Tag: reporting (Page 6 of 8)

Hot Playoff Action

February 11, 2010 / DB

Wednesday was my first ever Indiana high school sectional game as a reporter. While the environment may not be like the sectionals of old, which pitted schools that were all neighbors against each other, the game sure lived up to all that a sectional is supposed to be.

First, a note about sectionals in Indiana. Sectionals are the first phase of the state basketball tournament. Five to eight schools are grouped into sectionals and two weeks before the season ends, a blind draw is held to determine who plays who. This is part of the beauty and annoyance of the sectional system. There is no seeding based on record: the two best teams in a sectional can draw each other and play an opening round game, while a team with the worst record in the sectional can get a bye.

Which is what happened in my game.

The hosts were IC high school, a team I’ve covered several times. They feature the best player in the county,* have a nice balance of size and quickness, are well-coached, and had lost only two games all season, one at the buzzer. They were ranked #7 in 2A going into sectionals.

(I’ve mentioned her before. I described her as a white, female, rural Allen Iverson. Imagine my glee, then, when I read a feature we published about her earlier this week in which she said her favorite NBA player was Iverson. If she wasn’t already going to a D2 school on a scholarship, I would have offered to pay for a semester of her tuition after hearing that. I literally can’t tell you how awesome this news was to me.)

Their opponent, HC high school, is a private school that isn’t too far from my house. They’ve struggled a bit this year, entering the game at 11-9, but their record is deceptive. They’ve won four straight state championships and schedule up, playing many 3A and 4A schools, mostly the best large class teams in the Indy area. Despite sending players to UConn and Notre Dame in recent years, they’re still quite good. They have height, can shoot, and run a fantastic offense.*

(If I’ve learned nothing else from watching so much high school ball in recent years, it’s that to coach you pretty much just yell “MOVE!” “CUT!” and “CUT HARD!” at your players for 32 minutes. It’s rare that a team runs an offense full of fluid movement and quick passing.)

So that’s the set-up. HC jumped out to a six point lead early, then IC crept back into it. HC went up seven in the second quarter, then IC cut it to one at the half. IC’s best player was struggling, but a freshman forward scored 13 points in the half.

In the third quarter, HC again moved ahead by six. IC then went on a 10-0 run. They took the lead when Little AI grabbed a rebound, raced coast-to-coast, head faked, spun, and dropped the ball off the backboard while getting fouled. She hit the free throw and they were up two.

The next 12 minutes were fantastic. One team would take a lead, the other would fight back. In the last 90 seconds, the there were six lead changes or ties. Girls were hitting clutch free throws and tough shots on every possession.

Finally, the freshman who had played so well for IC hit a tough shot in the lane with seven seconds left to tie the game at 57. On the inbounds pass, HC nearly threw it away, and in the scramble IC was called for a foul. The HC player hit the first free throw. 58-57. She missed the second badly and the IC freshman grabbed the rebound.

She raced upcourt. When she got to the lane, four of the defenders left her to find Little AI, who was floating to the three point line. The freshman kept driving towards the hoop, jumped, and unleashed a five footer.

The one defender back was HC’s 6’2” center. She got a finger on the ball and knocked it away as the buzzer sounded.

Bummer for IC. But a hell of a game. Best game I’ve seen this year, by far. It was well played on both sides. HC seemed to have control after halftime but Little AI picked her team up and they played their collective asses off. The freshman scored 18. Little AI had 17, 10 below her average. Their junior center, who tends to play passive, grabbed 14 rebounds and scored nine big second half points.

For selfish reasons, I wanted IC to win. That meant maybe doing another of their games on Saturday. It would have been a great story, writing about them taking down the four-time defending champs. And it’s always more fun to write about the winning team than the one whose season just ended.

But I had to admire how the entire team played. It was one of the few times I wish I could write an old school account of the game, in which the story was as much about my enjoyment of the game and admiration for the players than the game itself.

Fortunately, I have a blog and can do that here.

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Mini Reporter’s Notebook

February 4, 2010 / DB

A few more items from the Reporter’s Notebook.

I’m sure you’ve all been holding your breath for this update, but I finally saw the girls team that struggles every time I show up win a game last Friday. They won by 35. I think it’s safe to say their opponent was not of the highest quality. It was hard not to ask the coach and players, after the game, self-centered questions like “How does it feel to finally win a game that I cover from start-to-finish.*

(Astute readers will recall I was assigned to a game they won last month, but was not informed of the earlier-than-normal tip time. Thus I walked in as time was winding down in the fourth quarter.)

Tuesday, for the first time, I got to cover a game at my local high school. The biggest team in the county I work in is a conference rival of our local CHS. I was hoping for a good game, but the hosts went crazy in the third quarter, hitting their first six shots, and then 11-17 shots, for the quarter, and cruised to an easy 25-point win.

The local high school has both a radio station and a TV station. So it was fun to drive to the game and listen to students broadcasting the JV game. I’ll listen to or watch a few minutes of their broadcasts here and there, and it’s always funny to hear the students and dream about the possibilities had my high school had broadcasting options. I’m sure I would have been signed up for those classes!

