Baseball banquet boasts big names
by John Stegeman, Interim Sports Editor2 days 21 hrs ago | 265 views | 0 | 0 | |
Shown above is a collage of the special guests at the Portsmouth Murals Baseball Banquet held Wednesday at the Friends Center. Shown are Reds broadcaster Marty Brennaman, center, broadcaster Chris Welsh, top left, Kansas City pitcher Josh Newman, top right, and Dayton Daily News sports writer Hal McCoy, bottom right, are shown among others.
slideshow The fifth annual Portsmouth Murals Baseball Banquet was held Wednesday at the SOMC Friends Community Center. The event was a sellout with approximately 450 people in attendance.
The event is held each year to raise money for maintenance and up keep of the murals on Front street. There are have two baseball related murals, one of Branch Rickey, who signed Jackie Robinson and another depicting various players and umpires from Greenup County and Scioto County.
Headlining this year's banquet was Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Brennaman. Brennaman has been with the Reds since 1974 and shared stories with the crowd about his late partner, Joe Nuxhall. The broadcasting duo held the honor of being the longest running radio tandem in baseball history.
The long-time voice of the Reds viewed the murals for the first time recently.
"You hear about murals," he said. "It doesn't prepare you for what you folks are so proud of, those of you that live in the area. It's really impressive. I was amazed. The tour was wonderful... I am amazed. That a town this size can have an event of this size is truly impressive."
Brennaman wasn't the only hall of famer in attendance. Baseball Writers Association Hall of Famer Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News was also present.
Other dignitaries included Reds T.V. broadcaster for Fox Sports Net Chris Welsh, Kansas City Royals pitcher Josh Newman, former Cincinnati Bengals place kicker Doug Pelfrey and a host of other former and current major and minor league players, umpires and scouts.
In his welcome to the crowd, Bob Morton, president of Portsmouth Murals Inc., talked about the importance of the banquet.
"The banquet benefits the murals by paying for our maintenance costs," he said. "There's a lot of maintenance involved because there is 2,000 feet of murals and we're adding some every year."
Former major league umpire Terry Craft, a native of South Shore, Ky., talked more about what the murals mean to the community.
"Last year when I was here Bob Morton ... gave me a history of (the murals) and how they came to pass and also the story behind the murals," Craft said. "I didn't realize there was that much history in this community."
Craft, Al Oliver, Don Gullett and Gene Bennett, the honorees depicted on the baseball mural, shared some of their most memorable stories for the crowd.
Craft talked about standing in one of baseball oldest cathedrals, Fenway Park.
Al Oliver, a former Pittsburgh Pirate and 1982 National League batting champion shared his moment of seeing one grandson throw and the another catch the ceremonial first pitch at PNC Park in Pittsburgh last season.
Former Cincinnati Reds pitcher and later Reds pitching coach Don Gullett told the crowd about his only career home run in a playoff game against the Pirates in 1975, drawing a groan from Oliver and a laugh from the crowd.
Last of the mural honorees to speak was Gene Bennett of Wheelersburg. Bennett, a special senior assistant to the Reds general manager, talked about being inducted into the Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame and earning an award from the Reds Hall of Fame. Bennett is slated to be honored with the first-ever "Legend of Scouting" award at an event in Los Angeles this weekend.
In an interview, Morton explained more about mural maintenance.
"If you drive down and look at the murals you'll see several of them that have cracks in them," he said. "The big thing with the maintenance is repairing those cracks."
Morton went on to credit Bennett for bringing out the stars.
"Several of these major league people have been here before," he said. "They're friends of Gene Bennett and that gets them out.
"I think (the banquet) really does (put Portsmouth on the baseball map)," Morton added. "Gene gets all his Reds friends and MLB fans from all over."
The event also included a music video entitled "Talking Portsmouth Baseball," a silent auction and a catered dinner.
