Safe At Home

WOODEN SOLDIERS...

2010-06-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

John Wooden came about as close to sainthood as one can get without sprouting wings. On June 4, 2010, the former UCLA coaching legend passed away, taking with him 99 years of wisdom.

I never got the chance to meet Wooden, but one evening with the Pusch Ridge (Tucson) Christian Academy boys' basketball team told me everything I needed to know about the hall-of-fame coach and fabled humanitarian -- a man who literally re-sculpted the hoops world.

The Lions got a chance to sit with Wooden in the coach's living room during a Southern California tournament in early 2005. I can just imagine the scene as players, coaches and parents sat on the floor in silence as the coach waxed philosophically about the game he loved and the life we should all aspire to live.

I loved this particular story for the magnificient quotes that I was able to get from those fortunate to sit down with the man who led the Bruins to the most improbably dynasty in all of college sports. Turns out, the sit down with Wooden worked.

The struggling Lions turned their season around immediately and in somewhat remarkable fashion.

Link to the original article by clicking the "headline" or read it in its entirety in the post below

"WOODEN SOLDIERS: Chance meeting with a basketball coaching legend propels Lions"

By Christopher C. Wuensch

02.02.05

Explorer Newspapers

ATOP THE MOUNTAIN SITS A GURU...

2010-06-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

"WOODEN SOLDIERS: Chance meeting with a basketball coaching legend propels Lions"

by Christopher C. Wuensch

02.02.05

Explorer Newspapers

IF you could scale the highest mountain and ask the all-knowing guru who sits atop it just one question, what would you ask?

In the world of basketball, legendary hall-of-fame coach John Wooden is that guru. During a late December voyage to the Golden State, the Pusch Ridge boys basketball team got the rare opportunity to sit down with the guru and their season hasn't been the same since.

Before its 520-mile trip to Santa Clarita, Calif., to compete in the Hart Holiday Classic, the Lions found themselves in an unenviable position. Squabbling, illness and inexperience within the Class 2A program left Pusch Ridge's young team struggling for answers and, more importantly, wins.

The most blatant problem, however, was playing together as one.

That selfish play was never more evident than in the Lions first and only loss in the region, a game they should have won at home against Baboquivari. Although more than half the team was battling a flu-like illness - the "me-first" attitude was the factor that cost Pusch Ridge the game, said head coach Tom Norris.

In other words, the team with no seniors put the quintessential "me" in the word "team."

"The unity wasn't there," says junior forward David Robison of the ailments that plagued the team early on.

Lions point guard Jordan Cook echoed his teammates' thoughts.

"We weren't clicking. Guys were sick, injured," said the junior. "We weren't meshing well at all."

All that changed on a dreary southern California afternoon, in a place where legend claims it never rains.

After winning its game in the Hart Holiday Classic, the Lions were approached by Wooden's niece, who asked the team if it would like to meet the legendary former UCLA men's basketball coach, who lived nearby, politely asking if the team didn't mind wading out in the rain to do so.

"I know the coaches and I would have swam there if we had to," said Norris of the thought of meeting the 94-year-old Wooden at his unassuming condo in Encino.

In 29 seasons, 28 of which were spent coaching UCLA, Wooden amassed 664 wins against just 162 losses. During the 1960s and early '70s, Wooden took the Bruins to never before-seen heights. Under his tutelage, UCLA staked four 30-0 seasons, 10 national championships and 20 Pac-8 titles. During that stretch UCLA won an amazing 88-straight games and claimed seven consecutive NCAA titles from 1967 to 1973.

During his tenure at UCLA, Wooden was able to harness the raw talents of future NBA legends Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor, aka Kareem Abdul Jabbar, teaching them the true meaning of playing unselfishly together as a team.

The Lions got to meet with Wooden, who has been enshrined in the Basketball Hall-of-Fame in Springfield, Mass., as both a player and a coach, for an hour-and-a-half. During the visit he spewed forth his vast wisdom through quotes and poetry, citing fabled historic icons from Abraham Lincoln to Mother Teresa.

"It was such a prestigious moment," said Robison. "We couldn't believe it."

Quietly the players sat on the floor, along with many of the coach's medals and accolades too numerous to fit on the already filled walls, and absorbed everything the former coach had to say. Wooden spoke of basketball, answering questions in a methodical, roundabout fashion, lecturing that sports aren't the most important part of life.

Legend has it that Wooden can tell you the whereabouts of 172 of his 180 players from UCLA and may be more proud of those who went on to succeed outside of basketball.

"I could have sat at that man's feet for hours and listened to him," said Cheryl Morgan, mother of Lions' junior forward Ryan Morgan.

Outside the vortex of Wooden's condo, Pusch Ridge closed out the Hart Classic with a 1-3 record, but the results may have been somewhat skewed. In those four games, the Lions where pitted up against tough Class 5A-sized teams from inner-city Los Angeles and Bakersfield, Calif.

Since returning from Southern California soaked with Wooden-isms, the Lions (10-7, 6-1) have reeled off six straight wins and have vaulted from being a marginal team searching for an identity to winning first place in the Class 2A Desert Region.

"He told us to listen to coach," said Cook of the advice passed along by Wooden, "and do everything as a team."

Working together, the Lions have resurrected their season, dropping conference foes Benson, Bisbee, Desert Christian, St. Gregory's and Tombstone (twice).

"Every night it's somebody new who steps up," said Norris.

Not all the credit for turning the season around belongs to Wooden.

