Monday, 31 March 2008 19:40 by
Dave It was good. Very good.
I’m talking about Nationals Stadium, where I got to see the Nationals plays their first regular-season game Sunday night against the Braves. I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t cynical heading downtown Sunday afternoon; stadiums never open with everything finished, parking was expected to be a nightmare, and D.C. is, well, D.C. Something was going to go awry.
I was wrong. Traffic flowed smoothly to RFK, where we parked. We walked directly to a bus and boarded without waiting, and within 10 minutes, we were at the stadium. We avoided the Metro because they are notorious for underestimating capacity. But we ran into another Loudouner, Dr. Dave Stewart, who took the Metro and said everything went fine.
Inside, the stadium was better than expected. Lots of room, lots of places to eat, lots of restrooms. Our seats were in the nosebleed section, but there was an escalator up to the heavens, and the sight lines were great. The scoreboard is a huge HD monster, and displays there were clearer than anything I’ve seen in a major league sports stadium.
It was, simply, a world-class facility. I know The Washington Post panned its architecture in today’s paper, but this stadium wasn’t designed to be a work of art. It’s your basic overstuffed La-Z-Boy, easy on the eyes, and built for comfort. By comparison, go to a Redskins game at Fed Ex Field. Nationals Stadium is already better on day one than that facility is a decade later. The Nats have also figured out parking and customer service better than the Burgundy and Gold. On Day One.
Most of us thought the real test of the stadium would be going home. Eveyone came early, so it wasn’t a big surprise that traffic went smoothly. But going home went just as well. This became important when one member of our party, whose initials are Paul Draisey, announced in the bottom of the seventh that it was late, cold and nothing more exciting was going to happen. We walked the three blocks to where the buses were waiting, immediately boarded, and were in our car no more than 10 minutes later.
This allowed us, as we were turning on to 395 to head home, to turn on the radio and hear Charlie Slowes call Ryan Zimmerman’s dramatic ninth-inning home run to win the game. As fireworks are going off in the distance, Draisey claimed that hearing the ending on the radio while seeing the fireworks from the road was “almost as good as being there.” Draisey is the early leader in this year’s “most ridiculous phrases uttered” contest.
Not everything was fantastic. A trip to the most popular concession stand – Ben’s Chili Bowl – will run you $17.50 for a hot dog, fries and a drink. By comparison, our group pulled into the Golden Arches in Ashburn before starting the trip and ordered 10 double cheeseburgers and five soft drinks, feeding five people for about the same money. But the demand was there. The average wait at Ben’s was 30 to 40 minutes the entire game.
The Nationals also blew it when it came to memorabilia involving the first game at the new stadium. When they played their first game at RFK, a nice commemorative coin was given out. Sunday night, you got a small towel which said “Welcome Home. Nationals Park Inaugural Game. 3-30-08.” The towel reminded you of what you’d wipe your hands off with after changing the oil in your car. Someone referred to it as a “crappy” towel, but honestly, it wasn’t that nice.
All in all, it was a tremendous first impression. Now the team has to win. The stadium’s great, but this area won’t support a loser (unless you play in the NFL and overpay free agents every year). Two games in, however, the team is 2-0.
That’s good. Very good.
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Sunday, 30 March 2008 00:45 by
Dave It certainly looks like the perfect storm.
I'll be leaving later today today to join Paul Draisey and a few other friends at the Washington Nationals' first regular-season game in their new ball park. Draisey, who is afraid they will run out of half-smokes at the Ben's Chili Bowl concession stand, has ordained that we will leave at 3:30 for an 8 p.m. game.
On the news Saturday night, there were picutres of huge tie-ups at the Metro station, a weather forecast with temperatures dropping into the 40s, maybe even the 30s, and it might rain a few times during the game.
Should be fun.
It could also be a lot like last year, when Ron Kitzmiller and I took the WAGE van to RFK for a live remote. And in case you forgot what a dysfunctional lot we were back then, here's this week's podcast:
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Saturday, 29 March 2008 10:46 by
Dave Perhaps it’s just old age.
But I’ve reached the point in my life where I’ve gotten great joy out of seeing the children of friends and acquaintances do well. Call it the fraternity of being a parent: Once you’ve suffered the anxiety of watching your child on stage, experienced the tremendous pride of their success, or had to cope with the disappointment of their defeat, it changes you. You automatically pull for the kids of anyone you know because you know how good it can feel, and you know how bad it can feel.