JOHN STEGEMAN can be reached at jstegeman02@hotmail.com
Sunday, January 18, 2009
GA newspaper Story quotes Jodie after Tubby goes to MN
Gwinnett County, Georgia Tuesday April 17, 2007
You Are Here: » Sports » Article
Weather
Meeks doesn’t blame Smith for leaving UK
04/17/2007
By Corey Clark
Staff Writer
corey.clark@gwinnettdailypost.com
When he signed the scholarship papers in November of his senior year at Norcross, Jodie Meeks thought he understood what University of Kentucky basketball was all about.
He thought he had a pretty strong grasp of just how tightly it gripped the Bluegrass State.
Then came his freshman season.
And now the former Daily Post Player of the Year has a firsthand knowledge of just how passionate and intense the entire fanbase is when it comes to the Wildcat program.
He watched as his head coach, the man who recruited him to Lexington, fell under a media barrage after his team failed to live up to expectations for the second season in a row.
Just days after Meeks and the Wildcats lost to Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, head coach Tubby Smith accepted the vacant job at Minnesota.
“I was kind of surprised,” Meeks said. “But at the same time, he did what was best for him and his family. ... I wasn’t angry at all.”
There was so much pressure, so much scrutiny for Smith in Lexington that he left perhaps the best job in all of college basketball to take over a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team.
That should tell you plenty about the pressure he was feeling.
“I understand (why he left),” Meeks said. “I mean, we hear that stuff firsthand from the fans and everyone. When you’re losing, the fans get mad.
“And like I said, I wasn’t really mad at him. He had to do what’s best for him.”
The season itself was an unmitigated success for Meeks, who came on the last half of the season to be one of Kentucky’s most productive players.
Despite starting just one game, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged 8.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in just over 22 minutes per game.
He shot 36.4 percent from 3-point range and a team-leading 89.7 percent from the free throw line — which would have been good for No. 1 in the SEC and No. 11 in the country if he would have had enough attempts. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week three times and was chosen to the SEC All-Freshman team after the season.
“I came in last summer just hoping to get an opportunity to play,” said Meeks, who scored in double figures in 12 of the team’s last 15 games. “And I got my opportunity to do what I could do ... and at the end of the season I got picked for a couple of awards, which was nice.”
It was just about the only thing that was enjoyable at the end of the season for the talented guard.
Mere minutes after Smith publicly announced he was leaving for Minnesota, the media came out in swarms.
“Oh yeah, it was crazy,” Meeks said with a laugh. “Thirty minutes later, the TV people were outside our house, wanting to get comments. There were news reporters out there less than 30 minutes after it happened.”
If Meeks thought that was bizarre, he had no idea what was coming next. The entire state of Kentucky, and much of the rest of the nation, began a continuous Billy Donovan watch over the next two weeks.
Rumors began swirling almost immediately after Smith left that Donovan was going to be the next UK head coach. Even during his team’s run to a second straight national title, the Florida head coach was answering repeated inquiries about the Kentucky job.
For his part, Meeks said he and the players weren’t following the search as closely as the rabid fanbase was.
“We really didn’t worry about it,” he said. “We heard about Donovan and what people were saying, but we really didn’t worry about it because we didn’t have any control.”
In the end, Donovan stayed in Gainesville and Kentucky went with Texas A&M head coach Billy Gillespie.
“I knew a little bit about him, watching (Texas A&M guard) Acie Law play last year,” Meeks said. “He plays pretty much the same style we played last year. He lets his players play and he’s real strict on defense, like Coach Smith.”
Which is terrific news for Meeks, who said despite the turmoil of the last month he has really enjoyed his first season in Lexington.
“Oh, I’m really happy,” he said. “Even though Coach Smith is gone and we have a new coach, I’m still happy. And we’ll still be a good, if not better team. And hopefully next season we can contend for an SEC title.”
Which, as Meeks now knows firsthand, is what is expected up in Lexington.
You Are Here: » Sports » Article
Weather
Meeks doesn’t blame Smith for leaving UK
04/17/2007
By Corey Clark
Staff Writer
corey.clark@gwinnettdailypost.com
When he signed the scholarship papers in November of his senior year at Norcross, Jodie Meeks thought he understood what University of Kentucky basketball was all about.
