April 14, 2008Is the angler in your life a liar? Smoke out fish tales with our latest databaseSomeone you know been boasting about the bulk of their latest bass? Does their story about landing a crappie sound like a load of, um, garbage? Our database of nearly 12,000 Virginia freshwater citation fish won't tell you about the ones that got away, but you can track trophy catches right down to the pound, ounce and inch. We just updated the database with about 5,500 fish from 2007, so there's two years worth of trophies in there in 23 species, plus the names of the anglers who caught them and where each was landed. And don't think this is inside stuff just for serious fisherman. You won't find me hanging around the baitshop, but I gotta say, when I first saw this database, the first thing I did was try to figure out, what's the biggest darn fish in there? I mean, who isn't interested in the biggest anything? The answer, by the way, is a 95 pound, 11 ounce, 54-inch blue catfish landed by Archie Gold in 2006 in the James River. That's a state record. But there are other curiosities. Like where they are caught. Check out the related graphic of where the most trophy fish were caught in 2007. Here's a tease: The top producers aren't all big rivers and lakes. Think of that cliche about fish in a barrel. Fish in a farm? And if you want an expert's view of the data, read Roanoke Times Outdoors Writer Mark Taylor's take on it. January 16, 2008Where have you gone, Lee Suggs?Lee Suggs, if you don't know, was a top flight running back at William Fleming High School in Roanoke, then at Virginia Tech, and finally in the NFL, albeit briefly. He's also one of the last football players of note to come out of the Roanoke Valley. Check out the map of The Roanoke Times' sports staff's picks for the top 50 high school football prospects in the state, class of 2008. Naturally, there are more good players out of the heavily populated eastern half of the state. But it's hard to overlook the glaringly vacant space in and around Roanoke. From where I sit, there nearest prospects are a good drive away, in Richlands, Bristol and Lynchburg. Meanwhile, it seems you can't swing a dead cat in Tidewater without hitting a player bound for a top college program. December 12, 2007Where 315-pound offensive linemen come fromIt's not like you pass them on the street every day, so where do these monsters who play football at Virginia Tech and UVa come from? And who's coming to play next year? Turns out Roanoke Times sports writer Doug Doughty keeps up with this stuff, and thanks to him we now have those answers in the DataSphere. You can search a small database of recruits by both the Hokies and the Cavaliers major football programs, and see the name, position, school, hometown, height and weight of the 28 players committed to Tech and 14 committed to UVa for 2008 (plus one for 2009 at Tech.) You can see the same data displayed on an interactive map, too. Those who pay close attention to college recruiting know that Tech more or less owns Virginia. Look at the map and that fact leaps at you in burgundy and burnt orange. The Wahoos find their players in more far flung places, its plain to see. What other patterns do you see, sports fans? |
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