Forget about March Madness and deep tournament runs, no local basketball teams will be making any kind of splash at the state tournaments coming up. The last flicker of playoff hope was unapologetically snuffed out on Thursday night when the Molalla girls lost to visiting North Marion.
What are we to do on Tuesday and Friday nights?
Take a deep breath and ready ourselves for a new season I guess.
Before we move on however, it is important that we look back and give props to the fans.
On Thursday night there was a energetic home crowd dolled up in Indian orange and black filling Capasso Court with inspired noise. They brought out the foam fingers and face paint and while their team didn’t win, they made their presence known.
Then there were the Country Christian fans; these guys really got fired up. They filled the decibel level of the home gym to the top every night. I don’t know how a guy can make two pressure-packed free throws in the first place, but ad the screaming and jawing of a good fan base and then it really gets interesting. Country Christian is the type of place where even the grandparents are joining in on the “Cougar power, over power!” chants.
Not to be outdone, the fans down the road in Colton could really make things uncomfortable for opposing teams. Not uncomfortable in the way that it is uncomfortable when a guy at the Y chooses to undress in the locker directly next to you when every other locker in the place is open, but more uncomfortable in the sense that you didn’t know whether to shoot the ball or cover your ears or run and hide.
In the Colton boys’ nail biter lose to visiting Amity opposing fans began the rumblings of a rebel cheer—that is until Colton fans, including many moms, countered back to drown out the visitors.
Most championship teams have a few things in common; one of them is a great fan base. There was Blazer Mania 20 years ago and there are the Cameron Crazies of today. Molalla has got good fans already, now if the rest will just fall into place.
The love you give comes back in the end.
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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Monday, February 19, 2007
Stupid Cupid
Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and I am left with the parting shadows of two potentially sweetheart seasons that never ended up materializing.
The Colton boys basketball team and the Country Christian girls team were two clubs that had you wishing things could have turned out differently. Both teams ended their season in close games to teams they could have beaten if the cards were laid out just a little differently.
Both the teams played on last Tuesday night and had me up late clicking refresh on my computer, just hoping that my heart would not be broken on the day of roses and chocolates.
Sadly, cupid’s arrow did not bring the Vikings or the Cougars into an affair with an extended playoff run.
Stupid cupid, work on your aim.
The Vikings lost five games this season decided by four points or less. They had me rooting, fingers and even toes crossed, that somehow they would turn that corner and come out on the upside of a close game or two.
The Cougars, on the other hand, were a team whose annual rise, from struggling to win a game two years ago to a team that made it to the Casco playoffs and challenged Perrydale for a state playoff spot, had you rooting for the underdog. They played the game the right way, hard and fast, and just found themselves running into the slow-it-down Pirates.
As it happened, neither team was meant to be.
Before Valentine’s Day came, I was hoping to have a couple of sweetheart seasons to follow, a couple of teams that you really cared about running in the postseason, but it was not meant to be. This day of Hallmark love has never worked out for me, so I don’t know why I was expecting anything different. That doesn’t mean I won’t be doing the same thing next year; holding my breath and hoping that my sweetheart comes through.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
The Colton boys basketball team and the Country Christian girls team were two clubs that had you wishing things could have turned out differently. Both teams ended their season in close games to teams they could have beaten if the cards were laid out just a little differently.
Both the teams played on last Tuesday night and had me up late clicking refresh on my computer, just hoping that my heart would not be broken on the day of roses and chocolates.
Sadly, cupid’s arrow did not bring the Vikings or the Cougars into an affair with an extended playoff run.
Stupid cupid, work on your aim.
The Vikings lost five games this season decided by four points or less. They had me rooting, fingers and even toes crossed, that somehow they would turn that corner and come out on the upside of a close game or two.
The Cougars, on the other hand, were a team whose annual rise, from struggling to win a game two years ago to a team that made it to the Casco playoffs and challenged Perrydale for a state playoff spot, had you rooting for the underdog. They played the game the right way, hard and fast, and just found themselves running into the slow-it-down Pirates.
As it happened, neither team was meant to be.
Before Valentine’s Day came, I was hoping to have a couple of sweetheart seasons to follow, a couple of teams that you really cared about running in the postseason, but it was not meant to be. This day of Hallmark love has never worked out for me, so I don’t know why I was expecting anything different. That doesn’t mean I won’t be doing the same thing next year; holding my breath and hoping that my sweetheart comes through.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
Monday, February 12, 2007
Wrestlemania
Coming into my new job I knew nothing about wrestling. It sat as some vague idea in the corner of my mind; I knew more about the WWF than I did about legitimate wrestling—and I was pretty sure that slamming metal chairs across opponents back was not a part of prep wrestling.