As I listened to the JV game, though, I realized that announcing your school’s games, especially games involving the opposite sex, could pose some problems for aspiring broadcasters. Might you embellish the play of a point guard you thought was cute? If you dated the small forward over the summer but she dumped you for the quarterback, might you be less enthusiastic about her play than she deserved? Not that I would have done any of these things, of course. But we are talking about teenagers and the temptation is there.

It was the final home game for CHS. When their only senior checked out of the game late in the fourth quarter, she received a standing ovation from the crowd. I had to laugh when I glanced over and saw the student broadcasters, in their dress shirts and ties, standing and applauding, too, while they continued to set the scene for their listeners. I wanted to let them know that Dick Vitale has only done that twice in 30 years of broadcasting.* But it’s not like they’re professionals. They aspire to be pros and there’s nothing wrong with being a homer when you’re a teenager and wearing your dad’s tie.

(Unless he’s done it again since the Nick Collison game in 2003.)

The regular season for girls ends this week. I’ll probably do a couple sectional games, which is the most important part, traditionally, of the state playoffs in Indiana. Hopefully I’ll see some good hoops.

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Reporter’s Notebook

January 27, 2010 / DB

A few more notes from the notebook of a high school sports correspondent.

Last Friday was another first in my young career: I covered a boy-girl doubleheader. The assignment was fairly simple: watch two games, write one story and submit two boxscores. It was the host team’s winter homecoming, so there was an extra-long gap between games. Seemed like I would have no issues cranking everything out.

The only problem was the boys coach I needed to interview spent roughly 20 minutes with his team in the locker room after the game. By the time I asked my questions and got back to my seat, there were only five minutes left until the girls tip-off. Thus, I spent halftime of the girls game doing the boys stats, which completely through off my routine.

Fortunately, though, neither game was terribly competitive, so it was easy to sum each one up, add coaches’ comments, and get everything in well before deadline.

Last night I headed out again, this time to cover the best player in the county. It was a “special” night for her, as it was A) her final regular season home game and B) she was being recognized for being nominated to the McDonald’s All-American game. She was also approaching the county record for most career points scored, so lots of plot lines going into the game.

Apparently there was some early game – eighth graders? – which pushed the JV game back, which put the varsity tip at 8:10, or 40 minutes later than scheduled. It was a blowout – my team led by 19 at the end of the first quarter and the margin never got closer – the senior had a big game, and everything was coming together nicely for my story.

I interviewed her then waited for her coach. And waited. And waited. Finally, with only 30 minutes to deadline, I gave up and went to do my stats and write my story without comments from him. Which is a shame, because he’s one of my favorite coaches to talk to.

I had high hopes for the story, but after doing stats I had 15 minutes to put it together, and it ended up being rushed and far too brief. Disappointing. The team has won 16 games in a row; their only loss on the season came on a buzzer beating shot back in November. They’re in the same sectional as the school that has won the state championship four years in a row, but that school is in rebuilding mode, so it looks like they might finally make it out of sectionals. Lots of material for a good story but I was too busy making sure I got the basics in and then filed before 10:15.

Although I’ve covered more good games and winners this year than in the past, I still wonder if I’m a curse. The home boys team in Friday night’s doubleheader is talented but mercurial. They have a 6’7” guy who doesn’t seem to understand how to use his height. They have a fantastic sophomore guard who can light it up. They have a fine point and a big wing who can shoot. Yet they’ve only won two games this year. Naturally both of those games were against teams that I’ve been covering. It’s difficult not to ask the losing coaches “How in the hell has that team only won one/two game(s) this year?” but I figure that’s not a wise thing to ask a coach who just lost to a bad team.

My favorite coaching moment of the year came in the JV game last night. It was a tight game, and the home team was getting most of the close calls, but I didn’t notice any interaction between the visiting coach and the referees. In the final minute, the players were milling about during a dead ball and the visiting coach stomps his foot loudly and screams “TIME OUT!” Apparently he had asked for one but the refs had not heard him. I figured it was just the emotion of the game.

A few moments later the same thing happened. He quietly called for a time out, the refs didn’t hear, and he stomps his foot and screams at them again. This time you could hear the crowd gasp a bit and one of the refs came over and had a long conversation with him. It was weird. It’s not like he was screaming at the refs after every call, or even yelling at his players during play. But I guess if a ref standing 50 feet away in a loud gym doesn’t hear him gently call for a time out he gets pissed.

One thing that never gets old is watching kids bounce their heads to the side anytime “What Is Love” gets played. Some of these kids were 4-5 years old when A Night at the Roxbury came out, yet they know exactly what to do.

❖

Robbed

January 11, 2010 / DB

Monday was my big chance. The chance to finally see the worst girls basketball team that I cover win a game. Over the last three years I’ve covered roughly ten of their games. None have even been close, if I recall correctly. They have one good player, some girls that try hard, and for the first time ever have a number of freshman and sophomores who play a lot who could be decent. They had even won six games this season. Of course, I didn’t cover any of those games; they were 0-4 when I showed up.

Maybe it was me, not them.

