'Dead week' means more time to surf Net

My choices are limited when it comes to attending sporting events this time of year. High school summer baseball and basketball just wrapped up their final week, and the first football practices are still a month away.

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In fact, any sporting event, even a practice, scrimmage or workout, is a no-no this week.

Today, the infamous "dead week" begins. The Georgia High School Association has designated the week of July 1-7 as a "dead week" when "no school teams may conduct conditioning drills, practices, or be involved in competitions on or off the school's campus.

"This means that weight training, running drills, passing league games in football, school-based summer league games in baseball, team camps in a variety of sports may not occur during this week. Violations of this rule will be handled similarly to out-of-season practices," according to the association.

It's a new rule that the GHSA is trying on for size this summer. The athletes probably need the rest. I'm sure coaches do, too. Football workouts begin almost at the break of dawn in the summer, and some weight rooms around the county are seeing more than 100 athletes pass through their doors each day.

That's why I'm on the Internet on a weekday morning. If I can't find sports news in Columbia County this week, maybe the World Wide Web will hold a nugget or two about former local athletes abroad.

Here's what I found:

www.diablos.com

The El Paso Diablos are now more than 40 games into the 2007 season of independent baseball. Former Augusta Christian star Jordan Belcher is a big reason why the team is in first place in the Independent League South Division.

Belcher, in his first year with the Diablos, entered the weekend hitting .329 (53-for-161) with 11 doubles and 24 RBI through 42 games.

Belcher and the Diablos will play again tonight. Diehard Belcher fans who want to make the 1,556-mile trip from Evans to El Paso won't be disappointed. The team's Web site said it is KROD Hot Dog Eating Contest night. America's favorite dog on a bun will cost only a quarter all night long.

www.greenevilleastros.com

Former Greenbrier rightfielder Rafael Parks has found a home in Greeneville, Tenn. Parks started in left field Wednesday for the rookie class Greeneville Astros in a road game in Princeton, W.Va. Although the Astros lost 4-1 that night, Parks went 1-for-1 with a single and a walk in his only trips to the plate during a rain-shortened game.

www.cfl.ca

It's not a dot com, but this Canadian Web site has all the info on the Canadian Football League, including the status of former Lakeside football player Brian Bratton.

Bratton, who has bounced around different professional football leagues since graduating from Furman in 2005, signed with the Montreal Alouettes as a free agent Feb. 27.

Montreal played its first game of the season Friday. The team's next game will take place Thursday against Winnipeg. The CFL regular season will run through the first week of November.