"In California we did a lot of soul searching," said Norris, who annually plans getaways such as the Hart Classic trip to give the team a chance to bond. According to the coach, it was only a matter of time before this fledgling squad learned to play together, whether it was this year or next.

If Norris learned anything from Wooden, it's to take every game one at a time, which is exactly what the Lions intend to do as they lumber toward the region and state playoffs.

Pusch Ridge still has a long way to go before claiming its first region title in school history. Looming over the horizon of the season's second half is rematches with Benson, Desert Christian and St. Gregory.

Rockin' Robin

2010-05-07T15:28:00.000-07:00

Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts passed away this week at the age of 83. In homage to the Philadelphia Phillie hurler, I salute Roberts with a column written on Groundhog's day of this year.

Despite a storied career, Roberts has the dubious distinction of yielding the most home runs by a pitcher in the history of baseball.

Link to the column by clicking the "headline" or read it in its entirety below:

"Punxsutawney Robin: Saluting MLB's Greatest Gopher Ball Pitchers"

by Christopher C. Wuensch

Bleacher Report.com

02.02.10

"Ode To A Gopher"

2010-05-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

PUNXSUTAWNEY ROBIN: Saluting MLB's greatest gopher ball pitchers

by Christopher C. Wuensch

Bleacher Report

02.02.10

Today is Groundhog Day, the glorious time of year when we celebrate the most notorious gopher this side of Caddyshack.

Men such as "Punxsutawney" Phil Norton , who, in one tragic inning on Aug. 8, 2000, joined a litany of infamous gopher ballers to yield a Major League record four home runs in one inning.

Today we rejoice the pitchers who brought inclement weather to the bleachers of ball parks in the form of hailing home runs—many of whom lost their own silhouettes in the shadows created by the likes of Bonds, McGwire and Sosa.

The irony being that Western Pennsylvania’s famous marmot, Punxsutawney Phil , is said to have lived to the ripe old age of 123 by ingesting an “elixir of life—a mysterious “Groundhog Punch.”

So by all accounts, Phil Norton is not fuzzy, nor lives in an underground burrow. In fact, the lefty grew up 1,100 miles south of Punxsutawney in Texarkana, Texas. But his place in baseball history is concrete—that is, until another gopher-ball pitcher coughs up five dingers in a single inning.

When he does, you’ll hear the collective sighs emanating from Norton, a former Chicago Cub and Cincinnati Red, and the other 25 pitchers with whom he shares the dubious mark.

Among them will be future and current hall-of-famers Randy Johnson, John Smoltz and Catfish Hunter.

Those enshrined in Cooperstown certainly aren’t immune from playing the role of the gopher.

Warren Spahn served up 71 more homers than he got wins in his 21 year career. His National League record 434 home runs given up didn’t keep him out of the hall. Perhaps personally slugging 35 homers (third-best all-time for a pitcher) helped Spahn gain access among the game’s greats.

Other notable pitchers going down in gopher lore with Johnson, Smoltz and Catfish include:

Bert Blyleven

His 50 homers given up in 1986 is a single-season record.

Fergie Jenkins

He led the Majors in homers-yielded a record seven times.

Frank Tanana

Allowed 448 career home runs at a clip of one dinger per every six strikeouts, tops all-time in the American League.

As far as legends go, however, no one topped Robin Roberts when it came to doling out free souvenirs to the paying customers in the cheap seats.

Roberts surrendered a Major League-best 505 home runs in his career. Even more remarkable is that the Springfield, Ill., native still managed to carve out a Hall of Fame career behind six 20-win campaigns. He twice struck out more batters in a season than anyone else and made seven all-star squads.

The state of Vermont was so enamored with the pitcher, they officially dubbed July 21 as “Robin Roberts Day ."

Roberts is 83-years old now. There are no reports of a man in a top hat yanking him from a serene slumber this morning to predict the weather.

Had he been so rudely awakened, his prognosis would have been simple to forecast.

Pitchers and catchers report in 16 days.

A Test of Life

2010-03-25T19:59:00.000-07:00

The Hellebuyck family hasn't spoken to me since this article hit the newstands in the fall of 2005; unless you count the angry message left on my voicemail. I truly believe I delivered this piece from a balanced perspective, telling both sides of the story - especially Eddy's and his struggles. Turns out, Hellebuyck never did get his appeal overturned and can be found splattered all over the Internet these days under the search terms 'steroid cheat.'

It's an unfortunate moniker. The Hellebuyck family was very accomodating and even invited me to the house one night to enjoy an evening of Kenyan cuisine (it was delicious).

You be the judge: fair reporting or skewed witch hunt in the name of a salacious story.

"A test of life: Runner rebuilding life in Oro Valley while fighting doping allegations"

Click the above "headline" to link to the story or read it in its entirety below.

2010-03-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

A Test of Life: Runner Rebuilding Life in Oro Valley While Fighting Doping Allegations

by Christopher C. Wuensch

11.23.05

Explorer Newspapers

It's well after sunset and the running track at Ironwood Ridge High School is pitch black, save for a magnificent strip of orange sky resisting the gathering darkness. The fading light is barely enough to reveal four lanky silhouettes circling the track so quietly their feet hardly make a sound.

Across the undulated field is Eddy Hellebuyck. His stopwatch, a permanent fixture on his wrist, gives off just enough light to reveal the intensity of his flinty face.

