head football coach Frank Beamer announced Tuesday several additional assignments to his coaching staff – most notably the effective demotion of offensive coordinator Byran Stinespring.
Stinespring will retain the title of offensive coordinator, but will pass the duties of gameday play-calling to quarterbacks coach Mike O’Cain. Stinespring will also take over the offensive tackles to go along with his current coaching duties with the tight ends. Curt Newsome will now coach just the offensive guards and the center position, as opposed to the entire line, which he coached the previous five seasons.
In other moves, Shane Beamer, the son of head coach Frank Beamer, who was previously announced as the running backs coach, will now also be the associate head coach, and on defense, Torrian Gray will take over the rovers position and will now coach the entire defensive backfield.
Beamer had previously announced the hiring outside linebackers coach Cornell Brown, who will also help out with the defensive ends.
Virginia Democrats sting McDonnell on VP interest
Most recently it was Tim Kaine being criticized by Virginia Republicans for considering a spot on the Democratic presidential ticket in 2008. Now Democrats are throwing up their arms at a suggestion by Gov. Bob McDonnell that it would be hard to turn down the second spot on the GOP national ticket in 2012 if asked.
“This announcement explains the Governor’s public policy approach better than anything else,” Democratic Party of Virginia executive director David Mills said today. “Short-term budgetary gimmicks, one-time privatization schemes and a transportation plan that robs schools, public safety and public health are not a recipe for good government; but they may just give Bob McDonnell enough time to move onto his next office before the reality of his mismanagement sinks in.”
McDonnell told a Richmond TV news reporter on Monday that if a Republican nominee were to ask him to join a ticket as the vice-presidential nominee, it would “probably” be a difficult thing for him to turn down.
Kaine came under fire for inserting his name into the Democratic vice-presidential process in ’08. The then-governor was reportedly a finalist for the spot, which eventually went to Delaware Sen. Joe Biden.
Then-governor Doug Wilder made a brief appearance in the 1992 Democratic Party presidential-nomination race and was criticized by Virginia Republicans at the time.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Stuarts Draft High School to present West Side Story
The drama and choral departments at Stuarts Draft High School will present West Side Story March 3-6.
The story takes Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to New York City as two young idealistic lovers find themselves caught between warring street gangs, the American Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks.
The SDHS production features a cast comprised entirely of SDHS students. Senior Briana Wolters and Sophomore Shane Siebken take on the roles of star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony. The production also features senior Lionel Ross as Maria’s brother and Sharks leader, Bernardo, and junior Dejon Mock as Bernardo’s feisty and witty girlfriend, Anita. Tony’s best friend and Jet leader, Riff, is played by sophomore Jacob Moyer, with sophomore Dylan Yancey and junior Brett Talley featured as Jets lieutenants Action and A-Rab.
Showtimes are Thursday through Saturday evenings, March 3-5, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, March 6 at 3 p.m. All performances will be held in the auditorium at Stuarts Draft High School, 1028 Augusta Farms Road, Stuarts Draft.
Reserved seats are available for $10. General admission seats are available at the door for $8 for adults and $6 for students.
For more information or to purchase advance tickets, call 540.946.7600.
Photo courtesy Wes Moyer Photography.
The AFP on WREL: Stretch Drive
AFP editor Chris Graham talks sports on WREL-1450AM’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan.”
The segment begins with a detailed look at Virginia Tech’s hopes for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. Saturday’s loss to Virginia could be a devastating blow to the Hokies’ chances. Chris lays out what Tech needs to do to put itself in a better position for Selection Sunday.
A look at UVa.’s up-and-down season follows, and we conclude with a tour of the CAA, which appears to be a multibid conference with George Mason, VCU and Old Dominion all jockeying for attention from the selection committee.
The AFP on WREL: Stretch drive
AFP editor Chris Graham talks sports on WREL-1450AM’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan.”
The segment begins with a detailed look at Virginia Tech’s hopes for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid. Saturday’s loss to Virginia could be a devastating blow to the Hokies’ chances. Chris lays out what Tech needs to do to put itself in a better position for Selection Sunday.
A look at UVa.’s up-and-down season follows, and we conclude with a tour of the CAA, which appears to be a multibid conference with George Mason, VCU and Old Dominion all jockeying for attention from the selection committee.
Roll play: Honor students at William Perry celebrate hard work at the Y
They were at the Waynesboro YMCA today because they’d already achieved – individually. The Y hosted 60 fourth- and fifth-grade students from William Perry Elementary who made the honor roll in the first semester of the 2010-2011 academic year.
The school’s first honor-roll party ended with a lesson the kids could take back to school and take home with them.
“It’s a bizarre feeling to have 60 people sitting on laps, and then the applause started happening. Was there a sense of accomplishment?” said YMCA executive director Jeff Fife after leading the group through a team-building exercise.
The students had to break through their comfort zone a bit to work together to form what Fife called “a group chair” – all 60 sitting on the knees of the person ahead of them at the same time.
It took three tries to get it down, but in the end they were able to do it.
“Two of you don’t participate, it doesn’t get done,” Fife told the group after the exercise, which culminated a busy day for the students at the Y, which included time in the pool and in the gym.
The day was conceived as a reward for the hard work the students put in to earn their way onto the honor roll.
“My hope is that we can balance internal and external motivations to encourage students to work hard and show them that their hard work can be rewarded,” William Perry principal Julie Zook said.
“Celebrating their hard work lets them know that their hard work is appreciated,” Zook said.
Story by Chris Graham. More YMCA news at WaynesboroYMCA.com.
Chris Graham: Is Tech a tourney team?
The short answer: not right now. No marquee wins. (No, beating Florida State, who beat Duke, isn’t a marquee win-by-association.) Two losses to a Virginia team that is in the 150 range in the RPI.
And yes, that matter of RPI. Tech is currently in the mid-60s in the various RPIs out there. The expanded NCAA field has 37 at-large teams getting in this year. My reckoning is that anybody outside of 45-50 in the RPI had better get their pins and needles ready come Selection Sunday.
The Hokies have some time to work on their resume. Four games remain in the regular season, including one last chance at a marquee win at home on Saturday against Duke. A loss to the Blue Devils, a slipup against Wake Forest, or a loss to another team trying to boost its resume (Boston College, Clemson), and it could be win-out-in-Greensboro-or-else.
No pressure, right? Expectations have risen with what Seth Greenberg has been able to do in Blacksburg in recent years, but the fan base is getting impatient with the succession of near-misses come tourney time.
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Chris Graham: Middle East uprisings-A bad thing?
Posted on February 22, 2011 · 2 Comments
Apparently so. I mean, I can understand the concern – that a power vacuum can just as easily be filled by nefarious forces, the Muslim Brotherhoods and Al-Qaedas of the world, as it can the forces of liberty et al.
That said, what I see going on here is a long-term trend that is very much in line with Western interests. These uprisings are being led by young Arabs who are better-educated and much more open-minded than their parents and grandparents – and have come of age in a world in which they have been exposed to so much more of the world than their immediate and more distant predecessors.
Which is to say, they’re not pushing for change as much as they’re pushing for a world that they know exists outside of their national borders to be their world.
Instability is always dangerous in the short term, no question. Long term, isn’t this what we have been saying we as Americans want for our brothers and sisters on the global stage – to follow the example of representative democracy that we’re still trying to work to get better at after a couple of hundred years of putting it to practice?
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with augusta free press, chris graham, egypt, international politics, libya, middle east, tunisia