THE PONCHATOULA TIMES
, PAGE 2-A
Dave Berwick
By DAVE BERWICK
Times Columnist
When I was young in the
1960's I use to smoke Hav-a-
Tampa Cigars they were made
with the most unique wooden
tipped mouth pieces you could
imagine. The wooden tip was
part of the cigar. I use to won-
der how they made those tips.
Then in 1970 my ship stopped
at the "Tampa Bay Drydock
And Ship Building Yard," af-
ter successfully completing
an around the world trip. The
shipyard was owned by George
Steinbrenner who later bought
the New York Yankees, making
that investment the best of the
Twentieth Century.
But the point is I got to
Tampa in 1970, but the Stein-
brenner's were there long be-
fore that! So as you can see I
like Tampa Cigars, port of my
arrival back into the good ole
USA after an around the world
cruise, and all.
So it is, as you can plainly
see, how it saddens me to have
to write the following about the
people of Tampa.
They, meaning not only Tam-
pa City limits people but the
people of the whole surrounding
area, have been found guilty of
the greatest crime known to
humanity, that being baseball
neglect and indifference. Woe
to you Tampa! Do you the peo-
ple of Tampa think that such a
crime will go unpunished! You
will be doomed! What a fate
awaits you? After the 2010 sea-
son the team will be broken up
and the players scattered away!
And you the remaining inhabit-
ants of Tampa will be left deso-
late! And worse yet, you will be
left with a losing baseball team
never again to contend for the
division title, much less the
World Series.
I know you wish you could go
back in time. Do things differ-
ent. But you cannot! Regret is
all you have now.
But you could have saved
yourself. So actually you have
no one to blame but yourself
and I must confess that makes
you a winner because a winner
always blames himself while a
loser always blames others.
But the guilty stain could
have been avoided had you
gone to the temple of baseball
and worshipped! But you would
not! This resulted in poor atten-
dance at the ball games. Unfor-
givable.
Let's examine the record. A
study of the attendance record
shows that on average 27,000
attend. Are you kidding me?
There should be over 60,000 ev-
ery game!
Woe to you inhabitants of
Tampa. Woe indeed. You have
been given not only a baseball
team but a team that could win
the pennant, but wait I'm not
through with this indictment,
you have been given one of the
best baseball teams in the his-
tory ofbasebaU. And how do you
respond? 27,000 fans per game
is ridiculous.
Oh, if you had supported
your team you could have not
only won the World Series one
year, but many years, dare I say
Published by The Ponchatoula Times L.L.C.
Established October 1, 1981
Print Edition Published Thursday of every week at
145 West Pine Street, Suite A
Post Office Box 743---Ponchatoula, LA 70454-0743
SUBSCRIPTIONS
$25 A Year In Tangipahoa Parish
$30 A Year Outside Tangipahoa Parish
($5 Discount for Seniors)
Gift subscriptions offered at same rate
--24 Hour Telephone Line---
985/386-2877
INTERNET EDITION
http://www.ponchatoula.com/ptimes/
E-MAIL
editor@ponchatoula.corn
U.S. Periodicals Postal Permit No. 666730
Postmaster, address correspondence and changes of address
orders to • P.O. Box 743, Ponchatoula, I_A 70454-0743
Bryan T. McMahon-- Editor & Publisher
Derrick E Hingle - Sports Editor
Deirdre McMahon Sanchez--Caracas Bureau Chief
Bliss McMahon--Chicago Bureau Chief
Mark McMahon--Detroit Bureau Chief
Capt. David Stefferud--Madisonville Bureau Chief
Times Columnists and Photographers
Ole Hardhide The Alligator, "King Phillip" Hextall (Internet),
Marion Fannaly (Automotive),
Dwight Williams (Environment), Parker Layrisson (Law),
Jim Perrin -- (History)
Times On Wheels Columnists
Bryan McMahon & Chris O'Conner
NEWS RELEASES & ADVERTISING
e-mail (preferred) editor@ponchatoula.com
ads@ponchatouia.com
FAX 985/386-0458 (During office hours)
P.O. Box 743, Ponchatoula, LA 70454-0743
We accept VISNMastercard
OFFICIAL JOURNAL
City of Ponchatoula, Ponchatoula Area Recreation District,
Madisonville Wooden Boat Festival,
Louisiana Furnishings Industries Association
MEMBER
Louisiana Press Association, Gulf States Automotive Writers
sociation, Texas Auto Writers Association
HONORS
Louisiana Press Association Freedom of Information Award,
1st Place Investigative Reporting, 1st place Editorial Writing,
Gibbs Adams Award for Investigative Reporting,
Brown Pelican Award for Environmental Reporting
OFFICE HOURS
8:30-Noon, 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday
-- Closed Tuesday Afternoons --
Tennessee 14, LSU 10. And clock. Then all hell broke loose.
that's when the real fun began. Miles inserts ineffective quar-
Due to a penalty against the terback Jordan Jefferson into
Volunteers from Tennessee forthe game and calls for a quar-
having 13 players on the field, terback sneak that was as un-
the Fighting Tigers from Loui- successful as it was ignorant. As
siana State University had one Jefferson tries to get to his feet
last chance, and they made the and reset the troops, the clock
most of it, scoring on a one yard is ticking away and the game is
.... touchdown plunge by running quickly coming to an end.