It was my lack of knowledge on the subject that made me less-than-thrilled about having to report on an event that I knew almost nothing about.
What I didn't know is that wrestling basically writes itself.
Here are two competitors matched head-to-head. As simple as this concept sounds, it is rarer than one might think. Instead of having a ball flinging around or a body of water to swim through, the object of this sport is to pin a guy to the ground who is trying to do the exact same thing to you.
Talk about drama–this sport has it all. Strength, skill and speed. The anguish of defeat written out in the expressions of the losers, and the fluid grace of a wrestler at the top of his craft, pinning another on his way to victory.
I was a swimmer in high school. Back then, I thought to myself, "well it is just me against the other guys." However that was not entirely true. I was racing to beat a time and to set a record.
In wrestling, you are basically trying to get through another guy. Never mind times or records–the only thing that matters is if you have enough in you to pin the other guy down to the mat.
I tried wrestling once, I think I was nine years old, and I got creamed. For some reason I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and the other guy just grabbed and yanked me around for a while. I had no idea of what I was supposed to do. What I remember from then and what I see now are the same thing: wrestling is hard.
More power to those who can do it.
Each sport has its own criticisms and saving grace. In basketball there is the beauty of team ball, the fluid passing and stifling presses. In swimming there is the ridiculous efficiency needed in each stroke and flip turn– and the unparalleled conditioning that is needed to compete in the long events.
Wrestling has a simple beauty, one of stripped down and raw competition. Take another guy down.
For me, this past month of watching Molalla and Colton compete has taken wrestling out of the corner of my mind, dusted it off and placed it on the shelf next to the other sports I already appreciate and enjoy.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
It was my lack of knowledge on the subject that made me less-than-thrilled about having to report on an event that I knew almost nothing about.
What I didn't know is that wrestling basically writes itself.
Here are two competitors matched head-to-head. As simple as this concept sounds, it is rarer than one might think. Instead of having a ball flinging around or a body of water to swim through, the object of this sport is to pin a guy to the ground who is trying to do the exact same thing to you.
Talk about drama–this sport has it all. Strength, skill and speed. The anguish of defeat written out in the expressions of the losers, and the fluid grace of a wrestler at the top of his craft, pinning another on his way to victory.
I was a swimmer in high school. Back then, I thought to myself, "well it is just me against the other guys." However that was not entirely true. I was racing to beat a time and to set a record.
In wrestling, you are basically trying to get through another guy. Never mind times or records–the only thing that matters is if you have enough in you to pin the other guy down to the mat.
I tried wrestling once, I think I was nine years old, and I got creamed. For some reason I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt and the other guy just grabbed and yanked me around for a while. I had no idea of what I was supposed to do. What I remember from then and what I see now are the same thing: wrestling is hard.
More power to those who can do it.
Each sport has its own criticisms and saving grace. In basketball there is the beauty of team ball, the fluid passing and stifling presses. In swimming there is the ridiculous efficiency needed in each stroke and flip turn– and the unparalleled conditioning that is needed to compete in the long events.
Wrestling has a simple beauty, one of stripped down and raw competition. Take another guy down.
For me, this past month of watching Molalla and Colton compete has taken wrestling out of the corner of my mind, dusted it off and placed it on the shelf next to the other sports I already appreciate and enjoy.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Everything is Going Green
Well, the future is here. Technology is changing our lives. It changed mine this weekend.
My friend let me use his hybrid gas-electric car while he went to Arizona for a few days.
It was a light, pastel blue with enough windows to be a greenhouse. It looked like a car a stuffed animal would take on his morning commute.
"Yeah, sure," I thought, "thanks for the offer anyway."
The morning we were set to leave we took his car to the airport. We walked out to where it was parked, glistening in the rain, its pastel paint looking like an Easter egg in the intense green and wet of the northwest, and we climbed in.
My friend went to start the car but he was missing something; his key chain lacked a key. Never mind the new-found dilemma of what we are all going to call key chains when everything opens with small, black electronic devices that flash and beep, lets just focus on the fact that there was no turning involved in turning on his car.
Should we celebrate for the wrist muscles that will not need to strain themselves when starting our cars? Or should we morn for the piles of unused words that are being blown into obscurity by advancement?
I don't care. I don't care because the whole thing was just so cool.
The thing started by pressing a power button that looked like it came off of your vacuum cleaner. There was a screen in the dashboard that told us just exactly what was happening with the spinning gears and beeping computers below our seats and in the hood.
