Monthly Archives: July 2012

The Walk-Ons: Special FENCING Episode (and Other Olympics)

Today Ben and I talk with Sharon Sullivan, former Northwestern fencer extraordinaire, in the most topical Walk-Ons episode to date. Shortly after the strange situation in London with the Korean fencer weeping all alone on stage while her country appealed the ruling, we bring in an expert to give us the low-down on what went down. After speaking with Sharon, Ben and I do a complete Olympic tour, with a good amount of love directed at U.S. athletes and a good amount of hate reserved for NBC and their awful coverage. Sharon comes at the 12:30 mark.

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John Snipes – A Remembrance

Note: Charles Westfall wrote about his friend John Snipes, and his famous Heelraiser hearse, in October of last year. I’m posting this remembrance for him.

“I’m gonna drive as far as my energy will take me”

Those were the words of John Snipes, who I wrote about on this blog about 9 months ago.
Back in 2006, he was on his way to securing some local notoriety with WCHL when he started an interview with those words. He was about to drive a hearse that managed about 12 miles a gallon to St. Louis and return a triumphant fan. You can hear it along with some great life wisdom if you visit his website www.heelraiser.com (Interview part 2, 2006 Final Four)


Ironically, that is the most concrete memento I have left from a 22 year friendship. I have
probably played it about 20 times in the last month. I have an old treasure map of NC that he
gave me. And an impish Blue Devil statue, and several million dollar bills with his caricature. Butthe voice is what I treasure and crave to hear the most. My friend, who battled MS and had sleep apnea complications, passed away in June at the age of 52.

For eight years, he was known in this area as the dude who wore a crash helmet and drove
the Heel Raiser. Not many knew him by name, but with a signature baby blue hearse that
frequented weddings, parties, parades, etc…well, you would know the goofy guy behind the
wheel that would wave at you with these oversized Pillsbury dough boy gloves. And if you
missed that you had to wonder about a set of faux bulls’ balls that trailed from underneath that crazy looking hearse! John, you see, was going to make you look at “death” and demystify it. Make you laugh about it.

Beneath that veneer was a philosopher king who got along with just about anyone. Hell, he let
me into his circle–a dyed in the wool Blue Devil that enjoyed a rare blue/bleu friendship. Both of us had some deep ties to the blues through family. We gave each other shit on game days, and reveled in a little bit of schaudenfreud. But I’ve told folks that travelling with John to Atlanta or Las Vegas or Blacksburg or Charlottesville, etc. was akin to a child who got the sun and the moon and five bags of chocolate chips for his birthday. People stopped him and asked him about the “Beast” and to see the spectrum of expressions was memorable, priceless, you insert the cliché.

We didn’t always agree, however. Beyond the Duke/UNC narcissism, there were some
squabbles. And after renting from him for a few months in Hillsborough, we were the proverbial two man band that got a little chippy and went through some bitterness. Fortunately, that happened early on in his stay in 2004. His energy level wasn’t an issue then.

By 2006, I would get together with John, and I noticed that the heat started to bother him.
During the summers from then on, we had limited contact. What I didn’t know about “invisible” MS was that the afflicted didn’t fare well July thru August. Despite the difficulties, John still practiced some tongue in cheek sardonic wit. During that year, he once asked me about my social life. He started asking me about women that I had dated in the late 90’s, and their whereabouts. We figured out that every girl I had dated had become engaged. My former wife had been engaged. And the woman after that had become engaged. He finally looked at me and said, “Charles, I’m not sure how long this will continue, but you have a role in life. You’re a marriage preparer.” He nailed it. I was the next Dane Cook, I guess. But, like a good friend, he would relay the same frustrations and then the conversation would turn to something else.

After 2006, the effects of his nasty disease became a little more insidious. I noticed that John
started to wobble when he walked. Also, when head back to his house to catch a game, then he
would almost always fall asleep in his recliner. And I mean he was out—seemingly deep REM
sleep. He still looked the same, his voice was still loud and strong, though. But, he also started
to limit his football appearances. The energy that he exuded just six years earlier (and obviously years before that) was starting to take its toll.

In 2009, he bounced back. It was a good year for him. He resumed his busy schedule attending UNC football games—home and away. He continued playing Santa in Hillsborough and Raleigh (something that he had done for over 20 years) for worthwhile causes, and then Coach Smith’s family invited him to play Santa. This was a bit of more of triumph then one would think. John had told me a few years previous that Coach Smith didn’t “go for the hearse.” Times had changed, though, and John didn’t disappoint—he even played against type. When he asked Coach Smith how he’d been doing, the coach surprised him by saying “Well Santa I’ve been doing great. And, didn’t I see you at University Mall?” John told me that he looked somewhat sternly at Michelangelo and said, “Coach, I stopped doing mall appearances five years ago,” and then his face creased with a smile, and the room broke up with laughter.

My last visit with him was May 2012. We drove out to Hillsborough BBQ the day before
Hog Day, which had been moved up a month this year. He was more melancholic than I
remembered—and his voice had really become reedy thin. It sounded like an octogenarian
or someone nearing the century mark, and this was at 52 years old. I had asked him about it
earlier in the year, but he didn’t really want to talk about it. Emotionally, he was shutting down, and it was tough to witness. I sensed and he knew that he was losing.