3 back Stephen Ridley. Then Miles decides to sub-
It really should have never stitute what seems like half of
....... : come to that. LSU was in prime the team. Players are shuffling
position to win the game, and in and out and when everyone
once again, idiocy struck LSU is finally lined up and ready
head coach Les Miles and histo run the next play, disaster
Barbara Ernest band of oblivious coaches, strikes. The ball is snapped over
• Without a timeout left, Miles the head of LSU's quarterback,
inexplicably dialed up some of the time runs out and the game
the most puzzling play calls in is over. All I kept saying was
recent memory. On first downWOW. I couldn't believe Miles
Tiger quarterback Jarrett Lee hadn't learned his lesson after
couldn't find any open receiv- watching his team fall victim
ilml.
ers, so he promptly threw the to such gross clock mismanage-
By JOHN DUDEK ball out of bounds to stop the PLEASE SEE PAGE 3
Times Columnist
By RNEST Wow. It happened. Again.
Times Sports Reporter Les Miles still cannot properly
An impressive 38-13 victory manage to figure out how a
in Covington began with Pon-clock works.
chatoula's initial drive of the In football, it starts with 60
minutes and ticks down until
game fueled by tackles courtesy
of Kinchen, Byers, Lipps andit reads 00:00. After that, the
Cummins. scoreboard determines the win-
Faced with a fourth and 12 ner and the loser. This past Sat-
situation, Covington is forced urday it was a little different.
to punt and Grannison gets the As the clock read 00:00 the
ball and makes good yardage,first time, the score board read
to the Lions' 30. Then Callais
takes it on a keeper to the six,
thanks to good blocking. Dana
Hendrick makes the touchdown
and Watson makes the extra
point.
On the kickoff, Watson stops
a Covington touchdown run
with a tackle.
Ponchatoula draws a holding
penalty to give Covington a first
down, but the snap goes high
and Covington loses yardage.
Then Caleb Muse intercepts
a pass and with good blocking
from teammates makes a 74
yard touchdown run with 56
seconds left in the first quarter.
That put Ponchatoula ahead
13-0.
Chip Watson foils a Lion
touchdown with a tackle. PHS
then gets a facemask penalty,
giving Covington a first down
on the 31. Kinchen tackles the
runner.
Kelly halts the Lions with a
loss. Covington gets to fourth
down and 11 and draws a pen-
alty for an illegal substitution
and they have to punt. Pon-
chatoula gets the ball on their
22 yard line.
Ponchatoula is put in a po-
sition where they have to punt
and Covington turns it into a
yardage gainer but is blocked by
Jake Lipps, Byers and Kinchen.
Casnave of the Lions drives
down to the one, and then Cov-
ington scores with 6:19 left and
makes it a 13-7 ballgame.
Villard runs to the 50 with
the kickoff following the touch-
down, and then Byers gets to
the 26 on a pass from Callais.
Callais then keeps the ball and
gets the first down. Progress is
halted by a missed field goal.
Holland races to Ponchatou-
la's 31 from the kickoff to start
the third quarter. Callais keeps
the momentum up, taking the
ball to the one foot line, and
then scores on a keeper: score
19-7.
Covington tried to mount an
offense but before too long PHS
was dominating. Cole Cummins
nearly intercepts a Covington
pass, and Covington has to punt.
That sets up a pass from Callais
to Holland for an over-50 yard
touchdown. Watson attempts 1~[~~~~~,.~ I~
an extra point but misses.
Covington scores from the 32 r----m r-------a:
at the start of the fourth quarter.
A Lions offside kick is snapped ,' , iJ
up by Byers. Rocket fire from
the arm of Callais takes PHS Your Locol Speciolists
down the field until the quar-
terback connects with Holland
PLEASE SEE PAGE 3
Please Notify I1"
Us Of Changes
You Wish Made
In our Birthday usiness
and
mk IB
Anniversary (Any quantity- Large or Small)
Greetings
Go to ponchatoula.com or call
editor@ponchatoula.com