Hellebuyck knows dark days. The 44-year-old Belgium native has experienced them firsthand, morphing from world-class athlete and running coach into the guy on the business end of pointed fingers and quiet murmurs.

His resume is impressive: 29 marathon wins on several continents, top 10 finishes in the Boston, Chicago, New York and London marathons, four USA Track and Field Masters records and a spot on the 1996 Belgian Olympic squad.

But on January 31, 2004, none of that mattered after Hellebuyck tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug recombinant Erythropoietin, commonly referred to as r-EPO. The penalty was a two-year suspension from all USA Track and Field sanctioned events. With it came the scorn of the running world, despite steadfastly denying ever taking the endurance-building drug.

When the whispers became shouts, it was time to for Hellebuyck (pronounced Hell-a-buck) and his family to leave their home in New Mexico and head for the anonymous solitude of Oro Valley and the opportunity to start anew. "We left Albuquerque because of that," said Hellebuyck, who at the time was New Mexico's cross country high school coach of the year. "I wanted to get a fresh start, absolutely."

While the rest of the nation was grappling with the Barry Bonds vs. BALCO issue, Hellebuyck was dealing with a firestorm of his own. It culminated in his eventual firing from Albuquerque's La Cueva High School and a program he developed from ashes into a nationally-ranked cross country powerhouse. A year after Hellebuyck's departure from La Cueva, the boys cross country team slipped from No. 1 in the state to fifth, the girls from second to 10th - both with nearly the exact same team.

With a new home comes a chance for a new start for Hellebuyck and an opportunity to hone his latest passion: coaching on the international level.

The four silhouettes gliding in the darkness of Ironwood Ridge High School belong to Samuel Githinji, Joseph Mutinda, Philip Samoei and Albert Kiplagat - a quartet of Kenyan distance runners training under Hellebuyck's tutelage.

Although his name may not resonate throughout the social consciences of the country the way Bonds' does, the Hellebuyck handle is well known in the international track and field community. He and his wife Shawn - who doubles as his agent - receive between 30 and 50 e-mails a week from runners looking to train with the former Olympic athlete.

More than 200 Kenyans are living in the United States, training and running in races. They leave Kenya for the opportunity to make money in a medium that, to them, is more livelihood than sport.

There is money to be made as a professional runner. Hellebuyck's success enabled him to retire to Oro Valley at the age of 44. As for the Kenyans, they'll earn as much money as they can before their six-month visas expire in February by running in various races throughout the country.

The winter marathon season starts in December and continues through February. During that time they'll run nearly every weekend, earning anywhere from $100 to $1,000 dollars a race. Kiplagat likely will enter the marathon season as the money leader of the quartet. Running in smaller races throughout the Southwest, he has earned roughly $7,000 in prize money to date.

There is no disposable income for these men, however. Practically every cent will return to Africa with them to support their families - and not just their immediate family. All four are running for an extensive extended family that reaches upward of 100 members.

The money is used to buy land and machines on the farms. It is not uncommon for the foursome to send money home to pay wages to the workers on their farms. Other money goes to start businesses in Kenya and to fund the education of sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.

In Kenya there is no public education. A year's worth of high school starts around $700 a year, and even with an education, a job isn't guaranteed.

Returning home with empty pockets is not an option for these men, so running the risk of doping and getting caught is a risk they say is not worth taking.

"We take advantage of the altitude and punish ourselves in training," said Githinji.

One of the only Kenyans ever to test positive for r-EPO is Bernard Lagat. The Olympic 1,500 silver medalist, who by sheer coincidence is a Tucson resident, was cleared of doping in October of 2003.

Hope of the same vindication for Hellebuyck comes from a fellow Belgian countryman.

In August, a Flemish disciplinary committee overturned a World Anti-Doping Agency charge that Belgian triathlete Rutger Beke had failed several drug screens. Beke, like Hellebuyck, also tested positive for r-EPO. Beke was able to prove, through a team of doctors, that his body produced elevated amounts of erythropoietin, or EPO. Beke's case opened a door for Spanish triathlete Virginia Berasategui to have her r-EPO ruling overturned as well.

The drug r-EPO increases the amount of red blood cells the body generates, allowing more oxygen to circulate throughout the body. More oxygen, for anyone involved in a distance sport, spells longer endurance. In higher altitudes the body naturally produces more red blood cells, the same affect of r-EPO. Hellebuyck trained in Albuquerque for several years - including at the time of the test - where the elevation is 5,300 feet above sea level. Albuquerque is the highest-elevated metropolitan city in the United States. In comparison, Oro Valley's elevation is roughly 2,600 feet above sea level.

Synthetic r-EPO is legal in prescription form and has several medicinal benefits. Doctors have used the drug to prep patients for chemotherapy and to combat AIDS. It's also believed to help reduce rejection rates in transplant patients.

Common doctor-prescribed forms of the drug are Epogen and Procrit. The drug is administered via injection and can't be taken all at one time. To properly gain all its benefits, the user must inject three times a week for several weeks. Once in the body, however, the drug only lasts around 40 hours and is gone before the effects start showing. As with any drug, there is the potential for harmful side-effects, especially when not prescribed or taken properly. Iron deficiencies are common among r-EPO abusers.

The problem with detecting r-EPO is in the test itself, which, until recently, struggled to differentiate between natural and synthetic levels of EPO.

"That was the early problem with the tests for it," said Jude McNally, Managing Director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center of the University of Arizona Pharmacy Department. "When they thought about testing athletes for it, somebody convinced the world he didn't take and it showed it was still there."

