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PAGE 2B
Local Sports
ASA to begin
fall registration
The Atlanta Soccer
Academy recreational pro¬
gram is now accepting mail
in registrations for the Fall
2004 recreational season,
for ages under-six and up.
There will also be a walk
up registration on August 7,
and August 28, from 10:30
a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Forsyth
County Public Library,
Sharon Forks Branch.
Call, (770) 557-0430 for
more information. Or go to
www.atlsoccer.com.
Travel baseball
team forming
A travel baseball team is
forming in Dawson County
for players ages 11-and
under.
The team will play in the
Georgia Baseball Federation
League.
There will be two tryouts
in August and one
September, and there is a
registration fee. Please call
Tom at (706) 265-0979, for
more information.
Roller hockey
camp gearing
up for session
Slapshots Family Skate
Center is offering a Learn to
Play Roller Hockey Camp
July 12, 14 and 16, Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, 8
a.m.-ll a.m. for $145. Stay
and skate offered from 11
a.m. to 4 p.m. for only $7
and includes lunch.
Additional camps offered
all summer.
For more information,
visit www.slapshots.net or
call (770) 888-5000.
Adult baseball
team tryouts
coming soon
The Cumming Reds
adult baseball team in the
Stan Musial League is seek¬
ing players with college,
professional, high school,
amateur and American
Legion experience.
The team will soon be
hosting tryouts for players
at all positions. Call Dennis
Holbrook at (770) 887-
4036.
Cheerleading
teams forming
Teams are now forming
for the Forsyth-Dawson
County CATS Competition
Cheerleading program. The
cost will be $85 per month,
with a one-time $30 regis¬
tration fee.
There will be an evalua¬
tion of each cheerleader for
placement purposes, but no
tryouts.
If you are ready to take
cheerleading to the next
level, but are not ready to
cheer for an All-Star team,
this is the place for you.
The only criteria is that
you participate in one of the
following programs:
Midway Park, Dawson
County Park, Pinecrest
Academy, Sawnee Mountain
Park, Bennett Park or
Sharon Springs Park. Please
contact Debbie Storey or
Denise Garner at (770) 781
9289 or email her at
forsy thcats @cs .com.
Tackle football
team forming
The War Hill Christian
Academy is now forming a
tackle football team for the
upcoming 2004 season.
Call (706) 216-3524 for
more information.
Officials needed
for fall football
The Lanier Football
Officials Association is now
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS - Wednesday, duly 7,2004
accepting applications.
If you have ever thought
about becoming a football
official, this is a great
opportunity. The Lanier
Football Officials
Association is now taking
applications for the 2004
season.
No experience necessary,
all training is provided.
LFOA is a member of the
Georgia High School
Association. Visit
www.lanierofficials.org or
call Tim Tipton at (770)
967-3197, ext. 239.
Lacrosse camp
coming soon
SuperSouth Lacrosse
Camp III is currently
accepting registration for
girls, boys and youth
lacrosse camps set for North
Georgia College and State
University. Visit
www.bagatawaylacrosse.co
m or contact Jason Alberici
(404) 216-5870 at jasona@
bagatawaylacrosse.com.
Soccer summer
camp nearing
The Atlanta Soccer
Academy, Forsyth County’s
new soccer club, is hosting
Summer Camps this season
in Cumming.
The ASA’s camp runs
July 19-23. This camp is
involved with the Atlanta
Silverbacks professional
club and will take place at
Forsyth’s Pinecrest Acad
em y. a
The camp has two ses¬
sions: 9 a.m. to noon (cost,
$100) and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
(cost, $185). There is also a
pre- and pjjgt-camp shuttle
service able for U6-U8
players fee of $5. Call
(770) 557-0430 or visit
www.atlsoccer.com.
Running Camp
gearing up
The Mountain High
Running Camp will take
place July 12-17 and July
19-24, at Tallulah Falls. The
staff is composed of elite
Kenyan and international
distance runners and inter¬
nationally experienced
coaches.
For information, contact
Scott Simmons via email at
simmons@minotstateu.edu,
or call (800) 777-0750, or
visit the camp’s Web site at:
www.mountainhigh
running.com.