Anyway, Monday all that was going to change. I was assigned to their game against the state school for the deaf, who were 2-6. I wouldn’t have to struggle to come up with useful questions to ask a coach who just watched his team lose by 40!

Even better, their best player had an excellent shot of going over 1000 points for her career and breaking the school scoring record.

I was licking my journalistic chops as I drove down to the gym this evening.

But when I got there, something was weird. The JV game seemed to be going awfully late. There was just a minute left in the fourth quarter, but usually the JV game is over around 6:45. It was 7:20. Why were there varsity players on the court? And why was the varsity coach barking out plays?

I’ve heard, from other reporters, about schools moving up the tip-off time when they don’t have a JV game. But I had checked the schedule earlier in the day, and had exchanged messages with my editor in the afternoon, and never heard about an early tip.

My question was answered when the coach walked right over to me after the postgame handshakes ready to be interviewed.

Great.

Yes, they won. Yes, the girl broke 1000 points and the school scoring record. But I missed it all.

I was so flustered I didn’t ask the coach about the girl breaking the record at all. Fortunately I got some good stuff from her, copied the scoring from the scorebook, and was able to file a story that focused on her. Not as good as it should have been, but it’s printable.

Still, I feel cheated.

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Slump Buster

January 6, 2010 / DB

I’ll admit it: I’ve hit one of my periodic blogging funks. I’ve found it difficult to write over the past week.

I think most of that can be attributed to my sleep cycles getting all jacked up.* I’ll only say that I’ve been spoiling our youngest child at nap and bedtimes, and as a result I’m getting plenty of sleep, just at odd times.

(That is the proper medical term.)

So let’s bust out some quickies and hopefully that will prime the pump so I can complete a few of the longer posts I’ve put into the queue.

Speaking of L., we got her an official big girl bed this week. She had been sleeping on her crib mattress on the floor for almost a month. Costco finally got the twin mattress sets back in stock, so we upgraded her. She’s just on the mattress for now; we’ll save the box springs for later. She loves it! Well, at least she loves to climb onto it and yell “BED!” Sleeping is hit and miss, but we’re used to that. Today I asked her if it was her bed and she screamed “YEAH!” in a very Dave Chapelle doing Lil’ John voice. “WHAT?!”

As I mentioned, I received a smoker for Christmas. I took my first crack at a pork shoulder on Monday. I give myself a B. I didn’t have enough hickory, so I didn’t get the amount of smoke into the meat that I wanted. And I didn’t get it quite as tender as it should be. But I am grading on a curve; the high temperature was around 20 that day. The meat stalled out at around 140 in the smoker and I had to bring it inside to the crock pot to finish. It was good, there was just room for improvement. I was very pleased with my sauce, though. It was just something I found online but seems like a good base to do experimentation from.

Oh, so the other smokers know what kind of hardware I’m rocking, I have a Brinkman electric smoker. I know there are serious smokers who think electric is for losers, but I’m not sure I have time to hang out and monitor a fire for 12 hours. Maybe once I perfect the electric thing and all the girls are in school.

I was back to work tonight after three weeks off for the holidays. I covered perhaps the best team in the county against undoubtedly the worst. It was a 36-point win, and really not that close. The losers had 23 turnovers in the first half. The winners shot 79% in the second quarter. Their best player dropped 29 and had close to ten assists.* The winning coach is a super nice guy who is great to talk to. The losing coach has been coaching for years and it’s hard to ask him about yet another 30+ point loss. It’s not easy writing about a game that was effectively over two minutes after the opening tip.

(I don’t track assists. Someday I’ll write a super-meta post where I breakdown what all I do during a game I’m covering.)

As I texted by friend Billy the Poke, one of the girls had her shorts on backwards and had to flee to the locker room to turn them around. Unfortunately, there were no “Shorts on backwards!” chants.

So I’m filing my story around 10:00, and as the e-mail flies away, I notice a bunch of messages in my inbox referencing some strange goings-on at Allen Fieldhouse. What followed was ten minutes of frustration as I attempted to navigate a small, sleepy Indiana town in the dark while following the Yahoo play-by-play on my iPhone. Kids, don’t try this at home. Worse, Yahoo was having some serious issues. The score would change without any accounting of why. KU went from -1 to +4 and Yahoo only accounted for two of the points. I got worried that the score was wrong and it would suddenly show no time left and Cornell winning. That did not happen, thank goodness. But Yahoo does suck.

600+ words without too much effort. Perhaps that will get me back in the swing. I’m going to try to get some sleep now.

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Feel The Excitement

November 20, 2009 / DB

Finally.

Remember how I mock complained about always getting assigned to games that ended up being blowouts, often at the expense of the team I was covering? That was a bit of an exaggeration, but it seemed that more often than not, I was asking a coach questions about a loss than a win.

Things have been a bit better this year. I was lucky enough to follow a good soccer and excellent tennis team, which made things interesting.

The girls basketball season started in Indiana last week. I covered my first game last Friday, a game that was close for a half and then my team pulled away to win easily. This week is the county tournament, and I’ve covered games Tuesday, Thursday, and am scheduled to cover the championship game Saturday.