Since the United States Anti-Doping Agency began testing for r-EPO in 2004, nine American athletes have been suspended for a positive test for r-EPO. Five of them, including Hellebuyck, were track and field athletes; the rest, cyclists. The native-Belgian and naturalized American has been tested six times since 2001, three of them coming in 2004, and has tested positive only once.

Hellebuyck isn't through fighting, claiming he is the victim of a false positive. He still has one more appeal to go. To assist in that battle, he's employed the same lawyer who represented Tyler Hamilton, a competitive cyclist fighting a similar r-EPO charge.

Although banned from competition by the United States Track and Field for two years - a common penalty among first time offenders - the International Association of Athletes Federation has backed Hellebuyck, which has kept his case open.

His two-year suspension will be over in January, but Hellebuyck isn't ready to give up yet.

"I have a chance that they can completely overturn it," said Hellebuyck. "I'm going to be suspended until January 31st anyway, but at least it's going to clear my name. That's the big thing."

Hellebuyck's oldest son is a freshman at Fort Lewis College in Durango and will be transferring to Pima Community College and then to the UA where he will run on the Wildcat cross country team. His younger son, Jordan, 10, is a future running star. Jordan finished fourth among all ages in the 5K at the Nov. 6 Everybody Runs event in Tucson.

Hellebuyck doesn't want the stigma of "cheater" to follow his sons through life the way it has him for the last two years.

"I don't want them to always see an asterisk behind (the) Hellebuyck name," he said. "I don't want that. It's really important that we're fighting that."

A return to coaching on the high school level could prove difficult for Hellebuyck, who will turn 45 nine days before his suspension is lifted. Eventually, he would like to crack the higher levels of coaching, perhaps with the UA or PCC cross country programs.

While finding coaches is in short order around the Amphi and Marana school districts these days, prospective candidates still must undergo stringent background checks - including Class-One fingerprinting. The same process is applied to assistant coaches and even volunteers.

"Normally we wouldn't even know something like that," said Mountain View High School athletic director Susan Sloan of hiring a coach on suspension from the USATF. "But if it did come to our attention, I'm thinking we probably wouldn't choose (Hellebuyck). I don't think the schools would touch him because we are trying to get so far away from drug enhancements or even the supplements."

MUSD's hiring procedure doesn't include anything about performance steroids, but chances are, past discrepancies would be found out through a pretty powerful "grapevine," said Sloan.

Hellebuyck isn't the type of guy who will sit around and wait for the phone to ring. The next two months will be busy ones, traveling to races in Las Vegas and Los Angeles with his Kenyan prodigies. Once they have returned to Kenya, others will take their place and the learning will begin all over, and, perhaps, for Hellebuyck, a new day will dawn.

LET THE GAMES COMMENCE

2010-02-06T09:12:00.000-08:00

In a little more than two weeks, representatives from throughout the world will converge on Vancouver and ignite the flames of competition in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

This column idea came to me on deadline on a warm and sunny Tucson afternoon back in 2006, the last time the snowy games took place.

While the Catalina Mountains that surround Tucson see their share of snow, the metropolis in the valley hardly ever gets a single flake. On the rare occurrences it does snow, the city basically becomes crippled. That's what happen when a city of a million people has only one snow plow.

"AHEAD OF THE GAME: SEARCHING FOR WINTER OLYMPICS IN THE SOUTHWEST"

Click the above "headline" to link to the story or read it in its entirety below.

2010-02-06T08:52:00.000-08:00

AHEAD OF THE GAME:

SEARCHING FOR WINTER OLYMPICS IN THE SOUTHWEST

by Christopher C. Wuensch

Explorer Newspapers

2.22.06

Tucked away in a closet at home sits a relic of winter sports, a snowboard. It's collecting dust along with an extra microwave and holiday decorations.

It must sit in there, day and night, pining for colder days whipping down an ice mountainside.

Keep dreaming, snowboard.

The Winter Olympics are now in full force and have gripped the nation's interest in obscure, cold sports. It's been four years since the nation even thought about random sports such as skeleton, two-man luge and biathlon.

Ever a fan of the bizarre, especially when it comes to unique sports, I got to thinking: Where can I find the Olympics in the Northwest, Tucson or even Southern Arizona?

Plenty of athletes with ties to Southern Arizona have competed in the summer Olympics. Who can forget Kerri Strug landing a perfect vault on a badly injured ankle to seal a gold medal against the Russians in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta?

But how many winter games athletes can you name from Tucson?

The answer is not many, if any.

For the obvious reasons - heat mostly - Southern Arizona is just not the place to find winter sports. But that's not to say that the opportunities aren't there in at least some of the more mainstream sports.

What either the Northwest or Foothills areas needs is an ice rink. As of right now, the Tucson metro area has two and for someone from the Northwest to venture down to them requires packing a lunch.

At Tucson Ice, on the southeast side of Tucson, you can find a wide variety of skating events - including one from Feb. 23 through Feb. 26 called the Rodeoskate, which sounds like an event that could be added if Texas were ever to be awarded the winter games.

If figure skating is becoming more popular these days there's a chance that it's more of a result of Fox's Skating with the Stars - the term "stars" being used loosely - than it is from the Olympics.

Tucson Ice, formerly known as Polar Ice, is home to a handful of ice hockey players from the Northwest and Foothills. After all, ice hockey provided the country with one of the most indelible Olympic images in 1980 with the Miracle on Ice.