I’ve said to many people that covering Stone Bridge’s run to a state football title wasn’t special because the Bulldogs won. It was watching Mickey Thompson accomplish a long-pursued goal – winning a state title – with his sons playing a key role in the victory that made it special. It was more special because Mickey’s own mother and father were on the field to see it.
It probably hit me a little harder, because my own father passed away about a year earlier. In coping with his passing, I started to realize that part of my routine when something good happened – like almost making a hole-in-one or getting great tickets to a sporting event – was calling the old man. When I finally got to go to a Super Bowl, I called him from my seats. If I met someone famous, he’d get a call saying “guess who I just met?” When I was named COO of a company, he got a call. He had no idea what a COO did or what it meant. But he was proud.
So it should come as no surprise when Davidson started its run in the NCAA Tournament that I would pull for the Wildcats. Their star player is Stephen Curry, whose father Dell played at Virginia Tech in the early to mid 1980s. I graduated well before Dell came to Blacksburg, but I covered the team and talked to him a few times. I then left newspapers for the furniture business and moved to High Point, N.C. The next year, the NBA put an expansion team in nearby Charlotte, and Dell Curry was taken in the expansion draft by the Hornets. So I’ve pretty much seen his entire college and pro basketball career.
Through it all, Dell played with poise and class. So does his son. The TV talking heads made a big deal about all the points he scored, but it was Stephen’s demeanor that really made me smile. As parents, we’re all trying to figure it out as we go along these days, and we never know if we really made the right decisions until our kids are adults. Seeing Stephen’s enthusiasm, discipline and selflessness was impressive. He was, as they say, “raised right.” Well done, Mr. and Mrs. Curry.
The shots of Dell and his wife were also enjoyable. Stephen’s mom wore her smile with a “that’s my baby” look that kids hate and parents can’t help themselves from. Dell wore a “that’s my boy” smile that was clearly covering incredible nervousness. I played in hundreds of games as a youngster, and never felt as nervous as the night I watched my daughter give a solo performance in the fifth grade. I smiled, and when it was over, smiled some more. But it was a smile of relief as well as pride. Dell had that look on him when the cameras approached. We’ve all been there.
I doubt Davidson will get past Kansas. But it has been a great show to watch: A young man, after years of hard work, gets the success he deserves while a proud mother and father watch.
That's a show I'll never get tired of watching.
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Friday, 28 March 2008 11:30 by
Dave I had done the calculations. Everyone’s picks were so similar, the early lead in the Loudoun County Magnificent 7 King Of All Sports Media Basketball Challenge would hinge on the West Virginia-Xavier game Thursday night. I’d picked WVU, and if WVU won, I’d be the only one with a 4-0 record if UNC, UCLA and Louisville won, which was the case.
So when West Virginia scored in the final seconds of regulation and had a free throw opportunity that would put them ahead, it all seemed so simple. As a Virginia Tech graduate, it’s hard for a Hokie to pull for a Mountaineer, but I put it all aside, yelling “Go ‘Eeers” at my television.
They missed the free throw. Then they lost in overtime.
As a result, Dan Sousa of Loudounprepsports.com, and the dynamic duo of Erica Garman and Paul Tenorio of LoudounExtra.com now lead with 4-0 records. Not surprisingly, there was an email in my inbox this morning from Garman, saying “sorry for your loss.”
There were others who went 4-0. Former WAGE news director Tim Jon got his wife Lisa to send in his picks, and Lisa decided to fill out a form herself. Good thing she did, as she went 4-0. Tim? Well, let’s just say he’s a wonderful actor who knows a lot…about Shakespeare.
Loudoun County Commonwealth Attorney Jim Plowman also went 4-0, but one of the more interesting picks came in just under the wire Thursday from Robert DuPree, the chairman of the Loudoun County school board. Writing “I have to be bold” on his picks, DuPree boldly picked Wisconsin to win the entire tournament. He also boldly picked Tennessee and West Virginia to win, and is now boldly in last place. Plowman, I should point out, is a Virginia Tech graduate. DuPree received his degree from the University of Virginia. One’s in first, one’s in last. Hmmmmmm.
