Bulldogs use rain delay as bonding experience

Sports teams participate in many activities in order to bring players together. They have dinners, long, hard practices and go on trips among a myriad of other things. The Athens High School Bulldogs used a 30-minute rain delay in their game against the Vinton County Vikings to bond.

Athens (4-11, 3-4) rallied in the third inning after a rain delay to lead the team to a 6-2 win over Vinton County Monday night at Jacobs Field at the West State Street Park Monday night.

The Vikings opened the scoring in the second inning after an error at first base by the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs then suffered three quick outs at the bottom of the second and struggled on defense, allowing the Vikings to take a 2-0 lead at the bottom of the third, a familiar situation for the Bulldogs.

“We always have a slow start,” Athens head coach Nick Pomento said. “And if the other team gets out in front of us, then we’re sunk. That’s pretty much the way the season has been so far.”

A flash of lightning forced a 30-minute rain delay during Athens’ first at bat of the third inning. Shrieks of laughter could be heard from the Bulldogs dugout throughout the delay.

“[The rain delay] got us to bond a little more. It got our energy up,” pitcher Abby Pomento said. “I think we just needed a break from the game.”

The Bulldogs came out strong after the delay with a home run by freshman Mikala Perry, putting Athens on the scoreboard. Sophomore Kelsey Bowman scored Athens’ second run of the inning when Vinton County missed a throw to second base.

Athens tightened its defense in the fourth inning and began playing more aggressive offense, stealing two bases in addition to a run scored by first baseman Jessica Whitmore, giving the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead.

Athens struck again at the bottom of the sixth inning, when Perry’s hit bounced just inside the fence, bringing home two more Bulldogs. Left fielder Kayla Dunfee also scored in the sixth, giving Athens a 6-2 lead that the defense held at the top of the seventh to win the game.

Abby Pomento lead the Athens defense with six strikeouts and allowing only three hits in 26 batters faced.

“I felt really confident up there and my catcher did, too,” Abby Pomento said. “When my catcher is confident, I’m confident. It felt good.”

After dropping its last four games, Athens used the win to continue the bonding experience.

“We’ve been struggling in our stats lately but we knew we could do this. We came in with confidence and that’s what we needed,” Abby Pomento said.  “This game really helped us pick up our confidence.”

Nick Pomento said he believes the team is coming along.

“They are really close as a team. They pick each other up,” Nick Pomento said. “When something goes bad everybody goes ‘that’s OK’ and I think that’s a big plus for us. We’re working as a team and it’s going to show on the field.”

*A photo slideshow of the game is available on the photo page.

Women in Sports

Jenni Carlson spoke with my sportswriting class about how what to do when a coach blows up. Her experience with Mike Gundy's "I'm a man! I'm 40!" rant made for an interesting discussion. 


It was nice to hear from a woman in the sports journalism world, since there really are not as many. She spoke about how others have told her that they feel she was treated differently by Gundy because she is a woman, and I have to agree. I just don't see Gundy attacking a man the way he went after Carlson, and I definitely don't see him bringing up the fact that she does not have children had Carlson been a man. 


I think this discrimination is definitely something that many women in sports journalism have to face. I know it has gotten better, but any time a women says something controversial in sports, I think one of the first defenses men come up with is “she doesn’t know anything because she’s just a girl.” While my writing has never been critiqued in that way, I have encountered that sort of argument in conversation. I think it was probably a good thing that she did not think Mike Gundy’s attack on her would have been any different if she were a man, even though many people did view it that way. 


The other thing I took from our talk with Carlson was that she is pretty lucky she was not the beat reporter. She is lucky that she does not have to deal with Gundy and can get her quotes and information from another source for her columns. It would have been interesting if she did need to keep a relationship with him. 


I think it would have been alluring to hear about how you mend a relationship after such a big blowup. She did talk about what she thought she would do, in having a conversation about the column and what they can do to get past it, and I’m sure that is what would happen. I’m just interested in hearing about an acutal situation because I am sure that it would be fairly difficult and uncomfortable. I think at some point in our careers, we all will make someone mad and it will be important to us all to figure out the best way to deal with the situation and how to move forward with that person.

A Director of Writing?

I really enjoyed listening to Gregg Bell talk to us last week.  He gave us a look into what his career has become.  I think he has it pretty nice when it comes to writing about the Huskies.  He gets to travel with the team, be right on the sideline for games and be a part of their team huddles among many other benefits.  I also think it can be nice that he does not ever have to hear any bad feedback because he is writing for fans of his team. 


I do think jobs like Bell’s can be problematic for journalists.  The college’s athletic department now has the opportunity to break all  of their news themselves, and present stories with a spin that makes them look better.  I thought it was interesting (and a little insulting) when Bell joked about how the athletic department talks about which “carrot” they’re going to throw to the journalists.  It is scary that they can decide to keep some of the big stories for themselves.  I think it can be problematic if the athletic department constantly breaks all their news because it could draw people to depend on them for all their news about the team, instead of relying on journalists who provide more than one angle on the story.  If it becomes popular, it could make it even harder for sports journalists to get a job because people may not feel they need to read what sportswriters are writing if they are not the ones breaking news first. 


I am sure that this trend is going to become popular among sports programs.  It is a great system for sports programs.  I bet they love the idea that they can in a sense control what their image is through their news stories.  I know that this is a pretty common practice for other programs, but I never really thought about sports programs having their own “journalists.” I interned for Ohio University Communications and Marketing one summer, and they cover things the same way Bell does for the Huskies.  There are stories that you know you aren’t going to cover working for UCM.  I actually went to a few meetings they had when the annual party school rankings came out and got to listen to them try to think of a way to spin the story to make it sound good for Ohio University.  I think it could be bad for sports if they have this much control over what information is given to the public.  I think sports journalists are going to have to work even harder to get a story and to make sure they hold athletic programs responsible.

Press Box Behavior

Jason Fry wrote a piece on how sportswriters need to act on the job. I guess I never really thought about it, but there are certain norms as to what sportswriters should and should not do. I agree with Fry that cheering is something journalists should not do in the press box. It can easily give the opposing team the impression that you could write about them in a bad light and cause them to not talk to you or to be more hesitant in talking with you. I think it could also lead players, coaches or anyone else involved in the organization to take their stories and tips to a different publication, one that they view will teat them fairly.

I think Thomas Bowles’ case of losing his job freelancing for Sports Illustrated after cheering for Trevor Bayne in the press box affirms the belief that journalists need to remain neutral while on the job. I can understand Bowles’ argument that he could be excited for something huge to happen in the sport and have it not affect his coverage of the event. I am sure his piece was just fine. However, I think the issue had nothing to do with his writing and everything to do with the impression he gave to others by cheering for Bayne.