Pitchers warn students about Internet

Avalanche takes field for Web safety program

The Salem Avalanche has moved Monday's game against Lynchburg to 11 a.m. so that children participating in the Safe Surfin' program can attend.

    Salem Avalanche pitchers Steve Matcuk and Tim Christman are not exactly Internet naifs.  Both dabbled in e-mail and checked their stats online when they were in college.  Christman admits to killing a few hours in the computer lab surfing the World Wide Web.

   "I looked up things for classes, played around a bit," Christman said.  "You could look up information about the Rockies and go to fun sites like comedycentral.com, but I didn't do a lot.  I didn't have a lot of time."

   Both got an education in the creepier side of the Internet this week when they visited Bedford County elementary schools.  They went as part of the Safe Surfin' program, which was instituted by the Bedford County Sheriff's Department to promote Internet safety for kids.

   Matcuk visited Forest Elementary, while Christman visited Big Island.  Both talked to groups of fourth-graders.  The students also were treated to a video and safety tips from the sheriff's department, which is active in pursuing pedophiles who use the Internet to find victims.

   "We tried to get it through to kids that it's fun to be online, but to be careful," Christman said.  "If they're in a chat room, it could be another kid they're talking to or it could be some 50-year-old weirdo."

   Matcuk said a couple of the kids he talked to already had trouble on the Internet.

   "One kid was talking [in a chat room] with a guy, and he had gotten used to how fast the guy could type and that he was a good speller, and then the guy started going really slow and misspelling things, trying to seem like he was younger."

   The Safe Surfin' program advises kids not to give out any personal information over the Internet and to tell their parents if anyone seems suspicious.  It also advises parents, who are often less Internet fluent than their children, to keep the computer in a high traffic area of the house instead of a child's bedroom, where it would be harder to monitor incoming messages.

   Those lessons will be reinforced Monday, when the Avalanche plays host to Lynchburg.  The start of the game has been moved to 11 a.m. so that 4,000 kids from the Safe Surfin' program can attend, using free tickets distributed by the team.

   "We're giving up the gate" receipts by moving the game to the daytime, Salem general managaer Dave Oster said.

   "We did pick Monday for a reason -- it's our slowest day -- but where we can see the reward is we can be a front-runner in this program that helps kids," he said.

   "Plus, it'll be fun for the guys to have 4,000 screaming kids out there.  It'll be fun to see the first foul ball go out."

   Both Matcuk and Christman said they enjoyed visiting the kids.

   "It's fun to help out in the community," Christman said.  "I mean, without the community, we're nothing."

   "I love doing stuff like this," Matcuk said.  "It seems like when I was little and an athlete or someone big came and spoke, we listened a little bit more.  Maybe not every kid will, but if it helps one kid, that's something."

   More information on Bedford County's Internet safety program can be found online at www.blueridgethunder.com.  The Avalanche's Web site is www.salemavalanche.com and the site for the Colorado Rockies is www.coloradorockies.com.