Local racers
head to
Hampton
Atlanta Motor Speed¬
way’s Thursday Thunder
will return this week for
Walker Goncrete Night,
which will include a special
celebrity intermission race
between WSB radio’s Capt.
Herb Emory and Jason
Durden.
Tickets for Thursday
Thunder are just $5 for
adults, $1 for children 6-12,
and children under 5 arc
free.
Parking is free. Spectator
gates open at 6 p.m. with
preliminary action begin¬
ning immediately.
Feature racing begins at
7 p.m. and concludes by 10
p.m.
For more information
about Thursday Thunder,
call (770) 946-4211 or visit
www.atlantamotorspeed
way.com.
Midway
Packers host
registration
Midway Packers Football
and Cheerleading Associa¬
tion will host registration
and uniform sizing for the
upcoming 2004 fall season
at the Midway Park Pavilion
from 8 a.m.-noon on July
10 .
You can’it blame the catcher this season
Thank goodness for
Johnny Estrada, the rare
pleasant surprise in a half
season of Brave disappoint¬
ments.
All he’s done is lead the
Tribe in batting average, hits,
and doubles, rank second in
on-base percentage and runs
batted in, and third in slug¬
ging percentage and total
bases. Best of all, he’s out of
this world with runners in
scoring position, especially
with two outs.
And to think GM John
Schuerholz stole him from
the Phillips for a retread
pitcher who couldn’t even
make the Braves current rota¬
tion.
Almost as amazing has
been Ivan Rodriguez, the
Tigers catcher, who has lead
the American League in hit¬
ting for most of the season.
When’s the last time you saw
a catcher with an average in
the .375 range?
And when’s the last time a
catcher led league in hitting?
You have to travel way back
to 1942, when “The
Schnozz”, Ernie Lombardi of
the Boston Braves, topped the
NL with a .330 average.
Lombardi also lead the league
in 1938 with a .342 average
for the Reds.
Only one other catcher
won a batting title. That was
the immortal Eugene
“Bubbles” Hargrave, who hit
.353 for the Reds in 1926.
That’s because there is no
position in sport as demand¬
ing as catching a baseball
game. Here’s Reggie Jackson
describing Thurman
COOLER from IB 4f
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tqgpjffdr thelrtfamilies. visiting Anglers and
In fa<?t>'for
many Georgians Lake Mkton
conjures up memorials of
catching wild trout fr«h ill the
picturesque pools of tribu¬
taries, and some will remem¬
ber learning to water ski on
Burton’s caliq, blue-green
1919, it is the second oldest
manmade reservoir Lin
Georgia and contains 2,775
acres of water. Its clear
waters are teeming with life
and because of a DNR exper¬
iment, is producing better
catches than ever before.
The rebirth of this more
than 70-year-old lake is the
direct result of an experiment
by DNR biologist Anthony
Rabun that began In March
of 1990. At that time, 40,000
threadfin shad were stocked
in Lake Burton. They were
followed with an additional
20,000 the following
February.
The growth and reproduc¬
tion of that 1990 class were
phenomenal and caused a
furor. The spotted bass popu¬
lation exploded in both num¬
bers and size far beyond
expectations. Though the
average fish is still around a
pound, many spotted bass are
being taken in the three to
four pound class with an
occasional five pound fish as
a bonus.
During these warmer
months, fishing can also be
outstanding up in the
Tallulah River arm of Lake
Burton or at the mouth of
any of the feeder streams.
The main body of the lake
from the Highway 76 Bridge
to below Billy Goat Island is
an excellent fishery.
Besides the great fishing,
Lake Burton has much more
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left to round out the scoring.
“Tampa Bay has an excel¬
lent team and should be com¬
mended for their play today,"
said Phil Beniamino, the club’s
president, as well as its offen¬
sive and defensive coordinator.
“However, I’m extremely
proud of the way our girls
stuck together throughout the
year, fighting week after week.
“We faced a heck of a lot of
adversity from coaches, prac¬
tice fields and finances this
year. These girls pulled togeth¬
er and played their hearts out
and I’m proud to be associated
with them. I couldn't ask for a
better group of ladies to repre¬
sent to Atlanta what women's
football is all about."
\ The Tampa Bay Ter¬
minators head to New York on
July 10 to take on^ the New
York Sharks for the Eastern
Conference Champion and a
chance for the IW$L Cham¬
pionship in Sacramento, July
24 .