The game Tuesday wasn’t close. It was my old favorites, the school that doesn’t win at anything, against a team that features the two-time county player of the year. Thursday’s semifinal, however, was a lot more fun.

This game had the team I covered last Friday, we’ll call them Team A, which is one of those teams that has talent and is just trying to figure out how to put it all together. Team B was the winners from Tuesday. On paper it seemed like an even, interesting match-up.

The first half was very sloppy. Team B eventually built a 10-point lead, although their star was having an off night shooting. She had 12 first half points, but was putting in a lot of work to get those points.* Team A ratcheted up their defense and slowly ate into the lead. By late in the third quarter, it was a five point game, but Team A was missing a ton of open shots. You got the feeling the star would get hot at some point and all these misses would come back to haunt Team A.

(She came into the game averaging 32.)

About a minute into the fourth quarter, Team A’s center got the ball on the wing, outside the arc, had space, and drained a three pointer to tie the game. It was the only three her team hit all night. For the next five minutes the teams exchanged two baskets and Team B hit two free throws to go up 2. Then each team missed shots until the final minute. They exchanged free throws, then Team B got a stop and their star went to the line with a chance to put them up four with less than 15 seconds to play. She hit the first and missed the second.

Team A brought the ball up, worked it inside, missed another close shot, and their best player went flying in, grabbed the rebound, put up a shot that went in, and got fouled. She was going to the line with 3 seconds left and a chance to tie. She had just clanked two free throws, so I figured this was money and we were looking at overtime.* She missed. Somehow, for like the first time all night, Team A got an offensive board. A guard had a five footer she put off the front of the rim. The ball volleyballed off of hands. The center, who hit the tying three earlier in the quarter, grabbed the ball and quickly tipped it toward the goal. Off the backboard, onto the rim, the buzzer sounded and the gym went quiet. It rolled completely around the rim, paused for a second, and fell in. Pandemonium!

(I hate overtime. We have a hard 10:15 deadline and that was going to make it very difficult to do interviews and write a decent story.)

A game like that makes the post-game stuff rather interesting, especially when I have to talk to both coaches. One coach is elated, the other down in the dumps. One team is screaming in the locker room, the other wanders around in tears waiting for everyone to be ready to load the bus. Team B is a smaller school and doesn’t get to play their county rivals often outside of tournaments. It’s arguably more important for them to do well in the tournament, and earn respect, than it is for the larger schools.

So that was fun. And hopefully I’ll get another good game on Saturday.

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Weekend Sports Update

October 19, 2009 / DB

Another weekend where I was super busy and I watched hardly any football. Perhaps I should just call these weekend wrap ups rather than football reviews. So we’ll knock the football out first and move on to what else I did this weekend after.

A very disappointing weekend for the Jayhawks. I was working Saturday night, so I was only home in time to see the last 20-25 minutes of the game. Because of that, I can sit here and type that the referees cost us the game. I missed the two turnovers deep in our own territory that lead to 14 CU points. I missed four of the five CU sacks. I missed the o-line sucking big time in the first half. I just saw, for the second time in four years, us lose a game because of a shitty offensive interference call. Argh. If it happened every year, I’d think we were cursed. But since there was a four-year gap between the calls, I think it’s just bad luck. Of course, both times the defender initiated contact with the KU receiver that was flagged. And you can call a pick on every pass play but save it to wipe off the potential game-winning touchdown. Whatever.

Initially I was quick to blame the defense again. After all, you give up that many points to a crappy CU team, the defense has struggled all year, it must be their fault. Turns out the defense didn’t play that poorly, and the coaching staff made some serious personnel changes, moving guys from offense – notably Bradley McDougald – inserting another true freshman to the line up, and even pulling a red shirt to get another kid on the field. So they get points for trying.

Regardless of where the blame lies, that was a shitty loss. Nebraska picks up an unexpected, bad loss earlier in the day. Missouri, playing at the same time as KU, picks up their second conference loss. The math was turning KU’s way; they just had to hold court in their north games and would likely win the division even with three losses. But they pissed that away in a way that doesn’t inspire confidence for the remainder of the season. A win at Tech is almost unimaginable now.* Seven wins seems like the ceiling now, and even that is going to take some work.

(Doesn’t it seem like Mike Leach just grabs some guy who was throwing the ball around the park, gives him a week of practice, and next thing he’s going 46-62, 500 yards, six TDs?)

But when was the last time a conference foe other than Missouri* rushed the field after beating KU in football? I guess we have that going for us. Which is nice.

* And those Mizzou fans were generally more concerned with matching the KU fans who had pulled down goalposts the year before, who were trying to match Mizzou fans from the year before, who…

My only other big football experience over the weekend was listening to the second half of the USC – Notre Dame game while driving to the soccer game I was covering Saturday evening. Don Criqui is the radio voice of the Irish, and his voice always brings back memories of Oklahoma or Nebraska playing a team from the south on New Year’s night at the Orange Bowl. I was ready to talk about his willingness to toe the party line and push Jimmy Clausen for the Heisman. It seemed like he called every pass that Clausen made “phenomenal.” It was kind of sickening. Then, when USC had the ball, every play they made was “phenomenal” as well. I guess he just likes that word.

