Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue VIII

2/28/2005

Far be it from me to complain about a team with a losing record not making the playoffs. If you are new to my writings you should know that every football season prior to the playoffs I analyze the WPIAL bracket and moan about how many 4-5 (or worse!) teams are in the postseason.

However, with their loss to Johnstown on Saturday, Indian Valley finished their 2004-05 season with an 11-16 mark. Hardly the stuff champions are made of. Don’t tell that to them though, as they played Cinderella by upsetting both Central Cambria and Bellefonte. It just happened to turn to midnight on them when they met up with JHS.

What’s my point, right? Well, if this were a year ago, the Warriors would be getting ready to take on a WPIAL team (most likely the #3 seed) in the first round of PIAA interdistrict play. Also, two teams with much better win-loss records, Bellefonte and Forest Hills, would likely have played a consolation game in order to qualify for the PIAA playoffs. They too would have been playing a WPIAL squad, most likely their #2 seed.

Not this year though, as only the District 6-AAA champion qualified for the state playoffs. So JHS goes on but two other good teams go home or get ready for baseball or track. What happened in a matter of one year that the 6-AAA goes from three qualifiers to one?

District 3 has 7 qualifiers, up one from a year ago and deservedly so as it’s a much larger district. The WPIAL, or District 7, is actually down one team. They qualify six teams at AAA this season. District 10 is also down a seed from a year ago, qualifying 3 squads. Just as a year ago, Districts 8 (Pittsburgh City League) and 9 (North Central PA) qualify only their champion.

A Western Pennsylvania bias might be quick to blame the admittance of Philadelphia Public League schools into the PIAA as the culprit but no dice. Must of the schools in the pub are AAAA, only one squad, Bok, qualified in the PIAA AAA bracket. The Allentown area, District 11 is sending one more team than a year ago. D11 will have 2 squads in the AAA bracket.

Clearly it’s a numbers game, and when your district only has eight teams that play at a classification and seven of them qualify for the playoffs it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense qualify nearly half your members for the state playoffs.

However, I would argue that it’s a hard sell for the individual coaches and players that work so hard. What the 6-AAA scene lacks in numbers it makes up in area. Had the first, second and third teams qualified this year, they would be representing Cambria, Mifflin and possibly Centre County. Those aren’t exactly neighboring counties.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, it’s a moot point for me as the Trojans are the district champs. However, with enrollment figures dwindling in the Laurel Highlands, it is most likely that at some point in the future it will be Johnstown that is froze out of the opportunity of playing in the state tournament.

LOOKING AHEAD: Most pundits would agree that JHS is the clear favorite in their game with Elizabeth Forward this Friday night. If that pans out, Johnstown fans have a chance to see the premier player in the western part of the state in Yough’s Ben McCauley. The 6-8 senior is heading to North Carolina State to continue his career. The Cougars are 19-8 and coming off a loss to Moon in the WPIAL finals over the weekend at the A.J. Palumbo Center. They are taking on the District 10 runner-up Grove City (19-7) on Friday at Plum High School at 7:30 p.m. If Yough wins, they would play the winner of the JHS-EF game on Tuesday, March 8 at a site to be determined.

If JHS would win two contests, the bracket would have them playing someone from a eastern district. A team from either District 4 (Milton), District 2 (West Scranton), District 3 (West York) or District 11 (Blue Mountain) will advance to the round of eight and drop to the western half of the bracket in AAA.

Doug Keklak can be reached at trojannation@yahoo.com.

This article can also be read at the Trojan Nation website. Don't forget to check out the all-new Trojan Nation Message Board as well.

Trojan Nation content

Sorry gang, this info was posted last night, just didn't get a chance to send the e-mail notification out.

New Weekly Roundup:http://trojannation.tripod.com/id144.html

Also, brand new feature, the Trojan Nation Message Board. I have the URL posted both in the Weekly Roundup Article as well as the homepage, but if you don't get a chance to get to those, here's the URL:
http://www.voy.com/192029/

And look for updates during the basketball playoffs at the SW PA Sports Blog on PennLive at: http://www.pennlive.com/weblogs/swfootball/

Also, if anyone has any problem navigating the Trojan Nation main site please let me know. I have been having difficulties with my browser freezing up. I am going to contact Tripod to see what the deal is. If anyone has similar things happening please let me know.

Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue VII

I for one believe that the NBA Slam Dunk contest is back. And who needs the big names when you've got the originality that was on display Saturday night in Denver. I loved Steve Nash showing off his soccer past in helping teammate Amare Stoudamire with some really neat dunks but nothing was cooler than Josh Smith donning the Dominique Wilkins throwback for his winning dunk. Here's a cool link: it gives you winners of all past dunk contests. Might be nice for future reference purposes.

NASCAR is back and better than ever after a great kickoff to the '05 campaign. Jeff Gordon found victory lane and less boos than normal. I guess the rednex "hatee du jour" is Kurt Busch these days!!!!

The District 5-6 PIAA basketball season is in full swing, peep the Southwest PA Blog on PennLive for the latest.

Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue VI

Sean Miller was back in the Burgh yesterday as his Xavier basketball team took care of Duquesne 83-72 at the Palumbo Center. Yes, the WPIAL finals will be the first time this year that any competitive basketball will be played at that building. Heck, the Pittsburgh Piranhas of the CBA were probably the last competitive squad that played there. I feel for Danny Nee, every time the program seems to take a step forward, it takes ten back.

