Through all of my travels, I’ve learned a lot from living in different areas such as Tracy, Taft and Scottsdale, Ariz., and Lake of the Ozarks, Mo. In addition to my travels, I’ve also had opportunities to interview a lots of interesting and famous people such as Wayne Gretzky, Dave Winfield, Fergie Jenkins, Arizona Diamondbacks young up and coming players Chris Young and Justin Upton and had the fortunes of meeting and doing feature stories on players like Albert Pujols when he was a Class-A player in Peoria, Ill.

As a music journalist and publicist, I’ve gotten a chance to learn about different aspects and perspectives of how business is conducted and had a chance to interview some of the best in the business including Vanessa Carlton, DJ Skribble, and Blue October.

In addition to hobnobbing with celebrities, I’ve also gotten an opportunity to meet many great and interesting people through my experience, and although I’ve only been in Barstow for a week, this place has been no different.

One observation that I’ve made about this city’s sport teams is that people in Barstow and the surrounding areas are passionate about their sports and the people that play in it. I’ve gotten a chance to cover the Silver Valley softball and baseball team, the Barstow Community College baseball team and you can tell the relentless enthusiasm that the teams and fans have.

As a person who loves music and sports, the two things the two industries have in common is the amount of passion involved in each. I look forward to translating my passion for sports into giving you the readers a great product and content the passionate sports fans will crave.

— Jason Blasco, staff writer

Zach Niusulu was a little wary of playing for a coach who never recruited him. Dirk Koetter was fired as the head football coach at Arizona State and replaced by Dennis Erickson in early 2007. Niusulu, a redshirt sophomore and Barstow native, had his fears eased once he got to talking with Erickson during spring practices. Erickson looked at his roster and noticed Niusulu was from Barstow and remembered one of his other players who once shared the 92311 zip code — T.J. Houshmandzadeh.

“He figured out T.J. was from Barstow, and that’s how we connected,” Zach said. “That was a nice little ice breaker with my head coach.”

Erickson coached T.J. and Bengals teammate Chad Johnson at Oregon State in 2000 when the Beavers finished ranked No. 4 in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll.

“He told me about T.J. I told him, I remember watching T.J. play growing up, but I never really knew who he was because he wasn’t that type of receiver in high school. That kind of helped out the process of me taking in the process of my coach getting fired.”

Look later in the week for more questions and answers from Zach.

Q: What Foothill conference games are you looking forward to?
A: All conference games are important. We never overlook any conference opponent. The big four — you’ve got your Antelope Valley, your Mt. San Jacinto, Chaffey and your San Bernardino. You always know those four teams are going to come to play.

Q: What’s your coaching philosophy?
A: Primarily, I have a positive approach. I seek the positive and the good in what’s going on. It’s important and it’s necessary. That’s why I’ve got coach Woods and Johnson because they make up for where I lack. My whole positive, happy-go-lucky approach — they kind of help see the reality of the situation.

Q: Are there any coaches that you have learned from?
A: I was an assistant at the university of Utah. I worked under Elaine Elliott for three years. She was the best Xs and Os coach that I’ve ever been around. I learned a lot from her. I worked a lot of camps.I learned from my assistant coaches too. It’s not just big-name people that you learn from. I don’t have an over-weighing ego where I can’t expect input form other people. That’s a lot of my approach to the game.

Q: How did you get into coaching?
A: In college, I had a career-ending spinal cord injury. I couldn’t walk for like two years. My career-ending spinal cord injury in college led me into coaching. I just missed it so bad. You know who people go through losing a loved one? When I lost basketball as a player, there was just a total void there, and coaching made up for it. I’ve only spent one year away from it since I played in junior high.

Q: Is there anything that’s different now from when you played?
A: The game is just more athletic. The kids are more athletic. They are smarter. They are faster. When I played we had those 1980s shorts right to here. I was watching an old film the other day. The shorts were to here, and you had one or two great people on every team that could play, but that was back in the 80s. I played in the 80s. These guys are athletic. The position work — you know — big people can handle the ball and shoot 3s. Little people go post up. I mean, it is a different game.