Denton tote, -
s Ash way
>
COLUMNIST
Munson’s last game: “For the
] first time since we had been
teammates, he had to take
himself out of a game. His
knees had become assassins
after all the years of squatting
behind the plate, all the
games when he’d taken his
squat body and hurled it at
the game of baseball.
“There is no tougher posi¬
tion than catcher. Knee’ bends
are lousy for you. Get up. Get
down. Get up again. Get '
down. Come up throwing.
Take the chest protector off.
Take the shin guards off. Hit.
Put them back on. Go back
behind the plate and repeat
the process. Catching just
breaks a man. down, inning
by inning, game by game, *
year by year.”
Former umpire Ron
Luciano concurred. “Catchers
are the most beat-up, bruised,
broken, knurled players on
the field. They are the only
athletes I know who can stick
their hands out straight and
point behind them.”
As former catcher, and
current Diamondbacks man¬
ager Bob Brenly recalls, “By
the end of the season, fused
to feel like a usfed car.”
Any wonder, then, that as
soon as he broke Carlton
^Fisk’s by record catcher, for career Mike home
runs a -
Piazza moved to first base? .
waters or enjoying the purely
Southern culinary experience
of home-cooked food at
LaRrade’s. Moccasin Creek
State Park information is
available by calling (706)
947-3194.
Bill Vanderford has won
numerous awards for his
The position is so difficult
that it caused Lena
Marchiano to observe, “I did
n’t raise my son to be a catch¬
er.” So, after a tryout with the
Cubs, her son Rocky became
history’s only undefeated
heavyweight boxing champi
Hey, it was easier than
catching!
And yet, the player who
gets beat to death is the most
important player on the ros¬
ter. Miller Huggins, who
managed the Yankees in the
'20’s, observed, “A good
catcher is the quarterback, the
carburetor, the lead dog, the
pulse taker, the traffic cop,
and sometimes a lot of
unprintable things, but no
team gets very far without a
good one.”
Nothing has changed.
Here’s the observation of
long-time GM Frank Cashen m
from just a few years
“The first thing you wanMn a
catcher is the ability to
the pitchers. Then you want
defensive skill and, of course,
the good arm. Last of all, if
he can hit with power, well,
then you’ve got Johnny
Bench. Very few good teams
that win year after year have
done so without a top catch
er.
“Catching is like manag
ing,” observed Bob Boone,
whose undertaken both jobs.
.Managers don’t really win
flimes, but they caij lose
ty of them. The same way
with catching. If you’re doing
a quality job, you should be
almost anonymous.”
c Casey Stengel thought so
'much of catchers that he
made Hobie Landrith the very
first New York Met in the
1962 expansion draft. As Of
Case said, “You gotta have a
catcher, or you’ll have a lot of
passed balls.”
In fact, catcher was the
position Casey had the most
trouble filling with those
early Mets. "The combined
results of all our catchers
turned out fairly good, and
men bad,” Casey observed
after the ’63 season. “I got
one that can throw but can’t
catch, and one that can catch
but can’t throw, and one who
can hit, but can’t do either.”
Casey kept Choo Choo
Coleman in the lineup solely
because he could block pitch¬
es in the dirt, and “them are
the only ones the other teams
ain’t hitting!”
Casey also noted, “I had
15 pitchers who said they
couldn’t pitch to him, and it
turned out they couldn’t pitch
to nobody.”
Of Chris Cannizzaro,
Casey said, "He’s a remark¬
able catch, that Canzoneri.
He’s the only defensive catch¬
er in baseball who can’t
catch. He calls for the curve
ball too much. He don’t hit it,
and he don’t think nobody
else can.”
Finally, of Greg Goosen,
Casey predicted, “He’s only
20, and with a good chance in
10 years of being 30.”
Catchers. Always abused,
seldom appreciated.
When not practicing his
avocation, Denton Ashway
practices his vocation with
*^the law firm of Ashway and
Haldi in Cumming.
writing and photography,
and has been inducted into
the National Freshwater
Fishing Hall of Fame as a
Legendarv Guide. He can be
reached at (770) 289-1543,
JFish51@aol.com or at his
Web site: www.fishing
lanier.com.