Not off the Press: Boys high school basketball and more summer baseball
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
There were many new faces to learn when watching the Highland County Boys Basketball Shootout on Saturday at the gyms of Fairfield High School and Middle School.
There were new faces on the sideline and on the court, but with high school basketball, the old saying should be the team name stays the same every year, and well … that's about it. Covering high school sports, new players each year is invariable, but this year there were more new faces than familiar ones, which doesn't happen all that often.
Again, just like in the girls shootout, some of the games were intense, and the McClain vs. Hillsboro game had somewhat of a regular season feel with McClain rallying at the end, taking the lead and the summer win.
There were fouls to force free throws, there were yells coming from the sideline and instruction coming from clipboards, so for a moment I thought it was early December.
Still, this was a good way for coaches to gauge their players before things get down to serious business.
My one gripe with summer basketball is: Why can all of these types of events take place, but football coaches can't have a week or two to run plays or to get their team accustomed with each other before the actual summer season for them begin? I will never understand this, and it just doesn't make much sense to me.
Either way, Saturday was probably the last basketball I will watch until high school basketball scrimmages start in November, unless there is some pre-Olympic basketball on this summer. Still, this is a good event for high school basketball, and it was a good time to see all the new faces that will be running the court starting in early December.
• Legion baseball
I loved watching the Legion Post 129 baseball team play Friday evening at Shaffer Park, gaining their first doubleheader sweep of the season against Washington C.H. Post 25.
It was good to see the home team get two quality wins, one via the run-rule and one in extra innings. Though as I said in the game story, the second win didn't come as easy as the first one, a win is still a win, and what I liked from the win was how, even though Post 129 didn't play their best baseball in the latter innings, they still battled back and regained the lead with two out in the bottom of the eighth with the walk-off hit by Dustin Taylor. Wins like that make the summer more enjoyable, and it's always good to see the home team win at Shaffer Park.
I even told Ian Adams this, but in the first game against Washington C.H. he had a rare or unique batting line that read 1-for-4 with four runs, one hit, reached on two fielder's choices and two errors.
Never see that type of line, and if you do, it stands out. Yeah, that was my inner Tim Kurkjian right there … don't judge.
Saturday could have been better at Shaffer Park, but the three-game winning streak by Post 129 was snapped by the Cincinnati Storm Club, with Hillsboro falling by scores of 5-1 and 11-0.
Still, if the team can play like they did on Friday night as the season continues, the last few weeks of the regular season could be interesting.
• 10 Thoughts on sports
1. I still can't pronounce the names of half the players drafted during the 2011 NBA Draft.
2. The NASCAR road race Sunday was really boring, except for maybe the last 20 laps. Thank goodness Daytona is next weekend.
3. I really hope their is an NBA season because I want to see Metta World Peace (aka Ron Artest) on the court. In case you didn't hear, he has or might legally change his name to that.
4. The Reds need to figure out a way to skip interleague games next season. Have not won a interleague series yet this season. Still have series with the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians left.
5. There are too many interleague games … maybe three interleague series are enough for one season.
6. Adam Dunn doesn't play like a player who makes $56 million for four years.
7. Very happy I got Pete Maravich's autobiography "Heir To A Dream" for $1.91 at a thrift store on Sunday. The book was printed in 1987.
8. Also purchased a book on the Cleveland Browns about their 1964 championship season. Three reasons why I purchased this, at the same thrift store for $1.91: A. Want to see what the world was like when the Browns won a NFL title, B. It was cheap, C. Shock … The Browns were once good?
9. Yes, I buy way too many sports books.
10. Would have lost the bet if I was told the Pirates would be tied with the Reds on June 26, especially for third place. The Reds are too talented to be hanging out with the Pirates in the standings this time of year. Hey, maybe the Pirates are last year's Reds, though I doubt that.
• Random non-sports thoughts
1. Is it bad when gas is $3.29ish I think I'm getting a deal? I actually said that the other day, and I felt dumb as I was saying the words. Kinda sad too.
2. I'm becoming cheap when I make my own iced coffee. It tastes the same as it does from restaurants and coffee shops.
3. I also make my own peach tea, instead of buying numerous bottles from the gas station. Hey, I can make six bottles for $1 intend of buying one bottle for a $1. All I need is water, a bottle and a package of tea mix.
