There's snow on the ground, so that must mean it's...racing season?

Times Argus sports editor Jamie Biggam, advertising representative Many Dwinell and I went to the annual Thunder Road/ACT spring press conference this afternoon, and despite the snow falling outside, it was all spring-talk at the event.

A lot more will be coming out about the new season at Thunder Road and on the American-Canadian Tour, but here are some of the highlights from today's press conference:

* The Tiger division will now be known as the Bond Auto Flying Tigers, and there is a lot of excitement about this division this summer. There are a lot of good veterans in the mix, but there are also a lot of youth who have infiltrated the ranks and are starting to make some noise. Literally. Jimmy Hebert of Williamstown sat at our table, and he won the Tiger points race last season by just four points. I know through my work at Lenny's that the McCarthy Racing team and new driver Jason Corliss are looking forward to a good season. So don't necessarily think it's the Late Models who are having all the fun. In fact, the Tigers will have their own tour this summer with lots of stops in New Hampshire, etc.

*"Going Green" is on a lot of people's minds these days with both the bad economy and the deterioration of our planet, so there was talk of using more environmentally friendly tires both at Thunder Road and within the ACT. Apparently there's been talk in Europe and those conversations are starting to be had on this side of the pond, too.

* Thunder Road is also putting in a new transponder system to better score the races. The races have been scored by hand for the past 50 years, and the first experience with the new technology will be in Sunday's Merchants Bank 150, which will serve as the track opener and the ACT opener after weather has cancelled the first two events of the season.

* Ford Racing Technology has come on board in a big way at our local track and within the ACT and have set up the Ford Blue Oval Cup, a competition among Ford drivers both in the weekly Thunder Road races and the ACT races. There's a lot of money on the line for those who drive Ford cars, so look for more on that race throughout the season.

* Apparently there has been an "enormous" influx of driving teams for this summer's action. Thunder Road president Tom Curley spoke of how important it is for the veterans of both Thunder Road and the ACT to enforce the rules and traditions upon the newcomers - mainly to drive hard but drive respectfully. The traditions at Thunder Road are innumerable, but those veterans are so well-versed in what goes and what doesn't, the newcomers should have no qualms about the ins and outs of those traditions. 

* There's also been a lot of renovations going on in the off-season - Albany, Devil's Bowl and St. Croix will all have new looks to their tracks this summer.

* The theme of the day seemed to be the ways in which everyone involved in Thunder Road/ACT want to move the programs forward. The "green" tires, the new transponder scoring system and the huge influx of drivers as well as the renovations all back that up. It's been tough for everyone financially, so it's time to make sure fans are getting what they pay for, and I think the tracks not only recognize that, they are trying to be proactive rather than reactive in keeping their fans and drivers happy.

* Last summer was the 50th anniversary of Thunder Road, and this summer will be the 25th anniversary of ACT. Yes, that means I was 1 year old when ACT was first started, so I am pretty happy I can finally say I'm older than something, but it's also an impressive feat considering the economic times the organization has had to weather. Bravo, ACT.

* There was also a lot of talk about how successful the inaugural ACT Invitational last September was. The ACT Invitational featured over 30 of the best teams on the Tour, and they apparently put on a great show at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. That sense of driving hard but driving respectfully caught the eye of several national organizations - TV coverage included.

Clearly Thunder Road and the ACT have evolved into something this area can be very proud of - Thunder Road is recognized nationwide. It was said during the lunch portion of the event that TR was contacted by a man from Taiwan wanting to visit the track while he was here on vacation this summer. Pretty neat, huh?

See you all at the track soon!

-Anna Grearson

Football season?! You heard right.

Times Argus sports editor Jamie Biggam and I met with Vermont Ravens' owner Rick Theken today to talk some football. That's right, football. In April.

The Vermont Ravens AAA semi-pro football team begins practice in about a month and they kick off their season in early July. They're under new ownership - Theken - and will play under second-year coach Mike Foster. Former owner and coach Mike Salmon will now coach the Vermont Ice Storm, so I hear. Should make for an interesting meeting between those two.

