Leonard, Duke look for motivation to improve

The second-year quarterback is going with the stick instead of the carrot to inspire his team

By Shawn Krest North State Journal

IF DUKE quarterback Riley Leonard needs any motivation entering his second year as the Blue Devils’ starter, it’s all right there on his wrist.

The junior, who finished in the top five in preseason voting for ACC Player of the Year, wears a blue band around his wrist that spells out the message “YOU SUCK” in white letters.

It was a gift from his mom.

No, Heather Leonard isn’t the new face of Little League parents gone wrong — the second coming of Marv Marinovich. Riley has the same home-field advantage as most college athletes. His mom is just doing what her son requested.

“My whole life, I’ve kind of rule win. Holdaway and Albright each had three RBIs for Chatham-Randolph.

Game 2 for C-R was the only seven-inning (regulation length) for the team in the tournament. Bowling got the start for C-R against Ohio and yielded three hits and three runs over 5⅔ innings. He struck out seven, walked five and earned the win.

Chatham-Randolph was the home team and trailed Ohio going into the bottom of the sec- gotten a lot of praise,” Leonard said. “So I wanted my mom … I went to my mom one day and said, ‘Hey, someone has to bash me and tell me I suck to give me motivation.’ She’s, like, ‘Shoot, I’ll do it.’

“That’s been happening for a long time ever since high school,” he added. “Yeah, it’s a pretty funny tradition we have going.”

She supplements the bracelet with the occasional crank call to her son.

“Before every game, she calls me,” he said. “She texted me last night (before ACC Football Kickoff), ‘Hey, don’t suck at these interviews.’ Things like that. It just gives me some motivation.”

While the phrase could have been accurately leveled at the Blue Devils in several recent seasons, Leonard and Duke did not suck last year. He was fourth in the ACC in passing, had a higher completion percentage than Sam Hartman and fewer interceptions than Drake Maye, ond, allowing a run in the top of the inning. Chatham-Randolph scored twice and never trailed again. After going down 5-1, Ohio mounted a comeback in the sixth, scoring three runs and sitting down the C-R batters in order to trail 5-4 heading into the seventh. But Daniel Jaimes, pitching in relief, had his own three-up, three-down inning to close out the game.

Game 3 was a winners’ bracket matchup of the two undefeated teams in the tournament. The team from Manchester, New have fans at the ballpark.

“YOU SUCK”

Riley Leonard’s motivational bracelet

earning honorable mention AllACC honors. In addition to his 2,997 yards and 20 touchdowns through the air, Leonard was also Duke’s leading rusher on the season. His performance helped Duke finish fifth in the ACC in scoring and go from a 3-9 season to 9-4 in coach Mike Elko’s first year at the helm.

Now Elko and Leonard both need to follow up on their impressive debuts.

That sometimes requires tough love. After Duke hit the practice field for the first time in the preseason — a workout that, by all accounts, went well — Elko said, “Every 0-12 team

Hampshire, had already mercy-ruled Southampton-Sussex in its first game and topped host High Point 4-1 in the second game.

New Hampshire, the home team, scored one run in the first and never trailed in picking up a 10-0 mercy rule win to put C-R into the losers’ bracket.

Holdaway started for C-R, allowing six hits and seven runs in 4⅓ innings. He had six strikeouts and walked six.

Game 4 was a must-win for both C-R and Ohio. McCallum in the country just had a good practice.”

Elko is clearly pushing his team not to be satisfied with last season’s quick turnaround.

“We spent a lot of time this offseason with messaging,” he said. “Everyone in there knows we’re here to chase greatness. That’s what I want this program to be about. And when that’s your goal, you don’t have time to look back on what you’ve accomplished. The focus has to be on what’s right in front of your face and how you can get better.”

That’s why, even though Duke returns more starters than any other team in the ACC, including Leonard, Elko is looking at the entire depth chart.

“I would say this, I would say no roles are cemented,” he said.

“And I would not be surprised if of the 17 returning starters, a couple of them are in really big challenges and battles this camp to keep their jobs.

“That’s the program that you got the start for C-R and surrendered just two hits over 8⅓ innings, striking out seven with no walks. The rematch was just as close as the first game between the two teams, and the nine-inning game combined with their first meeting as the only two onerun games of the tournament. The game was tied 0-0 in the bottom of the ninth when Ohio scored on a fielder’s choice to seal a walk-off victory and end C-R’s run. Holdaway, a multisport athlete from Southwestern Ran- want, and that’s what you want to build. You want to know that your youth and your young guys are developing, that you’re bringing new guys into the program to push the level of play and that there is open competition because I think competition is what makes everybody better.”

That and a few harsh words, just to keep your quarterback on his toes.

When asked about Leonard, Elko said, “I think there’s a lot of really talented quarterbacks in this league. I think it’s one of the things that differentiates this league across the country.”

Still, there’s a time to switch out the stick for the carrot.

“I think the volume of NFL quarterbacks that we see and we play against is really high,” Elko continued, “and I think we’re really happy to have the guy that we have.”

In other words, maybe Riley Leonard doesn’t suck.

“Coach Elko is great,” Leonard said. “He is great at keeping me — never letting me become complacent. He is always going to be just like my mom, keeping me humble.” dolph, led C-R in batting average and collected the only multibase hit for the C-R in the tournament — a triple against New York in Game 1. Holdaway and Albright each had three RBIs in the tournament to lead the team. Bowling, Gabriel Jaimes and Immel tallied two RBIs each. McCallum, who played for Southeastern Randolph Middle last season, starred on the mound with two starts totaling 12⅓ innings and 16 strikeouts, allowing just two runs and five hits for the tournament.

