A small chalkboard hanging above Woody Paige’s shoulder read: “Don’t look now but I’m dressed to win.” What was he wearing? A Colorado Buffs jersey, No. 44, otherwise recognized as Jordon’s Dizon’s jersey. Woody Paige is a well-known sports columnist
A small chalkboard hanging above Woody Paige’s shoulder read: “Don’t look now but I’m dressed to win.”
What was he wearing? A Colorado Buffs jersey, No. 44, otherwise recognized as Jordon’s Dizon’s jersey.
Woody Paige is a well-known sports columnist for The Denver Post and panelist on my favorite show, ESPN’s “Around the Horn.”
On Friday afternoon, while all the other panelists where dressed in their button-up shirts and suit jackets, Paige was sporting Dizon’s jersey.
Granted, it was in mockery of the Georgia Tech/Virginia Tech jersey fiasco in which Virginia Tech quarterback Sean Glennon had to wear a Georgia Tech jersey because his couldn’t be found.
Georgia Tech’s nickname was blacked out and Glennon’s name was written in magic marker.
Paige pulled of a similar move, replacing “Colorado” with his name on the jersey. But you could still see that it was Colorado’s, and it was clearly Dizon’s.
Because of that, I had to call Dizon and ask him if he’d seen it and how he felt about the infamous Woody Paige rocking his jersey on national television.
“Woody Paige was wearing my jersey?” he asked in excitement. “Everyone knows who Woody Paige is. Woody Paige is awesome. He’s a man with great opinions.”
Dizon’s name frequently comes up on the ESPN tickers when it comes to college football games and appeared most recently when he was named as a semifinalist for the Dick Butkus award.
“For him to wear a Colorado jersey and for it to be my jersey, that’s pretty awesome,” Dizon said. “I would love to meet him.”
Dizon, however, said he is accustomed to seeing people wear his jersey around Boulder, Colo.
“It’s not weird. It’s like the NFL — it’s just another jersey out there.”
His mother, Darla Abbatiello, often sports her son’s number around town. Her shirt reads “Aloha, I’m the mom.”
How cool is that?
Mel Rapozo of Kaua‘i County Council shows his support for the senior linebacker. For Kapa‘a High School’s homecoming on Friday, Rapozo was spotted wearing his long-sleeve Colorado Buffs shirt.
“This came straight from Jordon Dizon himself,” he said. “I think he’s going to win (the Dick Butkus award). He’s a good guy.”
Dizon, a Waimea High School graduate, will find out if he is even a finalist for the linebacker’s award on Thursday.
The field, which currently lists Dan Connor (Penn State), Shawn Crable (Michigan), Erin Henderson (Maryland), Ali Highsmith (LSU), James Laurinaitis (Ohio State), Jeremy Leman (Illinois), Ben Moffitt (South Florida), Keith Rivers (USC) and Wesley Woodyard (Kentucky) as other semifinalists, will be narrowed down to just three this week.
The winner will be announced in December in Ohio.
Dizon, however, has dropped from being the nation’s top tackler to being ranked fourth, according to NCAA’s record books. Before yesterday’s match up against ninth-ranked Missouri, Dizon registered 110 tackles (59 solo, 51 assisted) and averaged 12.22 tackles per game.
Gerald McRath of Southern Mississippi, although has less total tackles, got to the top spot by averaging 12.88 tackles per game.
To view the “Around the Horn” clips of Woody Paige, visit www.espn.com and click on the icon for videos. Then go to ESPN shows and click on “Around the Horn.”
To get a Dizon jersey of your own, visit www.cubuffs.com.
• Lanaly Cabalo, sports editor, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 237) or lcabalo@kauaipubco.com.