The Ravens had a great run at the end of the season, advancing all the way to the league championship after a rocky start. They feature several local athletes but are looking for more - they seem to have lost a few players to the Ice Storm, a few to injury, and others, like quarterback Sean O'Connor, have decided to coach instead of play, especially after a rough season last summer.

Any players interested in playing for the Ravens this summer can call coach Mike Foster at 279-3026.

-Anna Grearson

Turns out, Salernos won't have to worry about a baby-playoff conflict afterall

Up until the last few days, Vermont Frost Heaves head coach Joe Salerno had double the stress - his wife, Darci, is due to deliver their first child any day now AND he had to worry about the possibility of that birth occuring during the Premier Basketball Playoffs.

Well, thanks to the league reinstating Puerto Rico and thereby eliminating Vermont, this week Salerno just has to worry about coaching his wife, who he met while both were students at Plattsburgh State College.

"It’s stressful but it’s a good stress," Salerno said after a recent game. "I am so excited and so looking forward to having our first-born. For me, it’s really not not knowing what’s going to happen, I know what’s going to happen. My family and my son are obviously my first priority. Mike Healey and the Frost Heaves obviously know that. It’s more excitement and a little bit of nerves than stress."

 

Should Vermont have been eligible for the playoffs and a baby-emergency presented itself, Salerno had planned to hand over the team to assistant coach Nick Foster, who also served as an assistant under Salerno at Montpelier High School.

 

"We’ve talked about it and he’s prepared for it," Salerno said. "I’m comfortable with it, the team is comfortable with it, and they’re on board and they understand Nick is perfectly capable. Hopefully I don’t have to miss a game."

 

Salerno was promoted to head coach after Jeff Strohm was fired in late January, but at that point a potential conflict didn't seem too likely.

 

"We’ve had that date circled on our calendar for a while, and before it didn’t seem like a problem, like we could (make the playoffs), but maybe not," Salerno said. "It’s definitely been in the back of our minds for a while, and we just have to see what happens. When’s the baby going to come, where are we going for the playoffs, there’s a lot up in the air right now."

 

"We obviously know it can happen at any point in time as you get closer to the due date, and we just said, ‘Alright, what are we going to do if…’ and went from there and said we can’t really get too worked up about any decision yet," Darci Salerno said. "It’s not here, so you can’t really get all worked up when you have no control over the situation."

 

They can prepare for one thing: the baby is a boy, but as of last week they were still undecided on a name.

 

Still, the stress wasn't just on the dad-to-be. Mom-to-be felt a little guilty, too.

 

"I think I have a sense of guilt because I know how much he wants to be coaching the team and be with the team especially making the playoffs, and especially working as hard as he and the team have," Darci Salerno said. "The chance that he may have to be here coaching me, there’s a little bit of guilt."

 

Well, as it turns out, Baby Boy Salerno can make his appearance when he pleases, but Darci is hoping that's sooner rather than later.

 

-Anna Grearson

Cayole returns to U.S. as a champion

Many apologies to Chris Cayole, who sent me this information very quickly after I asked for it and then I delayed in posting it. Cayole, a former Vermont Frost Heave, really broke out this winter in Germany and came home a happy guy - with a league championship under his belt.

Here's the text of his responses to a laundry list of questions I bothered him with as he was trying to leave Germany/arrive home in Vermont. Perhaps there will be a Cayole sighting at one of the next three Frost Heaves games??

-Anna Grearson

Chris Cayole:

"At first coming out here I had no idea what to expect. It was my first time overseas, and I had no idea what life in Germany was going to be like or what kind of basketball I was going to be apart of. What made it easier was having my teammate Brian Graves here in which he already had experienced this area and team. From day one I was informed that this team, the Grevenbroich Elephants, had been trying for 3 years now to move up to the next league Pro B and that the coach had high hopes for us to achieve that goal with the team that we had.