The ZooKeepers began the season playing home games at UNC Greensboro’s baseball stadium because of a renovation project at McCrary Park that didn’t make it feasible to

In the CPL’s official listing, the ZooKeepers were secondto-last among the 14 teams in home attendance, with 609 spectators per opening.

The ZooKeepers were eliminated from postseason conten- tion with the result in their final home game. The Forest City Owls won 4-2 at McCrary Park. Hudson and Dallas Callahan drove in the Asheboro runs. Then there were three road games remaining on the schedule.

The first of those was canceled because of weather at Martinsville, Va. Then came an 8-1 loss to the Florence Flamingos, with Asheboro’s run coming on Dylan Driver’s second home run of the season. Jaden Stockton took the loss.

Then Saturday night at Boone, Asheboro won 9-4 as Hudson drove in three runs and Driver and Laskowski both had three hits. Starting pitcher Drew Siegner worked five innings for his first victory of the season.

By Jordan Golson North State Journal

BOSTON — Ah, I finally get it. Now I understand the G Wagen. I had to drive it for a week and phone a friend who actually owns one, but it all makes sense.

The Mercedes-AMG G 63, also known as that huge, boxy Mercedes that’s often mistaken for a German Jeep is a tworow, extremely luxurious SUV that sells for around $200,000. I can’t count the number of noncar people who told me they really liked my Jeep while I was driving the G, which would probably break the heart of the hard-working designers back at AMG headquarters in Affalterbach.

At first glance, the G 63 is ridiculous. Even given its bulk, it’s not particularly roomy inside. The Platinum White leather interior is impeccable, of course, and the seats feature a hot stone massage function and are some of the most comfortable you’ll find this side of a Rolls-Royce. Every touchpoint is exquisite, even the massive grab handle in front of the passenger that’s emblazoned with “G manufaktur” thanks to an $8,250 cosmetics package.

You’ll want to sit up front, where you’re afforded a high vantage point, looking down on other, lesser SUVs, and because the rear seats don’t have much leg room. I don’t know where all the space has gone, but I suspect it’s to accommodate the myriad powertrain and suspension components that launch this rig in an astonishing 4.3 seconds.

Though the interior rivals an S Class in luxuriousness, the real magic is under the hood. The G 63 is equipped with a buttery smooth handcrafted 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 making 527 horsepower and 627 lbft of torque, a powerplant that was glorious when I drove it in the Aston Martin Vantage a few years ago, and an engine that may be the pinnacle of inter- nal-combustion.

Paired with a dynamite 9-speed dual-clutch transmission and an exhaust note that can wake the dead and then make them smile with glee (at least the dead gearheads), the G 63 takes the laws of physics and smashes them into oblivion, making this gigantic SUV a shockingly good sports car. It’s not the magic carpet ride one might find in a Rolls-Royce, but it handled the crashing potholes of Boston with aplomb, even with 22-inch black forged wheels (a $4,650 option, to go with the $1,950 AMG Night exterior blackout package).

But the G isn’t an objectively good car. It gets atrocious fuel economy, and I didn’t even achieve the 14 mpg combined that it rates. Though the trunk is roomy, the back seats don’t have a ton of space. Perhaps most importantly, it’s ostensibly an off-roader, complete with three locking differentials and countless different offroad modes and features; with its low-profile summer tires and delicate paint, not many G Wagens are going to see anything approaching offroad in its life.

And inside, though swathed in gorgeous leather and a lookat-me multicolored ambient light scheme that wouldn’t look out of place in an Ibiza nightclub, and despite costing $200,000, the infotainment panel sitting proudly atop the dashboard isn’t even a touchscreen. Worse still, it doesn’t support wireless Apple CarPlay. Do you mean to tell me that I spent $200,000 on this glorious luxury monster truck and have to use a knob to control Apple Maps?

That’s the thing about the G Wagen, though. None of that matters. The imperfection is what makes it perfect. I spoke to a friend of mine who owns one, and he explained that it’s not about the ride and it’s not about the tech. It’s the automotive equivalent of a wristwatch or a bespoke suit. Pulling up in the

G 63, especially in my test unit’s eye-popping South Sea Blue metallic paint scheme, makes a hell of a statement.

I wouldn’t opt for the South Sea Blue paint, though. It’s just a touch too flashy for me — though if I lived in South Beach, I might feel differently. I saw an all-white G 63, much like the example in the photos here, and rather liked that setup. All black is an option, too, a perfectly cast as Roy Kent’s ride in Ted Lasso. But you can, theoretically, get it in nearly whatever color suits your fancy.

Except for the fact that the G 63, built at Magna’s assembly plant in Graz, Austria, is incredibly difficult to acquire. Mercedes stopped taking orders entirely for a while, and, as best I can tell, there wasn’t a single Mercedes-AMG G 63 in the test fleet for all of 2022. Then this one showed up, I had it for a week, and now I understand.

The G is the SUV for people who want a G. Not for other people to look at, and not so people think they’re hot stuff (though some people probably buy them for that, posers). It’s for people who want to look at their Omega Speedmaster and smile because it was the first watch on the moon and then walk outside to their G 63 and grin because a glorious noise is about to bark from the ridiculously unnecessary side-pipe exhaust.

The G 63 is an automotive oxymoron, a vehicle that has perhaps no reason to exist, yet thrives in spite of it. Normally I’d say you can’t put a price on a smile, but it turns out that you can in the car industry: $202,850. Worth every penny.