The rink does specialize in private and community skating lessons. But still, no Tucson hockey players or figure skaters have ever gone on to the Olympics.

But the option to compete in Olympic winter sports is there. As for other winter sports, the choices begin to dwindle faster than the snow on Mount Lemmon.

A call to Tucson Ice about curling - an Olympic sport with a cult-like following since 1924 - was met with an awkward moment of silence before the woman on the phone admitted, "I don't know what that is."

Skiing is the other logical answer for the anti-snowbird.

Good luck trying to ski Mount Lemmon this winter - a severe drought has left the mountain dry. The Tucson-metro area's only ski respite has accumulated a paltry half-inch of snow this season. It takes at least 18-inches to ski. That's a significant drop off from the 200-inches of snow that usually collects on the mountain from December through March.

So where else can you find winter sports in Southern Arizona?

I didn't even try looking for snowboard cross, which might as well be called roller derby on snow. How this is an Olympic sport and baseball and softball are not is beyond me. Still, like an auto wreck, it's hard not to watch.

The newest of Olympic games, snowboard cross is the epitome of why the winter games are a popular draw. Put anyone going 40-mph on snow and ice and good watching is sure to follow.

But there are little to no places to catapult someone down a mountain or across a sheet of ice in Southern Arizona.

Until there are, we'll just have to watch from afar. And the snowboard in the closet will continue to collect more dust than snow.

CREEP & CRAWL, I SLIP INTO THE NIGHT

2009-12-12T11:34:00.000-08:00

The holiday season has arrived and with it comes the time-honored tradition of rooting through the garage for boxes of ornaments. While Santa may dwell in chimneys, other mysterious - and less cuddly - creatures of the night roam in dark enclaves of our abodes where things are stored.

This journey into the vaulted safe doesn't yield a mushy Christmas tale. Quite the opposite, in fact. While digging through boxes this week I was startled by a cockroach that scurried from underneath a pack of ornaments.

The very minor incident - I do believe the box was tossed across the garage, there may have been a squeal somewhere in there - got me thinking of my last major foray with the creepy crawlers.

I stumbled upon this story while dealing with my own roach problem while living in central Tucson, Ariz., in the summer of 2006. Turns out all of the Old Pueblo was experiencing an influx in cockroaches - thanks to a city decision to abandon its spray policy. By the time I started sticking my nose around, the city had already implemented a new program to eradicate the bugs.

This piece always sticks out in my head, because I was the first in town to have it. Very soon after other Tucson media outlets picked up the story. You could say I broke the story and that, for a journalist, is better than Christmas morning.

click the "headline" below for a link to the original column or read it in its entirety below

"BUG HUNT"

A ROACH BY ANY OTHER NAME

2009-12-12T10:01:00.000-08:00

"BUG HUNT"

by Christopher C. Wuensch

Explorer Newspapers

7.19.06

They're creepy, crawly and the last thing anyone wants to see when flipping on the kitchen light to fix a midnight snack.

Many people throughout Pima County are arising this summer in the wee hours of the night to find cockroaches have infiltrated the sanctity of their homes.

"I don't know what it's like on the other side of town but this is the worst summer I've seen," said Jared Spittle, an exterminator for 5-Star Termite and Pest Control covering the Northwest.

No one can say for certain what has caused an influx of pests like cockroaches during the summer months but many believe a disappointing rainy season is to blame. It began Oct. 1 and barely lived up to its name, producing the second longest dry spell on record in Southern Arizona. Ironically, the early onset of the monsoon has had an effect on the breeding and habitat patterns of these six-legged critters.

The summertime is traditionally the busiest period for pests like ants, scorpions and the American roach, which leaves the sewers in search of food and moisture. Aside from the ability to dole out a serious dose of the "willies," cockroaches can spread diseases such as salmonella, typhoid and streptococcus. Some studies even link infestations to asthmatic symptoms in children.

Extermination companies throughout the county have seen an increase in calls. Shelby Hawkins, president and CEO of 5-Star Termite and Pest Control estimates her company gets a couple of hundred calls a week, a number considerably higher than summers past.

Pima County Wastewater has also seen an increase in the amount of calls it receives to come out and investigate infected sewer lines leading into homes. The agency gets as many as 100 calls a week from neighborhoods ranging from South Tucson to the Foothills and even up through Catalina and Marana.

The increase in complaints has created a backlog of eight weeks for a crew to respond to a call.

To assist the high number of requests, wastewater management has added a second truck to deal primarily with call-ins. Each truck has one person who investigates manholes for roaches and sprays if necessary. The average truck, however, can only respond to roughly 20 calls a day and that's on a good day.

An invasion of roaches can also be traced back to wastewater management. As late as 2003, wastewater officials had a comprehensive plan that sprayed all the manholes in the county. A lack of department funding, however, forced the county to change its mode of operation from a proactive one to a reactive approach, responding only to complaint calls, said Mike Bunch, Deputy Director for Pima County's Wastewater Management. The inactivity allowed populations of American cockroaches - the only kind of roach that can survive in the sewers - to thrive.

Wastewater Management has since resolved its budget issues, which included two user fees hikes in the last two years, and had developed a new vector control program to combat the sewer dwellers. The average household in Pima County pays $13.61 per month in user fees to wastewater management.

In years past, the county spent up to $1 million annually on vector control for pesticides, equipment and manpower. The new two-year contract with Peoria Pest Control, which began in November, will cost the county $360,000 per year.

