Veterans Memorial Park, site of Justin Brown Day
Sorry folks, I mixed up the dates. Please see the changes below and a special thanks to Kevin for pointing out the mistake. We’ve mentioned the special relationship the Diamond Dukes have with their #1 fan, Justin Brown before. This Saturday, April 10 Sunday, April 11 has been declared Justin Brown Day by the JMU Baseball as part of JMU’s Cancer Awareness Week. Additionally, Justin is scheduled to throw out the first pitch before the Dukes face William & Mary Sunday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Harrisonburg. Admission is free for all kids and those in attendance are invited to run the bases after the game.
InsideNova.com’s Joe Conroy has a nice piece on Justin’s experience as an important part of the JMU Baseball program. Justin is a 7 year old boy who has been battling cancer since he was only 2. He has been paired up with the Diamond Dukes by the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, an organization which works with college athletic teams to “adopt” children affected with brain tumors.
David Warner, the Dukes’ team manager first heard about the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation after watching a HBO Real Sports feature on it. He was so taken by the piece that he approached the JMU coaching staff about participating in the program.
I’ve been with the team for four years so I knew how good the guys were, Warner said. I brought this up to the coaches and they loved it. Within two weeks we got Justin. There’s a 200-person waiting list now, so we got him right in time.
Justin was welcomed to the team at a barbecue last fall and even got to sign a letter of intent, officially linking him to the program, at a ceremony in February with the entire team. How cool is that? The players seem to be enjoying the experience. Shortstop David Herbek tells Conroy:
Ever since we heard about the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, we’ve been on board and excited. Justin’s been great. You couldn’t ask for a better kid. It’s great when he comes by. It puts things in perspective, that there’s more to life than just baseball.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been told that I “shouldn’t get so emotional about sports” or have been reminded that “sports are just supposed to be a distraction.” While those are true statements, isn’t the fact that sports can provide a distraction to folks who could really use one, like Justin and his family, part of what makes them so great? In any case, stories like this make it easy to cheer for the Dukes.
It’s final four weekend! Harrisonburg Food Style. As #12 seeds traditionally do, Blimpie has become the surprise cindarella of the tourney by eeking out a tight victory over fellow fan favorite (two points for alliteration) and #13 Dukes’ Double Punch. But now they face a huge challenge: Will the Blimpie’s Best (12″ of course) even be able to challenge the awesome power of the Gyro from top-seeded Gus’/Dave’s?
In the other semi, the seeds have held and we should be in store for a real battle as #2 Spanky’s and #3 Luigi’s will finally square off in a primetime matchup after easily dispatching their quarterfinal opponents.
Also, huge congrats to Rob for Mrs. Rob for adding another future Duke last week when I was out on the west coast (seriously, how do we all not live in San Diego?). He’s dynamite! That said, Rob’s going to be a bit preoccupied the next month and you all may be stuck with my ramblings when it comes to Spring Practice, Baseball, and other current sports news down in the Valley. Now that it’s April and football took to the practice field again yesterday, we’ll certainly be trotting out some new material and lots of Drew v. Justin v. Texas Tots talk soon.
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Todd’s been busy enjoying a well earned vacation and I’m holed up at home waiting for the arrival of another future Duke, so we thought we’d catch everyone up on some stories or news they might have missed.
The Diamond Dukes won a thriller against VMI, albeit not much of a pitching duel and used a late rally to defeat the Terps. The Dukes pulled to .500 on the season after taking 2 of 3 from George Mason. In Friday night’s win, JMU scored 9 runs in the 10th after surrendering 10 runs in the 8th. The Dukes have won 5 of their last 6 and are poised to make a run in CAA play.
We’ve mentioned this in the past, but feel like folks might have missed it. Lady Dukes basketball star Dawn Evans is a ridiculous talent and is doing us all proud on the court. The fact that she’s battling kidney disease makes her accomplishments all the more impressive.
Check out this interview with Dukes’ legend and current Richmond Revolution player, Rodney Landers by Matt from West of the Boulevard. Hat tip to Jamie for the link.
The JMU women’s lacrosse team, not to be confused with the men’s varsity team which doesn’t exist (but should…don’t get me started) is up to #20 in the nation. They used a last minute goal to knock off #5 UVA on the road before losing a nail-biter to #2 Maryland. The ladies are 7-2 heading into conference play.
Former Duke, JD Skolnitsky gets picked up by the Colts after getting cut from the Redskins practice squad.
That’s it for now. If you haven’t voted yet (or if you have…it ain’t official) go vote in the Elite 8 of our Best Eats of the ‘Burg bracket.
Well, the polls are closed and we’re ready to move on to the Elite 8 in the Best Eats in the ‘Burg bracket. That’s right, we’re actually seeing this thing all the way through. And you thought we were kidding when we said we were grasping for content until football season. Ha! If you need a refresher, you’ll find it here and here. Now let’s take a look at the match-ups.
Match-up 1: Dave’s/Gus’s vs 8. Mr. J’s
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Gus’s took care of business like you’d expect a #1 seed to in the opening round, collecting 97% of the votes. Smokin’ Pig has decent ‘cue, but obviously not good enough to overcome powerful memories of $1.85 pitchers, pizza, and gyros. Mr. J’s had a surprisingly convincing decision over JM’s, winning 67%-33%. This one busted my bracket, as I was riding the home of the Jerky Turkey and Jo Jo Dog much deeper into the tournament.
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Quick note from SportsBlog HQ: Posts may be spotty the next week given family commitments on one side and a vacation on the other, but make sure to check back often for the Elite 8 of the JMU Food Bracket. Biltmore’s Thumbs and Toes are struggling so if you’re a supporter, please vote now. Blimpie, on the other hand is going all Cornell and just pummeling cats.
