THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 17, 1994 TAG: 9408170542
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LA MOTTE-SERVOLEX, FRANCE LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Old Dominion's trip to France at times has been a bus-capade.
The Monarchs have spent a lot of time tooling around the French cities and countryside in their bus. Driver Frederic doesn't speak English, and Bill Wall, ODU's tour guide, was prophetic the first day when he said ``We're going to have some adventures.''
Frederic has delivered with a vast array of wrong turns and lead-footed curves. But the most enduring memory of Freddy - as he is commonly known by the Monarchs - will be the arctic climate he prefers on his bus.
Every so often someone from ODU's traveling party goes up to Freddy and tries to depict that he's too cold. Invariably Freddy stares at him bemusedly, and the air conditioning rages on.
Finally on Tuesday, Freddy seemed to get the message. The air conditioning cut off.
An hour later, a player moaned from the back of the bus, ``hot!''
THAT SMILING LADY: Old Dominion assistant Jim Corrigan was talking to Wall about different sightseeing opportunities available once ODU gets to Paris. ``What if we want to see, uh, whats-her-name?'' Corrigan said, struggling but failing to come up with the name of the famous painting Mona Lisa.
FRENCH BUTCHER: It seems everyone has had moments when the French language got the best of them. A certain reporter hasn't stopped hearing grief for saying during dinner the other day, ``Pass the ketchup, c'est la vie.'' That translates into, ``Pass the ketchup, that's life.'' S'il vous plait means please, which was the intended utterance.
FOOD CRITIC: Guard Corey Robinson sat pensively at lunch Tuesday and asked, ``Ain't French toast from France? How come we haven't had any of that yet.'' For the record, French fries have been readily available at ODU's meals.
DRASTIC IMPROVEMENT: After spending the first two nights in a spartan hotel outside Nice, the Monarchs took a couple of steps up in lodging Sunday and Monday at Montpellier and Tuesday at Chambery, where they stayed Tuesday after the game in Le Motte-Servolex. The rooms were well-appointed, slightly larger and even had shower doors or a curtain, which could not be said of the first stop.
``I like these way better than the first one,'' David Harvey said. ``These make the other one seem like a shoebox.
TOUR TIDBITS: The French take their dogs anywhere and everywhere, including into hotels and restaurants. A couple of dogs were barking at each other around 2 a.m. a few nights ago in ODU's hotel. ... The Monarchs seem to be celebrities of sorts on this trip. Glossy posters with a team picture hang around the towns they play in promoting their games. After every game, fans clamor for autographed posters or pieces of paper. ... ODU drove along the western edge of the French Alps Tuesday and had an outdoor lunch poolside at the foot of the mountains. After lunch several 40-ish women asked for pictures with the players, particularly with the tallest ones. ... When an opposing player came over to wipe the bottom of his sneakers off on the special cleaning board ODU carries, American capitalist Corrigan quipped, ``10 francs.'' It was worth a try, considering someone attempted to charge a few members of ODU's party two francs to use the bathroom earlier in the day. by CNB