"We're still doing the reactive," said Bunch. "We really expect to see the complaints come down, they're going to come down. The public just has to bear with us for a little while because it just got started."

The county's new plan contracts Peoria Pest Control to spray every manhole in the county with a latex-based paint that contains less than one percent pesticide. The pesticide is acid-based and is highly effective in killing mass amounts of roaches, while having minimal to zero affect on humans.

Peoria Pest Control is one of the biggest exterminators in the state, providing the same service to municipalities such as Chandler, Lake Havasu, Phoenix and Scottsdale. Although Phoenix has bigger sewer systems, Tucson has the biggest utility system in the state, said Bunch.

Once the contract with Peoria expires in 2007, the county will continue to re-up in two-year increments. By then, the roach population should be well under control.

"The first time around we're going to wipe out a vast majority of them (roaches)," said Jeff Valunas, an exterminator with Peoria Pest Control. "But after the second or third time around, we'll have that residual build up and Tucson won't have any problem with roaches as long as we keep on top of it."

Valunas is the lone exterminator spraying the entire county. In November he started in the center of Tucson and began working his way out. In an average day he'll spray anywhere from 100 to 175 manholes.

Valunas is hopeful Peoria will send another team down to assist him with his efforts.

In the meantime, Pima County residents can do their part to limit potential infestations. Roaches often appear in bathrooms and kitchens because those are the two rooms in the house that supply moisture, food and habitat for roaches.

The first step is to eliminate ways in which roaches enter a house, says Carl "Bugman" Olson, associate curator and lecturer at the University of Arizona.

"People have to understand they've got to do health maintenance," said Olson.

Doors and windows should tightly fit. Most roaches and other pests simply walk right into houses through openings, said Olson refuting the popular myth that roaches enter through bathrooms.

"They're not coming up through your pipes," said Olson. The only times that roaches come up through pipes is when people let the p-traps in their drains run dry, typically while on vacation. Roaches cannot swim underwater so a full p-trap - the pipe that prevents noxious sewer gases from entering homes - is a safeguard against sewer-dwelling pests.

Another common entrance into the home for roaches is through paper bags and cardboard. These provide ideal places for roaches to lay their eggs in the material's porous walls.

Some female roaches mate just once but are pregnant for the remainder of their lives and can lay hundreds of eggs at a time. The American roach, the most common in Arizona, takes two years to mature.

Cockroaches are primarily nocturnal. Roach sightings during the day often mean a severe infestation as the insects fight for habitat, water and food resources.

Most exterminators disagree with Olson's notion that roaches don't come up through drains and recommend pouring a cup of bleach down sinks to ward off the insects.

The best preventative measure, however, is simply keeping a clean home, especially the bathrooms and kitchens.

"I always used to ask people 'How often do you clean your refrigerator top?'" said Olson. "Stick your hand up there and slide. Just think, with the grease that's up there, that's food to keep a nice colony of roaches going for a very long time."

WE PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE

2009-11-26T19:45:00.000-08:00

An estimated 41 million Americans will travel this Thanksgiving weekend. When it comes to travel these days, we no longer fly with class; instead we hit the airlines by showing where we went to class.

This column came about on our journey home to South Carolina from Tempe, Ariz. for Thanksgiving in 2008. During an exhausting day of travel, I scrawled down -- on the back of one of my boarding passes -- all the different college universities represented on sweatshirts, jackets and hats in the four airports.

above: the Scottsdale Community College Fighting Artichoke is by far one of the more bizarre of all sports mascots.

click the "headline" below for a link to the original column or read it in its entirety below

"THE DAY I DANCED WITH YALE"

2009-11-26T19:26:00.000-08:00

THE DAY I DANCED WITH YALE

By Christopher C. Wuensch

12.07.09

Bluffton Today

Our paths intersected just outside an Atlanta airport restroom in an awkward ballet, the kind created when two converging people can’t pick a direction in which to pass the other person.

Together, we toggled an unsolicited dance for what felt like an infinite perpetuity — I in my University of Arizona recreation cen- ter T-shirt and he, clad in Yale Medicine sweats — like two North Pole-facing magnets refusing to touch.

Apparently, schools in Tucson and New Haven don’t offer Common Sense 101 to neither Wildcats nor to Elis. We two boogying strangers, the whiny dancers, were among the 41 million Americans traveling this Thanksgiving weekend.

Spend a full day traversing escalators in Phoenix’ Sky Harbor and subway cars in Atlanta and many things become evident. Among them is the notion that we no longer travel like we used to. The days of crisscrossing the country in suits and fedoras have gone extinct with train travel. No longer do we ride with class. Instead, these days we travel by showing where we went to class.

All you need is a less than an hour layover and a stationary spot and the sea of travelers dressed in college apparel will ebb and flow from gate and fro like so many Crimson and other colored tides. In 30 minutes on Dec. 1 at the airport, college-clad travelers pledging various allegiances filtered past me at arate of one new school per minute. They ranged from powerhouses such as the University of Texas to the more non-descript campuses of Loyola Marymount; from the Pac-10 to SWAC.