He thought he had a pretty strong grasp of just how tightly it gripped the Bluegrass State.
Then came his freshman season.
And now the former Daily Post Player of the Year has a firsthand knowledge of just how passionate and intense the entire fanbase is when it comes to the Wildcat program.
He watched as his head coach, the man who recruited him to Lexington, fell under a media barrage after his team failed to live up to expectations for the second season in a row.
Just days after Meeks and the Wildcats lost to Kansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, head coach Tubby Smith accepted the vacant job at Minnesota.
“I was kind of surprised,” Meeks said. “But at the same time, he did what was best for him and his family. ... I wasn’t angry at all.”
There was so much pressure, so much scrutiny for Smith in Lexington that he left perhaps the best job in all of college basketball to take over a middle-of-the-pack Big Ten team.
That should tell you plenty about the pressure he was feeling.
“I understand (why he left),” Meeks said. “I mean, we hear that stuff firsthand from the fans and everyone. When you’re losing, the fans get mad.
“And like I said, I wasn’t really mad at him. He had to do what’s best for him.”
The season itself was an unmitigated success for Meeks, who came on the last half of the season to be one of Kentucky’s most productive players.
Despite starting just one game, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged 8.7 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists in just over 22 minutes per game.
He shot 36.4 percent from 3-point range and a team-leading 89.7 percent from the free throw line — which would have been good for No. 1 in the SEC and No. 11 in the country if he would have had enough attempts. He was named SEC Freshman of the Week three times and was chosen to the SEC All-Freshman team after the season.
“I came in last summer just hoping to get an opportunity to play,” said Meeks, who scored in double figures in 12 of the team’s last 15 games. “And I got my opportunity to do what I could do ... and at the end of the season I got picked for a couple of awards, which was nice.”
It was just about the only thing that was enjoyable at the end of the season for the talented guard.
Mere minutes after Smith publicly announced he was leaving for Minnesota, the media came out in swarms.
“Oh yeah, it was crazy,” Meeks said with a laugh. “Thirty minutes later, the TV people were outside our house, wanting to get comments. There were news reporters out there less than 30 minutes after it happened.”
If Meeks thought that was bizarre, he had no idea what was coming next. The entire state of Kentucky, and much of the rest of the nation, began a continuous Billy Donovan watch over the next two weeks.
Rumors began swirling almost immediately after Smith left that Donovan was going to be the next UK head coach. Even during his team’s run to a second straight national title, the Florida head coach was answering repeated inquiries about the Kentucky job.
For his part, Meeks said he and the players weren’t following the search as closely as the rabid fanbase was.
“We really didn’t worry about it,” he said. “We heard about Donovan and what people were saying, but we really didn’t worry about it because we didn’t have any control.”
In the end, Donovan stayed in Gainesville and Kentucky went with Texas A&M head coach Billy Gillespie.
“I knew a little bit about him, watching (Texas A&M guard) Acie Law play last year,” Meeks said. “He plays pretty much the same style we played last year. He lets his players play and he’s real strict on defense, like Coach Smith.”
Which is terrific news for Meeks, who said despite the turmoil of the last month he has really enjoyed his first season in Lexington.
“Oh, I’m really happy,” he said. “Even though Coach Smith is gone and we have a new coach, I’m still happy. And we’ll still be a good, if not better team. And hopefully next season we can contend for an SEC title.”
Which, as Meeks now knows firsthand, is what is expected up in Lexington.
Jodie Meeks Song
www.ryanparkersongs.com
You probably will have to type this in but it is worthwhile for Kentucky basketball fans!
You probably will have to type this in but it is worthwhile for Kentucky basketball fans!
British view of Obama victory- Judi cole FW
*The Daily Mail (UK) wrote this editorial about Obama on 1/6/2009.
