Delmon Young started the Rays’ first 27 games this season, batting fifth in each of them, before getting last night off. But after another offensive show by B.J. Upton last night, Young has been dropped a notch as he returns to the lineup. The most popular guest during the pregame was undoubtedly George Thorogood, who will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before playing a show in St. Pete later tonight. Several Rays and A’s alike made a trip over to introduce themselves to the old rocker.
A’s
Stewart CF
Ellis 2B
Chavez 3B
Swisher DH
Johnson 1B
Crosby SS
Buck RF
Kendall C
Snelling LF
Haren P
Rays
Baldelli DH
Dukes CF
Crawford LF
Wigginton 3B
Upton 2B
Young RF
Pena 1B
Navarro C
Harris SS
Fossum P
The rookies and free agent tryout candidates got a warm welcome to the Sunshine State Friday afternoon.
The sun was blazing as the Bucs kicked off the first day of their three-day mini camp. The media was allowed to watch the first 40 minutes of practice, which basically consisted of stretching and position drills.
First-round draft pick Gaines Adams garnered a lot of attention. So did second-round pick Arron Sears. Sears is sporting No. 67, Kenyatta Walker’s old number. Hopefully, he’ll be slightly more successful.
David Gray, a wide receiver from California, is wearing No. 80, Michael Clayton’s number. Clayton hasn’t given up his number. The Bucs needed it with 53 players on the practice field this weekend.
However, no one is wearing No. 84, Joey Galloway’s number. Makes you wonder…
University of South Florida coach Stan Heath is still trying to add some players for the late signing period, but he’s already been successful in one recent recruiting battle – keeping No. 1 assistant Dan Hipsher from Saint Louis.
Hipsher was targeted to join Rick Majerus’ staff at Saint Louis, but will remain at USF. Losing Hipsher at this point would have been tough. Ever since Heath considered the USF position, Hipsher was his choice to join him as his No. 1 assistant at USF.
Hipsher, who has 15 years experience as a head coach at Akron, Stetson and Wittenberg University, spent two years with Heath at Arkansas. Hipsher accompanied Heath and USF athletic director Doug Woolard on the charter plane from the Final Four in Atlanta to Arkansas when Heath accepted the job.
Majerus had already hired Hipsher once before. In December of 2004 after Majerus accepted the Southern California job, he got Hipsher to join him.
The day after Majerus was introduced as USC’s coach in Los Angeles, he called Hipsher to say he was backing out because of health concerns.
“Rick took it on Tuesday or Wednesday [of December 2004] and my flight to Los Angeles was going to be Friday,” Hipsher told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in March. “I almost flew out Wednesday to sit with Rick. It didn’t get that far. It was an amazing couple of days.”
Bloomingdale senior Rashad Simmons has signed with Rensselaer Polytechic Institute (RPI), a Division III school in Troy, NY. Simmons averaged 12 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists and was named a Western Conference division second-teamer. The Bulls finished 17-11 and advanced to the Class 5A regional quarterfinals.
Zephyrhills’ David Reutimann comes off his most impressive showing yet in Nextel Cup last week at Talladega. Though he finished 32nd, he was running as high as third inside the final 10 laps of the Aaron’s 499 before the engine in his No. 00 Toyota let go. In this week’s edition of his diary, Reutimann looks to tonight’s Busch race and Saturday night’s Nextel Cup race at Richmond.
It’s a shame we don’t have more to show for our run at Talladega. Stuff breaks, though. I was bummed out about it, but at the end of the day, I’m encouraged that we had a car that could go to the front. The guys did a good job, and we definitely made some advances.
Really, there was no time to reflect on it after Sunday night. I spent a couple of days in Las Vegas this week attending a convention for Burger King franchisees. Burger King is one of the primary sponsors on our Nextel Cup car, so it was an important trip. And now we’re focused on Richmond - tonight’s Busch Series race and Saturday night’s Nextel Cup race.
Richmond holds a special place in my heart. It’s the track where I made my first Busch start. In 2002, I qualified in Joe Nemechek’s car and finished 16th.
I’ve had some decent runs at Richmond in the Busch and Craftsman Truck Series, but for one reason or another, we’ve never had good finish there. We qualified fourth one time for the truck race and wound up getting in a crash. Last September in the Busch race, we had a suspension failure.
We had a Busch test at Richmond in March, and we were pretty fast. We were third in both a night practice session and a day session the following day.
