But it is kind of fun to read about. Enjoy.
http://www.bsports.org/fullstory.php?storyid=12372
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Saturday, September 6, 2008
And My Prediction For This Years Champion Is...
... to once again not make a prediction. I have nothing against the predictions or the people who make them. My simple reason for avoiding this is due to what I perceive as a nearly impossible task. Wire to wire winners in high school football happen about as often as the favorites winning the Kentucky Derby. I'm their are many reasons for this that could (and have) spend hours pondering, but I won't get into them.
The only theory I really feel comfortable putting forth is "Lightning in a Bottle." Disapointing to most high school football fans, the theory simply says that there are approximately 20 teams each year that have the potential to hold up the championship trophy in December. The one team that ends up doing does so for a number of reasons. They range anywhere from upsets, teams peaking too early or at just the right time, or simply epiphanies. In addition to these reasons, there are many other ones which I either have or have not thought of.
Of the 20 teams that I believe have the potential to win the state championship, I'm confident that I can name about 15 of them in a given year. The rest emerge as the season progresses. When one of these 5 teams occaisionally emerge to win the championship, they usually begin their celebration be saying something to the effect of, "No one thought we could do it, but we did!" They're usually right.
Last season is the perfect example of this. At the end of the regular season, I was predicting that Lewis & Clark would continue its winless streak in the playoffs. By the time they had beaten up Woodinville, I was predicting them to win it all. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I was elated at being wrong on the former prediction. The Tigers are a team that would qualify in the "epiphany" department. At halftime of their last regular season game against Gonzaga Prep, Coach Yearout gave his team a speech that turned their whole season around.
As thrilled as I was to see LC win last years title, I was even moreso back in 1988 when Ingraham pulled in off. As happy as I was, though, I have no problem analyzing what took place that season objectively. In doing this, I'd have to say that Ingraham wasn't even close to being the best team in the state that year. Both Puyallup and Gonzaga Prep were loaded with Division 1 talent that year, but chose to play their worst game of the year in the playoffs. When some of Kentwood's key player that included their quarterback (Alex Rivas) and star running back (Derek Baker) were caught around dope a couple of days before the state championship game, the Rams' path to the championship couldn't have gone any smoother. Having grown up and gone to school with many of the members of that team, I was as happy as anyone. Ingraham is a team that I would categorize as winning due to upsets.
There are several teams that qualify in the "peaked at just the right time" category. They are teams that I saw play earlier in the season, and wrote off as having any chance of winning a state championship. Newport in qualifies here. I watched their regular season game against Bellevue, in addition to some of their uninspiring playoff games that year. The combination of that, in addition to their lackluster performance in the 1990 title game, led me to giving their chances at winning the title somewhere between slim and none. Unbeknownest to anyone else, I was privvy to some inside info that Slim had recently left town. With no warning whatsoever, Slim and a bunch of his friends slipped into town on December 5th as Newport not only won the state championship, but did so in one of most dominant fashions I've ever seen.
In addition to these 3 categories there are also teams that fall into more than one of them. In what I consider a humbling experience, I'm certain there are also multiple teams that qualify in a multitude of different categories that I haven't even thought of.
What's the point of all this? I guess there are 2 things that I'm trying to communicate. #1 is that I'm a windbag who loves see hear the sound of my own voice. #2, and most importantly, high school football is here again. It's going to be another great season. Let's all have some fun and watch it unfold!
For anyone looking to see what's happening in different parts of the part, here's some good links.
Seattle/King & Snohomish County
Pierce County
Vancouver area
Tri Cities, Walla Walla, Moses Lake, and Wenatchee
Spokane
The only theory I really feel comfortable putting forth is "Lightning in a Bottle." Disapointing to most high school football fans, the theory simply says that there are approximately 20 teams each year that have the potential to hold up the championship trophy in December. The one team that ends up doing does so for a number of reasons. They range anywhere from upsets, teams peaking too early or at just the right time, or simply epiphanies. In addition to these reasons, there are many other ones which I either have or have not thought of.
Of the 20 teams that I believe have the potential to win the state championship, I'm confident that I can name about 15 of them in a given year. The rest emerge as the season progresses. When one of these 5 teams occaisionally emerge to win the championship, they usually begin their celebration be saying something to the effect of, "No one thought we could do it, but we did!" They're usually right.
Last season is the perfect example of this. At the end of the regular season, I was predicting that Lewis & Clark would continue its winless streak in the playoffs. By the time they had beaten up Woodinville, I was predicting them to win it all. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I was elated at being wrong on the former prediction. The Tigers are a team that would qualify in the "epiphany" department. At halftime of their last regular season game against Gonzaga Prep, Coach Yearout gave his team a speech that turned their whole season around.
