Notes ‘n’ quotes …Bobby Jackson is considered one of the NBA’s good guys. And there’s a reason.
Good guys don’t forget where they came from.
Jackson always arrives back in his hometown every summer ó not to visit, but to work. He gives kids a chance to enjoy his sport by putting on camps, bringing in professional athletes for an all-star game and being a good role model.
This summer will be a little different. Before his camp, which begins in July, he will conduct the Bobby Jackson Basketball League.
Developed for grades six through 12, kids play regardless of basketball or athletic ability. Jackson says he wants to give the community a “holistic experience” and develop the “whole” child.
There will be plenty of games, but also workshops. The athletes will be taught how to stay away from gangs and guns, make career and educational decisions and even learn social etiquette.
C’mon now, do you really know which fork to use to eat that salad?
At the end of the league’s season, an elaborate banquet is planned to allow the players to demonstrate their social graces.
Also, Jackson, who played for the New Orleans Hornets before being traded to Houston this past season, will provide the players with a uniform and sweatsuit.
All of this for 50 bucks? You can’t turn that down.
Registration is Tuesday night from 6-8 p.m. at Hall Gym. Or call Andrew Mitchell at 704-267-1122.
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Don’t forget. Tonight is the home opener for the Rowan Legion. Gametime is 7 p.m. at Newman Park.
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You gotta give Catawba and Rowan Legion coach Jim Gantt credit. His college players can’t play Legion ball for him so he released former West Rowan star Weston Church to play for neighbor South Rowan.
We kid Gantt that Rowan fans will think it was a good gesture to help Church ó until he hits a walk-off homer to beat Rowan.
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One Web site out of Michigan lists Salisbury’s Matt Butler as Detroit’s third-string center.
Word is, if Butler, an undrafted rookie out of East Carolina, makes the Lions roster in the fall, his first NFL salary will begin at around $290,000 per season.
That can buy a lot of Cheerwines.
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You have to wonder how East Rowan baseball coach Brian Hightower and his jayvee coach John McNeil can stomach each other. Hightower is the ultimate Yankees fan and McNeil loves the Red Sox.
When asked, both simply said winning cures everything.
East is in the state championship series next weekend.
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Wrote my first blog recently and decided I’d let the readers know Mitchell would be the next Salisbury girls coach before the school board had approved him.
I mentioned it to a Salisbury High official.
Before I had even finished writing the dang thing, Rita Foil, the public information officer of the school system, calls me and remarks, “It has been brought to my attention …”
Oh, brother.
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And finally …
Sports writers keep a close eye on gas prices because we’re driving all over the place. Well, get this.
I asked a lady at a convenience store recently how gas prices could go up 15 cents in one day.
“We were the cheapest around so we went up.”
What?
I relayed that story to a lady at another convenience store and was told she is instructed to watch the store down the street. When the price goes up, she calls her bosses so they can increase their price, too.
Ya know, there’s something sneaky going on around here.
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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com.