DEAFSPORTZINE' - AUGUST 18 - AUGUST 24, 1996

Volume 1 Number 14 Barry Strassler, editor e-mailed free of charge each weekend to subscribers interested in the deaf in sports; email your subscription requests to: [email protected]

ELITE LEVEL:

PrideWatch A week of mixed bag results, but still holding at .297 (57/192). His 10-game hitting streak was disrupted by a 0 for 5 performance on August 16th. Rebounded smartly by going 2 for 5 in a nationally televised game on August 17th; his 9th inning 2-out RBI knocked out reliever Eric Plunk, eliciting a comment from a TV announcer that he won the Plunk-Pride battle; next game was a double in a 1 for 3 performance and then a pinch hit homer helped his team pull ahead 7-5 on August 19th before Tigers' inept pitching blew the game. What was his reward for hitting the homer? A seat on the bench for the next two games. And then last night he went 1 for 4. Definitely a mixed bag but a hot game or two will put him over .300.

CFL-watch Still impossible to get defensive stats updates on 's Walker and Edmonton's Roberts as the CFL stats posted on their web site are incomplete and only abbreviate top leaders in each category. Punting stats are easy to find and we find Brent Matich, Saskatchewan ranked as 8th leading punter, 41.6 average on 67 punts. He gave up a safety in the 25-8 loss to Roberts' team on August 17th. Wonder if Roberts was on the defensive team that tried to block one of Matich's punts???

GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY BRIEFS: An odd sight on the Kendall Green campus would be women playing soccer. Well not so strange actually as soccer was an informal club sport last season playing against club teams. This season women's soccer has been officially recognized by the athletic department and their schedule consists of games against junior college teams. The hope is that women's soccer will grow as better players are recruited and are able to compete on equal terms with Capital Athletic Conference opponents. Recruiting the deaf school ranks would be difficult - Rhode Island is the only school to field a full girls' program. New York State SD recruits few local hearing girls to fill out the line up. If not for these hearing girls the Rome school would never be able to field a deaf-only program. Other schools, especially Baxter, Clarke, and Scranton permit girls to play on boys' teams. The mainstreamed programs are where the great majority of players will come from.

The race is taking off between Mike Rivera and Eric Lefors. A third candidate, Chris Rodgers is taking one week leave to play with the baseball team in (see below). The Bison will be using a new offensive formation that is a throw back to the good old days - wing T attack with three running backs in the backfield - wingbacks and fullback. The wingbacks must be adept at both carrying and pass receiving.

The Bison used the Wing-T attack in the 1966 season and their most potent play was the scissors reverse.

COLLEGIATE LEVEL (OTHER COLLEGES): Coming back for her final season of play in is Hope Turner of Salem College, NC.

HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL: DeAndre Curry, junior, Wisconsin SD and Jesus Delgado, Jr, Arizona SD are the only high schoolers to play for the American team at the for the Deaf (see story below). Curry averaged 18.8 points a game while achieving third team Deaf All-American honors. Delgado averaged 17.6 points a game while making second team honors. It may be premature but Delgado is seriously thinking of transferring to another school. At this point it is not yet known on his eligibility status for this season if he makes the transfer.

THE FOOTBALL PLAYER IS A GIRL The AP wire recently ran a story of Donnell Finnaman, a freshman currently practicing football at Eastern NC School for the Deaf. Donnell, 5'6, 150 lbs is in contention for a starter's job on the defensive line. One teammate was quoted as saying "She's tough." After being knocked by a 6'3 teammate in one drill she challenged him to do it again, and got even with him, earning the respect of the team. It is not the first time media's glare focused on ENCSD. Last season a football game they lost by the score of 100-41 hit the national press. The coach of the winning team lost his job immediately afterwards for running up the score against an undermanned ENCSD team. And in the 1986 season the ESPN ran a short clip on the ENCSD football program. For reasons that remain so mysterious to this day, the superintendent, long since departed, closed out the successful football program at the end of the season with no advance warning to any one. And when the program restarted two years later under a new superintendent, the team became a powerhouse among schools for the deaf. One season they went 8-0 but did not win the Silent News Team of the Year honor, a fact mournfully noted in the Wilson, NC newspapers as the year's fifth biggest local story!