I kind of like living in a world when Big 12 teams rush the field when they beat Kansas and Notre Dame is pleased to have hung close to a top ten team. Not as good as the last time I went to Notre Dame, when they lost to Air Force and KU won that night to go 9-0. But still pretty good.

Two quick NFL thoughts. Has there been a more popular 0-5 team in NFL history, at least to betters, than the Chiefs? I don’t bet, but even I thought about dropping some money on the Chiefs to get off the schnide over Washington. Everyone saw it coming, so is it really an upset?

Also, I did get to watch parts of the New England – Tennessee game. That was good, old fashioned football, and a fine day to break out the AFL throwbacks. Football in snow = awesome. Did I really pick Tennessee to win the division? Yikes.

OK, what did I do this weekend? Friday, I covered a state quarterfinal tennis match. It was the team I covered a couple weeks back, who happened to be the defending state champions. Because of weather conditions (cold, rainy), the matches were moved to an indoor facility. But, that meant rather than play the three singles and two doubles matches concurrently, they had to be staggered, as only three courts were available. Thus, a match that should have taken about 90 minutes lasted for nearly four hours. Even though we were inside, it wasn’t terribly warm. And the team I was covering won the first three individual matches, making the last two pointless. The next day in the state finals, one player forfeited his match when his team clinched the championship. I wish someone had done that Friday, as well.

Anyway, my team won and advanced to play the next day, where they lost to the eventual state champions. The coach can be rather prickly and it was fun to stand and wait for my turn to interview him while the reporter from a competing paper, who didn’t know the coach, asked questions. The reporter got on the coach’s nerves quickly and he began making fun of the reporter’s questions. Fortunately, I’ve interviewed the coach a few times and he must have approved of my stories, because while he was ripping the other guy, he would roll his eyes at me and give me knowing looks. The big bonus was the other reporter had no idea that there had been a lineup change due to illness, and left that out of his story. My story, on the other hand, focused on that change and what it meant for the team. I got over on the big media guys!

Saturday evening, as I said, I covered a soccer match, a regional final. Again, the same team I covered last weekend, and the same one I followed last year when they advanced to semi-state. They aren’t as strong this year, and were playing a team expected to compete for the state title. It ended up being a very exciting game, with my guys losing 2-1. After the game I interviewed one of the senior captains. He was great. He had tears in his eyes, having played his final high school soccer game, but gave me great, intelligent, useful answers. The best part was after I thanked him for his time, he thanked me and said, “Have a nice evening, Sir.” Good kid.

That’s one of my favorite parts about covering high school sports. Every now and then you’ll talk to a kid or coach that have an attitude,* but more often than not they’re very helpful and appreciative of you being there. Nearly every coach I’ve interviewed this year has thanked me for coming to the game and writing about his team. And most of the kids show that we live in a media-saturated age. They’re able to offer cogent thoughts after games, rather than just speak in cliches. Well, some of them are. I guess I do get a lot of “We’re taking it one game at a time, we’re just happy to be here, and the good Lord willing, we’ll come out on top” type answers. But it’s better than the “Ummms” and “You knows” you kind of expect from high school kids.

(I will admit one of my favorite kids to interview is a tennis player who has a serious attitude. He almost always disparages the other team in some way and comes across as very cocky and self-centered. Another reporter told me that last year, this kid pulled against his school’s football team in the state playoffs because he didn’t want them taking attention away from his team’s state title. A few weeks ago, at sectionals, I heard his teammates quietly pleased when he lost a match. At the same time, he’s a smart kid and once you get him talking, offers lots of excellent comments. If he was in college, I’d print some of his more cocky statements, but since it is high school tennis, I give him a break.)

So now we’ve come to the end, more or less, of the fall sports season. I don’t expect more than two of our schools to get through the first week of football playoffs. Most of the other sports have been eliminated. Thus, things should slow down until basketball starts in mind-November. This is the most I’ve worked during fall sports season, and I think it shows. My interviews are better. My stories are better. In football, I’ve got the stats side down. And, most importantly, the writing is coming easier. With the stat-side being easier, I can focus more on the plays within a game that I’ll need to write about, prepping my story as the game progresses. When I did a Friday football game a week ago, I had my story filed at 10:17, nearly 30 minutes before deadline and the earliest I’ve ever filed. It was probably my best football story, too. I’m hoping that confidence and comfort carry over to basketball season.

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Futbol Americano

October 12, 2009 / DB

Please join me in celebrating Hispanic heritage month. This week, it’s all about el futbol.

A long weekend for el futbol. There was a game of some interest to me Thursday. However, given the math, which seemed to require that I pull for Missouri to beat Nebraska, I stuck with Must See TV and didn’t watch any of the Deluge in Columbia.

