Rush for bowl tickets clogs phone lines
ITC works with Sprint to prevent future service interruptions during peak calling periods for tickets
Anthony Lamesa
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

After officials announced Sunday that the Cavaliers will play in the Continental Tire Bowl, an unprecedented number of fans seeking tickets flooded phone lines yesterday, disrupting phone service throughout Grounds from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

At one point yesterday morning 560 callers were waiting on hold for assistance from a ticket agent, said Rick Oliver, manager of Communication Services for Information Technology & Communication.

"The system basically just ran out of computing ability to deal with that many calls coming in simultaneously and because of that it couldn't serve the other calls going on on-campus," Oliver said.

Because of the excessive volume of calls, some persons had no dial tone when they picked up their phone, experienced problems obtaining access to their voicemail accounts, or were cut off midway through phone conversations, he said.

According to Oliver, ITC officials disconnected the athletic department's 800 ticket number from about 12:30 p.m. to 1:20 p.m.

"We had to do that briefly to allow us to go in and get the system back in order," he said. "Things began coming back right to normal as soon as we cut off calls for tickets."

Once the 800 number was restored at 1:20 p.m., ITC began manually monitoring the volume of phone calls requesting tickets, Oliver said.

"What we did was invoke a manual process of monitoring the incoming [call] traffic –- when we noticed that get too high we could change things so that any further calls got a busy signal" instead of being placed on hold, he said.

Dirk Katstra, associate athletics director for external affairs, said the athletic department tried to get the word out about phone difficulties through its Web site, radio, television and e-mails.

"It was hard being without any phone service for several hours and I know it affected the entire University which we feel badly for," Katstra said.

The ticket office's phones were kept open until 7 p.m. in order to make up for the late morning service delays, Athletic Ticket Manager Dick Mathias said.

Most callers were very understanding about today's service delays, Mathias said.

"They didn't like waiting necessarily, but they completely understood," he said.

Medical Center spokesperson Marguerite Beck said the phone difficulties had no impact on patient care and proved only a minor disturbance to hospital operations.

"Some people may have had trouble getting lines in and out, but it was just a temporary inconvenience," Beck said.

Oliver said that ITC was working with Sprint yesterday to find a way to automate the process of limiting the number of calls to the athletic department which can be placed on hold.

"The number of calls would be limited to an amount that wouldn't affect the internal operation of the phone system," he said.

Officials say they do not expect any further complications to arise from calls for tickets.
 

Arritt not surprised by Minter's play
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
December 2, 2003

While he may lack the flash of classmate Gary Forbes, forward Donte Minter has certainly been the most consistent performer among Virginia’s five freshmen in the early going.

That may come as a surprise to some observers - perhaps UVa coach Pete Gillen among them - but one coach in the Central Virginia area is not shocked at all.

Fork Union postgraduate coach Fletcher Arritt, who coached Minter last season, has obviously been able to monitor his former player’s progress in UVa’s first three games and he doesn’t admit to a shred of surprise.

“I think Donte Minter has played pretty well. I went over to the game against Virginia Tech the other night and hear from other people that he’s playing all right,” Arritt said.

Minter, who has averaged 10.7 points and five rebounds in a little over 17 minutes of action during the first three games, spent last season at FUMA after graduating from West Rowan High School near Salisbury, N.C.

While the extra year at FUMA allowed Minter to reach necessary academic requirements, it also gave him an extra year of seasoning and maturing. Perhaps in that vain, it’s not a surprise that Minter has arguably had a slightly easier transition to Division I basketball than his classmates.

“I think that’s the whole idea of prep school. Of course, Minter is one of the best scorers we’ve ever had over here. He’s scored more points over here than just about anyone we’ve ever had,” Arritt said. “We felt he would be a good fit for Virginia.”

The left-handed Minter had a team-high 13 points and grabbed six rebounds during Sunday’s 79-64 victory over High Point. That was preceded by a 13-point, seven-rebound effort against Virginia Tech on Friday.

“I’ve been pleasantly surprised. He played well in the scrimmages and that’s carried over to the games,” Gillen said. “He’s not the kind of guy that’s going to dazzle you but he’s effective. He’s kind of an old-school basketball player. He’s a rec-league guy. You sit there in a rec game and wonder how he wins but it’s because he just knows how to play. He doesn’t say much and just plays.”

As for the rec-league comment, Minter wasn’t quite sure how to take that.

“I can’t really say too much about that. I feel I play all right,” said Minter with a laugh and wide grin.

Arritt also chuckled a little at Gillen’s assessment but did endorse it as well.

