Quick hits: Shrine Bowl to be shown on 'The U' and WCU sustains Cherokee art

Shrine Bowl to be televised on ESPNU
"A tape delay of the 2008 Shrine Bowl of the Carolina's will be shown on ESPNU on Jan. 7, at 10 p.m.," according to HighSchoolOt.

"The game will be held at Gibbs Stadium on the campus of Wofford College on Dec. 20. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.

"The Shrine Bowl of the Carolina's is the oldest prep football all-star game in the country, featuring 44 of the top football players from North Carolina and South Carolina. ..."


Western Carolina helps sustain Cherokee art
"In the past six years, more and more members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians have rekindled interest in native arts.
"But these aspiring craftspeople also found it increasingly difficult to find the natural materials the tribe has been using for generations, such as river cane for baskets and the butternut for fabric dye.

"That's where the Revitalization of Traditional Cherokee Artisan Resourcesan initiative operated through Western Carolina University's Cherokee studies program, steps in," says the Citizen-Times.

"RTCAR was established in 2004 to help ensure craft materials are available to Cherokee artists and that these crafts are promoted through education and exhibitions.

"The two-person office on U.S. 19 near Bryson City receives its funding from the Cherokee Preservation Foundation and has distributed $1.2 million in grants. ..."

The Carolinas Shrine Bowl: America's first all-star high school football game

(Disclosure: I am not a Mason; I came across the information below in searching for this year's Shrine Bowl rosters.)

On December 20 in Spartanburg, S.C., the Tar Heels will take on the Sandlappers in the 72nd Annual Carolinas Shrine Bowl, the all-star game between North and South Carolina high school football players.

The proceeds from the Shrine Bowl - the oldest high school all-star football game in America - go to the Shriners' Hospitals in the Carolinas. I never knew that Pulitzer prize winner Ralph McGill wrote the Shrine Bowl slogan, “Strong men run so weak children may walk" or that Walt Disney drew the Shrine crippled children design and donated it to Oasis Shrine. Nor was I aware that by "1986, the game’s 50th year, 62 million fans tuned in on the Shrine Bowl TV and radio networks. One million had watched from the grandstands." But the most impressive fact is that $28 million had been raised (from projects plus game tickets), far exceeding all other North American Shrine fundraising events.

Not too shabby at all.

Here is the North Carolina roster for this year's Shrine Bowl. I don't say this often (actually, never), but here 'goes ... Go Tar Heels!

OG Nick Allison, Asheville Roberson
OG Whit Barnes, Rocky Mount
LB Hawatha Bell, Charlotte Butler
LB Joseph Blanks, Pembroke Swett
WR Jheranie Boyd, Gastonia Ashbrook
DL Justin Brewington, Richmond County
TE Wesley Carter, North Stanly
OT David Collins, East Forsyth
DL Jamaal Dixon, Gates County
RB Kevin Fogg, Apex
RB Hunter Furr, Winston-Salem Mount Tabor
WR Corey Gattis, Durham Hillside
LB Brandon Grier, West Charlotte
C Taylor Hanson, Wake Forest-Rolesville
C Ty Howle, Bunn
DB Joshua Hunter, Mallard Creek
LB Justin Jackson, Richmond County
LB Perry James, Davie County
DL Jared McAdoo, Chapel Hill
LB Lamer McClendon, Fayetteville Seventy-First
K Matt Millisor, Greensboro Page
QB Brett Mooring, West Craven
DL Donte Moss, Jacksonville Northside
LB Andrew Nallenwag, Erwin
OT Xavier Nixon, Fayetteville Britt
OG Perry Owens, Edenton Holmes
ATH Randy Pressley, North Buncombe
WR Michael Price, New Bern
QB Everett Proctor, Fayettteville Britt
RB Larry Raper, Shelby
DB JaQuan Rucker, West Iredell
DB Marcel Sargent, Charlotte Butler
DB Terry Shankle, South Stanley
FB Tyler Shatley, East Burke
LB Spencer Shuey, South Mecklenburg
TE Perry Simmons, Sanderson
OT Will Simmons, Hertford County
DB Jocquin Smith, Hibriten
DL Andrew Stryffeler, Lee County
RB Damonte Terry, Scotland County
DL Rodney Torain, Chapel Hill
DB Tony Washington, High Point Andrews
WR Reese Wiggins, Southern Durham
DL Pat Worley, South Columbus

NFL's Wilson enjoying the 'High Point' of his career

The Winston-Salem Journal's John Delong has a nice piece on Arizona Cardinals safety Adrian Wilson, a former NCSU star.