More on college hoops: Ron Cook just continues to not get it. He claimed both in a PG column yesterday as well as on the #1 Cochran Showdown on KDKA that he couldn't believe that Jamie Dixon benched Chris Taft and that Pitt couldn't win down the stretch without Taft in the lineup. In his defense, Cook stated that he isn't at odds with Dixon's decision, it's just that he can't believe he had the guts to pull it off. Taft has been a no-show this year for Pitt. Everytime they talk about this guy being a lottery pick, his game disappears. Gray and Kendall are playing much better and Troutman is the star of that team, not Taft. I disagree that the Panthers can't go far without a strong Taft. They took care of a pretty good Notre Dame team in the second half without him. We'll see tonight how #23 reacts. Syracuse away is a tough game, we'll see if he's stands up to the challenge.

I'm normally not a big Pro Bowl fan, but I thought I'd take some of the game in what with the Steeler presence both on the field and sidelines. I wasn't disappointed as I saw Hines Ward get two exciting touchdowns. The AFC rolled.

The Johnstown Chiefs' playoff hopes right now are slim and none. They dropped a game to Peoria yesterday 7-1. They are two spots away from the fourth and final berth in their division and the rest of the year is playing out the string and evaluating talent.

For those of you missing hockey, fear not, the AHL All-Star game is on ESPN2 tonight at 7:00.
Yes, I watched the Jose Canseco piece on 60 Minutes last night. And while I think a lot of what he says is true, Jose still has major credibility issues. The guy writes in his book that he injected McGwire numerous times and Mike Wallace calls him out on it after he says it was only once or twice. Hey Jose, proofread what you wrote before the big interview OK? The timing of BALCO has been the greatest thing for this book. He's acting like he's breaking a story. Had it not been for BALCO there would be no audience for his book. As for the book, like I've told a few family members, I'm intrigued to read, however I won't spend a dime on it. Apparently eight other people feel the same way as I'm ninth on the list to get the book at the Carnegie Library System!

The Grammy Awards Show was last night and although I despise award shows I was somewhat surprised at all the music I own that won awards. Kayne West, Alicia Keys, Maroon 5, Usher and Jay-Z right off the top of my head. Pittsburgh's Nancy Wilson took home the Grammy for jazz vocal album with her "R.S.V.P. (Rare Songs, Very Personal)".

My favorite issue of Parade Magazine was inserted in my Sunday paper yesterday. No, it's not the high school football All-American team as you might expect. It's the Top Ten Dictators issue. It's especially relevant this year as "President" Bush (thanks Ohio) has put an all-out assault on ending tyranny around the globe. As I'm reading, I'm assuming we'll be going to war with Sudan, North Korea, Burma, China, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea. Of course we all know that the only real possibly of war with any of the above nations is North Korea.

Tina Fey had a great joke during Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. In making fun of people coming forward testifying that Michael Jackson never molested them she announced that she was going to testify for Robert Blake because he never murdered her!

Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue V

I guess I won't talk much about the Super Bowl since I didn't make a prediction and every other media outlet and form as overkilled it by now. Congrads Patriots on being a full-fledged dynasty. Great shot of Bellichick hugging his two, soon-to-be ex-coordinators (Weis and Crenell) after the game.

There was a lot of whining in the Pittsburgh media and callers of talk shows around town regarding Central Catholic's Eugene Jarvis. The fact of the matter is Jarvis had offers from Pitt and WVU and he wasn't quick enough to commit. Too bad. Signing came and went and Jarvis is going to Akron. He'll be a good fit at Akron. And by the way, don't sleep on the Zips, they are an up-and-comer in the MAC. J.D. Brookhart had a great recruiting class, picking up Jarvis and stealing Bishop McCort Tight End Jose Cruz away from North Carolina. In addition, Kevin Garner (DE/LB, 6'2", 225) out of West Mifflin was also a good pick up. All in all, the Zips will be getting 6 WPIAL guys from last Wednesday's signing day. No shame going to the smaller school, as Woodland Hills grad and current Miami Dolphin Jason Williams will tell you. Williams played his ball collegiately at Akron.

I am upset with the fact that many are jumping on the fact that Pitt took LaRod Stephens over Jarvis because they are similar in stature. I think time will tell that Pitt got the better guy. Even when JHS was a WPIAL member, the Pittsburgh media didn't bother going over the mountain to see what was going on in the J-town area. Their loss I guess.
In all fairness, I do have to give props to WPXI. They led their coverage of Pitt's recruiting day with a nice run by LaRod at Trojan Stadium for a touchdown. Fedko never mentioned him by name, but it was nice seeing the columbia blue and black on TV in Pittsburgh.

With the Arena Football peeps out there, here's an amazing stat: over the weekend Joe Hamilton (Georgia Tech) became the first person in the history of the AFL to rush for 100 yards! Not only that, but the previous record was 91 and it was set by Major Harris (WVU) in 1991! I know it's a passing league but my God!

Do yourself a favor and don't try the new Green Apple flavor gum by Extra. It is terrible!
And in other snack news, pass on the Rosemary and Olive Oil Triscuits unless you're looking for a cracker that tastes like Stove Top Stuffing!