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Wednesday, Sept. 4

Lady Railers smoothly
dominate in home opener

By Rick Hobler

[SEPT. 4, 2002]  Coach Howe called them "smooth." I called them dominating. Let’s go with smoothly dominant. However you look at it, the 2002-2003 version of the Lincoln Lady Railers volleyball squad made short order of the Peoria Richwoods’ Knights last night in their home opener.

In a match that lasted barely a half an hour, LCHS chalked up its first win of this new season by scores of 15-0, 15-9. Not to be outdone, the junior varsity came out strong, winning their match 15-0, 15-8. The LCHS freshmen squad also won, by scores of 15-12, 15-11.

After several weeks of playing only against each other in preseason practice, it was obvious that the Lady Railers were ready to do some damage to someone else. The adrenaline was so thick, the girls were so pumped up, that I was worn out just watching them warm up. I expected some first-match jitters from the Railers but saw very few signs of them. And once the match started, it was very quickly "lights out" for the Knights of Peoria Richwoods and 1-0 for the Lady Railers.

Game one began with a familiar formula for past Railer victories — senior Christina Xamis serving and senior Kari McFadden finishing with the kill. Point Railers. The Railers never looked back. Game two ended with a familiar statistic — two service aces for Xamis for the game and the match. Christina served deep and low throughout the match and came up ultimately with 10 service points, including four aces, by my count.

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Kari McFadden’s jump serve was unstoppable, and her net play, both blocking and spiking, was stellar. Missy Aper has obviously brought her game up to new heights of play and passion, as she hit some crushing kills from the net and served well from the back line. Her intensity was contagious.

The Railers were dominating from the back row to the net. Brooklyn Robbins, taking over the primary setting duties due to the graduation of Kelli Gleason, overcame some (to be expected) early nervousness and played well. Not only was she setting, she joined other teammates in a couple of smothering blocks on the Richwoods hitters.

Samantha Conrady and Michelle McFadden, now veterans, worked the front row over for several Railer points. Samantha’s serving also resulted in eight Lincoln points throughout the match. Maria Benitez worked hard in her new starting role, digging balls off the back floor and serving well. Mindy Crawford contributed her usual steady, but quiet, performance all over the court. As a team, the Lady Railers played well, especially for the first match of the season. Smooth. Dominating.

The Lady Railers are home again this Thursday evening, when they play a usually scrappy Morton team. You’ll have to come and see. GO RAILERS!

[Rick Hobler]

A new brand of football

Program kicks off on 32 campuses, including the U of I

[SEPT. 4, 2002]  On college campuses and in the NFL, September is synonymous with the kickoff of the football season, and for college students that also means the start of intramural football. This year, on 32 college campuses, a new brand of football — "NFL College Flag Football" — will debut, the NFL announced Tuesday.

A joint venture between the NFL and the National Ultra-Intramural Recreational Sports Association, NFL College Flag Football will work with each college’s intramural program. The 32 participating schools are located in or in close proximity to NFL team markets and range in size from small colleges to large state universities. The NFL will provide each school with footballs and other equipment needed to run the leagues.

The NFL is premier entertainment for the 18- to 24-year-old demographic. This program is an integrated effort to further reach out to that group.

Students participating in the program will receive an official NFL gift bag with merchandise from the NFL and program sponsors Sony Playstation, AT&T, Edge/Pro Gel and Reebok-Finish Line.

The season kicks off in mid-September and runs from six to eight weeks. More than 50,000 students will take part, including male, female, co-ed, fraternity and sorority divisions. At the end of the intramural season, there will be a championship event at each school, featuring NFL and sponsor involvement. Clear Channel Radio affiliates will broadcast the championships locally. NFL Films will cover selected championship events. The NFL hired CMI, a division of Clear Channel Entertainment, to implement and execute the program on college campuses.

Two college teams will win a trip to San Diego to participate in an NFL College Flag Football Super Bowl at the NFL Experience. Those squads will also be featured on "NFL Under the Helmet" Super Bowl edition on FOX.

On each campus, 500,000 NFL sponsor-branded Web decoder cards will be distributed. Each decoder card features a code which must be activated on NFL.com/CollegeFlag. The card will be used in a season-long promotion on ABC’s NFL "Monday Night Football" and gives students a 10 percent discount on merchandise purchased on NFLShop.com. Following the MNF game, students will log on to NFL.com and will be asked a trivia question relating to the game. Students answering correctly can redeem the decoder for chance to win NFL and sponsor prizes each week. A grand prize will send two fans to Hawaii for the 2003 AFC-NFC Pro Bowl.

