Texas tour turns Travs into sad sacks
The Arkansas Travelers are hoping they’ve gotten all of their hard-luck road stories out of the way in the season’s first week.
If not, they’re in for a bumpy, windblown, sleepless summer.
The Class AA Travs left North Little Rock on Wednesday morning bound for west Texas to start a season-opening series against the Midland RockHounds.
But the trip to Midland was slowed when the Travs’ bus broke down, then the Travs played through three days of dust storms at Security Bank Ballpark.
The Travs won 2 of 3 games in Midland, but things took a bad turn when they embarked on a late-night bus ride to Frisco, about a 5 1/2 hour trip. When they arrived, though, their hotel in Frisco was … out of rooms?
“There is no vacancy at the inn,” Travelers radio broadcaster Phil Elson wrote on the team’s MiLB.com blog. “That’s 32 men who have just unloaded off a cramped bus each looking for a few hours of sleep before waking and heading to Dr Pepper Ballpark to begin a series with the Frisco RoughRiders. Thirty-two men who now have nowhere to go except to the Comfort Suites’ breakfast area, which has become the de facto Travs clubhouse for the time being.”
The Travs eventually got their rooms, and they not only got a chance to sleep, but they got to sleep in. Sunday’s game, scheduled for a 4:05 p.m. start, was rained out at 1:40 p.m., giving the Travelers the day off, something they needed, even if it is the season’s first week.
Denied access
Denver Broncos running back Montee Ball went to Arlington, Texas on Saturday night wanting to cheer on his alma mater in the Final Four.
Ball, who in 2011 scored 39 touchdowns at Wisconsin to tie a single-season NCAA record, went to the game accompanied by two friends. Photos that circulated online showed Ball wearing what was described as a green frog costume, while one friend was dressed as a tiger and another a cow.
The three tried to sneak their way into the Wisconsin student section near the floor, but were denied access because they didn’t have the proper wristbands, according to the Associated Press.
Students caught on to Ball’s attempts to join hem and started chanting “let them in, let them in.” Security didn’t let up, even after the AP reported one student tried to let Ball borrow his wristband.
Ball and his friends then walked back to their seats.
To add insult to injury, Balls’ Badgers lost 74-73 to Kentucky to end their season.
Not that easy
New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick proposed what sounds like a fairly simple rule that was eventually adopted by the NFL. The new rule requires NFL teams to heighten the length of goal posts by 5 feet to make it easier for referees to see if a field goal is inside the posts or not.
The longer posts help officials, coaches and kickers in plays that can be crucial to a game’s outcome. Everyone is a winner, right? Not quite.
AZcentral.com reports that the companies that manufacture the posts are concerned about the new rule. Two companies told the website that they’re not sure if they can add onto the posts, or manufacture new ones. Weather is a concern, too. Will the longer posts be affected more by the wind? What if college football adopts the rule, then the longer posts are on fields that sometimes see large amounts of fans storming them in celebration.
“I think the NFL thought, ‘Just weld on 5 more feet and everything will be cool,” said Neil Gilman, president of goal post manufacturer Gilman Gear. “That’s not the case.”Quote of the day “[It would] throw away the entire collegiate model for athletics.” NCAA President Mark Emmert
Sports, Pages 18 on 04/07/2014