MARK PATTON: Local trio chooses to stay good sports

12/24/05

By MARK PATTON
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER

Three local sports personalities would have been excused for not getting into the holiday spirit this year.

But these three wise men each refused to get bah-humbugged by recent developments:

Rockie Road: Ryan Spilborghs, a former Santa Barbara High and UCSB baseball star, had the 10th-best batting average in the minor leagues last year when he hit .340 combined at double-A Tulsa and triple-A Colorado Springs. He also batted .308 while playing outfield for Obregon in the Mexican Pacific League this fall.

And so the Colorado Rockies rewarded him this week ... by removing him from their 40-man Major League roster.

The move left Spilborghs free to catch on with another club as a free agent. He chose to stick with the Rockies, however, and signed a minor league contract, as did pitcher Jose Acevedo. They were both invited to spring training with the big club.

"Both of them are good guys, and we appreciate very much them working with us," said general manager Dan O'Dowd, who wanted to clear roster space to add new players. "But both of them know they've got a great opportunity here, too. Both of them could be on our opening-day roster."

O'Dowd did put some money where his mouth was, boosting Spilborghs' salary from $50,000 to $75,000.

And that leaves him only $241,000 short of the Major League minimum.

Plummer's Helper: San Marcos High graduate Bradlee Van Pelt has gotten into just one play this football season as the backup quarterback of the NFL's Denver Broncos.

Starter Jake Plummer doesn't plan to give up any of his playing time in the near future, either. But he had no problem in enlisting Van Pelt and six other teammates to go Christmas shopping this week with 40 underprivileged children as a function of the Jake Plummer Foundation.

"Any time you ask your teammates to do stuff, I feel bad because I know the time is precious," Plummer said. "But these guys are great guys. They'd do anything for me."

Van Pelt did get a touchdown out of his one play, scoring on a 7-yard keeper against the Kansas City Chiefs earlier this month.

His father, Brad Van Pelt, who played linebacker in the NFL for 14 seasons, pointed out that his son is now one TD up on him.

Big deal, Bradlee said, "I told him I'd trade that touchdown for his five Pro Bowls any day."

Numbers Game: Bob Williams' 300th victory as a college basketball coach went unnoticed on Tuesday -- even by Williams -- amid the hub-bub of Cecil Brown's last-second 3-pointer to beat Sonoma State, 67-66.

"I didn't know anything about it until Joe Nagy came into the office the next day and congratulated me," he said, referring to the Gauchos' director of basketball operations. Beating a DivisionÊ2 school by just one point didn't make Williams feel much like celebrating, anyway.

"I laughed and told him, 'It just means that I'm getting old.'"

Mark Patton's column appears on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail: mpatton@newspress.com