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Following are the 32 schools participating in NFL College Flag Football:

University of Arizona

Boston University

University of Central Florida

University of Connecticut

Cornell University

UC-Davis

Georgia State

George Washington

Hofstra University

University of Illinois

Marquette University

McDaniel University

University of Minnesota

UNC-Charlotte

University of Northern Colorado

University of North Texas

Ohio University

Purdue University

Robert Morris

Rutgers University

St. Cloud State

St. Joseph’s University

San Jose State

Southern Illinois

University of Southern California

University of Southern Mississippi

University of Tennessee

UT-Houston

University of Toledo

Vanderbilt University

University of Washington

Western Michigan University

[Brendan Moynihan, National Football League corporate communications]

Articles from the past week

[SEPT. 3, 2002]  Do not count me among the scoffing fans of the Lincoln Railer football squad. I thought they made positive strides on Friday night. And yes, I was disappointed that they didn’t win, but not any more disappointed than those young men and their coaching staff were when they came off the field. It takes time to build a program and this group is improving.

You wonder, what kind of a difference might Derek Schrader have made in that game?

If I was to be critical (and as a former coach, I never cared much for second-guessing), I wondered if Lincoln would go conservative or aggressive in a tight ballgame. Many people will criticize either choice. I’m too much of a gambler when it comes to playing sports, so I usually go aggressive. However, the Railers looked (although we could be more than wrong, as that has happened to us once before) like they took a more conservative route. Sometimes you can shorten the game with that approach and then hope for something good to happen. With a tough schedule in the weeks ahead that may be a good approach.

I’m sorry for our guys this past week; I believe they deserved a better fate!

•  •  •

The Rail was all Patricia Meunier-Lebouc this past weekend. She was on fire from wire to wire. When you open with a 64 and finish to win with a 67, you are playing a game in which I am not familiar! Meunier-Lebouc, who has won several times on the European tour, carded her first-ever LPGA tour victory on Sunday. And she did so by being as cool as the other side of the pillow!

The LDN followed Jennifer Rosales, who fired a closing 65; Candie Kung, who was playing great for a while; and Amy Fruwirth, who was really giving us a lot of insights. As she struggled with her swing, she approached us after a wayward driver tee shot. I asked her if she could feel the problems somewhere in her swing or if the outcome was just something that happened. She said, "No, that’s just my swing." She has a very good demeanor for this sport.

The LPGAers may well be the most accessible athletes of any sport.

Is there anyone more colorful than Michelle McGann?

•  •  •

Thank you, Texas Rangers, for your holiday treat.

•  •  •

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The Cardinals picked up Jamey Wright, who’s already posted a Redbird victory, from the Milwaukee Brewers. I didn’t know they had arms to spare???

The Cardinals also acquired Jeff Fassero from Chicago. Thank you, Cubbies.

•  •  •

LCC looked rather impressive in their opening-night win over Hannibal-LaGrange in straight sets before a large, raucous crowd!

•  •  •

I didn’t get to see it, but I heard LCHS soccer teams looked quite impressive in their most recent wins as well.

•  •  •

How ’bout those Oakland A’s? BTW, they are a team that I followed as a kid. If you ever dig into our archives, look what the LDN said about Art Howe early in the season even when he was under fire… And you don’t even pay a subscription for our inside scoops!

•  •  •

Thank you to the many of you who have made gracious comments to Greg and me following our first episode of "Fandamonium!" We really want to cover the things that you want covered and the stuff that you want to talk about. We’ve got great sponsors and great giveaways, so give us a call with your questions or comments. The holiday scrapped this week’s show, but we’ll return next Monday night, following the opening of the NFL season and leading you into the first evening of "Monday Night Football."

•  •  •

There’s lots of other stuff happening in sports, but it’s late and I’m tired… Have a super week, everybody!

[Jeff Mayfield]

[Aug. 30 column: "Bonus mutterings...
live from the Rail Classic"]

[Aug. 26 column: "‘Fandamonium’ opening tonight -- Lincoln/Logan County Chamber, team of the week"]

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