THE BOWLS DAILY REPORT : CITRUS : Open and Shut Case at Practices

The practice facilities provided for teams are marked in their contrast. There is the one used by Ohio State that is completely enveloped by a green screen and guarded by two friendly but stern members of the Orlando Police Dept.

The other, down the street at a high school, is part of a complex of football and baseball fields open to anyone who wants to watch.

Alabama Coach Gene Stallings is not thrilled with his practice facility but doesn’t want to make a big deal of it.

“I’m just a little uncomfortable with all the wide-open spaces, but it’s just me,” Stallings said. “I’m not paranoid about anybody watching; it just breaks my concentration.”

Stallings did check into erecting a shaded fence but said it was too expensive. He wouldn’t say how much, but $5,000 to $6,000 is the estimated cost of a fence around one of two fields he was using.

There was also thought of putting security people around the fields and halting all other activity at the complex. But he didn’t like that idea, either.

“There are baseball camps going on,” Stallings said. “A kid has probably been looking forward to a baseball camp for a long time and I’m not going to stop a baseball camp.”

That makes Stallings about the only one who hasn’t stopped baseball this year.