Friday, that weather moved into our area. Fortuitously, that just happened to be the night I was assigned to cover my first Friday night futbol game of the year. I had a good assignment, though: traveling to a big school with a very nice, completely enclosed press box. So I stayed warm and dry all night. Until I had to cross the field after the game. I sunk past my ankles into the mud as I chased down the coach. Not sure how those kids kept their footing all night. Midway through the second quarter, I couldn’t read the numbers on the jerseys of any of the backs or receivers on the team wearing white. So I just listened to the PA and radio announcers next to me, and figured whoever they said had the ball would get the carry/catch in the official stats. Oh, and my team lost 34-0, so another ass-whoppin’ when I’m on the job.

Saturday, thanks the glorious Vs. HD, I was able to witness the shootout in Lawrence. As a KU alum and lifetime fan, I will never apologize for or take being 5-0 lightly. More often than not, the Jayhawks would consider 3-2 a great record at this point in the schedule. But one thing was obvious during and after the narrow win over Iowa State: the distance to travel for the Big 12 North title is even farther than most of us had hoped. Unless the defense makes some major changes, there’s no way we’re going to get the sweep of Tech, Nebraska, and Mizzou we need to win the North. As good as the offense is, you can’t ask them to score 40+ every week just to eek out a win. From his post-game comments, Mangino is aware of the issues and may be making some changes this week. It seemed like everyone was kind of standing around on Saturday, rather than being aggressive. Hopefully it is just a matter of making some small tweaks, inserting a couple guys who are highly skilled but have struggled grasping the schemes, and so on that will allow them to keep opponents under 500 yards/game.

The final Iowa State play of the game was nearly a miracle/disaster finish. If Arnaud can throw a better pass (and that was an exceptionally difficult pass, I’m not knocking him at all), it is reminiscent of a certain game-winning pass thrown by a certain quarterback on a certain team that a certain blogger follows closely. Not nearly as cool, of course, but close.

I exchanged e-mails with my friend Sean the Clone throughout the game. I commented that it would really suck to be a defensive player these days. All the rules are against you and for the offense. You have to play these ridiculous schemes that spread the offense across the entire field. Unless you have NFL-caliber speed, it’s very difficult to get to the quarterback. And once you’re spread out and each defender is on an island, any halfway decent quarterback can pick you apart all afternoon. I didn’t keep exact stats, but it felt like only 2-3 incomplete passes in the KU-ISU game were because of the defense. The rest were drops or bad throws. Even with the 4-2-5 scheme becoming more popular, those back five don’t have much of a chance.

As soon as the game was over, I hopped into the car and jetted south to cover a sectional soccer final. It was an entertaining game, ending in a 3-1 win for the favorites. Both teams fall under our coverage umbrella, so it was win-win from a writing perspective. Should the winners win again on Wednesday, I would not be surprised if I cover their regional final next weekend.

More soccer. The US national team played a World Cup qualifier in Honduras late Saturday. Because of some strange rights issues, the game was only available on closed circuit.* Sports Illustrated writer (and KC native) Grant Wahl was in Honduras for the match, though, and offered live updates via his Twitter feed. It was another example of how small the world is, as I got immediate updates on a soccer match via my iPhone. 30 years ago, I might have to wait until Monday morning to see the score in the paper. The US came from behind and got a 3-2 win, securing their trip to next year’s World Cup in South Africa.

(Closed circuit? What is this, 1982? Remember when big boxing matches were on closed circuit and you could go to theaters to watch them?)

Most of Sunday was spent finishing up my soccer story and then keeping the girls occupied. I saw bits of futbol here-and-there, mostly the Denver – New England game. I take back what I said about Seattle’s uniforms two weeks ago: Denver’s AFL throwbacks might be the worst futbol uniforms ever. Then again, they were so bad they were almost good, so perhaps Seattle still holds the title. They did remind me of a uniform I wore in my Taco Bell days. If only we had to wear the vertical-striped socks, too!

Maybe we all over-estimated New England. They certainly don’t play with the same swagger they did two years ago.

A big night for the Colts. I’m not sure how much you can take away from their hot start, given who they’ve played. But, amazingly, the offense looks about as good as it’s ever looked. Big props to everyone for getting Austin Collie and Pierre Garcon integrated into the offense so well and so quickly. The defense is doing some nice things, with a banged up secondary and Bob Sanders yet to play a down. It’s early to be getting excited, but they’re close to wrapping up the division title, and can start worrying about home field in the playoffs soon. I’m not ready to say they’re strong enough on both sides of the ball to make the Super Bowl, but given the topsy-turvy nature of the AFC, anything is possible. If, by some miracle, Pittsburgh and/or San Diego miss the playoffs, I like their chances against any of the other AFC contenders.

As I wrap this up on Monday, I must say I enjoy the Miami alternate orange jerseys. That’s a quality way to incorporate a third color without getting too crazy or altering the overall look of the uniforms.

❖

I Was Ready For Football

September 13, 2009 / DB

A big weekend for football.

Things got started Saturday afternoon, when I headed to Lucas Oil Stadium in downtown Indianapolis to cover my first high school game of the year. On paper, it appeared to be a blowout and, well, the paper did not lie. As usual, the team I was covering was the underdog and got their behinds handed to them. But they’re young and looking for silver linings in every cloud, so the coach was very helpful and full of useful comments afterwards.

