Published: July 09, 2008 11:18 pm            

Amey Takes Aim: Always remember to read the fine print — even in the sports pages

If you folks would spend a little more time reading the names in the transactions in the tiny type on Page 2, I wouldn’t even have to write this column. I could be packing already for the next Amey family vacation.

Yes, we’re about to test the seafood consumption on the Atlantic seaboard — probably no cheeseburgers this time, Nellie; the kids are staying home — and you’ll probably get the results in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, however, back to the agate, which a couple of days ago featured one of Terre Haute’s all-time greats.

Jack Effner, Terre Haute South’s undefeated state high school wrestling champion at 132 pounds during the 1982 season — somebody I’ll forgive him for having his great season while the paper was on strike — resigned as wrestling coach at Cleveland State.

Jack, who has also coached at Army, left the Vikings in pretty good shape with a nice incoming recruiting class (this word came from his father Mike, who is still in town), and is heading for Virginia Beach and a counselor’s job at a private school there.

Both the younger Effner wrestlers are out of college now, Jason an engineer in the Cleveland area and Marcus graduating a month or so ago after wrestling for his dad. And Jack’s wife took advantage of her time there to complete a nursing degree at Cleveland State.

So it could be a nice, relaxing change of pace for Jack at Virginia Beach — or not. Those of you with a knowledge of Indiana State University wrestling history are no doubt aware that there’s some pretty serious competition taking place in that area of the country.

There was an ISU reference in the transactions section of the paper the same day as Jack’s announcement. The Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League parted ways with former Sycamore linebacker Shonda Faulkner.

That might give Shonda enough time to hook up with an NFL camp, perhaps. And call me crazy, but somehow I think it won’t be long before ISU football players become a little more prominent in the NFL, CFL or AFL transactions again.

Speaking of ISU and the AFL, in fact, you may not have heard this: Chicago Rush linebacker/wide receiver DeJuan Alfonzo — whose season-ending injury a few weeks ago no doubt impacted Chicago’s quick playoff demise — was once again named first-team all-AFL linebacker and made the all-Ironman team (for two-way players) for the third straight year.

(Otis Amey of the Cleveland Gladiators, a second-team all-AFL wide receiver, is probably some distant cousin of mine.)

The last bit of news you might have missed in the small type is about an unintended victim of the CC Sabathia trade from Cleveland to Milwaukee.

No, it’s not a member of the Indians or the Brewers. It’s not even a member of the Cubs or Athletics, who made the Rich Harden trade the following day.

But on Tuesday, the Chicago White Sox needed to re-activate Paul Konerko from the disabled list, and designated utility player Pablo Ozuna for assignment to clear a spot.

Ozuna, besides being a nice guy and an extremely versatile player, absolutely owns CC Sabathia, hitting around .500 against him. But since interleague play is over, the Sox didn’t need him anymore. Somebody in the NL Central with a lot of games left against the Brewers would be wise to pick him up.



• Scholarship winners — Speaking of small type, you’ll see the announcement of the Jay Barrett Athletic Foundation Gala, which is July 25 at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, in the sports notices from time to time.

Scholarships awarded by the JBAF in the past year have gone to Terre Haute North lineman Jake Shaffer, who will be attending Wabash, and Zach Clapp of Rockville, who is going to DePauw.



Andy Amey can be reached after 4 p.m. for comments or news items at (812) 231-4277 or at 1-800-783-8742; by e-mail at andy.amey@tribstar.com; by mail at P.O. Box 149, Terre Haute, IN, 47808; or by fax at (812) 231-4321.

        

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