Tonight’s another night, and the Stanford-Texas matchup should be an interesting one over at The Washington Post. In case you missed the comment in yesterday’s blog, one reader took exception to Paul Tenorio’s remark of “go back to school, smarties” in picking Texas over Stanford. Turns out Tenorio overlooked the fact that his editor, Ed Guzman, is a Stanford alum.
Something tells me if Stanford wins, Tenorio will be getting an email from his editor. Something also tells me it’ll probably be a bit stronger than “sorry for your loss.”
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Thursday, 27 March 2008 01:10 by
Dave They know how to write and talk. But do they know what they’re talking about?
The “they” represent the “Magnificent 7” of Loudoun County sports media (yeah, I know I included myself, but “Magnificent 6” didn’t sound as good) and all have turned in predictions on the final two weeks of the NCAA basketball tournament. If you listen to this group, either North Carolina or UCLA will win the national title.
The group consists of Erica Garman from LoudounExtra.com/Comcast; Paul Tenorio of LoudounExtra.com and The Washington Post; Carl Lukat and Jason Rufner from the Loudoun Times-Mirror; Dan Sousa, who covers every local sport ever played at Loudounprepsports.com; and Paul Draisey, who along with myself cover high school sports locally for Comcast.
This is not a daring group. Everyone likes UNC to win both its games in the East, and with the exception of Lukat, all expect UNC to be in the championship game. Lukat, we believe, is under undue influence from Sousa. If you’ve not met Dan, he carries a huge West Coast bias, as no matter what the sport, he likes a team from California. Sousa and Lukat had lunch together Wednesday, and they both ended up picking UCLA to win it all. Wonder who paid for that meal?
The Midwest was virtually unanimous, as Kansas is the strong favorite with the exception of our Washington Post duo. Someone obviously leaked some information to Garman and Tenorio that Wisconsin has a chance, but if this tournament had an honor code, one of them might be on trial. If you’ll notice closely, their picks are nearly identical.
Tenorio wasn’t content with just picking winners. In turning in his picks, he also explained WHY his picks would win while taking jabs at Stanford (“go back to school, smarties”), chanting “Go Big Ten” and suggesting that Michigan State guard Drew Neitzel has been playing in East Lansing for “about eight years.” This is because Tenorio grew up a University of Michigan fan. Let it go, Paul. Think of Rich Rodriguez as a nice consolation prize.
Rufner claimed little enthusiasm for the contest, saying his focus was purely on the NIT. This is because Rufner is also a Virginia Tech graduate. Now that the Hokies have been eliminated, I seriously doubt he’s planning an NIT party this weekend to watch Mississippi play Ohio State. He’s the third person picking UCLA to win it all, and I’m guessing Sousa will be sending a plate of sandwiches over to him before the week is out.
There is still time to get in on this contest, as I’ll take emails with picks right up to game time tonight. And you don’t have to worry about any shenanigans in picking a winner. One of our entrants is Jim Plowman, Loudoun County’s Commonwealth Attorney. His picks? He’s totally unimpressed with Carolina, as he has Louisville making it to the championship game before losing to Memphis State.
For Jim’s sake, let’s just hope the Tigers don’t have to shoot many free throws.
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Wednesday, 26 March 2008 12:17 by
Dave Since it's too cold to play golf yet, I've been seeking new sources of aggravation. You know, something you kid yourself into thinking will be fun, then find it makes you want to scream out vile things at the universe. Like golf.
Well, I think I found what I was looking for yesterday at the D.C. Convention Center.
The Center was home for an event called "Heroes Happen Here" (I'm guessing "Hoagies Happen Here" was already taken) and it was put on by Microsoft. I enjoy the challenges of sports and technology, and since I’m partners with a big-time computer-head in a small technology consulting firm, we were invited to the event. But let’s be clear: he’s the expert, I’m the marketing guy. So attending this event was my first exposure to this region’s best and brightest computer minds.
Microsoft put on a great show, and everyone I met was very nice. But my vision that I would be in the midst current-day Einsteins immediately started to fade as I entered the exposition doors. Vendors were giving out free stuff, and the folks at Dell were handing out lime-green carrying bags for all of these samples. As each person received a bag, they all seemed to enter what was the longest line of any at the exposition. Must be something good they're giving away in this line, I thought.
After a few moments, I asked the person in front of me what we were waiting in line for. “I don’t know,” he replied. “But everyone else is.”