"When Adrian Wilson isn't making big hits as the Arizona Cardinals' strong safety, he can often be found at a designer shoe store that he owns in Scottsdale.

"The name of the store?

"High Point.

"It's partly a tribute to his home town, where he starred at High Point Andrews before going on to N.C. State and ultimately to the Cardinals as a third-round pick in 2001.

" 'Obviously it is a tribute to my home town, but I also said once I got my own business it would be the high point of my career, and the high point of my life. That's how it is and that's pretty much how I want to keep it.' ..."

Wilson is the Cardinals' longest-tenured player on the team. (He's in his eighth season in the NFL, all with 'Zona.) He has been in on 21 tackles this season, despite missing one game and most of another with a hamstring injury, Delong notes. "He got the 17th interception of his career in the Cardinals' season-opening win against San Francisco, and continues to close in on a personal milestone. With three more interceptions and four more sacks, he will become the ninth player in NFL history to record 20 career sacks and 20 interceptions.

"He is also in the NFL record books for having the most sacks by a defensive back in one season, with eight in 2006. He had two 99-yard returns for touchdowns that season, also an NFL record, with a 99-yard interception return against Atlanta and a 99-yard fumble return against Minnesota."

Quick hits: The best in fall foliage and football

Fall foliage season longer than you think

"... Autumn comes early in Alaska, brushing Denali National Park with purple and gold in late August. In warmer climates and near sea level, fall colors can last well into November. Last year, trees in New York City's Central Park were still putting on a show the week before Thanksgiving," says the Associated Press.

"And while New England is the undisputed queen of classic autumn scenery, other regions brag about foliage too, from Yosemite National Park in California to North Carolina's mountains to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The U.S. Forest Service links to fall color reports in all but a few states at http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fallcolors/. ...

"In most regions, color appears first in northerly areas and higher elevations, then gradually spreads to valleys, coastal areas and southerly regions. But precisely when the leaves turn, and how brilliant the colors will be, can't be predicted too far in advance, because it depends on early fall weather.

" 'One of the things that is really critical is cool nights,' said Howard Neufeld, a professor of plant physiology at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. 'Starting in September, if it starts to get cool but not below freezing, if you have clear cool days and cool nights, it stimulates fall color.' ..."

Speaking of Appalachian ...

"Three-time defending national champion Appalachian State has been ranked No. 1 in The Sports Network's preseason poll for the Football Championship Subdivision.

"Appalachian State received 97 of 101 first-place votes to easily outdistance No. 2 North Dakota State. Northern Iowa was third.

"Elon was ranked 15th," said news reports.

Clemson picked to win ACC football; App expected to win SoCon

The Clemson Tigers are the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic Coast Conference's football championship this year, as predicted by members of the media.

Clemson was picked No. 1 in the (still ill-named) Atlantic Division. I'm guessing by looking at the preseason rankings that Clemson is expected to knock off Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game. The Hokies are expected to leave the (equally ill-named) Coastal Division.

As far as N.C. teams go, UNC-Chapel Hill is expected to finish second in the Coastal, and Wake Forest second in the Atlantic. At the other end of the spectrum are Duke and N.C. State, who are expected to finish last in the Coastal and Atlantic, respectively.

In other football news, three-time national champ Appalachian State has been picked to win the Southern Conference ... again. The Mountaineers received eight of nine first-place votes in the preseason coaches poll.

Elon University was picked second, while Western Carolina was picked eighth.

Panthers games to be broadcast in Spanish

This is another sign of the influence (and influx) of Spanish-speaking folks in North Carolina. The NFL's Carolina Panthers will become the 12th team in the league to have games broadcast over the radio in Spanish.

"The team announced Thursday that Charlotte radio station WNOW-AM will air all its games in Spanish in 2008. The area has seen a dramatic growth in its Hispanic population, and team officials said they wanted to better serve that growing fan base," said media reports.

"Los Panteras" open the preseason on August 9 at home against Indianapolis. The first game that counts will be on September 7 in San Diego against the Philip Rivers-led Chargers. The Panthers' first home game is a week later against Chicago.

