Women’s football, ‘The Truth’ and condolences

This, that and another thing or two.

So you want to play semi-pro football? Well, ladies – that’s right, ladies – you have one more chance at being invited to the New England Storm’s tryout camp.

The Storm will hold a walk-on tryout camp Saturday at Hormel Field in Medford, Mass., at 1 p.m. Owner Missy Korpacz – who’s also one of the Women’s Professional Football League’s co-commissioners – said that 22 veterans and 50 rookies have been invited to the team’s upcoming mini-camp thus far.

The team plans to keep 40 players on its active roster, and up to 20 on a taxi squad. Korpacz said the team has an operating budget of approximately $120,000, and will play a 10-game regular season schedule.

Home games will be played on Saturday nights, under the lights, beginning Aug. 3. The team is entering its third year in the league. Korpacz said the Storm drew approximately 1,200 people to its games last season. For information, call 781-395-8326.

Due to the “duh” factor, in a story last week in the BDN on the Senior League World Series, yours truly failed to include a phone number to call for information on making contributions or sponsorships. Call Mike Brooker in Bangor at 561-4600, ext. 14604 or at 945-4009.

Paul Pierce, a.k.a. “The Truth,” is finding out the truth. Keeping your mouth shut and playing the game is much better than sucker punching yourself.

Pierce has averaged roughly 37 points per game against the Nets in the regular season. Entering Sunday’s first game of the Eastern Conference championship, Pierce caught a serious case of run-off-at-themouth-itis – an affliction that usually surfaces in the presence of reporters.

At a press conference he stated the Nets couldn’t stop him. He said the Nets have no one who can defend him. Sunday, the Nets didn’t have to. He stopped himself by getting into foul trouble. The 27 points he scored may seem like a big deal, but Pierce also was forced to sit for 10 crucial minutes when his team needed him.

It’s been great watching this team grow into one that is bringing fans back to the game. But Pierce needs to realize that part of the attraction was that we weren’t reading about him and his teammates mouthing off in the press. In the words of Tommy Heinsohn, “Just do it baby.”

Read recently that Andy Kiah got himself hitched. Andy is the son of longtime Brewer coach and athletic director Dennis Kiah. My first job in this business was covering the 1988 Brewer baseball team that went to the state championship game and lost to Morse High School of Bath.

Andy was the catcher on that team. He is now the director of athletic facilities at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C. Those duties include taking care of the NFL Carolina Panthers’ $6.6 million preseason multi-field facility. Twelve years ago (was it really that long ago?) Andy was the toughest 145-pound middle linebacker in the Pine Tree Conference.

If you’re the type to hop in your camper and take off around the country and you love baseball, I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Fodor’s “Baseball Vacations” by Bruce Adams and Margaret Engel.

It houses 400 pages of information about major and minor league cities. Each city is broken down into sections that include places near the park to eat, hotels and motels to stay in, entertainment and sight-seeing locales.

The book also gives a brief history of the ballpark. It includes seating capacity and where you should try to sit for best viewing the game.

A good example is this excerpt which refers to Harbor Park in Norfolk, Va., that advises: “You can go to the concession stands, buy what you need, and not miss a pitch. … Arrive early and listen to the Tide Strolling Bass Band play for the hour before the game.”

The book is a pure treasure to those who love baseball and a must for those traveling to parks around the country.

Finally, heartfelt condolences go out to old friend Bill Lyons whose wife, Charlotte, died Saturday. Bill is truly one of the good guys in life.

He worked here at the NEWS as a composer for a number of years before leaving and opening a typography business on South Main Street in Brewer. He faithfully showed up for work there every day and faithfully went to lunch with Charlotte each day at 1 p.m.

Billy was the original publisher of “Maine Golf Magazine” and back in those days we wore out a spot on the rug in his office with a pitching wedge, taking practice swings and talking about life in general. Bill taught me how to laugh at myself. He also taught me what was important in life. Charlotte, a kind and lovely woman, was at the top of his list.

Don Perryman can be reached at 1-800-310-8600, 990-8045 or dperryman@bangordailynews.net.