Grand Opening

Hi,sports fans. More or less as promised Lompoc Locker Room.com is open for business starting right now.

July was interesting in Lompoc sports-- in pro baseball CHRIS WHITE caught fire and raised his batting average 100 points, DANNY DUFFY still has not given up an earned run, and RYAN CHURCH remains in the Top Ten in doubles though I know he'd like his batting average to be higher. On the downside we lost longtime runner and colorful character RAY GIL who passed away during the month.

At the Pan Am Games who was the only American still running after the preliminary rounds in the 800? Not Khadevis Robinson, not Nick Symmonds, but DUANE SOLOMON! He finished fourth in his semifinal heat so did not qualify for the final, but his showing was the best of the three Americans. Updates of these stories and more will be showing up right here in coming days.

Let me know which athletes and which sports interest you the most and we'll try to get on them. Just e-mail at pressboxprod@verizon.net and tell me what you think.

And if you want to call direct I'll be appearing on YNTV Friday at 6 p.m. on TAP-TV (Channel 25). Lompoc Locker Room TV show, the new version, can be seen on Channel 25 on the dates shown at the left.

So let's hear from you!!!!!!!

The First Ball

"Karen Church, mother of Washington National outfielder Ryan Church, threw out the first ball in front of 30,000 before the Nationals' game on Mother's Day." -- Mr. EF

Duane and Nip and all those who came before

There are quite a few sports personalities from this little town that have gone on to great things. All the way back to Nick Carter going to the Olympics in 1920 (don’t go check, I haven’t, so I might be off by four years). Mike Bratz became director of player personnel with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Why is LeBron where he is? Because Mike drafted him. Granted it was a no-brainer, but Mike was the guy who pulled the trigger. Then there were Roy Howell going to the All-Star Game and Roy Thomas and Casey Candaele, and now Ryan Church in major league baseball. By my count there are right now five professional baseball players from Lompoc (can you name them all?). And in football remember Napoleon?

Who from here couldn’t? This fall there will be seven Lompoc football players at four year schools, all from The Poke. And that does not count Boo Jackson, quarterback of the top JC team in the state. Frank Piemme and Jurgen Schmidt are the world’s best swimmers for their age in the world. Torin Simpson is producing video for the Raiders. Brad Lilley directs music for the Dodgers. Marcus Jenkins was just hired by the basketball program at the University of Richmond. Right now Duane Solomon (see the photo) has qualified to be part of Team USA at the World Track & Field Championships in Japan in August. He is No. 3 in the nation in the 800 and he’s not even out of college. He’s the first Lompocan on Team USA since George Porter 20 years ago. He’s got a shot to follow in Nick Carter’s footsteps.

My point here is that I enjoyed following the careers of these people, and I still do. So why don’t we do it together? I CANNOT do it by myself. Already B.J. Lingle has agreed to follow Air Force Academy JV football (quick now, why would that team be of interest in Lompoc?) Texas Bob Wiener is on board to cover the Lone Star State. Barry Marks will be monitoring Washington, DC.
Send in the stuff you’re hearing (pressboxprod@verizon.net) and we’ll stick it onto this website. My motto is Everybody is a correspondent. Write letters, complaints, whatever.