By the time I had seen my friend off at the terminal I could not wait to get behind the wheel. I waved goodbye and put the hybrid into gear–or the "on" position–or whatever, the point is I started going.
I buzzed around town and got some errands done and while I was going the display showed me exactly how much power I was using, how much I was charging the battery and what gas-mileage I was getting. Little symbols, much like badges awarded to boy-scouts, flashed on the screen at certain times. I never figured out exactly what they were for but they looked like leaves, and everyone likes to get badges.
At a stop sign the car turned off. That is right, it just turned off. My initial reaction was to worry that I had just killed the engine with a poor shift. I hurried to find the clutch pedal with my foot and I glanced to my rear-view mirror to see if I was holding up traffic. Then I remembered that I was driving an automatic hybrid. I tentatively pushed on the "gas" and sure enough, the car moved forward smoothly and silently. It was using its electric engine.
I felt like I was skating across the asphalt. I felt like rolling down my window at every stop sign to explain to the driver next to me not to worry because it was a hybrid, and the engine would turn off from time to time to conserve gas.
By the time that my friend came back to Portland I thought that his car was sleekly shaped with the benefit of many cool, futuristic windows. Plus, pastel blue is the new rugged black, right?
Our surroundings are shifting all around us because of technology–it has certainly shifted mine. Suddenly cutting down on air pollution is easier and starts by inserting a small black electronic device and pressing a power button.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
My friend let me use his hybrid gas-electric car while he went to Arizona for a few days.
It was a light, pastel blue with enough windows to be a greenhouse. It looked like a car a stuffed animal would take on his morning commute.
"Yeah, sure," I thought, "thanks for the offer anyway."
The morning we were set to leave we took his car to the airport. We walked out to where it was parked, glistening in the rain, its pastel paint looking like an Easter egg in the intense green and wet of the northwest, and we climbed in.
My friend went to start the car but he was missing something; his key chain lacked a key. Never mind the new-found dilemma of what we are all going to call key chains when everything opens with small, black electronic devices that flash and beep, lets just focus on the fact that there was no turning involved in turning on his car.
Should we celebrate for the wrist muscles that will not need to strain themselves when starting our cars? Or should we morn for the piles of unused words that are being blown into obscurity by advancement?
I don't care. I don't care because the whole thing was just so cool.
The thing started by pressing a power button that looked like it came off of your vacuum cleaner. There was a screen in the dashboard that told us just exactly what was happening with the spinning gears and beeping computers below our seats and in the hood.
By the time I had seen my friend off at the terminal I could not wait to get behind the wheel. I waved goodbye and put the hybrid into gear–or the "on" position–or whatever, the point is I started going.
I buzzed around town and got some errands done and while I was going the display showed me exactly how much power I was using, how much I was charging the battery and what gas-mileage I was getting. Little symbols, much like badges awarded to boy-scouts, flashed on the screen at certain times. I never figured out exactly what they were for but they looked like leaves, and everyone likes to get badges.
At a stop sign the car turned off. That is right, it just turned off. My initial reaction was to worry that I had just killed the engine with a poor shift. I hurried to find the clutch pedal with my foot and I glanced to my rear-view mirror to see if I was holding up traffic. Then I remembered that I was driving an automatic hybrid. I tentatively pushed on the "gas" and sure enough, the car moved forward smoothly and silently. It was using its electric engine.
I felt like I was skating across the asphalt. I felt like rolling down my window at every stop sign to explain to the driver next to me not to worry because it was a hybrid, and the engine would turn off from time to time to conserve gas.
By the time that my friend came back to Portland I thought that his car was sleekly shaped with the benefit of many cool, futuristic windows. Plus, pastel blue is the new rugged black, right?
Our surroundings are shifting all around us because of technology–it has certainly shifted mine. Suddenly cutting down on air pollution is easier and starts by inserting a small black electronic device and pressing a power button.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Let it Snow
Kids were throwing snow balls rather than basketballs and building up snowmen rather than their muscles all last week as a flurry of ice and snow forced many schools to cancel many of their practices and games. In a time when many local teams are pushing for a surge into the post-season the loss of valuable gym time was a legitimate concern.
"We only practiced but once last week," Molalla girls’ basketball head coach Ray Williams said. For a team that is young and not used to extended hiatus in play it might have been a contributing factor in their loss on Friday to Cascade.
As the cold white flakes piled up all around Molalla and the surrounding areas teams were forced to reschedule games where they could and it forced them into back-to-back situations. The boys and girls teams from Colton and Country Christian played on Friday and Saturday nights. The Country Christian Girls did not get back from their game on Friday night against Jewel until close to 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning–less than 16 hours before tip-off time with C.S. Lewis.
