Extra Innings = Big Finish!

Our Saturday evening game was an extra innings affair - eleven of them. For the fans that stuck around...they saw a terrific ending...better than fireworks:



Click here for the game story.

ESPN Deportes returns to airwaves

Our Hispanic sports station returned to the air last week. The April 16th tornado leveled its tower just south of downtown Raleigh and 1550 AM/ESPN Deportes was off-air for 2.5 weeks.

Our engineers, Keith Harrison and Will Patnaud, quickly came up with a plan for a temporary antenna. It smacks of amateur radio – an antenna wire stretched between two poles.

However, their ingenuity was thwarted by the demand for poles. It took a while to get ‘em; demand for utility poles was acute across the south following the tornado outbreak.

…but they got it done: The show must go on! (El programa de radio debe continuar!)

Here's a photo of our science project. Will and Keith get a Blue Ribbon.

The fallen antenna: 285' of steel destined for the recycling yard.

Bulls in Hi Def

Bulls TV premiers this weekend in hi def! Gather your tribe in the man cave and punch up channel 1151 on Time Warner Cable.

THANKS to Time Warner for slotting us on a hi def channel for the 2011 season.

We're excited to partner with WRAZ to provide not only more HD content but programming that is of particular local interest to our customers in the Raleigh/Fayetteville area.

Dan Santelle, VP

Programming and Product Development

Time Warner Cable

Note the guide below; we have our own channel!

Bulls TV is produced in cooperation with Capitol Broadcasting's WRAZ/Fox50 and its new sister station MeTV. Bulls broadcasts - on MeTV - reside on channel 151 and over-the-air on 50.2 in standard def.

Click here for Bulls broadcast schedule on radio, TV and the web.

Homestand & Cornhole

The Bulls begin their second home stand of the season tonight. The team will be at the DBAP through next Thursday, May 12th. There’s so much going on. Rattle around on our web site and make your plans.

• Fireworks Friday night.
• Saturday and Sunday games at 5:05.
• SpongeBob SquarePants will be with us Friday, Saturday and Sunday. (This may be more important than baseball?)
• On Monday we haul the team over to the revered Durham Athletic Park for an evening of nostalgia vs. the Indianapolis Indians. Clay Aiken will perform the National Anthem.
• Next Wednesday is a day game, 11:05. Play hooky!

…and another thing:

Sixty-four teams will compete in the 4th annual Cornhole Cup on Saturday at American Tobacco – sponsored by Capitol’s sports stations, 99.9 The Fan & 620 The Buzz.

Cornhole is a popular tailgating game. It’s a very serious version of a bean bag toss.

And consider its historicity per Wikipedia: scholars confirm that a game of very similar nature was played amongst Native Americans in Midwest America, who filled pigs' bladders with dried beans and competitively tossed them for entertainment, notably, the Blackhawk tribe in Illinois.

Proceeds from the Cornhole Cup will go to the American Cancer Society’s Prostate Cancer Research Division.

The bags start flyin’ at 10am Saturday in the ATC courtyard. Come for Cornhole, and stay for lunch in one of the ATC restaurants.

Russell Wilson - QB or 2B ???

Russell Wilson’s dream is to play both football and baseball. He refuses to choose one over the other.

…but NC State’s head football coach Tom O’Brien was compelled to take a more decisive approach. Last Friday the Wolfpack released the star QB from his football commitment. Wilson is playing baseball again this this spring in the Colorado Rockies farm system. He’s currently at second base for the Class A Asheville Tourists. O’Brien needs to move on, but Wilson won’t jettison football.

"While my immediate plan includes playing professional baseball, I have not closed the door on football. With one more season of college eligibility remaining, I will continue to explore and consider all my options." Russell Wilson

You have to admire Wilson’s aspirations, but I can’t imagine having it both ways. The path to excellence at the major league level begins with a commitment – an exclusive commitment – that doesn’t accommodate two sports.

In the Rays’ organization a top prospect has little down time. Even though the minor league season ends around Labor Day, a rookie would next report for instructional league play in Florida. That lasts about a month, and then he would play for about six weeks in the Arizona fall league. (Whoops! There goes football season.)

A veteran minor leaguer would probably sharpen his skills in Latin America playing winter ball in Venezuela, Mexico, the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico. That’s an October to January obligation, and before you know it, it’s time for Spring Training!

If you’re aiming for the majors, it’s a year-round commitment.

Bulls' Hometown Alumni

I doubt most fans realize that very few Bulls players live in our community. After we won the 2009 Triple A National Championship in Oklahoma City, Durham's City Manager wanted to have a parade. I had to swallow hard and confess that the team wouldn't be returning to Durham, that they dispersed to their individual hometowns after the season-ending game.

That's the way it works in the Minors. It's a nomadic life until you land a Major League contract. Only then - as a Ray rather than a Bull - do you invest in a splendid crib on Tampa Bay.

Why do I draw attention to this? There is a great article in the April/May edition of Durham Magazine about two former Bulls who do, in fact, reside in the Bull City: Chris Richard who retired at the end of the 2010 season and Elliot Johnson who now plays for the Rays.

The article isn't on-line. You need to invest in a copy of the magazine...available at Parker & Otis, Regulator Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods Market, Sam's Quik Shop and Harris Teeter.

Meanwhile, check out the magazine's website and blog. You'll learn a lot about Durham.

Take Steps. Be Heard.

The DBAP will host an awareness and fund-raising walk June 18th for Crohn's and Colitis. It's a 5pm event...a good idea for that time of year.

GI disease doesn't make for pleasant conversation, but it warrants more attention.

People just don't talk about intestinal disorders...they feel that somehow there's a shame to it. I want to help take away this perceived stigma. There's nothing to be ashamed of.

That's a quote from Dr. Sandra Kim, a pediatric gastroenterologist at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine. It's from an informative, inspiring story in today's News & Observer. Click here for the newspaper piece. The N&O has slugged it "gut reaction."

...and click here for more info on the Triangle affiliate of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America.