Post by Gene on Jul 10, 2008 8:48:48 GMT -5
Chuck Landon: Players worthy of Heroes moniker
Jul 10, 2008 @ 12:00 AM
The Herald-Dispatch
Heroes?
Those wannabes?
I admit that was my initial reaction to the Huntington Heroes. I dismissed them as minor league football hangers-on. Guys who needed to quit hanging onto the dream, call it a career and get a life.
Heroes?
Nice alliteration, but that was the sum total of the nickname. It wasn't like these players were real, live heroes that kids and fans actually would admire.
Or so I thought.
But for some inexplicable reason I still kept tabs on the Heroes' roller-coaster 2008 season. Actually, it was rather fascinating. The highs and mostly lows the Huntington franchise experienced were textbook examples of life in low minor league sports.
It's never affluent. It's never pretty. It's always controversial.
And so it was with the Heroes.
It all began April 25 when Huntington's players refused to board a bus headed for their game against the Phantoms in Florence, S.C., because they hadn't been paid.
Heroes owners Brent Blankenship and Barb Moody-Wood settled the pay dispute, but there were several defections. Head coach Teddy Keaton resigned and several players switched to other pro indoor teams.
The departing coaches and players weren't the only ones that went south.
So did the season.
After an impressive 5-1 start, the Heroes lost eight of their last nine games.
In the process, head coach No. 2 Carlos Clayton, who went 0-3, was dismissed and replaced by Paul Blankenship.
In Blankenship's first game, the Heroes won their only game after the bus debacle beating Reading, 50-41, in the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.
But even that victory wasn't without financial controversy. The start of the second half was delayed because the officiating crew refused to return to the field until they were paid.
After that win, it was all downhill.
In fact, towards the end of the season, the Heroes didn't practice even a single time during the week before a game.
Yet, in what has to be a prime example of the truly bizarre world of low minor league sports, some how the Heroes still managed to qualify for the AIFA playoffs.
And who was Huntington's first-round playoff opponent? Who else? Those same Florence Phantoms where the beginning of the end started for the Heroes.
While the audience sings the chorus of Alanis Morrisette's "Isn't It Ironic," I'll give Florence credit for one thing.
They brought the Heroes' tumultuous season to a mercifully fast end, scoring five touchdowns on 13 plays in the first half en route to a 55-9 victory.
And, now, that it's over and I've had a chance to reflect on the controversial season ... OK, I admit it, I've had a change of heart.
Such players as linebacker Byron Cobb, quarterback Darnell Kennedy and linebacker Mike Andrew really are Heroes -- both literally and figuratively.
They stuck with the franchise through thin and thinner.
In the process, those players exemplified the purest essence of sports. They persevered through every trial and tribulation. They were loyal to their team and fans. And they competed to the best of their abilities until the very end.
Isn't that what a hero is all about?
It turns out the Huntington Heroes were more aptly named than I first thought.
Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com
www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x2102943933/Players-worthy-of-Heroes-moniker
Jul 10, 2008 @ 12:00 AM
The Herald-Dispatch
Heroes?
Those wannabes?
I admit that was my initial reaction to the Huntington Heroes. I dismissed them as minor league football hangers-on. Guys who needed to quit hanging onto the dream, call it a career and get a life.
Heroes?
Nice alliteration, but that was the sum total of the nickname. It wasn't like these players were real, live heroes that kids and fans actually would admire.
Or so I thought.
But for some inexplicable reason I still kept tabs on the Heroes' roller-coaster 2008 season. Actually, it was rather fascinating. The highs and mostly lows the Huntington franchise experienced were textbook examples of life in low minor league sports.
It's never affluent. It's never pretty. It's always controversial.
And so it was with the Heroes.
It all began April 25 when Huntington's players refused to board a bus headed for their game against the Phantoms in Florence, S.C., because they hadn't been paid.
Heroes owners Brent Blankenship and Barb Moody-Wood settled the pay dispute, but there were several defections. Head coach Teddy Keaton resigned and several players switched to other pro indoor teams.
The departing coaches and players weren't the only ones that went south.
So did the season.
After an impressive 5-1 start, the Heroes lost eight of their last nine games.
In the process, head coach No. 2 Carlos Clayton, who went 0-3, was dismissed and replaced by Paul Blankenship.
In Blankenship's first game, the Heroes won their only game after the bus debacle beating Reading, 50-41, in the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.
But even that victory wasn't without financial controversy. The start of the second half was delayed because the officiating crew refused to return to the field until they were paid.
After that win, it was all downhill.
In fact, towards the end of the season, the Heroes didn't practice even a single time during the week before a game.
Yet, in what has to be a prime example of the truly bizarre world of low minor league sports, some how the Heroes still managed to qualify for the AIFA playoffs.
And who was Huntington's first-round playoff opponent? Who else? Those same Florence Phantoms where the beginning of the end started for the Heroes.
While the audience sings the chorus of Alanis Morrisette's "Isn't It Ironic," I'll give Florence credit for one thing.
They brought the Heroes' tumultuous season to a mercifully fast end, scoring five touchdowns on 13 plays in the first half en route to a 55-9 victory.
And, now, that it's over and I've had a chance to reflect on the controversial season ... OK, I admit it, I've had a change of heart.
Such players as linebacker Byron Cobb, quarterback Darnell Kennedy and linebacker Mike Andrew really are Heroes -- both literally and figuratively.
They stuck with the franchise through thin and thinner.
In the process, those players exemplified the purest essence of sports. They persevered through every trial and tribulation. They were loyal to their team and fans. And they competed to the best of their abilities until the very end.
Isn't that what a hero is all about?
It turns out the Huntington Heroes were more aptly named than I first thought.
Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com
www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/x2102943933/Players-worthy-of-Heroes-moniker