With that being said, when we encountered a few early losses, our goal to move up did not look attainable because in this league, 3 or 4 losses is close to the max if you want to be in contention to be a top team to move up. After we hit a low with I think it was a 3 -game losing streak, one of them being at the buzzer, we got re-focused and went on to win all the rest of our games. Towards the end of the season we were in a battle for 2nd place with the team that beat us at the buzzer the first time. The way in which this league works is there aren't playoffs or a championship game but it comes down to the 2 best records that get to move up.

So I've had a couple good games with 30-plus points full of alley-opp dunks and blocks, but I would have to say my most memorable and most important game came when we had to play the team we were tied with at their place. It was a loud and hostile gym in which this game pretty much decided if we would be able to move up. We were neck and neck the whole way, kind of like a frost heave-millrat game, intense and fast-paced. But with like a minute and a half left I hit a big 3 in the corner which put us up by 3 and we were able to get a stop and finish out the game with a 5 -point victory and then went on to win our final game of the season which put us in 2nd place and has allowed this team to move up to the next division.

Our roster pretty much stayed the same throughout the year. Definitely wasnt like Vermont where you see new faces every other week. We did lose a young player early and we also gained a player who was from the first league, but he soon left us to pursue a better team and deal. Each team out here has 2 Americans and that stays the same unless the team feels the Americans arent perfoming like they would like. We did lose one of our better big men at the end of the season to a shoulder injury which meant I had to step up my rebounding. The competition at times was weak and we had some blowout games but overall each game was a battle. Usually the other Americans guard Americans in which the competition is good. A lot of the American players that I've seen out here have been from division 2 and are really talented. I actually played against 2 guys that I played against when I was at Saint Michael's College.

I put up decent numbers for my first real pro career, about 20 points a game. The reason why I put up bigger numbers is because in Vermont, I wasn't really given the chance to show my abilities. Basketball is all about confidence and in order to get confidence and perform well, you have to be out there on the court to make mistakes and learn from them. But the situation in Vermont was different. There were a lot of really talented players coming in and out and I learned so much from my 2 years there that its helped me immensely this year. I know what it takes to be a championship team from my first year in Vermont and i definitely know what hard work and defense is all about, so I think myself and brian were able to show this to our teammates and it proved to be successful.

Brian has been with me from day 1, and me and him work great together on the court. We actually got a chance to see John Bryant at a game when his team Ulm played Dusseldorf. Where we live is only a 15 minute ride from the Dusseldorf first league stadium so it was nice to see a good friend on foreign soil. John Bryant said he was doing real well and that he liked his team and area and was planning on returning. They won the game that we saw and John had some big rebounds and a block at the end to seal the deal.

I'm gonna have to say I enjoy playing overseas due to the fact that I've seen so many things that I would never imagine I would see. It's always fun for me to experience a new culture and I'm kind of used to it having traveled and lived in different places throughout my life. The style of play in Vermont was definitely more intense and conducive to my style of play, but I'm hoping to be able to get to the top league here in the future in which that style of play is quite similar to that of the PBL. So far for my future I will be talking in the next couple days with the team to see what they are offering for next season. Having helped this team move up, my future should look a little brighter and it is a good start to my professional career overseas. I really like Germany and the area that I was in this year and would have no problem coming back, but before I make any concrete decisions I gotta look at my options and see what happens. My main overall goal is to make it as far and to the highest level of basketball as I can as is it with any basketball player who is playing professionally.

I've been over here for about 8 months and I must say that there was not much adjustment to be made. Germany is a really nice place and they have everything and more that I would have at home. The people are nice, the food is great and the cities are fun. I of course missed my family and a nice home -cooked meal, but overall I never got too home sick. The language barrier wasn't bad at all. All my teammates speak English along with my coach and there's never been any problems communicating. The town we live in is kind of small so that is where we tended to sometimes run into language barriers talking to older people and order McDonalds (haha). But in the city people speak both and usually all young people have been learning English in school. I will be back on Monday (last week) and I saw that there was some games left that I will have to catch a one and say hello to some of my old teammates and some of the fans."

Thanks Chris, and sorry for the brief delay in getting this information online.