ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The weekend buffet:
In NASCAR, almost all of the talk is about the close Winston Cup championship points race. You want close, check the Craftsman Truck series.
There won't be a football game at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday afternoon, but there will plenty of tailgating in the Hanes 250. In 16 of the 18 NASCAR truck races year - two were red-flagged because of weather, the average difference between winning and second place has been 0.835 second, or 13.36 seconds total.
The average winning margin through 22 races (three finished under caution) in the Winston Cup series this year is a comparatively wide 1.98 seconds. In the truck series' two-season history, the combined difference at the checkered flag is 35.4 seconds for 36 races.
REAL ORANGE: College football's modern attendance record will be broken Saturday at Neyland Stadium for the Florida-Tennessee game, which could decide the Southeastern Conference championship very early in the season. Vols officials are forecasting a standing-room crowd of ``something more than 108,000'' says a ticket-office staff member.
The record crowd in modern college football history is 106,869 for the Southern Cal-Ohio State game at the Rose Bowl on Jan.1, 1973. The pre-1948 NCAA record listed is an estimated 120,000 for the 1927 Notre Dame-Southern Cal game at Soldier Field in Chicago. The audited crowd record before '48 is 112,912 for the same matchup at the same site.
Michigan Stadium has seen 147 crowds of 100,000-plus. The Neyland Stadium capacity has been increased to 102,485 starting this season.
NO HOOPS: The NBA's preseason begins Oct.10 and has plenty of stops in the region. Games are scheduled at the Greensboro (N.C.) Coliseum, the Richmond Coliseum, the Hampton Coliseum and the Patriot Center in Fairfax - but again none at the Roanoke Civic Center.
AIR FOSTER: ESPN officials at Saturday's Virginia Tech-Boston College football game were inquiring about the Hokies' regular-season home basketball finale March 2 against Xavier. The network is interested in airing the ``retirement game'' of coach Bill Foster.
Interestingly, Foster and the close friend who will succeed him, Bobby Hussey, once were bench rivals, too. On Feb.27, 1989, at Miami Arena, Foster's Hurricanes beat Davidson, where Hussey was in his last season as head coach, 90-78.
``We had agreed before the game that no matter what happened we'd go out to dinner together, with our wives,'' Foster said. ``And we did.''
STUPID: Baseball continues to foul balls off its feet. The latest message that the game doesn't care about its product, or fans, was sent Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, when the New York-Baltimore game so crucial to the American League East Division pennant race and wild-card chase began in a cold, steady rain.
Not only should a game of such importance not be played in such conditions, what about the chance of injury to players, perhaps affecting the remainder of the season? This situation was a perfect example of why the sport needs someone, anyone, running the asylum.
GROUNDERS: In ACC football, it's the golden age of rushers. In Tiki Barber of Virginia, Leon Johnson of North Carolina and Warrick Dunn of Florida State, the league has three backs who will complete their eligibility in the same year, each with more than 3,500 career yards. Never before has the ACC had three such prolific runners finish their college days in the same season.
At their current pace, all three would finish among the top 10 in ACC career rushing yards. Barber, who has 274 yards in two games this season, at his current pace would finish with a UVa-record 3,536 yards, a remarkable number considering the Roanoke resident had 41 yards on 16 carries as a third-string freshman.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 linesby CNB