We’ve been testing a lot with our Michael Waltrip Racing Toyotas. We tested last week at Nashville and tested again this week at Nashville with our COT stuff. We’re trying different things and trying to get on the other side of the learning curve.
This weekend is not only another Car of Tomorrow race for the Cup cars, it’s also an impound race. That means we have one practice to get the car ready to qualify and race, and that’s tough. The good thing is, we’ve qualified for two of the three COT races, and we’ve been testing a lot and learning some things that should make our cars better.
SEASON TO DATE: Fourth in the Nextel Cup rookie standings and fourth in the Busch standings.
TRIBUTE: Tribune correspondent Bill Green reports that Reutimann’s No. 99 Busch Series car will carry a sticker honoring Russell “Rusty” Dixon, a well-known Tampa Bay area driver who was killed in a motorcycle accident Sunday. Reutimann’s cousin and spotter, Shawn Reutimann, is close friends with Dixon’s family.
Tony Fabrizio
Starting at pitcher for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays … Stephen Nicholas. Well, not quite, but the University of South Florida linebacker was on the mound Thursday night, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the Devil Rays played the Minnesota Twins.
Nicholas is the first Bulls football player to throw out the first pitch at a Devil Rays game.
Nicholas said he played baseball his freshman and sophomore years in high school. Nicholas was a catcher as a freshman and an outfielder as a sophomore at Jacksonville Lee.
“I tried playing the infield in high school, but the ball is moving too fast,” Nicholas said before taking the mound.
Once on the mound, Nicholas pitched from the stretch. His pitch was right down the middle of the plate. It was a perfect strike – that is if Manute Bol was the batter – and was sitting on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s shoulders. OK, you get the idea. It was a bit high.
This has been a hectic week for Nicholas, who was selected in the fourth round of the NFL Draft by Atlanta. He said he’ll report to the Falcons on May 10.
Some thinkers on the Bucs believe this may be the start of something big - the mini-camp that begins the push for respectability again in the National Football League. Yep, the newest Bucs got it going for real at their new digs in West Tampa in the shadow of Raymond James Stadium - their game home and a beauty.
They got it going in unusual anonymity, even for the Bucs.
Historically, the Buc opening hasn’t made the national news, except when they won the Super Bowl, and it won’t again. Dallas, New England, Cleveland will now. They drafted players with sizzle, have headline-making coaches and players. The world doesn’t want to read about Gaines Adams or Aaron Sears, the one-two picks of the Bucs.
So, here’s what we have: the Bucs, with their quarterbacking miseries stored, did a rare thing, a locally popular but national head-scratcher. Six of their first seven draft picks were defensive players, and a later one was a 6-7, 315-pound offensive tackle who Bruce Allen says is the fastest one out there.
Bruce Allen is the Bucs general manager and Coach Jon Gruden’s confidante.
O.K., sirs, the knock is the all-defensive draft. But you all seem pleased with it.
“Seven of our eleven starters on defense were over 31,” he said. “Got to youth up, and we did, and we will. They were tired and they were sore late last year,” Allen said. Had to draft, cut and trade. They’ll be better.
His draftees for Monte Kiffin to mold into proud fighting men, and Allen’s comments:
The one pick out of Clemson: Gaines Adams, 6-5, 258: “He should be here a long time. Fast. Pass rusher. Everybody wanted him.”
Two: Guard out of Tennessee, Aaron Sears, 6-3, 319: “A mauler.”
Three: Safety out of Oregon State, Sabby Piscitelli, 6-3, 225: “Needed badly. May go in the restaurant business with Malio.”
Four: Linebacker out of New Mexico, Quincy Black, 6-2, 240: “Fast, fast, fast.”
And four more longer shots but “I like Greg Peterson (6-5, 272) out of North Carolina Central. Our Doug Williams who works that area and is out of Grambling did too.”
Okay, Mr. GM, your draft won’t make headlines, will probably be a yawner for most of the opponents — well, until they go up against this defense which has always been a Buc priority.
Different time, different players, different coaches back in the No. l days but, it is a fact. While passing is a priority it seems today defense in the end is the last line.
“Offense, we’ll be better,” said the GM. “Got some backs (still got Cadillac who we all want to do better than be a Kia), some linemen and I think at last our quarterbacking hassle is over.”
The Bucs have Jeff Garcia and Chris Simms right now vying for one job. Good competition. Line bets Garcia early but Simms long run. Of course, so many of us are only interested in the short run. Tired of losing. Last year was bad and boring, dull, unimaginative. No fun.
