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PAGE 2B
BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2017
Plain Speaking
First game of a new season always special
For the Bethlehem Christian
Academy football team, a new
season has arrived.
The Knights will open the 2017
campaign Friday
as they travel to
Monticello to
face Piedmont
Academy. After
months of antic
ipation, kick
off has finally
arrived.
Hours upon
hours of work
have gone into
preparing for
the new foot
ball year. From
offseason conditioning to weight
training to preseason practice,
BCA players and coaches are
eager to see what the new season
will bring.
The Knights and Cougars also
met in last season’s opener with
BCA holding on to win in dra
matic fashion.
All indications are the game
will be competitive once again
this time around.
For football fans like myself,
there will always be something
special about the first game of a
new campaign.
Weeks have become months in
terms of anticipation and at times
it seems as if kickoff will never
arrive.
However, we are literally only
hours away now.
With the first game of the 2017
being played on Aug. 11, there is
as much concern about condition
ing as there is to what the oppo
nent on the other side of the
line of scrimmage will do. It’s
common now in fact for game
officials to work in extra breaks
during early-season games to
make sure players have plenty
of water in their attempt to stay
hydrated.
BCA and Piedmont have
played each other several times
now and a rivalry of mutual
respect between the programs
has formed. The Cougars trav
eled to BCA, in fact, earlier in
the summer for a 7-on-7 event
as Knights coach Lance Fendley
spoke of his praise for his coun
terpart in Piedmont coach Wes
Tanner.
The two teams compete in dif
ferent classifications in the GISA
with BCA at Class AAA and
Piedmont at Class AA.
Despite that difference, the fact
the Cougars have the more estab
lished program in terms of years
had given them the edge until last
season when the Knights earned a
memorable victory.
High school football is always
something special in small town
America.
While other teams will not begin
their new seasons for another
week or so there are many across
the state who do kick things off
this week. It will be interesting
to see how the players for both
teams perform in what will be the
first of several contests in 2017.
Both hope Friday will be the
first step on the road to the play
offs even though this game will
not count in the region standings
for either school.
As Friday night’s game arrives,
it will also be a special time for
the parents and family members
of the players as well as the
cheerleaders and managers repre
senting both teams.
It will be a memorable evening
for alumni of both schools who
continue the tradition of watching
their alma mater compete.
High school football has a way
of making the stress that we go
through disappear, if only for a
few hours on Friday evenings.
It’s another thing that is mag
ical about this sport which has
been around for generations.
Lasting memories are made on
a field of grass 100 yards long. It
all begins again this Friday.
All indications are it should be
an entertaining event to watch as
BCA makes the trek down Ga. 11
to Monticello.
Winder resident Chris Bridges
is a former editor of the Barrow
News-Journal. He welcomes feed
back about this column at pchris-
bridges @ gmail. com.
Maria Taylor moving up the ESPN ranks
The expansive ESPN campus
in Charlotte, N.C. is where you
find countless broadcast person
alities moving about.
Like Paul Finebaum, for exam
ple — the voice of sports talk
broadcasting.
Other network
announcers come
and go as routinely
as housewives at a
grocery store. It is
part of their gig.
One of the most
successful and
versatile — up
and coming —
announcers you
are likely to bump
into here is Atlan
ta native, Maria
Taylor, who was
schooled at the University of
Georgia’s Henry Grady College
of Journalism.
Good things are happening for
her. but she is quick to remember
her formative years in Athens,
where she learned the basics for
developing a broadcasting career.
“A lot of good things are happen
ing for me,” she said recently,
“and one of the most important
influences on my life and career
was my time at UGA. I don’t take
that lightly, and I won’t ever fail
to remember those who helped
me get started.”
She especially underscored ver
bal high fives for Lady Dawgs’
basketball coach, Andy Land
ers, for whom she lettered, and
Claude Felton, the Bulldogs’ vir
tuoso Sports Information Direc
tor.
“Don’t get me started on
Claude,” she smiles. “I might not
stop for an hour. Such a wonder
ful friend and advisor.
“If he were to call right now
and ask me drive to Athens for
something, I would drop every
thing and head that way.”
Felton, Grady college facul
ty and others are always giving
Maria high marks, but before she
says thanks, she unloads kudos
in their direction by taking the
position that they made her who
she is.
And who is Maria Taylor at
this point in her career? She is
reaching the top in her profession
but with balanced perspective,
never reluctant to say thanks and
is quick to express gratefulness
for where she is and how
she got there.
This is why you hear gen
erous praise for those who
have influenced her career
along the way.
This year has been an
impactful year for Maria.
She turned 30 years old on
May 12, was married in late
summer and promoted by
the network a few days after
her birthday.
This fall, she will be a fea
ture reporter on GameDay
and will roam the sidelines
for the ESPN/ABC’s No. 1 foot
ball crew of Chris Fowler and
Kirk Herbstreit.
That’s heady stuff for a young
woman who has always accentu
ated the work ethic and relation
ships as a conduit for success.
She is as comfortable with a
microphone in her hands as she
was with a basketball and volley
ball during her competitive days
at Georgia.
She studies hard when pre
paring for a game, even when
she knows at halftime she may
be interviewing Alabama’s Nick
Saban as he comes off the field.
That is not a time to shoot from
the hip.
Ask a good question and you
get respect.