We recently conducted a Q&A session with Greg Feasel. Feasel is a former football player at Barstow High School and Barstow Community College. He eventually made his way into the pros, playing for the Green Bay Packers, San Diego Chargers and the Denver Gold in the United States Football League from 1983-1987. He joined the Colorardo Rockies in 1996 after serving as the division director of sales and marketing for Coca-Cola Enterprises and worked his way up. He currently preparing for the World Series with the Rockies.

When you are interviewing someone with a pretty cool job with a World Series team, it’s hard to stop asking questions. We found ourselves in that very predicament but didn’t let the extra material go to waste. Here’s a few things that didn’t make the printed Q&A.

Q: What do you think about the way the Rockies have grown as a team?
A: It’s been a great. The way to win in any sport is through building and continuity. It’s all about getting the people in the organization on the same page. The key is getting good players into our system. We know the young men on our team. When we first draft them they get to know our organization as they grow. It’s been a lot of hard work.

Q: Do you prefer football or baseball?
A: First and foremost I was a football player even though I played Little League. As a player I like football. It’s the sport my body was made for.

Q: How is attendance at games during the regular season?
A: In 1995 it was the first year of Coors Field and we sold out every game. In 1996 we were sold out. After that the honeymoon phase wore off. Usually we’re just north of 30,000 now. It’s good to see it full again. They don’t usually build 50,000 person baseball stadiums. Ideal is usually 40,000 because there’s so many games a year it’s hard to fill the seats every single game.

We’ve been away for so long working on enhancing our print content with new features such as athletes of the week, school notebooks, Q&As and other items.

However, starting today we brought some water and fresh soil to start nursing the blog back to health. We will be updating our blog with additional questions and answers from our weekly Q&As.

Look for things to start blooming a little more around here

— Desert Dispatch Sports Staff

-David Heldreth Staff Writer

Day 1

• I arrived in Iowa
• I met legendary wrestler and coach Dan Gable for the first time.
• I was introduced to all of the coaches and staff at the camp.
• I had my first practice at the camp.

Day 2

• We practiced three times today.
• Dan Gable coached us today. We worked on leg defense and pinning combinations.
• At our last practice Dan Gable gave us a speech about working hard mentally and physically.
• We watched a video after of Dan Gable and his accomplishments.

Day 3

• Tom Brands, head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes wrestling team, coached us today.
• We were broken into small groups according to our heights.

Day 4

• Today we ran the stairs in the Hawkeyes Stadium.
• Running the stairs today was probably the hardest thing I have done so far at this camp.
• I went to Dan Gable’s house today. It was really cool. I got to see all of his medals and awards.

Day 5

• Today was my last day at the camp. I had a really good time and I learned a lot.
• I only had one practice today.

Day 6

• Today I arrived in San Jose for the team California camp.
• I had three practices today.

Day 7

• Today we arrived in Fargo, North Dakota

Day 8

• Today I wrestled in the Junior Greco Roman 112 division.
• Today was the first time I wrestled Greco.
• My record today was 1-2.
• I pinned my first guy and lost to my next two opponents. The matches were close in the matches I did lose.

Day 9

• Today I practiced with the freestyle team.

Day 10

• Today I wrestled in the 112 Cadet Freestyle division.
• My record today was 3-2.
• There was a lot of talent at this tournament and overall I think I did good even though I didn’t complete my goal of being a national champion.

I would like to thank all of my sponsors for making this trip possible. I would also like to thank my coaches and teammates for helping me train and giving me the support I needed. I would like to thank my family for the support they gave me.

— Sean Silva

Barstow High School student Sean Silva, center, stands with University of Iowa wrestling head coach Tom Brands, left, and assistant coach Dan Gable in the Iowa wrestling room.

Sean Silva, left, and Dan Gable stand in the University of Iowa wrestling room.