Lousy quarterbacking was a big part of it.
A wildcard QB in there who could stir thing up big is Jake Plummer. He’s smart and is one of the top scoring quarterbacks in the league, fourth all-time.
The truth is that so many people and newsfolks and other teams pay no attention to the Buccaneers. Some, from the start, have always thought of it as a warm weather site with great turf and stadium, a pirate ship in the end zone, and probably a victory. That was changed a couple of times, of course, but the thought seems to be returning.
“And yet, this may be the toughest division in football — us, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina. Got two Super Bowl teams and two NFC runners-up in four years. Match it.”
Hey, Bruce, I like your draft.
A rare day off for Delmon Young brings an even rarer treat - Jonny Gomes playing the field. Enjoy!
Rays
Baldelli DH
Dukes CF
Crawford LF
Wigginton 3B
Upton 2B
Pena 1B
Gomes RF
Navarro C
Harris SS
Shields P
Our final memory of Florida State’s basketball season involves a road trip to Starkville, Miss., where the Noles lost to Mississippi State in the NIT, thus costing us a trip to Madison Square Garden much to our chagrin.
Other than having to walk a half-mile back to our car after the game in total darkness – and a fellow colleague turning off the game early back in Tallahassee to watch the Gilmore Girls – another lasting memory was the hot shooting of junior guard Isaiah Swann.
If not for Swann’s outside touch – he hit 9 of 13 3-pointers on his way to a career-high 31 points – the Noles would have been buried worse than they were considering senior Al Thornton spent much of his final game on the bench in foul trouble.
So, wonder what the Noles think of the new rule proposed by the NCAA Rules Committee on Thursday? We’ve got a call into FSU coach Leonard Hamilton and will hopefully have some reaction in Friday’s Tampa Tribune.
For now, here is an NCAA news release from Thursday afternoon in regards to moving the 3-point line back in college basketball:
INDIANAPOLIS – After years of study and consideration, the Men’s Basketball Rules Committee voted to recommend extending the three-point line to 20 feet, 9 inches starting with the 2008-09 season. The dimensions of the lane will remain unchanged.
“We believe this alteration will provide more space between the perimeter players and post players,” said Larry Keating, chair and senior associate athletics director at the University of Kansas. “There has been a tremendous amount of data collection and discussion on this issue and we believe this is the best option for the game and its future.”
The Women’s Basketball Rules Committee, which met concurrently with the men’s committee in Indianapolis May 1-3, will maintain the current three-point line, which is 19 feet, 9 inches from the basket.
“Our committee supports the efforts of the men’s committee to improve its game,” said Ronda Seagraves, chair of the women’s committee and associate athletics director at Southwestern University (Texas). “At this time, the current court dimensions are meeting the needs of the women’s game, and we did not feel a change would be good for our game.”
The proposal and all recommendations from the committees are not final until approved by the Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which will meet by conference call May 25.
The proposed change to the three-point line comes following the 20th year of the line’s implementation, which was first introduced into men’s intercollegiate play for the 1986-87 season. The men’s committee began studying a longer three-point shot in 1996 with an experimental rule. Since that time, the committee has tested the line at both 20 feet, 6 inches, the distance used in International competition, and 20 feet, 9 inches, which is one foot removed from the current line. Experimental data collected by the men’s committee over the last decade indicates that shooting percentages will not be significantly different from the extended distances.
“Since the three-point line was implemented, the game has changed,” Keating said. “The student-athletes playing are bigger and stronger and we need to adjust for that. The data we have collected since 1996 helped the committee make an informed decision.”
The one-year implementation period is required by the NCAA to allow for member institutions to make adjustments to their court markings. Playing rules are the same for Divisions I, II and III.
The women’s committee approved its points of emphasis for the upcoming season. Displacement, traveling, unsportsmanlike behavior and legal guarding position are the areas the committee will direct women’s officials to pay particular attention to next season.
On the men’s side, the committee will focus on the block or charge call, particularly near the goal; coaches’ behavior and enforcement of the coaching box; rough post play; and palming the ball.
In other significant men’s actions, the committee:
• Voted to alter its free throw alignment. This change will eliminate the first lane space nearest the basket on each side of the lane and using the present second, third and fourth lane space on each side of the lane as an alignment for free throws.