Best Wishes!
Now on to the bittersweet news of the day. The Women’s Basketball team fell in the Big Dance on Sunday in a tight game with Temple. Here’s the full writeup from JMU Sports, but nonetheless the team finished a strong season and continued building on the solid foundations laid by Coach Kenny Brooks. The LadyDukes won the CAA by finally knocking off ODU in the title game. Not to mention superstar Dawn Evans had an All-World season and we here at SB wish her all the best in an uncertain offseason!
Oh yeah, and Temple trailed UCONN 55-12 at halftime and you didn’t even wonder for a second if that was a typo in the second round game so all my bravado about a Northern Iowa shocker probably wasn’t in the cards even if they’d advanced.
JMU Football hosted its NFL “Pro Scout Day” on Friday, providing players such as Arthur Moats, Dorian Brooks, Mike Caussin, and Scotty McGee an opportunity to showcase their skills. After recently training with Darrell Green, McGee ran a blazing fast 40 in 4.37 seconds. 4.37 is a very impressive number. Not as impressive as 22 though, which was the number of NFL scouts that were present. That might not sound like much, but in years past JMU’s Pro Day has drawn only a handful of NFL reps.
After putting up impressive numbers at the combine, Moats and Brooks chose to just participate in position drills for the scouts. Caussin and McGee however, ran through the full set of drills and tests. The scouts measured Caussin at 6’5″, 252 pounds, before watching him bench press 225 lbs 23 times and run 40’s in the 4.7 range. McGee came in at 5’8″, 183 lbs, also had 23 reps in the bench, and ran his ridiculous 4.37. For those scoring at home that means I am as tall as Caussin, as heavy as McGee, and much slower and weaker than both of them.
Friday’s record turnout for scouts, shows that pros are taking notice of the talent Coach Matthews is bringing to the ‘burg. The fact that it was a sunny day with temps in the 70’s the first week after spring break and campus was probably crawling with beautiful coeds probably didn’t hurt either. Whatever their motives for coming were, the scouts had to leave impressed. It’s looking like Moats prospects of getting drafted are improving by the day and Brooks has a shot also. Caussin and McGee did well enough on Friday to attract some attention. Their prospects are certainly better now, than they were before Pro Day.
Picking up where we left off yesterday, we’re going to profile the other half of the bracket. Vote early and vote often.
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The men’s team isn’t going dancing. Again. So, there will be no JMU Sports Blog NCAA bracket challenge. We’ll save that for whenever the Dukes make it back to the tourney. In the meantime, we thought we’d throw together a little bracket challenge of another sort, our Best Eat’s in the ‘Burg Bracket (old guys who were on campus 15 years ago version). Sure, we realize that goofy brackets might be the autotune of the sports blog universe, but what do you expect us to do? We told you it was gonna be a while until football season.
There have been rumors that more than one member of JMU’s basketball team were going to leave and today the rumors came true. The school announced that freshman guard Darren White and and redshirt-freshman forward Alvin Brown will not be returning next season.
The news that Brown was leaving was pretty much a formality at this point. He saw limited playing time and it’s been clear for a while now that he wasn’t part of Brady’s plan. The news that White is transferring, is a bit more of a shock. There were rumors he was on his way out, but nothing substantiated and I for one, expected him to be back next year.
White averaged 8.8 points and 4 boards a game, solid numbers for a freshman. He eclipsed 20 points in a game 3 times and was recognized as CAA rookie of the week two times. He clearly had talent, but at times disappeared or lost focus on the court. Unfortunately, a tendency to lose focus or intensity wasn’t a problem unique to White on this season’s Dukes.
I don’t know what happened on the practice floor or the true reason White is leaving school. I do find it kind of odd that according to Darren, Coach Brady “just made the decision that I needed to leave”, while Brady and the Dukes are sticking the the line that it was mutual. In any case, I’m disappointed to see White go and wish he and Alvin the best wherever they end up.
Update: Apparently White is now saying that he didn’t feel like he fit in at JMU and that Brady “kind of lifted a weight from my shoulders by telling me I needed to transfer.”
UConn’s record in their last 74 games when they limp out of Norfolk after the Dukes’ go full Buster Douglas on them next Tuesday night.
Ok, so maybe all my talk about broken curses in knocking off the Fighting Larry Wendys was the ultimate jinx as WBB can now join the long list of grievances various Dukes’ teams have had with NCAA Selection committes (see State, Youngstown). The one team everyone’s afraid of looms as a potential second-round matchup if the LadyDukes can get by Temple in Round 1.
But if you’re into silver linings, there’s a ton of them. Should the Dukes get to play UConn, what a stage! Definitely a nationally televised game on Tuesday night. Essentially a home game as the Dukes and Huskies got sent to Norfolk. And the idea of ending the longest winning streak in college basketball history, while difficult to imagine, would be the greatest upset in the history of the women’s game (even over the 16/1 Harvard win).
Since our knowledge of the women’s game is limited to say the least outside of the Dukes, UConn, and Tennessee, we’re certainly also guilty of looking ahead and possibly shorting Temple, but I’m guessing their fans are doing the same as a 73-game winning streak casts a long shadow.
Notes: Comcast DC did for once mention the Lady Dukes as a “local” last night and discuss the potential of playing Connecticut. The Post, on the other hand, continued to suck. Extra disappointing that Kathy Orton, who has gracefully covered Dukes in the past and even ventured to the ‘Burg a few times, wrote the “locals bracket roundup” piece and left Dawn and co. out.
Game time vs. Temple 2:30 Sunday on ESPN.
