Tuesday Bytes

General86

Doing some traveling this week but wanted to get a fresh entry up. Feel free to use the comments in this entry to discuss anything that may be going on out there.

* With a new football coach (and basketball coach), NC State fans don’t have to talk about the hotseat for a while. This is a welcome change in Raleigh.

* I found this statistic very interesting. Who knows how bad Chuck Amato’s recent teams would have scored under this metric. Perhaps we will track MOE some during this season.

* Have you seen this regarding NC State’s ‘Tradition’ of Friday Fight Day? Man, we really did have the biggest meatheads in college football running our program the last seven years.

* Former ACC referee Hank Nichols is retiring as the national coordinator of officials.

* Ricky Stokes is out as ECU’s Head Basketball coach. It is ECU Basketball…so, nobody really gives a shit; but since we now play East Carolina in everything to tiddly winks then it is something for us not to ignore. Of course, there is more to this story that will never be made public. 850 has a little more.

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86 Responses to Tuesday Bytes

  1. highstick 08/07/2007 at 2:17 PM #

    Sadly, I think you’re absolutely right about the naming issue at the RBC. But, the “Sidney Lowe Center” has a nice ring to it!

    But, can you address Wendell’s involvement or lack thereof??? Just curious, more than anything, because of the way V’s book ended. Also, who was the head of the WPC then??? Purcell was later, I think.

  2. noah 08/07/2007 at 2:20 PM #

    Someone else will have to help with you Mr. Murphy.

    I’m trying to remember who ran the WPC…something Bryant?

    There was a guy in the mid-80s whose basic theory was, “Gimme a couple of big donors and everyone else can kiss my ass. I’ll run it my way.” He didn’t care about the $50 donors. He didn’t care if there were a million $50 donors. He wanted a couple of big boys and no one else.

    Charlie Bryant?

  3. highstick 08/07/2007 at 2:21 PM #

    By the way, I’ve still not found a link to those references to Dean Smith recruiting Washburn. If any of you have the SI article, I’d love to get a copy. I searched their archives, but they don’t go back that far online.

  4. noah 08/07/2007 at 2:25 PM #

    Dean Smith took Kevin Madden and would have taken Kenny Williams (if he could have graduated high school). I don’t know why, in a pre-prop-48 world, he would have batted an eye at Washburn.

    That’s not a slight on Smith. It’s just a very different world today. And if Carolina fans think that everyone who went to their school was a bright, eager student…well…that’s rather sad, but I don’t feel compelled to set them straight.

  5. Trout 08/07/2007 at 2:28 PM #

    Bobby Purcell replaced Charlie Bryant at the Wolfpack Club. Charlie replaced Warren Carroll, I think,

  6. highstick 08/07/2007 at 2:32 PM #

    Bryant was right. He came in 1976, shortly after I had moved from Raleigh.

    Funny, but the “baby blues” have their own viewpoint of the truth and history. My only reason is “Washburn” is the first thing that comes out of their mouths though and they conveniently forget LT. I heard this morning that Michael Strahan was using LT as an example as to why he didn’t need to show up at practice yet.

  7. noah 08/07/2007 at 2:36 PM #

    Strahan is 36. He’s probably right. Unless he needs to get into shape, I’d bet that he’s better off saving his body for the regular season.

  8. CarnifeX 08/07/2007 at 3:40 PM #

    Strahan is better off saving his body for when Tom Coughlin isn’t running the team into the ground (not that it was far above there to begin with)

  9. burnbarn 08/07/2007 at 3:49 PM #

    I think Madden scored under 480 on the SAT and he was about the same time as Wash.

  10. noah 08/07/2007 at 3:57 PM #

    He was in the same class as Shackleford, I think. The score I heard was 590. But…whatever. When you’re below 600, it really doesn’t matter HOW far below you are.

    A Hickory high student from Washburn’s class once posted on one of the State boards that he took the SATs with Washburn. He said he spent about 10 minutes answering questions and the rest of the time doodling on the scrap piece of paper.

    So it wasn’t like Washburn’s score was an honest attempt.

  11. CaptainCraptacular 08/07/2007 at 4:21 PM #

    *A Hickory high student from Washburn’s class once posted on one of the State boards that he took the SATs with Washburn. He said he spent about 10 minutes answering questions and the rest of the time doodling on the scrap piece of paper.*

    I vaguely recall hearing that through the grapevine as well, however Washburn wasn’t at Hickory High his Junior and Senior years. My Freshman yr @ Hickory High was Washburn’s Junior year, but he left that year to go to Fork Union. Perhaps he came back home to take the SATs, I don’t know. That story could be made up though, since its possible he could have taken the test while at Fork Union.