After a few more moments, I left the line and started asking numerous people up the line what they were waiting in line for. None knew. I then went to the booth to see what was going on. It was a Microsoft information booth. “We don’t know why everyone is waiting in line to see this,” the lady behind the booth said.
Here’s the answer: because everyone else is.
Microsoft also put out a huge table of soft-sided coolers, which contained breakfast. Inside was a bottle of juice, granola bar, banana nut muffin and a big container of yogurt. In the world of sports, breakfast involves eggs, sausage, pork fat, bacon and more pork fat. In IT land, it’s juice and granola.
But as you dug through the cooler to consume the richness of low-fat yogurt, one thing was painfully obvious. Microsoft had included two eating utensils: a knife and a fork. No spoon. And none were available anywhere in the dining area. “That’s a detail they seemed to have missed,” said one of my newly-met IT friends, who was wearing a badge showing he worked for NASA.
Take comfort Loudoun County. We may not be rocket scientists. But we do know you need a spoon to eat yogurt.
The rest of the conference was interesting, as Microsoft gave presentation after presentation on new products such as Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. At the end of the day, they gave you copies of all these products, as well as a copy of the much maligned Vista operating system.
I’ve avoided that product because I’ve heard of the heartache it’s created. But my favorite word is “free”, so at 8 p.m. last night, I started installing Windows Vista Ultimate. At 12:33 a.m., the install finished. At 2:48 a.m., most driver problems and other assorted headaches were fixed. Once working, it seems to be a great product.
So I found the aggravation I was seeking. It was like playing TWO rounds of golf. I think I’ll go celebrate by eating a cup of yogurt…with a fork.
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Monday, 24 March 2008 00:33 by
Dave It's the day after Easter. You've got a chocolate bunny with half its face eaten, and teeth marks on parts of the rest. Your NCAA bracket doesn't look much better, as a couple of seeds in the teens have left teeth marks all over your backside. Spring break's over, and it's back to work.
Happy Monday.
But not to worry. We've made one of those half-eaten bunnies our official mascot for the next couple of weeks, and we've decided that a mulligan is in order on the NCAA Tournament. So we're starting a new contest to see who here in Loudoun County knows anything about basketball once the first week of the tournament is factored out.
Top prize is a gift pack of Washington National merchandise, which includes a Skreech bobblehead, a couple of polar fleece Nationals blankets, a couple of coolers, a few Nats visors and a pair of Washington umbrellas. With the season coming up shortly and the cool wet weather still here, most should come in handy. And bobbleheads are great collectibles.
If I can get enough participation, I'd also like to have a separate contest for media (folks like Erica Garman and Paul Tenorio over at LoudounExtra.com. Carl Lukat and Jason Ruffner at the Loudoun Times-Mirror, and the hardest-working guy in Loudoun County, Dan Sousa of Loudounprepsports.com. Paul Draisey of Comcast will be participating, and forms will be sent to former WAGE folks like Ron Kitzmiller and Tim Jon. They didn't do very well last year, and I doubt a year away from the media has made them any smarter.
My picks are below, and if you can't read the small type of that graphic, click on it, and a much bigger image will pop up.
Entering is easy. Click here for a PDF entry form, and just fill in the brackets, scan it, and email it back. Don't forget to put your name, and an email and phone number on the form so we know where to contact you if you win. Or to just rag you if you make some really dumb picks.
If the part about scanning it and emailing the form went over your head, you can fax it to 703-729-3280. Or if you're really living in a cave somewhere, you can just predict the winners in an email message ("In the East, I have UNC over....") and I'll take the info and fill out a bracket. To email us, click on the "contact" button above and it will send the message right to us.
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Saturday, 22 March 2008 13:55 by
Dave Posting this week has been tough.
This past week was spring break, and I spent most of it in the western part of the state. It gave me the chance to see Virginia Tech play the Yankees and attend the Hokies' NIT game, but I stayed with my in-laws, who don't have internet access. A blackberry is great for email, but don't even think about trying to type something longer than "yes" or "LOL" on one. So I didn't get a chance to write anything until returning home Thursday night.