4. Yes, I skipped watching "Cars 2" this weekend in hopes that this coming weekend it won't be as packed. Yes, I'm going to watch "Cars 2," because I loved "Cars."
5. Very happy to have the parking area back at the HCP parking lot.
6. I have set my limit to only have one bad fried food item at the Festival of the Bells this coming week.
7. Is it me or does the Syfy channel have awful movies?
8. As you can tell, I did a lot of channel surfing this weekend since I tried to watch the Syfy channel. There was some movie about a killer shark, but it wasn't Jaws. I stopped watching to know what happened.
9. Was looking at DVD boxed set releases the other day, and when a complete series is released on one box set, why not just say nobody watched this show?
10. Read an article where actors from "Happy Days" are suing CBS for merchandising money since CBS owns the rights to the show. I guess these days aren't "Happy and Free."
• Stat of the Week
Dustin Taylor went 3-for-5 with two RBIs for Post 129 in the second game of a doubleheader against Post 25, Friday.
• Quote of the Week
"I grew up in Lynchburg, I played ball here for Coach Hatten for four years and I was the JV coach last year. I like to joke I bleed yellow, and being at Lynchburg, it is a pride thing. I want to keep the tradition going that the coaches before me built." — LC girls varsity basketball head coach Whitney Lewis.
• One last item of business
This was a good week in covering Highland County sports. I got to watch some basketball, some baseball and write a story about a new head coach.
Which brings me to this topic — Having stability in a head coaching position, in any sport, is a good thing in my eyes. If former players still call a former coach they had, "Coach" or still talk about a former coach in high regard, well, that person should be given the opportunity to go out with respect.
Look at the Washington Nationals this week and the mess with the management and their now former manager in Jim Riggleman. The Nats have no stability, and they haven't had a winning season since becoming the Nats. In their final years as the Expos, they were no good either. However, I think Riggleman made the wrong decision.
That is just me, and if you look at the history of Highland County sports, having stability in a coaching position means the program was winning, their players played hard on the field, and whomever the coach they have/had respect of the community. At least that's what I like to think in a perfect world, but we all know the world isn't perfect.
I think if teams have coaches who are loyal, win games and want to be a part of the program for the right reasons, well, those teams should consider themselves lucky. It's important to remember the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com.[[In-content Ad]]
There were new faces on the sideline and on the court, but with high school basketball, the old saying should be the team name stays the same every year, and well … that's about it. Covering high school sports, new players each year is invariable, but this year there were more new faces than familiar ones, which doesn't happen all that often.
Again, just like in the girls shootout, some of the games were intense, and the McClain vs. Hillsboro game had somewhat of a regular season feel with McClain rallying at the end, taking the lead and the summer win.
There were fouls to force free throws, there were yells coming from the sideline and instruction coming from clipboards, so for a moment I thought it was early December.
Still, this was a good way for coaches to gauge their players before things get down to serious business.
My one gripe with summer basketball is: Why can all of these types of events take place, but football coaches can't have a week or two to run plays or to get their team accustomed with each other before the actual summer season for them begin? I will never understand this, and it just doesn't make much sense to me.
Either way, Saturday was probably the last basketball I will watch until high school basketball scrimmages start in November, unless there is some pre-Olympic basketball on this summer. Still, this is a good event for high school basketball, and it was a good time to see all the new faces that will be running the court starting in early December.
• Legion baseball
I loved watching the Legion Post 129 baseball team play Friday evening at Shaffer Park, gaining their first doubleheader sweep of the season against Washington C.H. Post 25.
It was good to see the home team get two quality wins, one via the run-rule and one in extra innings. Though as I said in the game story, the second win didn't come as easy as the first one, a win is still a win, and what I liked from the win was how, even though Post 129 didn't play their best baseball in the latter innings, they still battled back and regained the lead with two out in the bottom of the eighth with the walk-off hit by Dustin Taylor. Wins like that make the summer more enjoyable, and it's always good to see the home team win at Shaffer Park.
I even told Ian Adams this, but in the first game against Washington C.H. he had a rare or unique batting line that read 1-for-4 with four runs, one hit, reached on two fielder's choices and two errors.
Never see that type of line, and if you do, it stands out. Yeah, that was my inner Tim Kurkjian right there … don't judge.
Saturday could have been better at Shaffer Park, but the three-game winning streak by Post 129 was snapped by the Cincinnati Storm Club, with Hillsboro falling by scores of 5-1 and 11-0.
