England's coach, Tony Smith, who enjoyed the unusual experience of following his elder brother Brian on to the training field at Newcastle today after the former Hull and Bradford coach conducted the Knights' first pre-season session, also suggested that the unrelated Leeds wing Lee Smith will return after recovering from the foot injury he sustained against Papua New Guinea.
"It kind of came out of the blue," says Coyle at the end of a pre-season session in July at Burnley's Gawthorpe training ground, where I filming for a BBC North West documentary on what the club's promotion means to the town.
The pianist Billy Childs is the ultimate music industry insider: a seasoned session player, a veteran arranger and producer, a lifelong Los Angeleno.
"But he said, 'Young people don't know anything about rock-and-roll.' " So the band includes the likes of a seasoned session drummer, Bernard Purdie, as well as a bass player, Wilbur Bascomb, who was a substitute in the pit band for "Hair" during the course of its original Broadway run, which began in 1968 and ended 1,750 performances later.
How have the Mets and the Braves played differently since those early-season sessions?
The practice was not a stern test; no contact was allowed, per the league's rules for off-season sessions.
But Pettitte is not going to be a serious candidate for the Hall of Fame, like the burly man who taught him how to work oh so much harder than anybody else during those off-season sessions in the Clemens home gym in Katy, Tex.
Under new rules this season, cars must pass all 18 tests before being allowed to run in the pre-season sessions.
We'd done an eight-week pre-season training session and the boys had worked hard.
The Yankees' top executives will gather in Tampa, Fla., tomorrow for their annual off-season strategy session.
The final pre-season test session took place at a cold and slippery Donington last week – hardly the circumstances in which you would expect an injured rider to shine.
