CHARLOTTE So it’s true that no good deed goes unpunished. Byron Westbrook, who spent two seasons on the Washington Redskins practice squad and worked so hard to make the 53-man roster this season, was just doing his job, trying to protect punt returner Antwaan Randle El. And then Westbrook’s...

Throughout the summer and into the early fall, the biggest celebrities in northwestern Powhatan County were a bruin and a buck. In still-rural communities like Pine Tree and Trenholm, the pair was as well known as any Hollywood A-List couple. “A few people had set up cameras in the woods up there...

Youth will be served, but more often than not, experience carries the day. With 1:07 left in the game and victory just six yards away for the James Madison Dukes, redshirt freshman quarterback Justin Thorpe took the snap, stepped back, then darted up the middle. He was almost around Richmond nose tackle...

Imagine with me a day in the not so distant future. The ballpark debate has been settled. A gleaming stadium sits overlooking the floodwall and the river in Manchester. It’s April. Opening day. A day of pure promise. Your young son and daughter are ready, have been for hours. “Daddy, can...

Full Throttle, an “energy drink”, is the sponsor of the National Hot Rod Association, and a more perfect combination of product and sport could not be found. Everything about the NHRA is full throttle. There is no following another driver for a couple of laps, or a couple of hundred laps,...

Now that we’ve gotten the bad nicknames out of the way for Richmond’s new baseball team, we can move on to the really good ones. You know, the ones that dazzle you. The ones that make you say, “Wow. Cool. Different. I like it.“ What? Say again? Pardon me? Those were the good nicknames?...

The first rule of any game is “Don’t beat yourself.“ The William and Mary Tribe football team no doubt was thinking about that rule on the long drive home to Wil liamsburg last night. The Tribe was caught looking on Villanova’s first play from scrimmage yesterday and trailed 7-0...

As societal ills go, littering might not be up there with violent crime, political corruption or purse snatching, but there is something particularly galling about it. Really, how hard is it not to litter? Don’t flick your cigarette butt out the car window. Is that too much to ask? At least actuarial...

Funny the images that stay with you from childhood. Any time someone mentions the Civil War, there’s this snapshot that flits across my brain of being in my parents’ TV room watching the Ken Burns documentary on the subject. It’s nothing more specific than that, but I remember my whole...

Walk into any crowded room and you will find someone who has experienced the ravages of cancer, either first-hand or through PAUL WOODY a family member or friend. Cancer never is far from anyone’s mind. No one is surprised to receive the diagnosis. Shocked. Saddened. Frightened, perhaps, but not...

The Olympics are the greatest of the world’s sports events, and the site for the 2016 Summer Games will be Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo. The International Olympic Committee votes Friday. The vote here is for Chicago. Imagine athletes from every part of the globe riding the ‘L’...

The Marching Virginians, 330 strong, weren’t allowed to march and play their music on the Lane Stadium field. Instead, they performed from their end zone seats out of deference to a field that was all but underwater. And speaking of submerged, how about those Miami Hurricanes? They came here as...

In the room where I sit to write, a second-story makeshift office at home, there are two windows. One looks out over a road and the neighbor’s house, bracketed by two large silver maples. As long as I’ve lived in this house, these two trees have offered the first intimations of autumn. They...

When I asked Matt Balazik about the gill nets he uses to catch prehistoric fish in the James River, he explained in his typically enthusiastic way about water temperatures and dissolved oxygen and how the ancient beasts he’s spent years trying to net and study can’t stay entangled too long—two...

The difference between major-league ownership of a minor-league team and semi-local ownership of a minor-league team was readily apparent yesterday. The Atlanta Braves, owners of the former Richmond Braves, weren’t willing to invest much in The Diamond. The semi-local ownership of the new Richmond...

Of all the things said in the Washington Redskins’ locker room, none is more annoying than: We have the talent to excel. Wide receiver Santana Moss said it Monday. Running back Clinton Portis says it frequently. Head coach Jim Zorn, after a season-opening loss to the New York Giants, said the Redskins...

BLACKSBURG The Virginia Tech Hokies were out of offense, out of timeouts and, seemingly, out of hope. “When you’ve got a Tyrod, you’ve always got a chance,“ said Hokies coach Frank Beamer. Yes, but it looked like the Hokies had blown their last, best chance with 2:07 left in the...

I’ll talk until I’m hoarse about Richmond’s trails. For years, I’ve extolled their virtues to anyone who’d listen. The variety, the amount, the way they bring so many different kinds of users downtown while still maintaining a sense of wilderness. I’ve always argued...

CYPRESS BRIDGE In a slough off the Nottoway River south of Courtland lies an orgy of the gothic and grotesque. Few find it by accident, and those who do rarely know what they’ve stumbled upon. Until 2005, the Lost For est wasn’t on any map. They say true places never are. Only briefly every...

How do you stay No. 1 in the country when every opponent wants to beat the top-ranked team? How do you stay No.1 when it’s human nature to become full of yourself, to believe all the accolades and think you can turn on a winning effort the way you turn on a faucet? You hope you have a team full...

Boorish behavior is nothing new in tennis. What caught everyone by surprise was to see and hear a star become abusive during a match in a major championship. Usually, the players vent their spleen in early rounds, out of sight of the television cameras and microphones. So yes, what happened at the U.S....

Where have we seen this before from the Washington Redskins? Oh yes, last year. Early last year. Late last year. During the middle of last year. And here are the Redskins again, leaving Giants Stadium after absorbing another solid beating. Yes, the Redskins moved within six points in the final minute...

I’ve never understood how they compute the odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery game. On every billboard announcing the jackpot in small print it says, “Odds of winning 1 in 172 million.“ Yet there’s no guarantee someone will have the winning numbers each time. Whatever....

All week long, Denny Hamlin said it was time. He said a driver can’t lead as many laps as he has at Richmond International Raceway and not win the race. All week long, Hamlin talked the talk. Last night, he walked the walk. Last night, he drove the car. Last night, Hamlin won the Chevy Rock &...

Under gray and threatening skies, Ed Clark jumps up on the tailgate of his pickup truck and launches into a speech. Behind him in the covered flatbed is a small cage, a travel kennel for a medium-sized dog. But the 60 people listening in rapt attention didn’t go out of their way on this Labor Day...

Kyle Busch acknowledged the crowd at Richmond International Raceway in May after one of his four Sprint Cup victories this season. Busch sits in 14th place in Cup points. Kyle Busch and Mark Martin belong in the Sprint Cup championship chase. There, I’ve said it. Busch and Martin have won more...

ATLANTA Good defense and exceptional special teams will keep you in almost every game. That combination even will help a team win a number of games. But against a top-ranked opponent, defense and specialteams will take you only so far. The offense has to do its part, or at least do something. The Virginia...

When the Virginia Tech football team walks into the Georgia Dome tomorrow night to play Alabama, the Hokies will be involved in a game that means everything. And they will be involved in a game that means far less. “We’re fortunate to be in the game, and fortunate so much attention is being...

This is not what anyone in Boston, Tallahassee, Fla., Chapel Hill, N.C., Miami and especially Blacksburg wants to hear. Georgia Tech will win the 2009 ACC championship. And with the right combination of victories, luck and computer rankings, the Yellow Jackets are a darkhorse team to play in the BCS...

After making plays for Jay Cutler and Mark Sanchez in the offseason, it is clear Redskins owner Dan Snyder doubts Campbell’s ability to take the team to the playoffs and beyond. It is equally clear Campbell’s teammates stand behind him. “I think Jason took a lot of heat last year when...