“He’s left-handed and that’s an advantage. Minter has a little quickness and it’s deceiving. He’s a little better than you think and a little quicker than you think. He’s always had a knack for scoring and I can’t explain that. Some guys can play in there for a week and not score,” Arritt said. “He had over 2,000 points in high school and was one of our more prolific scorers here. He’s just a guy that knows how to do it. Again, I can’t really explain it and I’m not sure anyone can.”

Arritt contends that Minter is about as good as any player ever to play for him at Fork Union, which has produced numerous Division I basketball players.

“He’s as good a center as anyone we’ve had over here. We had Ted Jefferies here and he started for three and a half years at UVa and Minter’s much ahead of Ted Jefferies. … I wish we had Minter back at center this year,” Arritt said with a chuckle.

When asked about his time at FUMA, Minter said he gained quite a bit of maturity and experience there but did lose something very critical: pounds.

Minter weighed close to 260 pounds when he came to Fork Union and Arritt readily admits that Minter didn’t quite resemble his current 240-pound frame.

“He looked a little like the Pillsbury doughboy,” Arritt said.

Added Minter: “I’m a whole lot lighter now than in high school. Coach Arritt ran us hard. I don’t think I want to run that hard again in my life.”

Note. Devin Smith, who is suffering from a herniated disc in his back, had 10 points and six rebounds in 20 minutes against High Point.

It was just Smith’s second stint of the season after missing the opener against Mount St. Mary’s and playing sparingly against Virginia Tech.

At this point, Gillen said that Smith’s status is really a day-to-day kind of thing. “We just have to hope he can get his wind back and all. He hasn’t practiced for 10 days and it’s been amazing to me that he’s been able to play. … We have to hold our breath. When he’s healthy we are a whole different team. He’s getting excellent treatment. As the doctor explained to me, a third of the time they get better and you are in great shape, another third it’s going to bother them on and off and the other third is when it’s real bad and you need surgery. We’ll see what it is and just have to hold our breath.”
 

Brooks puts his body on the line
Published December 1 2003
David Teel

LANDOVER, Md. -- So, Aaron Brooks, your team and knee are hurting. You haven't practiced at full speed in more than a week and haven't run for a touchdown in more than a year.

Given those limitations, Aaron, just what was your reaction when your New Orleans Saints asked you to run a quarterback draw against the Washington Redskins on Sunday?

Brooks rolled his eyes and broke into a wide grin. With friends and family from his native Newport News in the house, he'd just won at FedEx Field for the second consecutive season, and life was good - sore knee, dim playoff hopes and pedestrian stats aside.

"I was a little skeptical about it," Brooks said of the call. "But hey, you gotta put your body on the line. You can't save yourself at moments like that."

The moment was a red-zone play in a critical game for an underachieving team, and Brooks ran 7 yards for the first of his two touchdowns, scores that proved decisive in a 24-20 victory.

The last time Brooks ran for two touchdowns in a game? He wondered if it was for the University of Virginia or Ferguson High, but actually it was against St. Louis in 2000, Brooks' first season in New Orleans.

Brooks' confusion was understandable. In his 51 previous NFL games, he had run for five touchdowns, none since last October against San Francisco.

Sunday hardly seemed time to buck that trend. Brooks strained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee two weeks ago against Atlanta, aggravated the injury last week at Philadelphia and practiced little in preparing for Washington. Plus, with running back Deuce McAllister on a remarkable binge of 100-yard games (his streak of nine games matches the third-longest in NFL history), the Saints need Brooks' arm and leadership much more than his legs.

One problem: With his injury-depleted receiving corps and offensive line, and his own judgment, failing him at times, Brooks isn't nearly the passer he was last season, when he threw a franchise-record 27 touchdown passes. His per-completion average of 11.1 yards is a career low, and the Saints' 21.3 scoring average is six points off last season's pace.

Sunday Brooks threw for a season-low 121 yards, with no completion covering more than 17. The first half was particularly bleak as Brooks completed two passes to wide receivers for a grand total of 12 yards. Contrast that to last season, when he threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns in a 43-27 rout of the Redskins.

"Just launch it, let it go," Saints coach Jim Haslett scolded Brooks at halftime.

And so he did. On a third-and-6, Brooks zipped a 17-yarder to Boo Williams (the tight end from Arkansas, not the basketball coach from Hampton). Eight plays later, on a bootleg with a run-pass option, Brooks ran 3 yards for his second touchdown to tie the score at 17.

After Washington countered with a 49-yard John Hall field goal, Brooks threw the game-winning touchdown pass, a 15-yard laser to Williams that split coverage from linebacker LaVar Arrington and free safety Matt Bowen.

Now comes the hard part. After a 1-4 start, the Saints (6-6) are on the fringe of playoff contention. They probably need to win out, and with a favorable schedule (three of the last four games at home) and the meager state of the NFC, they could slide in.

