The Port Arthur News
June 21, 2009 02:44 pm
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TJ ex Goose Gonsoulin, the subject of a recent Best of West column, is expected to get some face time in the July 13 issue of Sports Illustrated. SI is doing a major July piece on the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Football League and sent photographer Dave Einsel to Gonsoulin’s Silsbee home to get shots of him for the issue. Goose, of course, was an AFL original and was more than happy to pose in his No. 23 Broncos jersey . . . Wednesday’s column on all the professional athletes who have come out of Port Arthur has drawn considerable comment and a few questions about players some think were left off the pro football list. My criteria for that list is that a player must have been on a team roster for the regular season. Going to training camp doesn’t count. Please call me (721-2432) or e-mail rdwest@usa.net if you know of a player who qualifies. It’s certainly possible somebody could have been overlooked, especially if he played prior to 1970 . . . It was surprising to read in Texas Football magazine that SMU will have a player — sophomore safety Chris Banjo — wearing the retired jersey No. 23 of Beaumont trailblazer Jerry LeVias. LeVias, of course, was the remarkable star who withstood all sorts of abuse to break the racial barrier in the Southwest Conference in the 1960s. He apparently gave his blessing to second-year coach June Jones brainstorm to award the jersey to a player who excelled during spring drills. I’d love to hear the thoughts of LeVias’ coach, Hayden Fry, on the subject.
If you haven’t seen Texas Football yet, it unleashed quite a surprise with its prediction on the District 20-4A race. Vidor, which has been a perennial also ran with a penchant for playing spoiler, is the pick to win the district. The choice was heavily influenced by Jeff Mathews having 10 offensive and eight defensive starters back from a 5-4 team. Lumberton, Port Neches-Groves and Nederland, in that order, were the other teams projected to make the playoffs. Memorial, meanwhile, was tabbed to finish third in District 21-5A in Kenny Harrison’s first season . . . The area team projected to have the best year, and this will come as no surprise, is West Orange-Stark. With the Mustangs coming off a 12-1 season, Texas Football sees veteran WO-S coach Dan Hooks winning his third state title in a fifth trip to the finals by defeating Celina in the championship game. Bridge City is also picked to make the playoffs as the third-place team in 21-3A . . . One of the interesting notes out of Texas Football’s recruiting section is that the Beaumont-Port Arthur area was No. 1 in the state on a per household basis in players signing with Football Bowl Subdivision (think Division 1) schools. There were 15 signees for 165,440 households or one per 11,029 homes. Dallas-Fort Worth led the way in sheer numbers with 142 signees, but that was only one per 17,535 homes.
If you are into reading, and sadly not many people are any more, there are two terrific sports books just out that are well worth the time and money. One is Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, about the irrepressible Satchel Paige. Among the nuggets author Larry Tye uncovered concerns the fact Paige was bitter that Jackie Robinson, instead of him, was chosen to break baseball’s color barrier. The other book is Are You Kidding Me? by noted author John Feinstein. It tells the gripping, Rocky Balboa-like golf tale of Rocco Mediate’s improbable near takedown of Tiger Woods at last year’s U.S. Open, and the impact it had on so many people . . . The Houston Rockets Shane Battier, who is an avid golfer, was recently asked to put in golf terms what it would be like to hold Los Angles Lakers star Kobe Bryant under 20 points. Battier, of course, did a better job than anybody of defending Bryant during the NBA playoffs. “It would be like holing a double-breaking, 40-foot, downhill slider,” said Battier . . . Lamar ex Collin DeLome has slugged his way into the Texas League’s July 1 All-Star game in his first season with the Astros AA Corpus Christi affiliate. DeLome, through 53 games, was leading the TL in home runs with 13. He had 33 RBI and was batting .264. He was named to the team as a reserve but will probably start because one of the outfielders picked ahead of him has already been promoted to AAA.
The bald-faced hypocrisy of the NFL toward gambling never ceases to amaze me. While pontificating about the evils of point spreads, which just happen to drive up its TV ratings, the league has used the economic crunch as a rationale for giving a green light to teams getting involved in state lotteries. The Houston Texans recently announced they are following the lead of the New England Patriots and Washington Redskins with a $5 scratch-off ticket, and the Cowboys are working on a similiar deal. Apparently the NFL doesn’t consider buying lottery tickets to be gambling. . . . The departure of Terrell Owens and the nagging injuries that have slowed receivers Miles Austin and Sam Hurd during off-season workouts are causing some agonizing in Dallas over the team’s already questionable wide receiver position. One idea that’s been thrown out is to sign former Arkansas star Matt Jones, a 6-6, 218 pounder recently cut by Jacksonville over drug-related problems. For the time being at least, Jerry Jones is saying he isn’t interested. Hard to believe Jones is all of a sudden drawning a line in the dirt when it comes to a problem player . . . It will be a shame if somebody doesn’t give Michael Vick another chance in the NFL. Signing him will certainly be controversial, and will attract demonstrators, but this guy has paid a steep, steep price, as well as his debt to society, for his transgressions. I’m a dog lover, and detest what Vick was involved with, but the man deserves a second chance.
Jeremy Tyler, a 6-11 basketball standout in San Diego, raised eyebrows when he announced he was skipping his senior year in high school to play professional baskeball overseas until he’s eligible for the NBA draft in 2011. Many think he’ll be the No. 1 pick in that draft. Now Bryce Harper, a 6-3, 205 pound, 16-year-old baseball phenom from Las Vegas, who was on the cover of the June 8 Sports Illustrated, has gone Tyler one better. Harper, who would have been a junior this fall, says he’ll take his GED so he can skip the final two years of high school and enroll at the College of Southern Nevada. That way he’ll be eligible for next year’s baseball draft. According to the SI story, which called Tyler baseball’s LeBron James, he’ll be in major leagues immediately after he’s drafted and signed . . . Arizona’s Dan Haren, who pitched a complete-game two hitter against the Astros last week, is not only among the National League’s best pitchers, as his 2.20 ERA and 90 strikeouts against 13 walks suggest, he’s also the luckiest. Already this year, Haren has drawn the name of Angel Cabrera in the Diamondbacks’ Masters betting pool, North Carolina in the NCAA pool and Mine that Bird in the Kentucky Derby pool. “Everybody in the clubhouse hates me,” says Haren. Wonder who he has in the U.S. Open pool ? ? ?
Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net.
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