Here is what we had in today's JI.
Donald Brown column, in my opinion one of the most important players in UConn history.
TORONTO — Bon voyage and merci beaucoups to Donald Brown.
The University of Connecticut football team made a little bit of news on Saturday in its 38-20 International Bowl victory against Buffalo, in case you haven’t heard.
Huskies junior running back Donald Brown ran for 261 yards and then 30 minutes after the game said he wasn’t going to put on the Blue and White 34 again.
“I am not coming back,” Brown said Saturday. “I am going to pursue the NFL.”
As Donald Brown spoke, tears welled up in Coach Randy Edsall’s eyes. What were they for? The tears can be for many reasons, perhaps relief, maybe happiness, loss, regret and most of all, joy.
I also have a story on Dahna Deleston looking back at his career and that final touchdown. I was on the field for that, it made the hair stand up on my arm.
TORONTO — Dahna Deleston had almost forgotten what the end zone felt like.
It had been five years since the East Hartford native was scoring touchdowns with regularity for East Catholic High.
But, it was nearly four years as a starter at safety for UConn and Deleston had yet to taste the end zone. He doesn’t have great hands and his inability to catch balls sometimes thrown right at him is a running joke.
Deleston had less than three minutes of football in his college career left when a pass into the end zone by Buffalo’s Drew Willy was tipped up in the air.
Deleston caught it at the goal line and saw daylight.
The former track star raced 70 yards downfield before a tackler tried to stop him. It was like riding a bike. He cut inside and then broke it back outside, diving into the end zone.
The 100-yard interception return, tying a UConn record, was his first and last college career score. It also sealed UConn’s International Bowl victory, pushing the score to 38-20.
Deleston collapsed in the back of the end zone, too tired to celebrate. He was back home again, ending his career in style.
I'll be back later. I have a lot of thoughts on Utah and I am starting to see the light with a BCS playoff. I have conflicting views on a playoff, but I it's a problem that Utah likely can't win a national title.
I have been told I don't market my blog enough. This is also still experimental for the old fashioned JI and we don't push it a single bit on our website or in the paper. So I guess, don't be afraid to link this. I'll work on pushing the blog in the paper etc. I encourage everyone to link and email. Ok, is that enough?
2 comments:
John:
If I could tell everyone in CT about your blog I would. It has nothing to do with meeting you in Toronto and being able to laugh at you in person about your inability to handle the Toronto cold (insert whining here)
I didn't even tell you but I never brought a jacket to Toronto. My UConn sweatshirts and a tee underneath was enough for me. Someday you'll be a true New Englander (grin).
It was a pleasure meeting you and the rest of your media cronies and you are right....this bowl WAS the place to be for UConn fans. My memories will last a lifetime.
See you at the spring game.
John:
More content for the blog. A good blog should have an update at least once day, even if it's really minor or just a link back to a JI story. More content means it'll pop up in the Google search engine more often and give more readers an opportunity to read it.
Secondly, the JI should put a link to the blog at the end of each of your stories online. Really simple, like, "For more UConn football news, visit John's blog at (insert link)." It doesn't make sense to do it in the print edition because the URL is too long, but for the web site, that should be a no-brainer.
Let me also suggest more pictures for the blog. I'm assuming the JI sends a photog to the games...and only say 3 make it into the paper. It'd be neat to just create galleries on the blog of each game, or the tailgating atmosphere, or anything really. The bowl game would have been perfect for that, to give fans a taste of what it was like in Toronto.
Lastly, you should partner with other UConn blogs. I've seen fan blogs where they have discussion about the season or the game that is posted in two parts, one on each blog. Do something similar with Chip and the Runway Ramblings...have an email/IM conversation about UConn...post half on his blog, half on yours.
Just some thoughts.
Post a Comment