**(confirmation,
Google "London Daily Mail Obama's Victory")** *
* Obama's Victory--A British view *
* ** A victory for the hysterical Oprah Winfrey, the mad racist
preacher Jeremiah
Wright, the US mainstream media who abandoned any sense of objectivity long
ago, Europeans who despise America largely because they depend on her,
comics who claim to be dangerous and fearless but would not dare attack
genuinely powerful special interest groups. A victory for Obama-worshippers
everywhere. A victory for the cult of the cult. A man who has done little
with his life but has written about his achievements as if he had found the
cure for cancer in between winning a marathon and building a nuclear reactor
with his teeth. Victory for style over substance, hyperbole over history,
rabble-raising over reality.*
* ** A victory for Hollywood , the most dysfunctional community in the
world. Victory for Streisand, Spielberg, Soros, Moore, and Sarandon. Victory
for those who prefer welfare to will and interference to independence. For
those who settle for group think and herd mentality rather than those who
fight for individual initiative and the right to be out of step with meager
political fashion.*
* ** Victory for a man who is no friend of freedom. He and his people
have already stated that media has to be controlled so as to be balanced,
without realizing the extraordinary irony within that statement. Like most
liberal zealots, the Obama worshippers constantly speak of Fox and Limbaugh,
when the vast bulk of television stations and newspapers are drastically
liberal and anti-conservative. Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said that just
as pornography should be censored, so should talk radio. In other words, one
of the few free and open means of popular expression may well be cornered
and beaten by bullies who even in triumph cannot tolerate any criticism and
opposition. A victory for those who believe the state is better qualified to
raise children than the family, for those who prefer teachers' unions to
teaching and for those who are naively convinced that if the West is
sufficiently weak towards its enemies, war and terror will dissolve as
quickly as the tears on the face of a leftist celebrity. A victory for social
democracy even after most of Europe has come to the painful conclusion that
social democracy leads to mediocrity, failure, unemployment, inflation,
higher taxes and economic stagnation. A victory for intrusive lawyers, banal
sentimentalists, social extremists and urban snobs.*
* **Congratulations America !*
**(confirmation,
Google "London Daily Mail Obama's Victory")** *
* Obama's Victory--A British view *
* ** A victory for the hysterical Oprah Winfrey, the mad racist
preacher Jeremiah
Wright, the US mainstream media who abandoned any sense of objectivity long
ago, Europeans who despise America largely because they depend on her,
comics who claim to be dangerous and fearless but would not dare attack
genuinely powerful special interest groups. A victory for Obama-worshippers
everywhere. A victory for the cult of the cult. A man who has done little
with his life but has written about his achievements as if he had found the
cure for cancer in between winning a marathon and building a nuclear reactor
with his teeth. Victory for style over substance, hyperbole over history,
rabble-raising over reality.*
* ** A victory for Hollywood , the most dysfunctional community in the
world. Victory for Streisand, Spielberg, Soros, Moore, and Sarandon. Victory
for those who prefer welfare to will and interference to independence. For
those who settle for group think and herd mentality rather than those who
fight for individual initiative and the right to be out of step with meager
political fashion.*
* ** Victory for a man who is no friend of freedom. He and his people
have already stated that media has to be controlled so as to be balanced,
without realizing the extraordinary irony within that statement. Like most
liberal zealots, the Obama worshippers constantly speak of Fox and Limbaugh,
when the vast bulk of television stations and newspapers are drastically
liberal and anti-conservative. Senior Democrat Chuck Schumer said that just
as pornography should be censored, so should talk radio. In other words, one
of the few free and open means of popular expression may well be cornered
and beaten by bullies who even in triumph cannot tolerate any criticism and
opposition. A victory for those who believe the state is better qualified to
raise children than the family, for those who prefer teachers' unions to
teaching and for those who are naively convinced that if the West is
sufficiently weak towards its enemies, war and terror will dissolve as
quickly as the tears on the face of a leftist celebrity. A victory for social
democracy even after most of Europe has come to the painful conclusion that
social democracy leads to mediocrity, failure, unemployment, inflation,
higher taxes and economic stagnation. A victory for intrusive lawyers, banal
sentimentalists, social extremists and urban snobs.*
* **Congratulations America !*
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