News Virginian
Published: November 29, 2007

THUMBS-UP: Forget Coco Crisp and Milton Bradley. The best name in sports is right here in the Shenandoah Valley: Pickle Nuckols. Sounds like the sort of guy who might barrel over a fellow who makes the mistake of getting in the way. That's what Nuckols did a week ago, and he and his mates on the Buffalo Gap High School football team are on the brink of a state title berth as a result. Down by a point in the Region B final against William Campbell with just a few ticks on the clock, the Bison opted to go for a two-point conversion to win it instead of an extra-point kick to tie it. That put Campbell in a real Pickle. A defender collided with Nuckols at the 1 and tumbled to the turf. And the undefeated Bison rumbled into the state semifinals. They will take on Colonial Beach on Saturday. Win that one, and the Bison play for a championship next week. Every high school football player's dream is to play beyond Thanksgiving. That Buffalo Gap is living out that dream is a testament to the hard work of coaches and players and the parents and fans who back the Bison with the encouragement and support needed to succeed. Here's to the boys from Swoope, and best of luck Saturday and beyond.

THUMBS-DOWN: The most expensive General Assembly campaign in Virginia history netted a Senate majority for Democrats and a collective yawn from voters, at least from more than two thirds of them, who did not bother to show up at the polls. The highest turnout in the state was 49 percent in the 59th House District, where incumbent Watkins Abbitt, an independent from Appomattox, easily bested Nelson County Supervisor Connie Brennan. That likely is at least partially attributable to the considerable energy Brennan brought to the campaign, spurring Abbitt to spend bigger and run harder than usual in a string of terms stretching back over two decades. But the message voters elsewhere seemed to send state lawmakers is that much of the $51 million spewed out on the campaign might just as well have been tossed into the wind. We suspect that the same likely will prove true in the presidential campaign, which began too early and so far has given us only extended political blathering. Blaming voters for their apathy is easy enough, and so, too, is picking on politicians for their failure to inspire. Still, we cannot help longing for leaders around whom we could rally. Voters, by their absence, perhaps are telling us they concur.

THUMBS-DOWN: For a splendid example of why so many among us have lost faith in those who claim to lead us from inside the Beltway, look no further than the network of local intelligence-sharing centers established in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. The Government Accounting Office has found that authorities at the 43 centers have been mired in the mundane, focusing on street crimes and hurricanes instead of terrorism. In fact, just two of the centers, one in Kansas and another in Rhode Island, are devoted exclusively to combating terrorism. These facilities are known as "fusion centers" but, typical of our bumbling, bloated federal government, they are instead "confusion centers." Government's intent in establishing the centers seemed logical: Coordinate resources, information and agencies to keep authorities on the same page. But here is where government gets it wrong, almost without fail. The problem is not fusion, but a bureaucracy large enough to swallow the planet whole. Santa's list is a mere sheet of scrap paper compared to one that would include all of the government agencies and their assorted acronyms. Our government needs to shed the fat, or else accept its inability to move when quick action is needed.