What better place to study the collegiate melting pot that is the United States than standing outside of Terminal A’s Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs with a basket full of cheese fries? In short, we’re a nation that is proud of our colleges and whose fandom holds no bounds. Our motto is: If I have to wedge myself and my XXXL University of Michigan T-shirt-wearing body into a middle seat next to you like a canned fish, then you’re going to know that I bleed Maize and Blue. This winter, up to 70 college teams will travel to bowl games. When it comes to trekking the friendly skies, their fans are way ahead of them. According to a 2004 New York Times article, most of the major NCAA Division Iuniversities sell anywhere between $6 million to $7 million in apparel — each. The bookstores at Clemson and the University of South Carolina declined to answer questions on Saturday, even refusing to identify their top-selling items. Eventually, fighting through the bureaucratic garnet (and black) tape became too cumbersome.

When it comes to donning apparel, NCAA teams far outweigh the professional ranks.

The most visible pro team represented in the Atlanta airport wasthe NewYorkYankeesand, oddly enough, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Apparently, fans are either enthused by a team leading the NFL’s South Division or there’s a new generation being inspired by Somali pirates.

For those who didn’t have their gear, there were mounds of Georgia Tech shirts and hats in all of the gift shops. Air Force, Army and Navy were all represented in Atlanta, but the big three were trumped by most major Division Ischools and those wearing sweatshirts emblazed with Old Navy (must be some seafaring graduate university).

The real question is whether these people actually attended the schools on their chests and heads or are they only fans? Are we as a collective whole simply a nation of front-runners? Why aren’t the small schools represented? Are we embarrassed that we were once Ramapo College Roadrunners or Canisius Golden Griffins or Scottsdale Community College Artichokes? The first true small school I encountered on my trip didn’t come until I was exiting the Savannah airport. A guy wearing an Armstrong Atlantic University T-shirt breezed by me. Thankfully the door was wide enough for both of us, which is good. Istill had on my Arizona shirt, but my dancing shoes had long been packed away.

NO ARMS, NO PROBLEM

2009-11-22T08:35:00.000-08:00

I couldn't answer "yes! yes! yes!" fast enough when Jessica Cox asked if I'd like a ride from Tucson's northwest side down to the University of Arizona Recreation Center. The prospect of sitting shutgun in a sedan driven by an armless co-ed should have beee terrifying - but something about Jessica's quiet confidence seemed to allay any concerns. Plus, I've got no shame...I'll do just about anything for a story.

The trip was flawless. That was in April of 2006. Cox, now 25, made history in February by becoming the first certified aiplane pilot.

Born with no arms, Cox went from a childhood-karate champion to pilot in what is certainly a testament to the "I-can-do-anything-I-put-my-mind-and-feet-to" attitude.

Hey Jess, when's the next flight? I want on.

above: Jessica Cox of Tucson places contact lens in her eyes using her feet. Cox has done more than just adapt to life without arms.

click the "headline" for the original story or read it below

"THE SPORTING LIFE: LIFE ON HER FEET"

2009-11-22T08:27:00.000-08:00

LIFE ON HER FEET

By Christopher C. Wuensch

04.05.06

Explorer Newspapers

It was down a quail-riddled cul-de-sac in the Northwest, aptly named Magic Place, where Jessica Cox grew up like any other kid - a dancer at age six, high board diving daredevil as a teenager and a two-time black belt by the time she finished college.

A typical childhood by most standards with one exception: Cox, 23, was born without arms.

"Handicaps are mindsets, whatever it is that stands in the way of achieving something, that's when it's a handicap," said Cox. "I prefer them as obstacles or challenges. This is how I've been my whole life, I don't know any different. I just live my life through my feet."

To help her with her balance, Cox's mother persuaded her to become active in dance at age 5.

"She takes risks a lot of times," said Cox's mother, Inez. "She thinks she's indestructible." The willingness to take risks has led Cox to become an internationally incorporated motivational speaker. Always the quick learner, the formerly shy middle and high school student is making a living speaking to audiences ranging from elementary students to nursing home residents.

No matter the audience, Cox's message is always the same.

"My message is that disabilities are not limited to physical," said Cox, a graduate of Flowing Wells High School. "They shouldn't stand in the way of success, there's no handicap to success."

Having no arms hasn't left Cox dependent on others. She can type 20-words a minute, put in contact lenses and even drive a car, all with her feet. At age 17, she passed the driving test with no problems, even if her instructor had a concerned look on his face, she said. Two weeks later, the state suspended her license and tried to make her use special adaptors for her car. Through fierce determination, she was able to prove that she was a better driver without the adaptations.

Cox has found success in nearly every arena into which she has ventured. While studying for her psychology degree at the University of Arizona, Cox honed her skills in Tae Kwon Do. In her first meet - at an American Tae Kwon Do Association competition in Las Vegas - Cox tied for first place after round one with three other contestants, wielding nun-chucks with her feet. She finished the meet in fourth place.

She has since earned two black belts in two different styles of martial arts. Her black belt from the American Tae Kwon Do Association was the first ever earned by a person with no arms.

As a kid, Cox was urged to use prosthetic arms. The heavy contraption would only move up and down and was adorned by two hooks for hands. It relied on muscle memory, by adjusting her shoulders, to open and close the hooks.

It was like wearing a football uniform without the helmet, said Cox. Instead, she opted to use her feet for everything.

These days, Cox's motivational speaking tour takes her to two or three engagements a month. This week she will address a Future Leaders of America seminar for high school students in Portland, Ore. Other engagements have taken her as far as Mexico.

Running the international speaking tour enterprise has limited her free time. No matter her schedule, she always finds time for an hour of Oprah every day. In fact, that's her next goal.