I spent most of the game in the press box, which is about the highest vantage point possible in Lucas. In fact, it kind of hangs from the roof rather than sits on top of the deck below. You are way the hell up there, but at least you have a good view. Although there were official stats,* since this was my first game of the year I busted out my stat-keeping system to shake off the rust and be prepared for the night I’m sitting in a high school stadium press box and responsible for every stat myself. There were some tricky moments in the first quarter, but soon I was getting everything down and reasonably close to the official stats.

* The biggest perk for some journalists is that they have access to a hospitality room (i.e. free food). I’ll take official stats over free food every time. My math isn’t always the best.

I headed down to the field midway through the fourth quarter so I could be in position to grab the coach after the game. I made it down in time to be standing on the goal line as my team scored their only touchdown of the game. I went from being as far away as possible, to being about as close as possible without having a uniform on. The change in perspective was kind of jarring.

It was a beautiful day, so the roof was open. It’s an odd roof at Lucas, in that even when open, it still covers most of the seats, but the wall above the north end zone opens completely, so you can look out of the stadium into downtown.

As I headed back to the locker rooms, I literally ran into one of the teams for the next game.* The nightcap was a contest between two perennial 5A powers that are loaded with talent. The team I walked through wears dark purple uniforms, with even darker helmets. I swear every guy on the team was taller than me, and with their pads and helmets on, it was a little intimidating walking through them.

* There were four games in the event.

After doing my interview, I stayed on the sideline for the first quarter of the next game. Talk about a difference. Both teams were loaded with fast, big players, and amped to be on the field. It was a quantum leap up in quality from the game I covered, although I’m sure some of the difference in perspective was due to my closeness to the action.

I think this was the first time I’ve ever been on a Field Turf field. It’s interesting, especially compared to the old Astroturf-styled surfaces. Very soft, almost spongy. It has a wet feel to it, which is strange since I assume the roof at Lucas is closed 90% of the time, so it’s not like it gets soaked every time it rains. To go with that feel, the predominant smell is a musty, wet-cardboard odor. It’s not entirely pleasant. There is also a healthy whiff of warm rubber, since the surface is made from recycled tires and sprinkled with small rubber bits for added cushioning. Unless you’re used to it, you can’t help from continuing to notice those odors, because they’re so counter to the way a football field normally smells: warm, earthy, slightly damp, and above all organic.*

* If only I had more space in my story, I would have described what the field smelled like to my paper’s subscribers. I would have asked players for their views on the subject. “So, you got your asses handed to you, but what about that wet-dog smell?”

So that was fun. Thanks to the beauty of AT&T’s lightning fast 3G network here in Indy,* I was able to track college scores from the press box and on my walk to my car after the game. I was home in time to follow most of the KU game. UTEP seemed kind of scary when the schedule came out. A road, night game against a team that can score a lot of points. When KU has rarely scheduled this kind of opponent in the past, they’ve tended to get their asses handed to them. Thus, this seemed like a big test. Or maybe not. It’s clear UTEP wasn’t as good as advertised, although I think KU’s defense had something to do with that.

* Apparently it pays to live in a medium-sized city. 3G in Indy is awesome. So good I’ve shut off my iPhone’s wifi access completely. Even on my home network, it takes several seconds to connect, so I stick with 3G. I’ve heard less-than-great things about the networks in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York, among other places.

Amazing how much of the post-game discussion centered around how Todd Reesing was off all night. Yet we still racked up over 500 yards of offense. The defense has been solid, and is now getting pressure on the quarterback. The coaching staff showed a willingness to mix things up after some of the breakdowns in week one, and those changes seemed to work. Jake Sharp looks, ahem, sharp. Dezmon Briscoe was back on the field and putting up huge numbers.*

* It’s entirely possible this year’s All-American receivers could be Dezmon Briscoe and Dez Bryant. Briscoe is 6’3’’ 200. Bryant 6’2’’ 215. Both are from Texas. Both are juniors. Both play in the Big 12. Wacky, wild stuff.

A nice win, not unexpected but easier than anticipated. Now we have to be careful not to start looking too far ahead, to say the Oklahoma game, and stub our toes like tOSU did on Saturday.

Onto Sunday and the first full day of NFL action. The Colts opened at home, under an open roof, against nemesis Jacksonville. Yes, all afternoon I kept looking to see where I was standing less than 24 hours earlier and telling the girls all about it. “Daddy was standing right where that cheerleader with the massive fake breasts is standing.”

The good was Joseph Addai running hard again. He didn’t rack up a lot of yards, but he looks like a different back than he did a year ago. The new defensive coordinator is already paying dividends. A blitz on third down? Unheard of in these parts. And it worked! You can’t complain too much about the Tony Dungy era. He did win a Super Bowl. But things had gotten stale, and while Jim Caldwell seems to be very much in the mold of Dungy in terms of personality, mixing things up on the field should pay dividends. Oh, and my man Reggie Wayne is going to have a huge year.