But they must overcome their demons. In 2001, the Saints lost their final four games to miss the playoffs. Last year they dropped their last three to miss.

Up next for New Orleans, a home date against defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay, another team in desperate need of wins. And how much practice time will Brooks' knee allow during the week?

"We'll see tomorrow," he said, "when I wake up."

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 2, 2003

NEXT QUESTION, PLEASE: If Virginia football coach Al Groh and his players were asked once last week about the team's recent struggles against Virginia Tech, they were asked 100 times.

The Hokies had won four straight in the series before Saturday afternoon, when U.Va. triumphed 35-21 at Scott Stadium.

Tech's dominance was "a reality," Groh said. "You can't slough it off or disguise it. It was a reality going into this game. Now we got a different reality, which is a lot more pleasant to deal with."

THREE OF A KIND: The ACC yesterday honored three Cavaliers: senior quarterback Matt Schaub, sophomore tight end Heath Miller and freshman linebacker Kai Parham.

Schaub, the co-offensive back of the week (with Maryland tailback Bruce Perry), completed 32 of 46 passes for 358 yards and two touchdowns against Virginia Tech.

Miller was named the ACC's offensive lineman of the week for the second straight week and third time this season. He had 13 catches for 145 yards - both career highs - against the Hokies. Ten of his receptions went for first downs.

Parham, the ACC rookie of the week, made nine tackles, six of them unassisted., and helped the Cavaliers hold All-American tailback Kevin Jones to 75 yards rushing.

SETTING THE STANDARD: Miller has 751 yards receiving this season, an ACC record for a tight end. Miller broke the mark of 634 set by U.Va.'s Bruce McGonnigal in 1989.

Finalists for the John Mackey Award, given annually to the nation's top tight end, were announced Friday. Miller, one of eight semifinalists, didn't make the cut, to his coach's disbelief.

Who's a "better player than this guy?" Groh said.

The finalists: Pittsburgh's Kris Wilson, Florida's Ben Troupe and the Miami Hurricanes' Kellen Winslow.

VINDICATION: Critics of Virginia's 3-4 defensive scheme - and there were many as Groh's team headed into its stretch run - haven't had much ammunition recently. In a 29-17 win over Georgia Tech on Nov. 22, U.Va. held all-ACC tailback P.J. Daniels to 76 yards on 18 carries. Then came the effort against Jones.

"This is a tremendous player," Groh said of Jones. "You just give him a crease, and he can end up any place. We were well aware of cutting the creases down. I thought the players did a really good job. It's amazing how we kind of resurrected that ancient, outdated 3-4 defense. It's done pretty good here the last two weeks against" two talented tailbacks.

ON THE RUN: After Jones scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 6:59 remaining, the Cavaliers got a 24-yard kickoff return from Marquis Weeks and took over at their 31.

U.Va., holding a 28-21 lead, needed to take some time off the clock, and that meant running the ball. The Cavaliers came in ranked eighth among ACC teams in rushing offense, however, so their success in this venture wasn't guaranteed. Junior guard Elton Brown challenged his fellow linemen on the sideline.

"I said, 'Let's do something we haven't done all year. Let's run the ball and run the clock down,'" said Brown, who last week was honored as the ACC's outstanding blocker.

On first down, Schaub scrambled for a 10-yard gain, his longest of the season. Junior tailback Alvin Pearman gained 3 yards on a draw. Two plays later, junior tailback Wali Lundy ran off left tackle for 6 yards. A play later, he ran off right tackle for 7 yards and another first down. The drive ended at the 2:29 mark with Lundy's 19-yard touchdown run.

"Everybody stepped up to the challenge," Brown said.

ONE OF A KIND: U.Va. (7-5) will close the season Dec. 27 against Pittsburgh (8-4) in the second Continental Tire Bowl at Charlotte, N.C.

Groh said he believes the Panthers' record-breaking sophomore, Larry Fitzgerald, is "probably one of the great receivers ever to play college football."

Fitzgerald established himself as a force last season, and Groh, the college football fan, took note. "I knew there was a great receiver at Pittsburgh before I knew what his name was," Groh said, "and then, after I kept seeing those plays, obviously learned it was Larry Fitzgerald."

EXTRA POINTS: Sophomore linebacker Darryl Blackstock had a sack Saturday, giving his 16 for his career. Blackstock and Wali Rainer now share the school record for all-time sacks by a linebacker. . . . Senior cornerback Almondo "Muffin" Curry's 58-yard interception return Saturday was the longest by a Cavalier since Nov. 16, 1996, when Antawn Harris ran an interception back 95 yards for a TD in a comeback win over sixth-ranked North Carolina. . . . Pearman, who has 57 receptions, needs only two against Pitt to break U.Va.'s single-season record for a running back. Lundy caught 58 passes in 2002. - Jeff White