Still, if the team can play like they did on Friday night as the season continues, the last few weeks of the regular season could be interesting.
• 10 Thoughts on sports
1. I still can't pronounce the names of half the players drafted during the 2011 NBA Draft.
2. The NASCAR road race Sunday was really boring, except for maybe the last 20 laps. Thank goodness Daytona is next weekend.
3. I really hope their is an NBA season because I want to see Metta World Peace (aka Ron Artest) on the court. In case you didn't hear, he has or might legally change his name to that.
4. The Reds need to figure out a way to skip interleague games next season. Have not won a interleague series yet this season. Still have series with the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Indians left.
5. There are too many interleague games … maybe three interleague series are enough for one season.
6. Adam Dunn doesn't play like a player who makes $56 million for four years.
7. Very happy I got Pete Maravich's autobiography "Heir To A Dream" for $1.91 at a thrift store on Sunday. The book was printed in 1987.
8. Also purchased a book on the Cleveland Browns about their 1964 championship season. Three reasons why I purchased this, at the same thrift store for $1.91: A. Want to see what the world was like when the Browns won a NFL title, B. It was cheap, C. Shock … The Browns were once good?
9. Yes, I buy way too many sports books.
10. Would have lost the bet if I was told the Pirates would be tied with the Reds on June 26, especially for third place. The Reds are too talented to be hanging out with the Pirates in the standings this time of year. Hey, maybe the Pirates are last year's Reds, though I doubt that.
• Random non-sports thoughts
1. Is it bad when gas is $3.29ish I think I'm getting a deal? I actually said that the other day, and I felt dumb as I was saying the words. Kinda sad too.
2. I'm becoming cheap when I make my own iced coffee. It tastes the same as it does from restaurants and coffee shops.
3. I also make my own peach tea, instead of buying numerous bottles from the gas station. Hey, I can make six bottles for $1 intend of buying one bottle for a $1. All I need is water, a bottle and a package of tea mix.
4. Yes, I skipped watching "Cars 2" this weekend in hopes that this coming weekend it won't be as packed. Yes, I'm going to watch "Cars 2," because I loved "Cars."
5. Very happy to have the parking area back at the HCP parking lot.
6. I have set my limit to only have one bad fried food item at the Festival of the Bells this coming week.
7. Is it me or does the Syfy channel have awful movies?
8. As you can tell, I did a lot of channel surfing this weekend since I tried to watch the Syfy channel. There was some movie about a killer shark, but it wasn't Jaws. I stopped watching to know what happened.
9. Was looking at DVD boxed set releases the other day, and when a complete series is released on one box set, why not just say nobody watched this show?
10. Read an article where actors from "Happy Days" are suing CBS for merchandising money since CBS owns the rights to the show. I guess these days aren't "Happy and Free."
• Stat of the Week
Dustin Taylor went 3-for-5 with two RBIs for Post 129 in the second game of a doubleheader against Post 25, Friday.
• Quote of the Week
"I grew up in Lynchburg, I played ball here for Coach Hatten for four years and I was the JV coach last year. I like to joke I bleed yellow, and being at Lynchburg, it is a pride thing. I want to keep the tradition going that the coaches before me built." — LC girls varsity basketball head coach Whitney Lewis.
• One last item of business
This was a good week in covering Highland County sports. I got to watch some basketball, some baseball and write a story about a new head coach.
Which brings me to this topic — Having stability in a head coaching position, in any sport, is a good thing in my eyes. If former players still call a former coach they had, "Coach" or still talk about a former coach in high regard, well, that person should be given the opportunity to go out with respect.
Look at the Washington Nationals this week and the mess with the management and their now former manager in Jim Riggleman. The Nats have no stability, and they haven't had a winning season since becoming the Nats. In their final years as the Expos, they were no good either. However, I think Riggleman made the wrong decision.
That is just me, and if you look at the history of Highland County sports, having stability in a coaching position means the program was winning, their players played hard on the field, and whomever the coach they have/had respect of the community. At least that's what I like to think in a perfect world, but we all know the world isn't perfect.
I think if teams have coaches who are loyal, win games and want to be a part of the program for the right reasons, well, those teams should consider themselves lucky. It's important to remember the grass isn't always greener on the other side.
Stephen Forsha is the sports editor of The Highland County Press. He can be reached at sforsha@gmail.com.[[In-content Ad]]