"The last thing you want to
do,” she says, "is say, ‘Man, the
offense is struggling, how are
you going to fix it?’ You might
get this response: ‘Who says we
are struggling? We are not strug
gling.’”
It became habitual early on
in her career to evaluate other
announcers, paying close atten
tion to their ability to interview
a sports personality, whether in a
studio with no distractions or out
side a locker room in a tight game
with overwhelming distractions.
ESPN has something of a short
course for its announcers with a
broadcast coach who hosts two-
day seminars on how to inter
view and interact with coaches
and players — including how
to respond if you get a hardball
response.
She is mindful of the Georgia
graduates who have risen to the
pinnacle in television — Amy
Robach with “Good Morning
America,” Deborah Roberts with
“ABC’s 20/20” and Deborah
Norville with “Inside Edition.”
(And, the first to make it big,
Julie Moran, who after co-host-
ing “NBA Inside Stuff,” and later
the lead reporter for “Entertain
ment Tonight,” took a break to
start a family). In the Grady gal
axy, she is to sports what the
aforementioned are to news and
entertainment.
With a laid back demeanor,
Taylor has learned to manage,
among other things, the enduring
question about her height.
Fans in the street in Char
lotte don’t know her like they
do in Athens, most of whom get
around to saying, "You’re taller
than I thought you were.”
She smiles and explains that at
6-2, that gives her an opportunity
to enjoy college athletic compe
tition and that she "can see over
some of those linemen when they
are in the huddle and confirm
exactly what is going on.”
There is a vast audience out
there who will more readily iden
tify with her this fall.
America can’t get enough foot
ball and when they take in the TV
games in a few weeks, they will
be getting plenty of Maria Taylor.
Her star is rising and her cam
pus fan club, those who have
influenced her life and career,
will be high-fiving generously in
the background.
They know that as she is mak
ing them proud, she will also be
making ESPN’s college football
audience take note.
Loran Smith is a columnist for
the Barrow News-Journal. He
is co-host of the University of
Georgia football radio pre-game
show.
loran
smith
Prep Calendar
TODAY
Cross Country
Winder-Barrow at Monsignor Donovan Catholic meet.
5 p.m.
THURSDAY
Softball
Apalachee at North Oconee, 5:55 p.m.
Winder-Barrow at Loganville, 5:55 p.m.
Volleyball
Apalachee at North Oconee, 5 p.m.
Winder-Barrow at North Hall, vs. West Forsyth, 6 p.m.;
vs. North Hall, 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
Football
Bethlehem Christian Academy at Piedmont Academy.
8 p.m.
Dunwoody at Apalachee (scrimmage), 7:30 p.m.
Winder-Barrow at Flowery Branch (scrimmage), 7:30
p.m.
Volleyball
Apalachee at Sequoyah playdate
SATURDAY
Volleyball
Apalachee at Sequoyah playdate
MONDAY
Softball
Brookwood at Apalachee, 5:30 p.m.
Winder-Barrow at North Oconee. 5:55 p.m.
TUESDAY
Softball
Loganville at Apalachee, 5:55 p.m.
Volleyball
Winder-Barrow at Loganville, 5:30 p.m.
Bethlehem Christian Academy at Monroe Area, 6 p.m.
WEDNESDAY,
AUG. 16
Softball
Winder-Barrow at Mill Creek (Hawk/Bulldog Invita
tional) vs. Buford, 5 p.m.; vs. Grayson, 7 p.m.
Bulldogg football games
to be broadcast on radio
Winder-Barrow Bull
dogg football returns to the
radio airwaves Friday, Aug.
18 on “Barrow’s 107.1
WJBB” for the Bulldoggs’
home opener against
Clarke Central. Double G
Dogg football on “Bar
row’s 107.1” will feature
Tim Rose handling play by
play duties in all 10 regular
season and additional play
off games, according to a
news release.
“Airing live high school
football games is the very
best part of being a com
munity radio station, and
we can’t wait to call a win
in the Doggs’ opener,” said
Jeff Batten, WJBB owner.
“Once again there will be
no nighttime interference
and the games will be
heard in high fidelity on
our 107.1 signal or through
our website streaming at
wjbbradio.com.”
“Barrow’s 107.1 FM”
will also replay the games
Saturday afternoons begin
ning at 1 p.m. The station’s
“Morning Scoreboard”
program weekdays at 7
a.m. will continue to fea
ture interviews, commen
tary and insider informa
tion during the season.
“WJBB bleeds high
school sports, and we’re
trying to make Barrow
sports and community
news matter in ways that
separate us from the Atlan
ta stations.”
WJBB AM 1300 will
continue to simulcast all
programming as well on
the AM dial.
Batten’s related compa
nies own five other AM
and FM signals across
North Georgia along with
a broadcasting school and
a television production
company.
WBHS football reserved
seats now available
Reserved seating passes
are on sale now at Wind
er-Barrow High School
for the 2017 football sea
son.
The passes may be pur
chased in the front office
of the school.
The cost per seat is $50.
This entitles you reserved
seating for each of the five
home games as well as a
reserved parking pass. For
more information or ques
tions, call Sue McNally at
770-867-4519.
'^Considering
M R buying or
selling?
770-867-9026
www.maynardrealty.com
$ 5 00 0FF
Ticket 0f‘2Ct° Or More. Valid with coupon Mon.-Thurs. only.
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