Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994 TAG: 9404170038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ray Cox
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
You're just coming off a season in which your quarterback has galloped and flung your Canadian Football League ballclub to the Grey Cup, that subarctic league's equivalent of the Super Bowl. This quarterback's good works earned him recognition as the most valuable performer in the league.
The guy was sensational, unbelievable and also stupendous in his deeds.
"He's like a human slinky toy out there," said Allan Watt, a team spokesman. "He's like Gretzky; you never get the big piece of him."
The 'Mos love the guy. So much, in fact, they reward him richly, making him one of that spartan (by NFL standards) league's wealthiest employees.
In thanks for this kind of loyalty and adoration, your hero comes to you this winter with crushing news.
"I think I'm going to give baseball a try. I owe it to myself," he says.
Mind you, this fellow is in the prime of his football life, a megastar who has thrown for upward of 20,000 yards and has 25,000 yards total offense. But by baseball measurement, he's a little old to be getting a look-see in the low minors. In fact, at age 30, he's downright elderly.
What do you do, if you run the Edmonton Eskimos and this horrific turn of events happens to you?
Do you rage?
Do you throw your Ming vase through a window?
Do you sit down in the middle of you richly carpeted office and shed bitter tears?
No, the front-office guys in Edmonton didn't do any of that when Damon Allen told them the next paycheck he'd cash would be drawn on the Pittsburgh Pirates' account.
"I told him to be sure and bring me a hat," Watt said.
In the CFL, if a guy has a chance to go somewhere and make some real money, they pat him on the backside and tell him they'll leave a light in the window with which he can see his way home through the blizzard.
Allen, a pitcher, isn't making much money for the Salem Buccaneers these days, but he doesn't know if he'll be returning to the land of the Northern Lights. Yet.
"I'll know when it's time," he said. "I may know before the Pirates know."
Allen is the younger brother of the Kansas City Chiefs' one-man stampede, Marcus Allen, but Damon has long stood on his own merits. Way back in the days of his tender youth, Damon Allen was a football and baseball man at Cal State-Fullerton. The baseball scouts liked what they saw and made him an offer, but Allen followed his heart to the Canadian prairie.
The baseball scouts never quit asking if he was sick of football. One day Allen decided a second career might not be such a bad idea. That's why he now calls the spare dressing quarters of the Buccaneers' home, misses wife Desiree and their two girls, and is teaching his Latin teammates how to properly execute a three-point stance.
Allen may end up being Don Quixote or he may end up being Don Drysdale. He'll never know unless he tries.
Early on, the results have been mixed. On opening night, he looked like Dresden after the Royal Air Force was done with it. Two nights later, he looked like he might have the makings of an effective long reliever.
Who knows?
"I'll know," Allen said.
\ NEW EMPLOYEES: The Buccaneers have two new employees in high-visibility positions this year in chief groundskeeper Stan Macko and public-address announcer Craig Wright.
The extent of Macko's diamond-grooming experience came when he interned with the Canton-Akron Indians last year. Before that, the most Macko had done with dirt was work on a golf course for several years.
Macko, a 23-year-old native of Binghamton N.Y., is not otherwise a stranger to the sporting scene. He also was a basketball player of some repute at Division III Cortland (N.Y.) State. Macko is on the school's list of top 10 scorers.
Macko obviously has a touch with turf. Municipal Field looks splendid, even though it isn't where he wants it to be, particularly in the outfield.
At least one complaint has come from Bucs third baseman Jay Cranford that the region around the hot corner is, in his word, "ragged." Cranford had four errors in the first four games.
"I have to get used to it," he said, referring to the real estate, not the poor fielding.
Macko is pleasing those he needs to, though.
"He's doing a great job," said Sam Lazzaro, the Salem general manager.
Wright succeeded Jeff Dickerson at the mike and during the first home stand established an identity with his understated (no histrionics, no flamboyant treatments of player names) delivery. Wright's soothing presence is just the sort you'd expect from a personality for easy-listening WPVR-FM, which he is.
Wright is a Detroit Tigers fan and clearly knows his baseball.
\ CURRENT ADDRESSES: Dee Dalton of Roanoke, now with the Madison (Wis.) Hatters of the Class A Midwest League, was 2-for-12 (.167) with two RBI in four games. . . . Nelson Metheney of Salem was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA, two walks and three strikeouts in six innings for the Clearwater Phillies of the Class A Florida State League. . . . Billy Wagner of Tannersville and Ferrum College is at Quad Cities of the Midwest League. . . . George Canale of Roanoke broke a hand last week by striking the wall of the Memphis Chicks' dugout. Whether the act was intentional or not is unknown. He was 3-for-13 (.230) with three strikeouts and two doubles in four games while batting cleanup. . . Darren Hodges of Rocky Mount was 0-0 with a 7.20 ERA with four walks, four strikeouts and four runs in five innings for the Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Class AA Eastern League. . . . Brad Clontz of Patrick County had three saves in four games with the Greenville Braves and has not allowed a run in four innings. Opponents in the Class AA Southern League were batting .214 against him.
by CNB