  12. noah 08/07/2007 at 4:46 PM #

    He actually went to three or four high schools. I think he spent a year at Laurinburg Prep as well.

  13. burnbarn 08/07/2007 at 4:59 PM #

    Didn’t laurinburg prep w/Wash play in reynolds his Sr year in HS?

  14. kool k 08/07/2007 at 5:05 PM #

    I am still a Golden State Warriors fan to this day because they drafted Washburn. Damn.
    As my Grandmother always said, there is nothing wrong with a good damn every now and then.

  15. noah 08/07/2007 at 5:08 PM #

    I remember them bringing in Joe Barry Carrol to be a babysitter.

    Washburn had ONE good game in the NBA where he grabbed about a dozen boards and scored 18 points. Then he started having knee problems and then ended up in rehab. It went downhill very, very quickly after that.

  16. JimValvano 08/07/2007 at 5:33 PM #

    I’m going to get the info on the Head of the WPC at the time of the Valvano firing and I’ll find out about Wendell’s view. As a matter of fact…I’ll try and see if I can get all the names possible.

  17. CaptainCraptacular 08/07/2007 at 5:33 PM #

    I may have mixed up Laurinbrug with Fork Union, sorry. Point was that he may not have taken the SATs in Hickory.

  18. JimValvano 08/07/2007 at 5:36 PM #

    I think washburn is back in the hickory area…i know his son played a couple of seasons on the aau circuit and chris was around some…just kind of stayed outta sight.

  19. highstick 08/07/2007 at 6:17 PM #

    Somebody told me or I may have read it here, but the jist was they ran into Washburn a few years back and he acknowledged that he really screwed up. I hope he got his act together.

    I was really saddened with Thompson’s use of drugs. He came over to my apartment when he was a freshman with another friend of mine. I think I was a junior at the time(although older because of Army). He was really a nice/very shy young man. I’d never heard of him at the time, but it didn’t take long before he had me in total awe.

  20. highstick 08/07/2007 at 6:19 PM #

    Thanks for trying to get the info, Jimmy V. I’m not trying for an expose. I’d just like to finally put all of the pieces together,if possible, for my own personal satisfaction and education.

  21. redfred2 08/07/2007 at 6:46 PM #

    To me, Thompson wasn’t intentionally flashy or someone who wanted any part of the limelight. He was just a quite guy with ungodly athletic skills, he was very competive though, but with actions and without the mouth that people think is necessary in this day and time. He seemed to be just out there quietly looking for some real competition from anyone who could push him on the basketball court.

  22. highstick 08/07/2007 at 7:10 PM #

    Very good description of DT. I feel fortunate to have been able to be in school or in Raleigh during his career. In fact, there was something “very special” about the 73 and 74 teams, meaning very “low key”, do the job, and move on.

    Can someone give me the name of the senior guard in 73? I can remember his dunk at the end of the ACC championship, even though illegal!

  23. PAPacker 08/07/2007 at 7:11 PM #

    Hey Captain Craptacular,

    Another Red Tornado here. When did you graduate? I finished in 1981. Savannah Washburn, Chris’s mom knew my mom well and she kept us up to date on him.

  24. CaptainCraptacular 08/07/2007 at 7:42 PM #

    ’86

    Ms Washburn was a very nice woman, and I always felt a bit bad for her for the negative attention that surely must have resulted from Chris’s actions. How did she handle that?

    You probably weren’t able to take advantage of this, but during my years, if you had a tardy or absentee note, you had to have it validated by one of the people working in the office. This was usually Ms Washburn or another lady, forget her name now. The other lady would catch a forgery more often than not or ask very uncomfortable questions, but Ms Washburn would let just about anything through with hardly a close look. Anyone who had reason to keep their notes from being too closely scrutinized always prayed they would have their note validated by Ms Washburn when going to the office. Good times.

  25. CaptainCraptacular 08/07/2007 at 8:01 PM #

    Had to know if I was going crazy or not, so I did some research on Washburn’s high school career post Hickory. Took me a good bit to dig it up, but it turns out he did attend Fork Union, at least for a year:

    http://www.forkunionbasketball.com/images/wasburn00015.jpg
    http://www.forkunionbasketball.com/History_.html

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