One of my wife’s favorite indie rock bands is the Floating Men.
Thanks to Carl York and The Kroger Co., we have the floating heads.
York is the advertising and public relations manager for Kroger’s Mid-Atlantic Division, based in Roanoke.
For the past two decades York and several associates have produced the Kroger Crunch, a free weekly publication geared toward covering high school football in the Roanoke Valley.
Crunch, a pocket-friendly, fold-out, road-map-style sheet, is in its 20th year. The publication, which appears in racks in area Kroger stores weekly during the prep football season, will celebrate its 300th issue next week.
To York, it’s a labor of love. And there is plenty of labor involved.
Crunch covers 12 schools — Patrick Henry, William Fleming, Salem, Cave Spring, Hidden Valley, Lord Botetourt, Northside, William Byrd, Glenvar, Franklin County, Pulaski County and Staunton River — in areas where Kroger has stores.
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York and his staff call the head coach of each school every Sunday to obtain statistics, player information and thoughts on the previous week’s game and the upcoming opponent.
Each head coach is pictured with a cutout of his mug shot, which is cut out and appears to be floating on a white background, complete with hats (Stephen Magenbauer, Stephen James, Alan Fiddler and Chuck Poston) and extra-long goatees (Burt Torrence).
That’s just part of the deal.
Each week York or an associate films an entire game, takes stats from the film and reprints still photographs from the video.
A lot of photographs.
I counted 45 photos in a recent issue, and that’s not including pictures that appear in ads for everything from Coca-Cola to Utz potato chips.
Crunch lets fans pick winners of games. There’s a player of the week and a separate Q&A with another player.
Fans can win tickets to Virginia Tech and Virginia home games, and one player earns a $500 college scholarship at the end of the year.
Crunch might be an advertising vehicle, but it’s one that carries a few high school kids along for a pretty good ride.
Which reminds me. It’s Halloween. I’ve got to run.
I think that floating head of Jamie Harless just moved.
SALEM 28, Hidden Valley 10. Salem has scored 55, 58 and 59 points in its past three games. Hidden Valley has given up just 64 all season.
WILLIAM BYRD 35, Alleghany 28. The winner should still have a slim shot at one of the last 3A West playoff berths heading into next week.
LORD BOTETOURT 33, Staunton River 12. The 59 carries last week by Bradley Lythgoe might rank him No. 8 all-time nationally.
WILLIAM FLEMING 31, Rockbridge County 14. Fleming has to win in Lexington and beat Patrick Henry next week to have a shot at a first-round 4A North home game.
JEFFERSON FOREST 47, E.C. Glass 20. Jefferson Forest is two wins away from its first 10-0 regular season since 1991.
GLENVAR 29, Radford 14. Glenvar and Giles both need to win tonight to set up a showdown of 9-0 teams next week in Pearisburg.
LIBERTY 34, Amherst County 29. Don’t look now, but Amherst County is close to missing the playoffs for the first time since 2003.
CAVE SPRING 21, Blacksburg 7. Would Blacksburg get in the 3A West field without a win in its last two games? Good question.
PARRY McCLUER 46, Bath County 7. Parry McCluer will get a week to rest up for the 1A playoffs where the Blues likely will be a No. 3, 4 or 5 seed.
GALAX 56, Bland County 18. Galax still has a good shot at a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in Group 1A West.
GILES 58, Floyd County 12. Counting playoffs, the VHSL’s single-season scoring record for one player is 312 points. Giles’ Brett Whitlow is on pace to break it.
GRAYSON COUNTY 32, Narrows 16. Grayson could find itself inside the top 16 in Group 2A West with a victory tonight and a week remaining.
NORTH CROSS 50, Hargrave Military 13. Hargrave is winless and has given up 42.7 points per game.
ROANOKE CATHOLIC 36, Kenston Forest 6. Catholic is 7-0 this season against VIS competition.
MAGNA VISTA 60, Patrick County 6. Magna Vista scored 78 points last week. The Warriors’ basketball team hit that mark only three times last year.
MARION 40, Virginia High 24. Marion’s Sam Wagner has scored 168 points this season in eight games.
AUBURN 30, Eastern Montgomery 21. Both teams are in the 1A West top 16 for now. The loser might have some trouble staying there.
GEORGE WYTHE 45, Holston 14. Holston picked up a win last week in stunning fashion. But what else is new in the Hogoheegee?
PATRICK HENRY 51, Carroll County 19. After last week’s loss at Christiansburg, PH is in a dogfight for a first-round home game in 6A South.
CRAIG COUNTY 55, Grace Christian 6. Grace Christian has played a mix of JV and varsity games with a win over Rappahannock County.
FORT CHISWELL 25, Graham 21. Chiswell’s Dallas Ward continues to lead Timesland in rushing by a hair over Galax’s Joseph Dixon.
FRANKLIN COUNTY 38, Halifax County 28. These two teams surrendered a combined 140 points in losses last week.
MARTINSVILLE 28, Bassett 21. Now 1-7, Martinsville remains No. 15 in the 2A West playoff race.
NORTHWOOD 34, Rural Retreat 12. A lopsided home loss to George Wythe is the lone blemish on Northwood’s slate.
PH-GLADE SPRING 25, Chilhowie 24. Chilhowie could get back in the conversation for one of the last 1A West berths.
COVINGTON 33, James River 32. Back-to-back wins have moved the Knights into a tie for 16th in the 2A West race.
Last week: 20-7.......... .741
Overall: 194-38.......... .836