The bad: Anthony Gonzalez collapsing in a heap without being touched. That’s never good. Not being able to tackle Maurice Drew-Jones for the 180th straight game. Not creating consistent space to run on offense.

And of course, since it was a Colts-Jags game, the Colts had to play a little sloppy, the Jags had to hang around, and it looked like Josh Scobee might get a chance to kick his third game-winning field goal in Indianapolis in the last five years. Fortunately the defense held and it never came down to that. 1-0 is a better start than last year.

As I was running some errands Sunday evening, I listened to a local sports talk station. I was amazed that one of the big subjects was Lucas Oil stadium. The hosts and people at the game were complaining that it isn’t nearly as loud as the RCA Dome was and the open roof ruined the game for some. It’s a gorgeous building, designed as it is so that it can be easily adjusted to host the Final Four every fifth year. It has all the amenities you could ask for. And in year two people are turning on it.

It’s funny how many communities have spent loads of money on these fancy new stadiums, built to be luxurious and offer endless outlets for people to spend any money left in their wallets after paying for parking and tickets, and while they end up being wonderful to look at and comfortable, something is lost in the transition.

The RCA Dome wasn’t that old, it’s not like it was Wrigley Field or Fenway Park, but it was small and generic and its upper deck was entirely bleacher seats. People were cramped next to each other. It was hot and ugly and uncomfortable and loud. Lucas is comfortable and pleasant and the sound gets lost in the much higher roof when closed, or escapes to the city when opened. So the team and city got their new jewel, and a Super Bowl in 2011 as reward, but perhaps ruined some of their home field advantage in the process.

Hey, 27 new Peyton Manning commercials. Great.

I’m not sure there will be a better play this year than Brandon Stokley’s game-winning touchdown against Cincinnati. It was so good I sent my brother-in-law in Denver, who is a huge Broncos fan, an email that only said “Holy shit!”

I was feeling a bit under the weather in the afternoon, so I slept through the late games. In the five or so minutes I watched the New York – Washington game, the Giants looked awesome. I’m feeling pretty good about my Super Bowl pick one week in!

The Brett Favre Sears commercial is pretty great. I’m also enjoying Southwest’s “It’s On!” campaign. Genius.

The referees in this Sunday night game could have used a few more preseason games. They’re not in their best form.

Hey, let’s make this a tradition. 1500-2000 words about football every week!

❖

Talking To A Legend

February 17, 2009 / DB

Another effect of being on Facebook: I sometimes forget to post things to the blog. I’ll do a Facebook update and think I’ve covered a topic, when all I did was offer up a blurb that demanded a more in-depth accounting here. Here’s one story I should have shared with you.

The last game I covered was a girls game two weeks ago. I made the short journey to the high school where Eric Montross, Greg Oden, and Michael Conley all played their high school ball. It was pretty cool looking around and seeing the jerseys of guys who have made it to the NBA hanging from the walls.*

(How about Raytown product Tyronn Lue still hanging around in the Association? I thought he was done then heard he got traded last week.)

I sat through the game, did a quick interview, and when I returned to the scorers’ table, all my stuff had been moved and the table put away. I found a folding table near one of the locker rooms and sat down to crank out my story.

About 30 minutes later, the boys team rolled in from their game. I was right outside their locker room, and they were just kind of milling about waiting to see what their coach wanted them to do. I was busy writing, but since they were standing right around me, I was also sneaking glances at them. A full six members of the team have already signed LOIs or committed to play D1 ball.** I was trying to pick out who was who in between sentences.

(Four of the kids are committed to Louisville. Rick Pitino’s been spending some time in Indy, I guess.)

Eventually they got the all-clear and headed out. A few moments later, someone approached me from the locker room doors and asked if I worked for the Indianapolis Star. I told him what paper I worked for, without looking up, and tried to wrap-up my story. The gentleman walked by me and sat down in the first row of bleachers, about five feet away. I forget exactly how it went from there, but we ended up having a 10 minute converstaion while I was doing my final edits and sending the story in. After we had been talking for a moment, I looked up and realized it was the coach of the boys’ team. This isn’t just any coach we’re talking about. Here are a few of his accomplishments: over 500 wins, four state championships, the longest winning streak in Indiana history at 50 games (over the final two years of the Oden-Conley era), and a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. So one of the best coaches in state history, and he’s hanging out, talking to me!

I made a mental note not to say anything stupid.

Before the team arrived, a parent came in and asked me for the girls’ score. He told me the boys had a close game themselves. So naturally I mention this to the coach.

“I hear you had a close one tonight?”

“No, we won by 19.”

Great. Idiot.

Anyway, other than that it was a nice conversation. I felt better about it than my story. It’s not every day you get to talk to a Hall of Famer. Lord knows I would never have chatted up Bud Lathrop back in my KC days.

Speaking of Indiana hoops, some love for the girls. The #1 team in the nation is right here in Indianapolis. Another local team was ranked in the top 15 earlier this year, and a team from South Bend is currently #5. I’m not sure what it is in the water, but it’s not just the boys around here who can hoop. I better get that basket in the driveway soon.