Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 23, 1993 TAG: 9306230013
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Because Roanoke started peddling itself, maybe the Tour DuPont will pedal through instead of past town in 1994.
Steve Brunner, media relations director for Tour organizer Medalist Sports of Richmond, said Tuesday that Roanoke is being "heavily considered" for next year's Tour DuPont route.
Brunner said Medalist has been contacted by Roanoke City councilman Mac McCadden and Phil Sparks, the city's economic development administrator, about the Star City's potential as a Tour site. The Medalist official said Roanoke could work as either a stop or a start on the Tour map, and that the terrain, including a Mill Mountain climb, have intriguing potential.
"With the population base there, a city that large with the kind of hotel space that could be available, Roanoke is right for the Tour," Brunner said. "Now, we just have to decide whether or how it might fit into the course we choose."
The Roanoke Valley has plenty of competition as a race hopeful. Brunner said the Tidewater region is interested, as are some Northern Virginia locations, Asheville, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., as well as York and Gettysburg, Pa., among others.
Blacksburg, Lynchburg and The Homestead resort in Hot Springs could also return to the map after Tour success last month, Brunner said. Richmond is a definite stop, and the race will finish in the Triad area of North Carolina, like this year.
Brunner said that if the Tour expands, it won't be by more than one day, to 12. Brunner said Medalist has an Aug. 1 deadline to set next year's map, but with so many options and more site visits to make, a Sept. 1 decision is more likely.
\ STRONG ARM: Glenvar's runnerup finish in the state Group A baseball tournament last weekend deserves applause, although one has to wonder how happy an ending it may seem in future years if Jason Anderson has arm trouble.
Anderson, arguably the best player in the Roanoke Valley this season, pitched 24 innings in seven days in Glenvar's last three games. The junior left-hander's pitch count was around 400, on two days' rest twice.
That may have been good for the Highlanders, but wasn't for the arm of a junior who is a college and pro prospect. Not that Glenvar was alone in its overuse of a pitcher. Anderson's mound opponent in the final, Jason Morris of Rappahannock, pitched 15 innings in four days.
It happens too often in high school, college and summer baseball. And it isn't just the coaches that are to blame. Any parent who cares about his son's future could establish ground rules on the use of a pitcher's talent. That is one of the few situations in which parental interference shouldn't only be tolerated, but desired.
High school baseball needs more stringent rules against use - or abuse - of pitchers. An innings limit should be tied to a days' rest minimum. Not only would that keep coaches from overusing a star, but it would force them to develop more pitching, increasing participation in the sport and depth at the position.
Any scout worth his radar gun will tell you that an arm is a terrible thing to waste.
by CNB