Submitted photos

Barstow

• The Aztecs will begin the second year of coach Jesse Ceniceros’ regime Aug. 31 against Highland in Palmdale. Barstow went 5-6 overall last year and finished the year with a 49-0 playoff loss to Palm Desert.
• Barstow plays the exact same schedule as last year, except the home and road dates are reversed. The Aztecs have five home games and five away games. They end the season with three out of their last four games on the road.
• Training camp officially opens up on Monday. It will be the coaches’ first opportunity to see their players in pads.
• The Aztecs have a smaller roster this year. Their roster is at about 30 players, according to Maxpreps.com. However, there are still a few players who need to be added. You’ll notice Jerrell Green isn’t on the list, but the junior running back was at the team’s weight-lifting session Thursday. Ceniceros will also fill out his roster with about 10 JV players on game nights.
• Green will be an important part of the Barstow’s success as its only returning running back in a predominantly run-oriented offense.
• Ceniceros warned his players about enjoying the new skate park at Dana Park after the team’s weight lifting session Thursday. With the season set to begin on August 31 and a small roster, the Aztecs can’t afford any injuries, Ceniceros said. He said he’d be making frequent trips past the skate park to make sure none of his players are skating.
• We’re not even into preseason yet, but Ceniceros wasted no time breaking out the inspirational speeches. He talked about making Barstow proud before sending his players off for the weekend. We were ready to put on some pads, and we aren’t even on the team.

Silver Valley

• Silver Valley begins its first year under the direction of coach Andy Campbell on Sept. 7 at home against Needles. Campbell served as an assistant coach with the Trojans last season when the team went 3-7 and missed the playoffs.
• It will be a season of firsts for reasons other than just Campbell’s debut. The Trojans have new jerseys and a new logo. Campbell plans to install an up-tempo spread offense this season.
• The Trojans play a similar schedule to last season but not exactly the same. Non-league games against Summit and Roosevelt have been replaced with games against St. Genevieve and Tahquitz. Silver Valley has six of its 10 games at home.
• John “Tex” Williams will not be joining the Trojans as an assistant coach as originally planned. Williams is focusing on his work with the Barstow Riffians instead. The Trojans will have about eight assistant coaches this season, though.

— Matthew Peters and David Heldreth

We reported about Derrick Jones and his long road to play professional football last week. He has almost made it through the first three weeks of Pittsburgh Steelers training camp. The Silver Valley and Victor Valley Community College grad is fighting for a spot on the team as a defensive lineman. As an undrafted free agent, the odds are against him, but Derrick has been impressive so far, according to several accounts.

He got some significant playing time during Sunday’s preseason opener against the Saints. Derrick started out on special teams in the first half and played the entire fourth quarter on defense. However, Derrick was added to the team’s injury list on Tuesday.

He’s got some of the Pittsburgh-area media talking though. Here’s what they have said …

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports Derrick recently impressed special teams coach Bob Ligashesky during drills.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Ed Bouchette said in an online chat that Derrick has shown “some pass rush ability”

The Tribune Democrat in Johnstown, Pa. reported Derrick is a part of the Steelers future plans and might have moved ahead of Shaun Nua, seventh round pick from 2005.

AOL Sports blogger J.J. Cooper described Derrick as being “pretty active with a non-stop motor” but isn’t sure if that will ensure him a roster spot.

There was also quite a bit of information left out of the feature story on the former Trojan. Here are some of quotes that didn’t make it in the story.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes it in the NFL or if he works for a Fortune 500 company.”— Grand Valley State defensive line coach Matt Yoches

“He’s a good young man. He works his butt off, and he’s done all that I asked. It’s just a matter of time. … He pays attention, asks questions and asks very intelligent questions.” — Steelers defensive line coach John Mitchell

“The first practice was a big eye-opener. The size of the lineman, the speed, the practice tempo. It’s a whole different world just being in the locker room. Pretty much, they are all men at that level.” — Derrick, on attending Steelers minicamp

“It’s so gratifying for kids like that to be successful. Derrick Jones is an absolute blessing to our program. He’s a quality human being. You can’t do a lot better than that.” — VVCC coach Dave Hoover

“Don’t listen to people who tell you because you’re from Silver Valley you can’t be successful.” — Lucerne Valley coach Doug South, on not letting your school size determine success

— Matthew Peters, sports editor

The Angels finished up their series with Oakland on 25th and were off on the 26th before beginning their explosive sweep of Tigers.

The oddest part of the baby news might be where else it landed. Brady’s birth made the Celebrity Baby Blog. You can find the Ebel’s entry right below one on Christina Aguilera.

Dino might be the last person you’d think of as a celebrity. Sure, he has a prominent position with the AL-West leading Angels, but he often returns to his hometown, can go practically unnoticed at Barstow sports events and preaches hard work to make it in life. I don’t know any other celebrities with those qualifications.

— Matthew Peters, Sports Editor