The fog is starting to clear
What was that? My esteemed colleague at the Advertiser apparently spent the entire week I was in Florida bed-ridden, as sick as a dog with flu-like symptoms.
Because he's such a nice guy, who believes whole-heartedly in sharing all experiences with his co-workers, he appears to have left whatever sickness he had on his desk, assuring that I would not miss out on the experience once I returned from the sunshine state.
I spent all weekend in a drugged-out, Nyquil enduced state, feeling too drowsy to even raise my head in disgust, too exhausted to curse the name 'Jon Sicotte' to the heavens.
That's ok...come Super Bowl Sunday, I will have my revenge.
Brinkman resigns...According to Saturday's TCA, USA girls basketball coach Josh Brinkman has resigned his post and his teaching position at the middle school amid allegations that he videotaped female students undressing without their knoweldge at his house.
This is for the best. USA will undoubetly be very thorough in a search for a new coach.
As of now, no charges have been filed.
Reese looks good...I saw the Rockets play twice last week. On Tuesday night, I watched the Rockets drop Vassar 59-45, and on Thursday I was on the radio with Jon as we saw Reese coolly dispose of MLS, 55-50.
MLS was no cake-walk.
The Cardinals were on a six-game win streak and easily had the height advantage over the Rockets.
I don't need to retell the game story...for that, check out the TCA's website.
What was most impressive was the continued emergence of Reese's Ty Graham as one of the area's most complete players.
Graham scored 22 against MLS, which means that the 6-2 junior guard has scored 81 points in his last four games.
Graham, in my mind, is a serious candidate for All-Thumb honors...he can score (which is obvious), he can dish out the rock (leads TCA area with 4.8 assists a game) and he can rebound (grabs just over 7 a game). Graham is a complete player who deserves first team honors.
Speaking of All-Thumb...I have one issue with the All-Thumb team. Why is Frankenmuth not considered part of the All-Thumb area? Anyone with any sense of this area knows that 'Muth is a part of the thumb. Anyone can look at a map and see just how ridiculous it is that Brown City and Cros-Lex, two schools so far away from the center of the Thumb that the schools don't even consider themselves a part of the area, and you can see that these schools are outside of the district of the thumb. If they are in, why not Frankenmuth?
Don't give me the arguement that the school lies within Saginaw County. What about Brown City and North Branch? They are in Lapeer County, which the last time I checked is hardly considered part of the Thumb.
A good portion of Frankenmuth's school district lies within Tuscola County, and Frankenmuth has had a long association with the school's that make up the Thumb, having competed for years with the likes of Caro, Vassar, Millington, Cass City, North Branch, and the likes.
If we make special geographical concessions for those schools in Lapeer County, than we need to make them for Frankenmuth as well.
Adding 'Muth will only make our team that much more respectable.
Besides, when we meet to nominate the team, I want to be able to nominate the best players from our area, not those who meet the criteria of living within a certain area. I don't like omitting one school from our coverage area.
Let's add Frankenmuth!!!
With all the hype surrounding the Super Bowl, am I the only one who thinks that because of reasons like the halftime show which will feature Prince, a man whose best hits are twenty years old, that this just reassures to me why baseball is better than football?
Pitchers and catchers report February 15th.
Because he's such a nice guy, who believes whole-heartedly in sharing all experiences with his co-workers, he appears to have left whatever sickness he had on his desk, assuring that I would not miss out on the experience once I returned from the sunshine state.
I spent all weekend in a drugged-out, Nyquil enduced state, feeling too drowsy to even raise my head in disgust, too exhausted to curse the name 'Jon Sicotte' to the heavens.
That's ok...come Super Bowl Sunday, I will have my revenge.
Brinkman resigns...According to Saturday's TCA, USA girls basketball coach Josh Brinkman has resigned his post and his teaching position at the middle school amid allegations that he videotaped female students undressing without their knoweldge at his house.
This is for the best. USA will undoubetly be very thorough in a search for a new coach.
As of now, no charges have been filed.
Reese looks good...I saw the Rockets play twice last week. On Tuesday night, I watched the Rockets drop Vassar 59-45, and on Thursday I was on the radio with Jon as we saw Reese coolly dispose of MLS, 55-50.
MLS was no cake-walk.
The Cardinals were on a six-game win streak and easily had the height advantage over the Rockets.
I don't need to retell the game story...for that, check out the TCA's website.
What was most impressive was the continued emergence of Reese's Ty Graham as one of the area's most complete players.
Graham scored 22 against MLS, which means that the 6-2 junior guard has scored 81 points in his last four games.