Friday had its challenges, as it was a holiday of sorts in my household. On that day 27 years ago, I got married, and wives take a dim view of men who are typing on a laptop instead of taking them out to dinner on their anniversary. So instead of writing, I pursued one of my other interests; one former employer even described me as "one of the most talented people with a knife and fork he'd ever seen." I guess that's a nice way of saying I won't be short-changed at a buffet.
So after multiple meals out, I'm now eyeing a chocolate bunny of gigantic proportions over in the kitchen. I can write, or go rip its ears off. It shouldn't be too tough to guess which way I'm leaning.
Writing's not going to happen. But since I happen to have the entire library of WAGE's morning shows during its last year of having a local show, I could post a podcast of a segment done last year involving Easter, chocolate and gluttony. Should fit in nicely. Click on the arrow to listen:
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Friday, 21 March 2008 11:12 by
Dave This week, the time had come.
Since last April, I had been avoiding a certain section of the Virginia Tech campus. And if you know anyone with any ties to the University, you know why. The tragic events of April 16, 2007 will never be forgotten, and those memories continue to create an emotionalism that won’t go away.
Obviously the mourning over the senseless loss of so many young lives is part of that emotionalism, but it’s a bit more than that. For most of us who went there, the Virginia Tech campus has a unique quality about it that serves as a sanctuary from the rest of the world when in later years you went back to visit. It’s a beautiful campus embedded into a small town and tight-knit community. Take an hour or two to visit the book stores, walk across the drill field, cruise by the duck pond, or head downtown and you are soon transported to “back in the day.”
All that was shattered last April. Every night for weeks you could come home, turn on the news, and see story after story of horror from the Tech campus. Most Hokies (myself included) watched it with a towel nearby to wipe away the constant stream of tears. It didn’t matter whether you knew any of the victims. The constant thought was “how could anyone do this to our children, our families, our campus?” This was our home. Someone had broken in and committed unspeakable crimes.
Months later, most Hokies I know still couldn’t talk about it. Blended into the sorrow and grief were the emotions of incredible pride for the way Tech students handled the crisis in the aftermath, and incredible gratitude for the outpouring of support from the rest of the nation. Tech used to be a working class University, and my generation isn’t used to anyone standing up for us for anything. To see the posters that say “Today We Are All Hokies” still makes my eyes appear as if allergies are bothering me.
So when going back last fall for football games, my itinerary never included going over to the memorial for the 32 fallen students and faculty on the drillfield. I just wasn’t ready to see it. But a few weeks ago, my roommate from 34 years ago called to say it was time. The New York Yankees would be on campus to play the Tech baseball team, and he was willing to make the trip from Mississippi to Blacksburg to see the game and go see the memorial. It was spring break, my wife’s family lived in nearby Roanoke, so there wouldn’t be a better opportunity.
Late Monday, I finally visited the site. It’s simple, but powerful. Nikki Giovanni’s “We Are Virginia Tech. We Will Prevail” is inscribed in one area. There are individual memorials for each victim. The names are recognizable if you’ve followed the story: the professor who gave his own life to hold off the shooter while others escaped; students from our own area here in Northern Virginia with such bright futures ahead; another who had helped many others during his short time on earth.
The next day, the entire New Yankees team would visit the memorial. They then would play a baseball game, where the score didn’t matter. The Yankees came to be part of the healing process. That’s just what they did.
I’ll be the first to admit that I was raised in a family where the Yankees were seen as the evil empire. My mother is from Brooklyn, my late father from Pennsylvania. They hated the Yankees, and that was passed down to the next generation.
But the Yankees changed all that Tuesday. They didn’t have to come. No one in the organization has any ties to Tech. They had already given a million dollars. But they wanted to. Just about the entire team came, and they were not going through the motions. Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon seemed almost excited about being in Blacksburg. Alex Rodriguez spent most of the game sitting in the Virginia Tech dugout, signing everything put in front of him. Derek Jeter and many of his teammates visited with fans long after they didn’t need to. If you didn’t know better, it seemed as special to them as it did to the Tech community.
So Tuesday night, I drove away from Blacksburg with about $100 worth of maroon and orange hats with the Yankee and Hokie logos on them, and a new respect for the Yankees. Before leaving, I got a chance to visit with the Tech sports information director, who I had been friends with as a student several decades earlier. We reminisced about the old days, our children, and the past year since the shootings. “I still can’t get through a conversation about it,” he said.