Former UNC leaders not down with 49ers football

UNC Charlotte -- the fourth largest university in the state at around 17,000 students or so (and growing) -- wants to offer football as a sport by 2012. Former UNC system presidents C.D. Spangler and Bill Friday don't think that's such a good idea.

"This has been something disturbing to both of us," Spangler told the Charlotte Observer.

The decision is ultimately up to the university, but would probably require support from the "UNC Board of Governors because student fees are capped at 6.5 percent and in increase would be required to fund a football program."

Spangler said he and Friday have been reluctant to address university matters specifically, but that the football issue is important enough for them to speak up.

Spangler said he wanted to wait until the faculty meeting to talk about why he opposes football at the 61-year-old university, which has studied starting a team for the past year.

But Friday said college sports are becoming more about entertainment than education.

He said Thursday that he wants to present information from Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics reports on how high-level sports affect colleges and universities. He said he won't choose a side, but wants to make sure the faculty is informed of the potential cost of a football program on academics and other programs.

"The problems with college sports today are rather enormous," Friday said Thursday. "The commission is trying to make sure that the facts about this be known. That has not been the case in all too many instances up until now. There are campuses having to disband other sports to pay for the football and basketball programs."

The state of national champions

Congratulations to the Appalachian (that would be "App-uh-latch-ian," not "App-uh-laytchian") State University Mountaineers on their third straight Division I football championship. Jerry Moore has built the most consistent football program in the state in Boone, but the entire state of North Carolina should e proud.

The 'Neers now can ride into the history books.

Also, congratulations to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons men's soccer team, which won its first NCAA title on Sunday in Cary by beating Ohio State, 2-1. The game was at a sold out SAS Soccer Park, which says alot about the interest in the sport in the Triangle. (Perhaps if the RailHawks continue to do well, then MLS may look to the area for another expansion team?)

Charlotte awarded with ACC football championship game

According to published reports, Charlotte will host the 2010 and 2011 Atlantic Coast Conference football championship games, while Tampa will do the honors in 2008 and 2009.

"The decision was reached unanimously this morning in a conference call of the league's athletics directors and faculty athletics representatives, which ended a seven-month bid and selection process, a conference statement said," says the News & Observer.

"We are extremely excited about the future of the ACC Football Championship game at these sites," Commissioner John Swofford said. "Both Tampa Bay and Charlotte are tremendous destinations in terms of their football venue, community support and partnership with the Atlantic Coast Conference."

The games in Charlotte will take place on Dec. 4, 2010, and Dec. 3, 2011, at Bank of America Stadium, home of the NFL's Carolina Panthers and the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
The first three ACC title games have been in Jacksonville, Fla.

The state's best football rivalry

Let's face it: North Carolina is a state of mediocre football. Heck, even the Panthers aren't very good anymore.

Bad football or not, blood still boils when State and Carolina kick it off each year. This Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, you'll be able to feel the intensity in the stands, let alone on the field. The fans of the respective schools love to give and take, and there should be plenty of that before, during and after Saturday.

Coaches Tom O'Brien (NCSU) and Butch Davis (UNC) are not leading their alma maters, like their predecessors Chuck Amato and John Bunting did. In fact, the two newbies actually get along quite well.

But don't expect the importance of this game to sneak past them.

“I’ve got an idea (what’s ahead),” O’Brien told reporters on Monday. “I don’t think any one game is any more important when you play 12 games. If there is a sense that one (game) approaches that, this has to be it because of who and what we are.”

O’Brien is confident that he has had the best training possible to contend with the rivalry’s demands [writes the Winston-Salem Journal's Bill Cole]. He attended the Naval Academy and played in the Army-Navy game for four seasons. He coached in the game for seven seasons as a Navy assistant.

And to O’Brien, there is no rivalry that can surpass Army-Navy.

“From 28 June, 1967, the day I reported, the first three words I learned were, ‘Beat Army, Sir.’ ” O’Brien said. “From the first day you’re there to the day your plebe year (first year) is over, that’s all you do. Everything there is to beat Army. Nothing else is important as far as athletics.”

Sounds familiar.

Pack vs. Pirates: Good rivalry or an excuse to hate on each other?

Let me come right out and say that as a lifelong N.C. State fan and graduate, I don't believe the Wolfpack gains a whole lot from playing East Carolina in football.

