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After the 2024 season, the Down East Wood Ducks will be no more. The minor league baseball team that has called Kinston home since 2016 will become the Hub City Spartanburgers of South Carolina.
On a recent evening, the team’s public address announcer “Sugar” Shane Aube was going through his pregame routine in the Grainger Stadium press box.
There were only 10 games left in this lame Ducks season. Ten more nights of queuing the walk-up songs to each player’s exact specifications. Ten more nights of punctuating strikeouts with the chorus of NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye.” Ten more nights of ensuring local law firms and gun shops get their money’s worth for sponsoring a cleanup hitter’s at-bats or a starting pitcher’s pickoffs.
“These companies pay for that, so I’ve gotta hit it,” Aube says. “HIT IT, BABY!”
As Jimmy Ryals reports, the Wood Ducks may be flying south, but locals are still holding out hope for a new era of baseball in Kinston.
A Small City Fights to Hold on to Baseball
The minor league Kinston Wood Ducks are about to depart, and now the former tobacco hub is looking for a new team.
The last minor league game at Grainger Stadium is scheduled for this Sunday at 1 p.m. In the words of Aube, “As always: Go Woodies.”
Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.
Not Quite a ‘Rager’
Around 7:30 p.m. on Labor Day, a 13-person color guard slowly marched across a large stage at Orange County’s American Legion Post No. 6 decked out in red, white, and blue, the image of a billowing American flag projected on a massive screen behind them. A lone electric guitar blasted out the national anthem.
Then came John Ondrasik—better known by his stage name, Five for Fighting—who played his 2003 hit “100 Years” as six planes flew overhead.
He then addressed the concerts’ guests of honor: the fraternity brothers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who went viral last April after protecting the American flag amid campus protests.
“In this day and age, common acts of patriotism tend to be few and far between,” Ondrasik said, “and you set a great example for our country, particularly on our college campuses that have run amuck with anti-semitism and radicalism.”
While the event delivered Lee Greenwood, Hooters girls, and an ice luge shaped like North Carolina, the frat boys did not pull up en masse.
And as Erin Gretzinger reports, there are still a lot of questions about how that half-a-million dollars organizers raised is actually being spent.
Flagstock Promised a ‘Rager.’ It Mostly Left Questions.
Conservative operatives raised over $500,000 for a party after fraternity brothers went viral amid UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus protests last spring. It’s still not clear where all that money is going.
What We’re Reading
Deal or No Deal: Republicans may have reached a deal on increasing funding for a program that makes private school vouchers available to families regardless of income, the N&O reports. Per WRAL, Gov. Roy Cooper and Democrats oppose it.
Paging Tech Support: Bloomberg has a deep dive on Tyler Technologies, the company behind the calamitous launch of eCourts in North Carolina.
Licensed to Ill: It’s not your imagination: The DMV wait has gotten more hellish. Carolina Public Press reports on why.
Ruff Job: The New York Times talks to Duke researchers who spend their days with puppies to learn what shapes their personalities and behavior.
Our Recent Stories
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Reese Brantmeier v. NCAA
A lawsuit from a UNC tennis star challenges rules barring collegiate tennis players from keeping tournament earnings.
Life Inside the Fishbowl
After burning through the Raleigh club scene, American Aquarium frontman BJ Barham had a plan for failure. Then success and a family arrived.
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