• Will allow the use of the courtside monitor to determine whether a flagrant foul occurred and require the use of the monitor to assess the situation if a fight is declared.
The women’s committee also approved a recommendation to rewrite its rules that cover technical fouls. The guideline about the legal guarding position under the basket will be deleted, making the legal guarding position the same for the entire court.
-30-
GAINESVILLE — Florida linebacker Dustin Doe has been cleared by the state attorney’s office, which dropped the misdemeanor charge of affray Doe faced after being arrested following a fight in a downtown parking lot early April 2.
Doe was accused of fighting with two other males, according to a Gainesville police report. Gators coach Urban Meyer said last month that Doe would serve an in-house punishment determined by the team’s leadership committee.
GAINESVILLE — Reader David Sasser from Venice read my story today about the cost of playing in the BCS title game and asked an interesting question. What is the breakdown of the $991,000 in staff bonuses?
Here you go, David. Be sure to thank UF senior associate athletic director Greg McGarity, who broke down the numbers for me.
Head coach Urban Meyer: $300,000 ($250,000 for winning national title and $50,000 for AP Top 10 finish)
Assistant coaches: 30 percent of annual salary (They made an average of about $160,000 each last season — they’ve since gotten raises — so the average bonus for each of the nine assistants would be about $48,000.)
Other football-dedicated staff members (strength staff, training staff, ticket office, nutritionist): 10 percent of annual salary.
Louisville may have won two of three from the University of South Florida last weekend, but off the field the Bulls picked up a big victory over the Cards.
Doug Wagner, a senior right-handed pitcher for nationally-ranked Orlando Bishop Moore, verbally committed to USF.
The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Wagner said he chose USF over Louisville. Wagner missed about six weeks this season with an upper back and shoulder injury, but has returned for the Hornets, who are ranked No. 1 in Class 4A and also No. 15 nationally by Sports Illustrated.
“I like where USF’s program is going,” Wagner said. “I really like the coaching staff and the school, especially the engineering program.”
Wagner is the latest in an impressive list of high school seniors that have signed or committed under first-year coach Lelo Prado.
The University of South Florida’s 2007 athletics auction held April 21 in the Sun Dome raised a record $210,000 for the Bulls’ athletic programs.
That amount exceeded the previous high of $185,000 set at last year’s event, said Amabel Aqui, associate director of development for the USF Bulls Club.
The highest bid was $20,000 for an exclusive multi-day golf package.
While a handful of University of South Florida seniors prepare for an opportunity at making an NFL roster, four former Bulls are playing in NFL Europe this summer.
LB Craig Kobel was recently allocated to the Cologne Centurions by the Philadelphia Eagles for the 2007 NFL Europe season. Also, DE Jon Simmons just got picked up by Cologne. DE Tim Jones is with the Amsterdam Admirals and WR Scott McCready is with the Hamburg Sea Devils.
By EDDIE DANIELS
The Tampa Tribune
TAMPA - Seems someone forget to mention to the football Gods that game of musical chairs at quarterback over there at 401 Channelside Drive should stop.
John Kaleo got the first four starts to open the season. After the squad remained winless in that stretch, it was Stoney Case’s shot.
He got three chances, beating New Orleans in the process. But his final start – April 14 against Orlando – he suffered a severe separated throwing (right) shoulder.
Sunday, Kaleo made his return to the starting lineup against his former team, Columbus. Tampa Bay (2-6) won 34-32 and what could have been a cute story turned ugly when Kaleo went down with a wrist injury with 3:45 left in the second quarter. He didn’t return.
In walks the Storm’s third QB of the season – rookie Brett Dietz, signed five days prior.
“The Brett Dietz Era has been ushered in,” Storm coach Tim Marcum said.
Looking down the Storm bench, Marcum couldn’t help but see his two former starters – Kaleo and Case - wearing baseball caps, T-shirts and jeans. Not a good feeling.
“All you can do is do your job,” Marcum said about Sunday and how he remained focused. “You got those eight guys out there looking for a call. Someone’s got to make the call, offense or defense. Call the play.
“To me, their pieces. They’re pieces in front of you. You make the move and see what the opponent’s going to do and just call the game.”
Luckily Dietz wasn’t injured in the game. Had he went down, T.T. Toliver would have had to reach back to his high school days in which he was a quarterback at Daytona Mainland High.
“We would have been quarterbacking with God,” Marcum joked.
B.J. Symons, a rookie out of Texas Tech, who has been on injured reserve the entire season, will back Dietz up in Austin.