Having said that, I acknowledge that the game is great for football in the state of North Carolina. We may act like we don't care about the Pirates (which is different than not caring for them), but us Wolfpackers want nothing more than to beat ECU on Saturday in Greenville. And it's not just because we don't want to hear their bragging for the next couple of years. Come Saturday, we will really hate ECU.

Without going much into details, suffice it to say that this rivalry game has had its share of less-than-pretty moments. It's been two decades since the great "riot" at Carter-Finley following a Pirate win. Things got WAY out of hand when Pirate fans stormed the field (something they would do again years later at C-F), but those close to both programs state that that game fueled the rivarly. (By the way, the Greenville Daily Reflector has posted State and ECU jokes. Be warned: They're all very lame.)

New State coach Tom O'Brien says he understands how important this game is; however, current ECU coach Skip Holtz acknowledges that a win over State -- ONE-AND-FIVE State -- would do wonders for his program.

This is probably ECU's biggest game on its schedule this year, while State still is looking ahead to its No. 1 rival, North Carolina. Nonetheless, one writer believes the Pack and the Pirates should duke it out for their own unique trophy.

App makes all of N.C. proud

Sure, we were all quite excited for Appalachian State University when its football team won its first I-AA national championship a couple of years ago. The second one (the very next year) was even more special.

But nothing beats what the Mountaineers did on Saturday. Against Michigan. Fifth-ranked Michigan. In the Big House.

"Even if you’re not a sports fan, you have to feel good for the 'little' school in Boone and what its football team managed to accomplish," writes Winston-Salem Journal columnist Scott Sexton.

"The summer’s sporting news has been filled with headlines and stories that made stomachs turn. ...

"Then along comes the feel-good story of Appalachian beating the 5th-ranked team in college football in one of the most impressive venues in sports. (I know; I once spent a Saturday afternoon in the Big House wedged between a pair of 240-pound, beer-and-brat Midwestern types during a Michigan-Wisconsin game.)

"About the best that even the most rabid ASU alum could hope for was a respectable defeat.

"Yet when the sports ticker crawling across the bottom of ESPN kept showing that Appalachian was putting the wood on Michigan, a funny thing happened. My phone started ringing with updates and people at a Pop Warner midget football game headed to their cars to see if they could find the game on the radio. ...

"When the horn sounded, ASU put Boone squarely on the map for a lot of people.

" 'Nobody knew where Appalachian is. The fans up there couldn’t even pronounce Appalachian right,' [alum] Elizabeth Witt said. 'They kept saying App-a-lay-chian’with the long a instead of App-a-lachian with the short a like it’s supposed to be.'

"It’s a sure bet that the maize-and-blue crowd does now. And it’s equally certain that ASU will bank a lot of name recognition that even back-to-back Division I-AA football championships couldn’t generate."

And ESPN.com's Pat Forde writes, "hats off to Appalachian State, which completed a week like none in school history.

"First came word via 'The Today Show' of a recruiting coup for the little school in the North Carolina mountains. Caitlin Upton, the freshly famous Miss Teen South Carolina, whose dingbat answer to a beauty pageant question became an instant YouTube classic, told Matt Lauer she planned to attend Appalachian State. This might not have dazzled the academic folks on campus, but I guarantee the male students are stoked. ...

"This wasn't a No. 16 seed beating a No. 1 -- that would be an insult to the two-time champions of the Division Formerly Known As I-AA. More than anything else, Appalachian State proved Saturday that the best of the little fellers can play exceptional football. That they must be accorded respect. That they are not as far behind the big boys as we've always assumed.

"But given the difference in stature between the two programs, this is still a Buster Douglas-beats-Mike Tyson upset. It's a 15 beating a 2, at least. ..."

VPI picked to win ACC football in 2007

The Virginia Tech Hokies were picked by the media to finish on top in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference football race.

"The Hokies are picked to win the Coastal Division, with Georgia Tech second in the division, Miami third, Virginia fourth, North Carolina fifth and Duke sixth," says WRAL.com. "Tech received 77 first place votes out of the 83 ballots cast for the divisional race, while 69 of the 83 voters chose them to win the ACC Championship Game.

"Florida State is picked to win the Atlantic Division, with Boston College second, Clemson third, Wake Forest fourth, Maryland fifth and N.C. State sixth.

"Wake Forest is the defending ACC champion after last year's surprising run to the title. Miami was picked to win the ACC last season. ..."

However, it should be noted that the Only Team That Matters could surprise some people.