A.E. Housman once summarized the death of a young athlete: “Shoulder-high, we bring you
home; and set you, at your threshold down, townsman of a stiller town.” I can’t speak for
everyone, but my world has become a little like Housman’s. There’s an uncomfortable stillness.

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The Walk-Ons: EXPLICIT Pre-Olympic Episode

Ben and I (okay, it was just me) drop enough f-bombs to build a small f-bomb factory in this week’s episode. We chat about the Olympics, Penn State’s NCAA smackdown, North Korean flag shenanigans, Phelps/Lochte, the MLS All-Star Game, rampant sex in the Olympic Village, and weathermen. Also, Ben goes for his first trivia championship, but this time, he has to face a former Teen Jeopardy champion instead of my 15-year-old sister. Oh, and guess what? For only the second time in Walk-Ons history, we’re using the explicit tag, baby!

Note: Time says 1:15 on this one, but Ben and I only talk for 45 minutes. The last 30 are the other people taking the trivia, and we will forgive if you if you skip that part.

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The Power of Perspective: From Hater to Fan

A few months ago, I wrote a piece about Harrison Barnes, right after he and Carolina flamed out in the NCAA tournament following Kendall Marshall’s injury.  My article, a tongue-in-cheek bit about Barnes’ infatuation with his “brand” as well as the lack of awareness he showed by discussing this so publicly, was pretty harsh on the player whom I exclusively referred to as “The Black Falcon.”  I portrayed Barnes as a business major who thought of his basketball as little more than a hobby, and although the NCAA may want fans to believe something similar, I’m sure it wasn’t an accurate illustration of his situation.

Although facetious and intended to be light-hearted, the column’s thesis wasn’t far from my true sentiments.  As a Duke fan, I considered Barnes wildly overrated–but this was a product of the hype-driven college recruiting process and the media mania surrounding ACC (i.e. Duke and Carolina) basketball.  Barnes, for the most part, didn’t bring about any of this hoopla onto himself*–he wasn’t the one naming himself as an NCAA Preseason All-American as a freshman.  The raised expectations for Barnes were a byproduct of his prodigious talent and analysts’ overzealous projections, nothing more.

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The Walk-Ons: Special Guest Tim Layden

Today, the bulk of the show is our interview with Tim Layden, senior Sports Illustrated writer. He’s been with SI since 1994, and came up in the newspaper world for 15 years before that. We talk to him about his career, the changing face of journalism (as always!), the breaks he’s had along the way, what qualities help a writer make it to the top and avoid burn-out, and what qualities spell disaster. Later, we talk about the Olympics and his upcoming trip to London. Definitely one of our favorite Walk-Ons interviews to date.

Please subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really like a million bucks, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.

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If you need to download the file directly, this’ll do it. Enjoy!

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A Personal Letter to Quinn Cook

Dear Mr. Cook-

Quinn, when you signed the scholarship to head to Duke University and play for Coach K, I’m sure it was a dream come true. You were the future point guard, able to be groomed for a year or two, then unleashed onto the poor ACC to dominate.

Well, the future is now! There are two types of Duke fans (you are kidding yourself if you think a middle ground exists). First are the ones who will support you no matter what, always giving you credit and finding any weird statistic to prove the team is wonderful even if they just lost by 50. The other type is the Chicken Little fan, which is the side that is much more fun to take. Yes, I understand that I, taking that stance, am unreasonable and unfair. But I have a responsibility to myself as well as other Duke fans to expect more than winning. Who do you think I am, Al Davis? Just win, baby? Hell no! I want to be entertained! (No, you don’t have to murder anyone gladiator style, but you get the point).  I want all games to be aesthetically pleasing bloody beatdowns of inferior opponents. I want Duke teams running up and down the court the whole game in transition. What? Duke was outscored by 1.9 ppg in transition last year? Totally unacceptable!! You think Johnny Dawkins, Bobby Hurley, Jason Williams, Chris Duhon or Kyrie Irving (I like to count each of his 11 games 10 times to pretend like he gave Duke a nice four year career) would have let that happen?

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Walk-Ons: The Great Trivia Episode

Today, in advance of the Great Podcast Trivia Challenge, Ben takes on my 15-year-old sister in a rematch of her last trivia victory, and Jim Young from ACCSports.com joins the fun. Who will win in this three-person war of honor? After the trivia, Ben and I go on the latest walkabout, touching on all the big stories in sports including Duke’s improving offseason. Easter egg (bonus track) after the concluding song.

0:00: Intro, Ben and I chat movies, male crying, and the upcomingPodcast Trivia Championship. To prepare, Ben will spar against my sister and Jim Young in a 10-question challenge.
9:45: Shannon, my 15-year-old sister, goes first..
18:09: Jim Young’s turn!
32:16: Ben’s turn!
44:20: The walkabout, hitting lots of topics in sports. Duke bball, Euro soccer, baseball, Wimbledon tennis, Olympics
68:40: The end
73:25: Bonus Track. What could it be??

Please subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. Just click “view in iTunes” once you reach that link, and then ‘subscribe for free.’ Voila. If you’re feeling really like a million bucks, you could also rate the podcast and write a positive review.

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If you need to download the file directly, this’ll do it. Time stamps below. Enjoy!

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