Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 17, 1993 TAG: 9301150037
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
OK, GUYS, THE GYM MAY BE HELL, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO PROVE IT
An increased appreciation of the power of the press was driven home Tuesday night.Recently in this space, remarks about Blacksburg High's gym that were intended (but probably not taken) as constructive criticism were put forth. Among the points was that the cussed place is just too cold.
So on assignment there the other night for the game with Northside, I was struck by the radical change in climate.
Now, I don't want to overreact and say it was too hot, but when scores of fans fled the premises at intermission to roll in the rain-soaked grass outside, in the manner of Finns who have been baked like croissants in a sauna before plunging into a snowbank. . . .
Safe to say, somebody had laid less than a gentle fist on the thermostat. Now, I didn't see it myself, but I dare say by the time they were through, the little thermostat needle was pointing to "Volcano Interior," the notch just below "Hades."
Now that these results have been achieved, it is good and proper to take aim at another Blacksburg geographic landmark: Bill Brown Stadium, the home sod of the Indians' football and soccer teams.
There is no intent to advocate that the place be burned (all that aluminum wouldn't burn anyway) or dynamited (what would the neighborhood garden and bridge clubs say?). But something must be done about the joint. At once.
At the very least, two issues must be addressed:
Toilets and locker rooms.
The press box.
Of course, there are toilets. But it bothers me to have to walk almost all the way to Longshop-McCoy to get there and then stand in line until midway through the fourth quarter.
And there are locker rooms. It should tip you off, though, that Blacksburg's players always board the bus, muddy and fragrant though they may be, and commute across town back to school. Toilets and locker rooms could be conveniently located together in a field house. If I may be so bold as to make a modest proposal, it would go nicely in the expanse behind the visitors' bleachers.
As for the press box, the only worse ones I've heard of in 15-plus years of newspaper work are at H.T. Woodson in Fairfax, where Pulaski County played in this year's state semifinals, and at Courtland in Spotsylvania County, site of numerous state playoff games involving Timesland teams.
At those places, when you ask to be admitted so you can report the game, guys with camouflage caps and snuff juice dribbling down their chins laugh at you and tell you to keep your butt outside and try to act like a man. Meanwhile, they're taking their ease inside and spitting on the floor.
Now, it is true that members of the press are a scruffy bunch, but not even they are at the level of the non-working rabble that inhabit the "press boxes" at Woodson and Courtland.
Blacksburg's press box is so decrepit that I haven't been inside it since almost being witness to hideous mega-death a few years back, when a state champion soccer match was blithely contested there amid thunder, lightning and horizontal rain.
I choose to perch atop the press box, which may not be too smart, but my company kindly provides a six-figure insurance policy for reporters killed in the course of their professional duties.
At some point, I'm convinced if the trek up that slippery ladder made from pipe fittings doesn't get me, then an ill-timed and off-balance bump against the "safety rail" up there will.
Man, you could breathe heavily on that baby and it would snap off like a toothpick. Next thing you know, you're plunging to a hideous fate in the street below, where large trucks often travel, or taking a fatal swan dive into the crowd on the other side. No telling how many casualties would result from such a free fall into oblivion. All I know is that ever since I started thinking about the dreadful possibilities, I haven't slept a wink.
The rail used to be fine - until Salem assistant football coach Billy Miles tried unsuccessfully to rip it free of its moorings so he could wrap it around the neck of an official one night not so long ago.
Miles failed, and so will that rail when push comes to shove.
Never fear, though. There's plenty of time before next football season to take care of these matters. And the good people of Blacksburg, right-thinking sorts that they are, are sure to see to it.
One more thing. The bit last week about torching the Blacksburg gym and starting over, that may be a little extreme.
A fire in the gym might spread to the lunch room and I'd hate to see anything happen to a place where young people can sit down to a nutritious repast of corndogs, french fries and chocolate milk.
The holiday gift-giving season is past, but here's a hard-to-beat suggestion for a present (birthday? graduation?) for the Pulaski County High football fan on your list. The video production class at the high school has put together two tapes as mementoes of the state championship campaign.
The first is a game tape, professionally produced, complete with graphics, music, commentary and instant replay, from the title clash with Thomas Dale. The other is a highlight film of the whole season. The highlight tape is up to the same professional standards as the game tape.
Cost is $20 for the game tape and $25 for the highlight tape and they are available by calling the high school at 674-4605, extension 184, or at Cougar Express on U.S. 11 in Dublin. Proceeds are plowed back into the video production program at the high school.
"For a while, tapes were going out of here as fast as we could make them," said instructor Jesse Shelton. "We called it the Cabbage Patch Doll syndrome."
The Narrows basketball team has been reduced by attrition to nine players, so Coach Todd Lusk has been forced to suit up and run with the team when it scrimmages.
"They're about to wear me out," Lusk said. "We run a lot and they're in a lot better shape than I am. They also know who to go after on defense."
Ray Cox covers New River Valley sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News