"My girls were tired, they were just dying on the bus ride over," Country Christian girls basketball head coach Russell Halverson said of their game Saturday night at George Fox University.
With the short notice of rescheduled games–sometimes only three days before the games–some local players could not get out of work shifts. Country Christian was missing two regular starters at game-time on Saturday as well as a primary rotation player from off of the bench.
Colton wrestling lost some practices all together and were missing members of the team for others as some wrestlers could not make it in to practice. This meant that the team did not have enough bodies to match-up kids in practice, and all of this less than a month before the state meet is set to begin.
"I told the kids to come in only if they could make it in safely," Colton head wrestling coach Kerry Benthin said. The Viking wrestlers were forced to have their Thursday meet on Friday and because the Colton basketball teams were using the high school gym. They held the three-way dual at the middle school instead.
As the snow and ice melt from cars’ roofs and rain gutters’ edges some kids were able to nurse lingering injuries in the unexpected midweek vacation. It allowed a much-needed breather from the daily wear and tear of daily practice.
"It gave some kids with ankle injuries a chance to recover a little bit," Country Christian boys basketball head coach Doug Nofziger said.
Colton boys’ head basketball coach Greg Adams was more concerned with the mental setback it would have on his team rather than the physical. His team, which had won all five close-game situations it faced previously in the season, dropped two games to Sheridan and Gervais by four points or less.
In those situations it is execution that is the most important aspect of play, something that is instilled in practice time.
In Colton's Friday night game against Gervais, Adams drew up a last second play for a three-pointer when the Vikings were only down by two points.
"I told the kids, 'maybe the time off had an effect on me as well,'" Adams said.
By the time that Adams noticed the fact that they were only down by two points it was too late and so they went with a three-point shot that they subsequently missed and lost the game.
In a time when most local teams are focusing on fundamentals for late-season surges the Molalla area was jammed into a snow globe and shook up in winter weather. Kids were slipping on the ice rather than sliding into screens and pinning little brothers into the snow rather than opponents on the mat.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
"We only practiced but once last week," Molalla girls’ basketball head coach Ray Williams said. For a team that is young and not used to extended hiatus in play it might have been a contributing factor in their loss on Friday to Cascade.
As the cold white flakes piled up all around Molalla and the surrounding areas teams were forced to reschedule games where they could and it forced them into back-to-back situations. The boys and girls teams from Colton and Country Christian played on Friday and Saturday nights. The Country Christian Girls did not get back from their game on Friday night against Jewel until close to 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning–less than 16 hours before tip-off time with C.S. Lewis.
"My girls were tired, they were just dying on the bus ride over," Country Christian girls basketball head coach Russell Halverson said of their game Saturday night at George Fox University.
With the short notice of rescheduled games–sometimes only three days before the games–some local players could not get out of work shifts. Country Christian was missing two regular starters at game-time on Saturday as well as a primary rotation player from off of the bench.
Colton wrestling lost some practices all together and were missing members of the team for others as some wrestlers could not make it in to practice. This meant that the team did not have enough bodies to match-up kids in practice, and all of this less than a month before the state meet is set to begin.
"I told the kids to come in only if they could make it in safely," Colton head wrestling coach Kerry Benthin said. The Viking wrestlers were forced to have their Thursday meet on Friday and because the Colton basketball teams were using the high school gym. They held the three-way dual at the middle school instead.
As the snow and ice melt from cars’ roofs and rain gutters’ edges some kids were able to nurse lingering injuries in the unexpected midweek vacation. It allowed a much-needed breather from the daily wear and tear of daily practice.
"It gave some kids with ankle injuries a chance to recover a little bit," Country Christian boys basketball head coach Doug Nofziger said.
Colton boys’ head basketball coach Greg Adams was more concerned with the mental setback it would have on his team rather than the physical. His team, which had won all five close-game situations it faced previously in the season, dropped two games to Sheridan and Gervais by four points or less.
In those situations it is execution that is the most important aspect of play, something that is instilled in practice time.
In Colton's Friday night game against Gervais, Adams drew up a last second play for a three-pointer when the Vikings were only down by two points.
"I told the kids, 'maybe the time off had an effect on me as well,'" Adams said.
By the time that Adams noticed the fact that they were only down by two points it was too late and so they went with a three-point shot that they subsequently missed and lost the game.
In a time when most local teams are focusing on fundamentals for late-season surges the Molalla area was jammed into a snow globe and shook up in winter weather. Kids were slipping on the ice rather than sliding into screens and pinning little brothers into the snow rather than opponents on the mat.
The love you give comes back in the end.
--------------------------------------------------------
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