COPYCAT: When Tom Kaleita injured his wrist against New York, he had to have the wrist mechanically manipulated back to its normal condition and was placed in a hard cast.
Well, Kaleo’s left wrist injury required the same non-surgical treatment by team doctor David Thompson.
“Get this. Exactly the same injury as Tom Kaleita,” Marcum quipped. “I’ve been coaching [Arena Football] for 19 years. Never heard of that and now I got two of them.”
Kaleo likely is done for the season. If that is the case, it the final game of his career as well. Kaleo has said this will be his last season. In 14 season’s Kaleo has completed 2,939 of 4,878 passes for 35,241 yards, 581 TDs and 150 INTs.
Once the swelling goes down in his wrist, the injury will be re-evaluated and the decision for surgery will be determined then. As of now, it is expected he will be placed on IR, where he has to spend at least four weeks. But the injury will take at least six weeks to heal if it progresses as Kalieta’s injury did.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE: According to Dietz, his parents made the two hour drive from Cincinnati to Columbus to watch last week’s game at a Buffalo Wild Wings. His mother was content with seeing her son play his role as the holder on extra points and field goals.
Little did his parents know – or anyone for that matter – he would play a much larger role in the game then just getting down the snap and turning the laces toward the goal post.
“She’s like, ‘At least we’ll get to watch you run in and out of the screen a few times,’” Dietz said of his talk with his mother prior to the game.
PART OF THE SOLUTION: The Storm’s unit of defensive backs likely played their best game against Columbus. When the squad needed it, Khalid Naziruddin snatched a fourth quarter interception. On the 2-point conversion attempt by Columbus with 27 seconds remaining in the game, Traco Rachal batted the ball away, preserving the win.
“The only thing we wanted to do was communicate,” said Storm DB Jeroid Johnson. “We go back and look at the previous game and understood what went wrong when we gave up big plays. It was because we weren’t communicating.
“The last two weeks, we said one thing we want to do is communicate as a unit. Coach calls the play, we communicate, we execute.”
FOOOUUUR!!!!: With 8:27 to go in the second quarter, Lawrence Samuels’ 11-yard grab moved him into fourth place all-time in the AFL in receptions. He then went on to catch five more passes to give him a career total of 838.
Corey Fleming is third (846), Eddie Brown is second (950) and Barry Wagner leads all AFL receivers with 991 receptions.
YELLOW RAIN: Tampa Bay was hit with 11 penalties for 49 yards, while Columbus collected 12 for 84 yards. The 133 yards of penalties is nearly three lengths of the football field.
Ironically, Columbus entered as the least penalized team in the league with 38 penalties for 203 yards.
“It was sloppy,” Marcum said. “It’s third-and-6 and we’re jumping offside or third-and-1. Just dumb. … [Columbus] throws three incompletion and move the ball 20 yards on two penalties.”
BALL CONTROL: The Storm looked more like an 11-man, outdoor football team on its final drive in the second quarter. Tampa Bay completed a 13-play, 38-yard drive in 10:01. Although the Storm got just three points out of that drive, it kept Columbus from scoring to end the half.
Columbus was up 13-10 at that point and had they scored a touchdown or a field goal, they would have had either a nine-point or a six point advantage coming out of halftime with the possession to begin the third quarter, which they scored a touchdown on.
The long possession kept the Destroyers 20-10 third quarter advantage more manageable instead of 23-10 or 27-10.
TAKING CARE OF THE ROCK: For the first time this season, Tampa Bay played a game without turning over the ball. In the seven previous contests, the Storm have turned the ball over at least once in each game. For the season, Tampa has lost 11 fumbles and thrown eight interceptions.
MARSHALL RETURN: Torrance Marshall returned to practice Tuesday and is expected to start Sunday at Austin.
Just before players returned to practice April 24 from the bye week, Marshall, who was in Pittsburgh, learned of his father’s death and flew to Miami for the funeral, which took place April 27.
In Marshall’s absence, the Storm run game experienced a sputter against Columbus. The team collected three rushing yards. FB Clenton Crossley, who was activated from the practice squad had 3 yards, while Dietz had one and Kaleo had minus-1 yard.
Crossley was released Wednesday.
MOVES: The Storm added offensive lineman Jeremy Darveau to the practice squad. The 6-foot-7, 320-pound rookie from Louisville spent the 2006 training camp with NFL Europe’s Amsterdam Admirals.
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