FROM A BEACH SOMEWHERE -- On vacation until August, but I wanted to take a little time this afternoon for a couple of posts to get you through the week until the calendar turns to August.
After this post come on back here to start taking the 2nd FIU Football PSAT. And again unless you are Raymond Babbit, you probably will need about a week to answer the 20 questions and tiebreaker question. Details on the exam, including prizes will follow this post.
Wesley Carroll (right) secured the final spot on the FIU Football 10-Year Anniversary Team as determined by your voting. WC got nearly 50 percent of vote at quarterback and joins the rest of these Panthers:
FIU FOOTBALL 10-YEAR ANNIVERSARY TEAM
S - Jonathan Cyprien, Nick Turnbull
CB - Anthony Gaitor, Greg Moss
LB - Alexander Bostic III, Keyonvis Bouie, Scott Bryant, Toronto Smith
DL - Antwan Barnes, Tourek Williams, Jarvis Wilson
Extra D - Lance Preston
P - Doug Jones
K - Adam Moss
KR - T.Y. Hilton, Greg Moss
OL - Tim Dierks, Brad Serini, Xavier Shannon, Ronny Silva, Ed Wenger
TE - Sam Smith
WR - T.Y. Hilton, Cory McKinney, Chandler Williams
RB - Adam Gorman, Rashod Smith
QB - Wesley Carroll
Read on for El Machine becoming El Professional pitcher and an FIUer heading to the Hall. Plus, your questions and some answers.
Former FIU sidewinding right-handed relief specialist and machine Jose Velazquez (below) signed with the Shreveport-Bossier Captains of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. El Machine was 2-0 with a 2.06 ERA in 34 games last season for the Panthers.
El Machine made his professional debut two days ago on Saturday when he pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowed one hit and struck out two in an 8-3 win. Kind of ironic that El Machine is playing in Shreveport because after the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, the FIU bus passed right next to the Shreveport ballpark on the way to Dallas to catch a flight to Miami.
FIU pitching coach/recruiting coordinator Sean Allen moved back home to take the same position with Sam Houston State. Panthers coach Turtle Thomas has not hired anyone yet to replace Allen.
INGE IN THE HOF
FIU women's basketball assistant coach Inge Nissen (left) was named to the 2012 class for the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. Nissen will begin her 23rd season with the Panthers this fall. You can read the entire story from FIUSports.com RIGHT HERE.
PANTHER PAWSE
Click back on The Prowl in about 30 minutes for the 2nd FIU Football PSAT.
You voted and decided that you would like for me to keep answering your questions right here in the Panther Pawse section so that's what I'll do.
Q&A
Clawing Cancer: Once this team is created, are there any plans to recognize them during a game, either this season or next? By that, I mean invite all the selected players to a game and have them recognized at halftime or something like that? I think that would be a great idea. Pete. In honor of the 10th year of FIU football, how about ranking the top 10 moments in FIU football history?
PP: I'm going to explore that and see what can be done. I like your ideas for voting next season when 10 seasons of FIU Football have been played. I like the splitting of the vote 50/50 between the fans and a committee I proposed of people close to and that have been a part of FIU Football since the program's inception in 2002. Already planning for summer 2012. I want to hold off on the Top 10 Moments in FIU Football History until after 10 seasons have been played.
kjharris02: Pete; Whats been going on during summer B w/FIU Football? Any updates?
PP: I've been writing about the team's 7-on-7 workouts all this summer. Go to the search box in the left-hand column of the blog and type 7-on-7 in the box and you will get all the workout blogs.
Quijote: Maybe Son of a Blazer can donate the costume for a few games this season and we can see BOTH mascots out there? Can you look into this Pete?
PP: I'll look into it. Since he retired from the mascot business, SOB does not grant many interviews so it may not be easy getting a hold of him again. I'll try. For everyone that has not seen Quijote as Roary (right) here is a photo. Quijote was the tall Roary.
roary: Pete for your hard work on the 10th anniversary team, section 112 will like to provide you with the highest award, "The small croqueta award"
PP: Thank you. Wow, I'm honored. I wasn't expecting to receive this award so I didn't have a speech planned, but I'll do my best. You know you work your whole life just trying to have the best darn blog you can write and then you get honored with The Small Croqueta Award (left). Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I know I only have 30 seconds to thank everyone who made this possible so I'll just get to it before the music cuts me off. As a kid growing up in Gotham, I was just looking to make a difference and write a darn good blog. I have to thank my parents and our butler, Alfred. I want to thank the Blog Association of America (BAA) and the Academy of Internet Sciences. I want to thank BAA President Mr. Weeb Logg. I want to thank FIU and FIUSports.com for hosting The Prowl. I have to thank Section 112, who without them this award would not be possible. I know I'm leaving some people out, but you know who you are and you all share in this award with me. Good night and keep blogging, America.
We had seven more readers join us from two different parts of the world over the weekend -- maybe relatives of Son of a Blazer? I would like to welcome to The Prowl, readers from Henderson, Nevada and Montevideo, Uruguay. Let's add these good people to our scorecard:
THE PROWL WORLDWIDE READERSHIP SCORECARD
The Prowl blog is now read in:
45 STATES: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NE, NJ, NM, NY, NC, ND, NH, NV, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WV, WI.
28 COUNTRIES: Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, France, Gabon, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Panama, Peru, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela.
2 TERRITORIES: Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands.
1 DISTRICT: District of Columbia.
*Thanks Sam Lewis photo (Carroll, Velazquez); thanks Richard Lewis photo (Nissen)
