Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 22, 1994 TAG: 9404220034
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
\ WHEELING: After driving the Roanoke Valley's testy "M" course - two mountaintops - for the upcoming Tour DuPont twice this week, this fortysomething, former Schwinn rider is sure of this: The best kind of cycle for this trip is a motorcycle.
\ BIKE PATH: Have local governments informed residents and businesses along the 22.9 miles of the fifth stage of the Tour DuPont that their roads, parking lots and driveways, with only a few exceptions, will be virtually closed for three hours May 9?
\ TURNING BLUE: In some spots, Virginia's football team will be green this fall. The Cavaliers won't be orange, however. They are changing uniforms, and they won't be as colorful.
While the exact color combination of the road uniforms hasn't been decided, the new UVa helmets will be blue, with a white "V" trimmed in orange, above crossed orange sabres. That logo was designed by UVa coach George Welsh's son, Matt, an art major.
The orange jerseys worn at Scott Stadium are history. The Cavaliers will wear blue shirts with a white V on the sleeve and solid white pants, no stripes.
In other words, the home jersey-pants combination will look a lot like the one worn by Penn State.
\ FASTER: It will be a shocker if a record speed isn't set at Martinsville Speedway in today's qualifying for the Hanes 500. Through seven NASCAR Winston Cup races this year, qualifying records have been set at every stop except Daytona International Speedway, where past speeds have been restrictor-plated.
Twenty of the 46 entrants for Sunday's 37-car race tested at the .526-mile oval, but how significant has the pole position been in the Martinsville spring race? Not very. In the past 20 years, the pole-sitter has won twice - Darrell Waltrip in 1980 and Geoff Bodine in '90.
The qualifying record is 93.887 mph, set a year ago by Bodine. How competitive has the Winston Cup circuit become? In three of seven races, the difference between the pole and the last qualifier has been less than one second.
\ BOARD SCORES: VMI's new basketball coach, Bart Bellairs, wants the Keydets to use a run-and-shoot style. To do that, the Keydets will have to rebound much better - and in the past 16 years, VMI has outrebounded its opponent in one season, 1984-85. That was the Keydets' last winning season.
\ SOUTH FORK: Salem was snubbed in the last bidding for the Big South Conference men's basketball tournament. If it happens again, the reaction of Salem Civic Center manager Carey Harveycutter promises to be more colorful than any Big South tournament would be.
The league will play its March 1995 tournament in Salem or Lynchburg.
Salem also is among four bidders for the NCAA Division III men's basketball Final Four, starting in 1996. The site will be awarded in July. The NCAA won't reveal the other cities.
Salem's sellout success in December with its first Stagg Bowl for the Division III football title will help.
\ A REAL KICK: Who said there isn't much scoring in soccer? Switzerland tabloid Blick reported that Swiss coach Roy Hodgson has relaxed a ban on sex for the players on his World Cup team this summer in the United States. Seems the players and their mates had protested.
The tabloid said wives would be allowed into the Swiss players' hotel rooms for a few hours after the opening match against the United States and after a game against favored Colombia.
In typical tabloid taste, Blick's headline on Hodgson's reversal said, "Roy's Boys Can Do It Twice." There is a precedent though.
Italy's coach, Azeglio Vicini, tried to persuade his players to abstain during the 1990 World Cup finals. Italy, playing at home in more ways than one, finished a disappointing third. Vicini was fired.
by CNB