I struggle too. But that night, I did share the events of the day with my 12-year-old daughter. She knows all the details of April 16, and she understands that no one can answer the question of “why?” But she’s as proud as I am of the way Hokie Nation has handled this, and after we talked, she finished the conversation by saying that she “can’t wait until she gets to go to Virginia Tech.”
When that day comes, my allergies will flare up again. One towel may not be enough.
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Friday, 14 March 2008 11:56 by
Dave Erica Garman’s short story on the increasing number of people getting permits to carry concealed weapons in Loudoun County predictably sparked a flurry of comments to her column on LoudounExtra.com. One comment even pointed out that Garman, who also does a weekly show for Comcast Cable Channel 2, had taken a gun class and written a story in The Washington Post. “I couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling that I had the power to kill in my hands,” she was quoted as saying. You did Erica. And I promise from now on, I’ll watch your show every week.
While more of our neighbors appear to be packing heat, we have nothing on places like Martinsville, VA. I lived there in the early 1980s, and it seemed like everyone had a gun. It’s a place where factories have to close down for the first few days of deer-hunting season, because everyone would call in sick if they didn’t. Knowledge of guns was as routine as knowing how to read and write.
I, however, was among a small minority who somehow made it through life (and still have) without ever firing a gun. My Dad had one. Many of my friends do. I’ve been invited to go on deer hunts many times. It’s just never interested me, and it was never an issue except for the years I lived in Martinsville.
One of the greatest people I ever got to know in life was a man named H. Clay Earles. Clay decided that one day, a lot of people would want to see cars go around in circles, so in 1949 he built the Martinsville Speedway. He was right, as these days hundreds of thousands of people go to Martinsville to see folks like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart and a host of others. When I met him, I was in my 20s, Clay (who passed away many years ago) was around 70. And he never went anywhere without a gun.
One day, we were eating lunch together at a place called Clarence’s, and the conversation turned to guns. He pulled out a very small pistol, talked about it the way you’d talk about a good friend, and asked what I owned. I told him I didn’t have one, and in fact, never had fired one.
“Never?,” Clay asked, squinting his eyes as if I had told him I had grown a third arm.
“No,” I said. “Never needed one.”
Clay thought some more on the subject, but couldn’t get his arms around it.
“Never?,” he said.
“Never.”
“Hmmmmmm,” he said. “Well if that’s true, let me ask you this: Do you like girls?”
During my time in Martinsville, I crossed paths with two others who had an impact on sports in Loudoun County this season. Both were at Martinsville High School, which enjoyed state championship caliber football and basketball teams about every year. The Bulldogs had a running back named James “Turk” Dallas, who also played basketball. Dallas came from a very athletic family, and when he was gone, his younger brother Tony starred for the next three years in basketball after James graduated.
Over 25 years after I wrote stories on the teams Dallas played on, a new principal was named at Cedar Lane Elementary in Ashburn: James “Turk” Dallas. And when watching Freedom’s girls basketball team play in the Dulles District finals a few weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice Olivia Dallas on the Freedom roster. She’s James’ daughter, and the number she wore was significant. At Martinsville, Dallas wore No. 12 in both sports. Olivia’s number? Same No. 12.
But it was Dallas’ basketball teammate at Martinsville that may have had the most impact on football in Loudoun County this season. Jeff Adkins was the team star, and would later go on to a nice career at Maryland, playing on a team that won the ACC Tournament. Adkins would later return to the area, and eventually become the athletic director at a private school named Carlisle.
Carlisle would one day have a vacancy for a basketball coach. Among those that applied was a lawyer from New England who had tired of the law, and wanted to be a coach. His interest in coming to a small town in Southwestern Virginia was rooted firmly in just getting a chance to coach, as public schools required previous experience. Private schools didn’t have that requirement, and after many conversations, Adkins gave the lawyer a chance.
Carlisle’s new coach learned the coaching ropes, became good friends with Adkins, even married a local Martinsville girl. When the opportunity arose to become a head football coach on the West Coast, he took the job, but still kept his ties with Virginia. He was a success on the West Coast as well, and after a few years, started to look for a job back closer to the East Coast, and his wife’s home.
Three years ago, he found it. There was an opening at Broad Run High School. The coach’s name is Mike Burnett. Three years later, he would go 10-0, and lead the Spartans to the Dulles District title.
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