Graham, in my mind, is a serious candidate for All-Thumb honors...he can score (which is obvious), he can dish out the rock (leads TCA area with 4.8 assists a game) and he can rebound (grabs just over 7 a game). Graham is a complete player who deserves first team honors.
Speaking of All-Thumb...I have one issue with the All-Thumb team. Why is Frankenmuth not considered part of the All-Thumb area? Anyone with any sense of this area knows that 'Muth is a part of the thumb. Anyone can look at a map and see just how ridiculous it is that Brown City and Cros-Lex, two schools so far away from the center of the Thumb that the schools don't even consider themselves a part of the area, and you can see that these schools are outside of the district of the thumb. If they are in, why not Frankenmuth?
Don't give me the arguement that the school lies within Saginaw County. What about Brown City and North Branch? They are in Lapeer County, which the last time I checked is hardly considered part of the Thumb.
A good portion of Frankenmuth's school district lies within Tuscola County, and Frankenmuth has had a long association with the school's that make up the Thumb, having competed for years with the likes of Caro, Vassar, Millington, Cass City, North Branch, and the likes.
If we make special geographical concessions for those schools in Lapeer County, than we need to make them for Frankenmuth as well.
Adding 'Muth will only make our team that much more respectable.
Besides, when we meet to nominate the team, I want to be able to nominate the best players from our area, not those who meet the criteria of living within a certain area. I don't like omitting one school from our coverage area.
Let's add Frankenmuth!!!
With all the hype surrounding the Super Bowl, am I the only one who thinks that because of reasons like the halftime show which will feature Prince, a man whose best hits are twenty years old, that this just reassures to me why baseball is better than football?
Pitchers and catchers report February 15th.
Comments
First off, I didn't set the boundaries of the coverage area; it was something the original members agreed on.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it's what we agreed on. For more insight on the boundaries, we would have to contact Dave Bossick, since this was his brainchild.
Listen, I along with the other members am more than willing to address any issues (that's why we meet).
To me, openly complaining about something like this undermines the TSA as we try and establish ourselves.
I'm not against adding Frankenmuth, but it's not going to happen this year, so we can get Redford the Player of the Year.
Where was this suggestion when we met twice in the fall?
We didn't have Frankenmuth for girls basketball this year, so I don't think it's fair to add them midway through.
Just so we're clear, I am in no way "in charge" of the TSA, meaning what I say goes. I believe that every member has an equal stake in this thing as we try to establish the tradition.
You're bringing goolosh to the party...just wanted to make the decision for you since you're having such a hard time.:)
But seriously, is this a sports blog or a forum for friends to talk to each other? It is hard to get readers to take this seriously, if it doesn't look like you are.
I'm not trying to undermine anything, especially something I avoided calling out by name in my blog.
Taking the issue to the people is the one way to know that we are doing a good job, and I believe in opening a dialogue with anyone who wishes.
As for Frankenmuth, we should add them, but not for Redford. As I stated before, I don't think we have a player in our area worthy of the honor this year.
But the volleyball team will be missing a great player from 'Muth if we omit them.
A) Brown City is not in Lapeer County. It's in Sanilac. Cros-Lex is also in Sanilac County. (See here)
B) The only "special geographic concession" was for North Branch. That was only because North Branch was just as far south as Brown City and Cros-Lex, so it made sense to make M-90 the dividing line (See here)
C) Only a portion of Frankenmuth's district enters Tuscola County (in and around the village of Tuscola), not the majority of the district. That's in Saginaw County.
D) This (the TSA) was created to give the Thumb kids some honors because the feeling was the Thumb kids get snubbed by out-state honors. Muth gets plenty of coverage from its county daily newspaper and other media sources, including post-season honors. It also was created to help foster good working relationships amongst the Thumb writers.
Adding Muth (or any other school) won't make the post-season honors more or less respectable. The point of the TSA was to add another layer to the post-season honors handed out by the papers. All-Thumb doesn't take the place of All-Advertiser or All-Tribune. Sure, Muth is in the Advertiser coverage area, but Muth doesn't qualify as in The Thumb (rather, eastern Saginaw Valley).
Most folks in the Millington area already believe Muth shouldn't be covered by the Advertiser anyway.
I think the TSA is a great idea, but it does add to the prestige of the teams if we can nominate the 'best of the best' from our areas.
Throwing a kid on a team from Capac just to fill space sort of takes away from the honor of being named to the team in the first place. (Nothing against Capac...it was just the first school to pop into my head).
A good portion of Reese's school district lies in Saginaw County, yet they are included in the Thumb.
Millington has parts of it's district in Genesee County, yet it remains a part of the Thumb.
As is Frankenmuth.