OF GOOD-GUY WRIGHT, HOLDOUT McLAURIN, COLONIAL DOWNS AND MORE

 Here, there, everywhere … briefly told:

Off to an encouraging start with its 41-day summer meet, 

Colonial Downs goes into four-day Week 2 today 

averaging almost nine starters per race … Nationally, 

there has been an alarming decline to an all-time low of 

7.40 in 2024 although early returns this year have been up 

slightly to 7.71 … Friday’s sideshow of races featuring 

zebras, ostriches and camels attracted a crowd of more 

than 4,500 or more than twice the New Kent County 

track’s average.

Until we know what the Commanders are offering, and 

what holdout wideout TERRY McLAURIN wants, let’s 

hold off taking sides, OK? Meanwhile, the Patriots are 

said interested in a trade … and undoubtedly not the only 

ones.

Good-guy DAVID WRIGHT, member of the Virginia 

Sports Hall of Fame (Class of 2020), will have his No. 5 

retired by the New York Mets in a special on-field 

ceremony Saturday … celebrating a standout career cut 

short prematurely because of assorted injuries … In a 

piece published by the New York Post, former teammate 

and close friend JOSE REYES said, “He’s the kind of 

guy who got along with everyone. An unbelievable 

human being … I was the first player who knew he was 

retiring … before he told the rest of the team, and I was 

crying. He was crying. Everybody was crying. Nobody 

wanted to see the kind of player he was – and the kind of 

person he was – walk out like that.”

DraftKings has Florida State’s football team, coming off a 

2-10 season, winning 7.5 games … which, considering 

the schedule, makes placing a quid or two on the over 

considerable sense. The Seminoles have a balanced 

schedule of six home as well as away but figure to be 

underdogs only against Clemson and possibly TCU, at 

Syracuse and Central Florida (at Orlando). And both 

Clemson and TCU are at home where the latter will be on 

hand for the season-opener Sept. l ... Richmond (game 

No. 3) and Virginia (No. 5) come to Tallahasee. Road 

games include Charlotte, California, Wake Forest and 

N.C. State. Also, Stanford, which has an interim coach 

(FRANK REICH) for a program that has come on hard 

times, will play at The House BOBBY BOWDEN Built 

… which should be a gimmie “W” in what might be the 

ACC’s easiest in-house schedule.

A national writer, clearly with not enough to do, has 

predicted who will play whom in every 2025 bowl 

game. Guess what? No Virginia. No Virginia Tech.

Until next time ...