AAA/CISS/INTERNATIONAL DEAF BRIEFS: The American deaf baseball and men's basketball teams are flying to Margarita Island, Venezuela this weekend to take part in the week-long Pan American Games for the Deaf. The players on the basketball roster are: Paul Mitchell, player/coach; DeAndre Curry, Jesus Delgado, Victor Franco, Leo Gutierrez, John Hazelett, Alex Hoover, Bobby Richards, Slavic Skopinsky and John Thomas. The baseball players are: coach Jeff Salit, Tony Crosta, Chris Chance, John Cleary, Adam Dworkin, Sean Gill, Robert Harrison, Siah Huseby, Michael Mannino, Ken McBride, Rory Osbrink, Joe Polito, Billy Rivere, Ronnie Robinson, Chris Rodgers, Jerry Solomon, Clint Squires, Tom Valerio and William Vernon. It is the first time in AAA/USADB history that a group of non-elite, non-WGD caliber players, will be representing USA in an international basketball tournament. The AAA and the USADB feels that all non-elite deaf basketball players should have an opportunity to participate in international basketball games. And the Pan American event should be the first of many future opportunities for these non-elite players.

MISCELLANY: Arm wrestler Dave Devoto, who is a deafsportzine' subscriber, invites interested deaf armwrestlers to surf his web site at: www.armwrestling.com

There are several known deaf arm wrestlers that compete in local and national tournaments.

SKIERS' COUNTDOWN - YEAR 2000! Cliff Moers wishes to remind all deaf skiers that Year 2000, specifically the week of March 12th, is a special one. Why? Because it is when the Denver Ski Club, known as the nation's oldest deaf ski club, will be hosting the National Deaf Ski convention in Breckenridge, CO. Not just skiing alone - you can go ice skating, snowmobiling, dog sledding, sleigh riding and cross country skiing among other things. For more information and updates, get in touch with Cliff at: [email protected]

TRIVIA OF THE WEEK: Who is John Chudzikiewicz and what is his fame and also his footnote? John was the first American to win a gold medal at the for the Deaf. His 179'11 javelin toss won him a gold at the 1935 WGD. What was his footnote? Eighteen years later as an aging trackster he participated in the 1953 Games at Belgium. The WGD organizers asked the Americans to form a last minute basketball team even though were only five early arriving Americans around. Other better American athletes would arrive later and be "drafted" to play basketball. Because the Americans were shorthanded, poor John played the entire game despite not having played this sport in 20 years! It was the only defeat the Americans would suffer in WGD play.

DEAFSPORTS - TO LAUGH OR TO CRY You coach football at a high school for the deaf in the sixties. And you use sign language on the sideline to call plays for the quarterback. The referee comes up to you and tells you this type of communication is illegal! What are you going to do? You have always used sign language in the past with no problems. But this referee was adamant! Suddenly you have an idea. You tell your assistant coach to stand on the about 10-15 feet apart from you and you tell your quarterback to spy the sideline "conversation." During the "conversation" the spying quarterback picks up the next play. The referee gets wise to this circumvention, and confronts you. You tell him you have every right in the world to have a conversation with your assistants on the sidelines. The referee then gives up!

GENERAL NEWS AND TIDBITS: DeafDigest is a free weekly e-mail general interest magazine. If interested in subscribing, email: [email protected] ...... POSTSCRIPT NOTES: ...... Copyright 1996 by Barry Strassler, Deaf Sports Bureau. You have permission to use any portions of this weekly e-mail in any form or shape (broadcast, publication, retransmission via forwarded mail, listservers, bulletin board systems, web pages, FTP archives, copying or storage on disk & CD-ROM, etc) provided request is made in advance and that credit and publication copy are both given to Barry Strassler, publisher, deafsportzine'. The editor reserves the right to refuse or to revoke subscription privileges if deemed appropriate.