As thrilled as I was to see LC win last years title, I was even moreso back in 1988 when Ingraham pulled in off. As happy as I was, though, I have no problem analyzing what took place that season objectively. In doing this, I'd have to say that Ingraham wasn't even close to being the best team in the state that year. Both Puyallup and Gonzaga Prep were loaded with Division 1 talent that year, but chose to play their worst game of the year in the playoffs. When some of Kentwood's key player that included their quarterback (Alex Rivas) and star running back (Derek Baker) were caught around dope a couple of days before the state championship game, the Rams' path to the championship couldn't have gone any smoother. Having grown up and gone to school with many of the members of that team, I was as happy as anyone. Ingraham is a team that I would categorize as winning due to upsets.
There are several teams that qualify in the "peaked at just the right time" category. They are teams that I saw play earlier in the season, and wrote off as having any chance of winning a state championship. Newport in qualifies here. I watched their regular season game against Bellevue, in addition to some of their uninspiring playoff games that year. The combination of that, in addition to their lackluster performance in the 1990 title game, led me to giving their chances at winning the title somewhere between slim and none. Unbeknownest to anyone else, I was privvy to some inside info that Slim had recently left town. With no warning whatsoever, Slim and a bunch of his friends slipped into town on December 5th as Newport not only won the state championship, but did so in one of most dominant fashions I've ever seen.
In addition to these 3 categories there are also teams that fall into more than one of them. In what I consider a humbling experience, I'm certain there are also multiple teams that qualify in a multitude of different categories that I haven't even thought of.
What's the point of all this? I guess there are 2 things that I'm trying to communicate. #1 is that I'm a windbag who loves see hear the sound of my own voice. #2, and most importantly, high school football is here again. It's going to be another great season. Let's all have some fun and watch it unfold!
For anyone looking to see what's happening in different parts of the part, here's some good links.
Seattle/King & Snohomish County
Pierce County
Vancouver area
Tri Cities, Walla Walla, Moses Lake, and Wenatchee
Spokane
Sunday, August 10, 2008
This Really Stinks.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/reneferran/story/264861.html
It looks like the playoff tournament is reverting back to the old format in high school football. That obviously means that we could potentially have seasons like 1997 all over again. It also eliminates the possibility of having a scenario like we almost had last year where we were potentially one bad snap from having 2 Spokane schools play for the state championship.
For the time being, there is now a very good chance that the state championship will not take place in December under the revised playoff format that the WIAA has constructed.
It looks like the playoff tournament is reverting back to the old format in high school football. That obviously means that we could potentially have seasons like 1997 all over again. It also eliminates the possibility of having a scenario like we almost had last year where we were potentially one bad snap from having 2 Spokane schools play for the state championship.
For the time being, there is now a very good chance that the state championship will not take place in December under the revised playoff format that the WIAA has constructed.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
A Brief Preview of the Big 9.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/1247/story/218607.html
Here's a brief look at some of the Big 9 teams right before school lets out by Rene Ferran (IMO, one of the best prep writers in the state).
I'm still not sure how the post season allocations will play out between the Big 9 and GSL in October, and that will go a long way in determining how well both leagues fare in the post season. I'm still taking the position that the Big 9 hurt more than it helped the kids by forcing the Kennewick schools to opt up.
Here's a brief look at some of the Big 9 teams right before school lets out by Rene Ferran (IMO, one of the best prep writers in the state).
I'm still not sure how the post season allocations will play out between the Big 9 and GSL in October, and that will go a long way in determining how well both leagues fare in the post season. I'm still taking the position that the Big 9 hurt more than it helped the kids by forcing the Kennewick schools to opt up.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Friday, May 30, 2008
Let's put this one behind us.
It would be a colossal understatement to say that this was a bad year for the WIAA. As I pointed out earlier, they totally blew the situation regarding Archbishop Murphy's football team having to forfeit all of their games. Even more embarrassing was this situation the took place at the state track meet last weekend. The two most obvious reasons why this decision should be overturned is one, the paper work describing the penalty is full of errors and should therefore be invalid. The second, and most important one, is that the competitors had the common sense to see the erroneous judgement (long before the video confirmed it), and correct the matter themselves.
The WIAA certainly has made its share of mistakes in the past. On the whole, I think any objective observer would ascertain that the overall positives far outweigh the negatives. Hopefully this is simply just a bad year, and they can learn from their mistakes. Maybe we can all do that.
The WIAA certainly has made its share of mistakes in the past. On the whole, I think any objective observer would ascertain that the overall positives far outweigh the negatives. Hopefully this is simply just a bad year, and they can learn from their mistakes. Maybe we can all do that.
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