Blanchard River Buzz

A blog for rabid sports fans in the Findlay Area. Maintained by Findlay Courier sports writer Jamie Baker. The opinions expressed are my own crazed ramblings and not those of my employer the Findlay Publishing Company and its subsidiaries.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Frozen Easter of 2007

Hope everyone out there had a very Hoppy Easter!
I took a few days off from work to enjoy myself outside who knew it was going to be the great Frozen Easter of 2007.
OK I’ll admit it sometimes I write “over the top.”
But I’ve been saving this for a rainy day. But since there have been plenty of snowy days as of late that will suffice.
Someone asked me once why we don’t cover the all-star basketball games around the area. Well one of the reasons is that, honestly, they aren’t really all-star games anymore.
Fostoria Boosters, BG Sentinel, MAL vs. BVC, Putnam County, district 8 and the rest, NCC vs. Firelands…the list of all-star games area basketball players participate in is endless.
If you play basketball and are a senior chances are pretty good you’ll get invited to one of these all-star games. That means it isn’t really an all-star game it’s a senior game.
They are fun for the players and coaches but I’ve been to a few of these games and they gym isn’t exactly packed. It’s not nearly as big as an OHSAA district, regional and even a first round sectional game.
Actually I read this in a NW Ohio newspaper recently the names were changed to protect the innocent and naiive…

“As Sports Editor of The EAST PODUNK PRESS, I've had the pleasure of attending some great sporting events in the three years that I've worked here.
I've covered the BCS National Championship game, the Fiesta Bowl, Ohio State football, as well as the great high school sports in the area. However, all of them pale in comparison to the Multi County All-Star Cage Classic.
First of all, it gives the best high school seniors in the four county area an opportunity to strut their stuff one last time on the basketball court, before moving on to college.”


If you believe that I have some swamp land near Houcktown to sell you.

NOTEWORTHY:
LET’S GET IT ON: Just about the entire prep schedule since last Wednesday has been wiped out by cold weather. Because of scheduling I imagine some teams haven’t played in as long as a week. Hopefully they’ll be able to get a few games in tonight and more as the rest of the week slowly warms up.
Here’s today’s area schedule…weather permitting of course.

Monday's Schedule
Girls Softball
Galion at Fostoria (NOL), 4:30
Shelby at Upper Sandusky (NOL), 4:30
Defiance at Findlay 4:30
Tinora at Continental, 4:30
Arlington at Pandora-Gilboa (BVC), 5
Van Buren at McComb (BVC), 5
Leipsic at Arcadia (BVC), 5
Liberty-Benton at Cory-Rawson (BVC), 5
Columbus Grove at Ada (NWC), 5
Bluffton at Delphos Jefferson (NWC), 5
Evergreen at Patrick Henry (NWOAL), 5
Fostoria St. Wendelin at Riverdale, 5
Ottawa-Glandorf at Miller City, 5
Ottoville at Wayne Trace, 5

Prep Baseball
Fostoria St. Wendelin at Lake, 1
New Riegel at Eastwood, 4:30
Galion at Fostoria (NOL), 4:30
Shelby at Upper Sandusky (NOL), 4:30
Continental at Ottoville (PCL), 4:30
Findlay at Oregon Clay, 4:45
Liberty-Benton at Cory-Rawson (BVC), 5
Vanlue at Hardin Northern (BVC), 5
Van Buren at McComb (BVC), 5
Leipsic at Arcadia (BVC), 5
Arlington at Pandora-Gilboa (BVC), 5
Evergreen at Patrick Henry (NWOAL), 5
Miller City at Fort Jennings (PCL), 5
Continental at Ottoville (PCL), 5
Columbus Grove at Ada (NWC), 5
Bluffton at Delphos Jefferson (NWC), 5
Kalida at Delphos St. John's, 5
Wayne Trace at Ottawa-Glandorf, 5

Prep Boys Tennis
Maumee at Findlay, 4:30
Norwalk at Fostoria (NOL), 4:15
Upper Sandusky at Tiffin Columbian (NOL), 4:15
Lima Bath at Ottawa-Glandorf (WBL), 5
Kenton at Bluffton, 4:30

7 Comments:

  • At 7:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Good topic, good rationale, but being a LOCAL paper, these events should have coverage. No, not all seniors get to play in one of these. Yes, many are merely fund raisers for booster clubs or such, but the District 8 game is legit, most of the players involved are starters for their respective schools, so it's not awful basketball.
    Wrestling is over, Basketball is over, most spring sports have not started when these games are played, so why not cover them?

    JDee

     
  • At 11:44 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Coverage is fine, and should be provided.
    Calling an all-star basketball game the best event ever, above the college football national championship, is more than a little over the top.

     
  • At 12:45 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I bet the Ohio High school coaches all star games in Columbus will truely be "All-Star" games worth noting and reporting on. There are some top players from the area to be in this.

    I hope the courier does mention something about them.

    http://www.ohiobkcoaches.com/information/north-south_all-star_game.html

     
  • At 4:15 PM, Blogger --J-- said…

    We do usually get at least a summary of the all-star games in and always publish when and where the games will be played a full roster for all of the teams.

    But I know this season because so many basketball teams were in the tournament so late we were swamped prepping for sporing sports. I was searching for and typing spring sports schedules at home on my own time the week before spring sports started. So while we may not have things to cover, there are still behind the scenes work to be done.

    I agree with the District 8 game...it's legit.

    The OHSBCA all-star game is pretty big and worth the effort.

     
  • At 8:07 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I agree the coach's all-star game has a couple of local big names in it, but going back to my original premis, in the local all-star games, ALL players are local. Again, local papers need to excel at local coverage. The coach's game will probably have a AP wire story.

    JDee

     
  • At 9:00 PM, Blogger cpc said…

    I totally agree with your take of the sports writer who thinks the local 4 county all star game is on par with the BCS games and such.... What a crock....

    Keep up the good work exposing poor journalism.

     
  • At 8:23 AM, Blogger --J-- said…

    Welcome cpc feel free to post here anytime!

     

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