R-C Sports Notebook: Opening weekend a matter of hours away

After preparing throughout the summer, the Douglas High School fall sports teams will get things rolling this weekend with a number of the Tigers' most promising teams playing their season-openers.

The defending Sierra League champion football team hosts Reed Friday night at 7 p.m., the boys' soccer team travels to Elko for a weekend tournament while the girls' team will play against some of the region's top programs at Galena.

Douglas volleyball will look to bounce back after failing to clinch the Sierra League title for the first time since the inception of the league system, traveling to Las Vegas for a tournament this weekend.

All four programs return a number of all-league starters and all four are bringing in talented classes from the junior varsity level.

This is going to be a very interesting year in terms of the recruiting game for the Douglas High football team.

It hasn't been unheard of for the Tigers to field one or two serious Division I recruits during a season, but there will be several players from this year's roster that will be drawing attention.

Senior defensive tackle/tight end/punter Jeff Nady, who is listed at 6-7, 246 pounds heading into the year, enters as one of the most highly-touted players in the state.

He's drawn interest from Nevada, UNLV, California, Boise State, Iowa and Oklahoma already.

Expect the list to grow if he can improve upon last year's breakout season.

Quarterback David Laird, 6-3, 227, possesses a rocket arm and an incredible work ethic. He's still flying low on the radar, but if the Tigers make a run at the playoffs, expect the lefty to draw a lot more attention.

Junior tackle Parker Robertson (6-4. 257) may end up drawing the most interest of the group. The first-year varsity starter, who also plays basketball and baseball, has been lauded for his solid footwork and ability to run the field.

It's not so much that this year's squad has any more talent or a stronger work ethic than Tiger teams in recent years, but for the first time in quite a while, Douglas will be fielding some pretty big guys, size-wise, at important positions.

Douglas coach Mike Rippee will be the first to point out that football is about so much more than vertical jumps, 40-yard times and bench presses, but for the time being, most of the big Division I schools only take the time to look at the numbers on paper.

It would be interesting to research how many big-time college coaches would trade those same paper numbers once the kids are on campus for a guy who possesses the heart, work ethic and leadership to take the program to the next level.

Regardless, the biggest change in Carson Valley this year is that the Tigers will combine their consistently strong character with those measuring-tape numbers that draw that big-time recruiting attention.

This is hardly local, and it is even more of a stretch to call it sports, but Sparks will host the Best in the West Nugget World Rib Eating Championship on Aug. 29.

Among the competitors will be San Jose native Joey Chestnut, who rose to cult fame earlier this summer when he knocked off perennial competitive eating power Takeru Kobayashi during the annual Hot Dog Eating world championships.

During that event, he ate a world record 66 hot dogs.

He also holds the world record in rib eating, having downed 8.4 pounds of meat in 12 minutes.

If you really want to go watch (and I'd like to know why if you do), visit www.majorleagueeating.com for more information.

The San Diego Chargers showed off their new future-retro look this weekend, complete with white helmets and a sleeker lightning bolt on their sleeves and pants during a preseason game against the St. Louis Rams.

They certainly aren't the only team to try to re-establish an old design (see the New York Jets or Giants in recent seasons) but with the latest change, I couldn't help but notice they look too much like the Air Force Academy football team.

Just change the yellow bolts for silver, and it starts looking awfully familiar.

Oh well, at the end of the day it doesn't matter much.

Since mentioning last week that I'd be taking two weeks off once our first child is born, many have asked when the big day will be.

My wife is due Sept. 8, but all the signs are starting point to an earlier date. For now, we're just playing the waiting game.

The baby is a girl and we're going to call her Rebekah Grace.

I don't plan on this column becoming my weekly update on my daughter, so I'll just throw a paragraph in if we get closer and another once she is born just to let y'all know not to expect to hear much from me for a little while.