"I don't even watch television, I only watch an hour of Oprah every day," laughs Cox. "I want to end up on Oprah's show one day."

Forever the busybody, Cox has found success in business and athletics. On her first day as a telemarketer while in college she landed a bonus on her first call. Although that job didn't last, her next gig was reading tests to those with reading disorders at the UA. She even took second place in her first public speaking contest against experienced speakers.

The hectic lifestyle doesn't leave her with much down time.

While landing a gig on Oprah may be difficult, Cox is searching for a deal with a local RV company that can supply her with a vehicle to use for her speaking tours.

To keep fit, Cox still is a regular in the pool, whether it's at the UA student recreation center or at L.A. Fitness on Ina and Shannon roads. Out of the pool, she's hard at work building her enterprise, www.rightfooted.com.

"My goal for her was to be independent," said Inez, who never expected her daughter would advance this far. "In middle school she wanted to be, but I kind of held her back, and I realized I was not helping."

Cox has come a long way from her days playing with toys with her feet on Magic Place, where life isn't magic, it's just right- footed.

'Til Sudden Death Overtime Do We Part

2009-11-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

Today is my three-year anniversary to my wife Dana. What better way to celebrate than to unveil the highly anticipated Prose & Cons "archives."

This selection comes from Nov. 8, 2006 - three days before my jaunt down the aisle. To quote my then-boss Mark Evans at the Explorer Newspapers in Tucson:

"Let me be the first to say: aahh."

He then threw the hard copy of this column at me, chuckled at his own joke, then turned and left my office.

ENJOY

CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO ORIGINAL STORY

or just read below

2009-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

THE SPORTING LIVES

by Christopher C. Wuensch

11.08.06

Explorer Newspapers

I often wonder how she manages to capture the sunlight in her eyes, without the jealousy of the sky. I also wonder why it is you need to tag-up on a pop fly.

On the surface, they appear as random thoughts, but in essence, the two questions aren't so dichotomous. They serve to closer draw together the fine line between love and sports - which is somewhat different than love for sports.

On Saturday, I will watch as ball four sails by me in the baseball game that is love as I take the walk down the aisle to marry Dana: my sporty bride-to-be.

To be married to sports is one thing. To marry your athletic equal is special and more than just her having to put up with me spending my idle time watching the full catalog of sports from archery to women's water polo.

Marriages and sports aren't new to the sportiest of athletes. Nomar Garciaparra and Mia Hamm seem to blend the two nicely. As do Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf.

Alas, ours is a love not won on the ball field, soccer pitch or tennis court - although she's constantly (and unsuccessfully to this point) calling me, my game and my wooden racquet out to challenge her.

It's a mutual adoration romantically tangled with the same passion for a beer and a dog (OK, sometimes veggie burgers) at the ball park, bitingly cold football games and a lover's squabble between who is better: the Yankees or the Red Sox. Go Bombers.

It's a love that's been forged over nachos in arena seats, on barstools on Sundays in the fall and with countless bags of peanuts while sitting behind home plate.

That's not to say the two of us are devoid of athletic prowess.

She graduated from Tempe Marcos De Niza High School a letter-winner in softball, swimming and volleyball - not to mention being a starter on the Fighting Padres' boys soccer team before the school had a girls squad. All that got her was a scholarship to play for the Unversity of Arizona varsity soccer team.

Me? I'm a one-trick pony raised on baseball diamonds throughout Northern New Jersey playing for USA teams in Olympic Stadiums in Barcelona and briefly at Ramapo College in Mahwah, N.J.

Together, I figure, that should be able to get us a few offspring into the ranks of the Major Leagues - preferably as a Yankee catcher.

Before this season we were fixtures in the UA student section for football games - despite having already graduated. We stormed the field together after the Wildcats beat UCLA. I was there to catch her jumping over the railing after we beat Arizona State. I even stayed put after she threatened to kill me if I rushed the basketball court with everyone else after beating Stanford.

I've successfully swayed her from being an Arizona Cardinals fan to a New York Jets fans (one day she'll regret that one) and I am diligently working on converting her loyalties from Red Sox Nation to my beloved Evil Empire.

Still, UA Hoops inability to win a major game is her bane and the constant cause of chewed up nails, objects being thrown in disgust across the room (and at me), and, of course, my favorite and fail-proof wail after every loss: "Why do they do this to me?"

Therefore, I found it was only fitting to propose in the same location as our first dates: the McKale Center. On a beautiful, late-January morning two years ago, I popped the question on one knee in front of the house that Lute Built and, randomly, the UA lacrosse team who were 10-feet away selling programs. To my dismay I didn't get so much as a high five or a "U of A!" chant from any of them after she said yes.

It's long been rumored that rain is good luck on your wedding day. What does it mean if Lute Olson suffers the worst home loss of his 24-year career - a 70-63 debacle against Washington State - on the day you get engaged?

A quick glance around the Northwest and Foothills and I find several examples of how a sports marriage can not only exist, but thrive.

UA women's golf coach Greg Allen and ex-ASU, Olympic-time-qualifying-swimmer-and-Pusch-Ridge-Christian-Academy coach Julie Allen are married. The Oro Valley residents have found harmony in getting hitched. As have local coaches Lance and Kelly Fowler, who have raised their daughters Kenzie and Mattie as two of the premier softball players ever to come out of Southern Arizona (harking back to the future New York Yankee catcher thing).

Do you believe that sports and marriage can survive as one? I do.