May 2006 Archives

The Butler did it!

Glendora has had some nice success over the past two seasons. Coach Mark Pasquarella turning around the Tartans program was something many local pundits saw coming. Glendora has finished second and third, respectively, in the past two seasons in the very difficult Sierra League. The Tartans didn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs in either season mainly because they played in omni-tough Division II. Glendora's opponent in both seasons was Hart.

the recruiting debate has broken out. It didn't come in the Los Altos or South Hills threads, but the CO thread pushed things over the top. What cracks me up is that people say it's OK for Amat or Damien to do it, and I am not saying they do or anybody else does. Seems to me that Amat loses more than it keeps these days. I like the Los Altos complaints considering that LA's top returning player just transferred out. Selective debating, gotta love it!

How do you replace these guys?





Leon (left) and Salmon (right).

It was the end of an era for Arroyo football when QB Dominic Salmon and WR/DB Sergio Leon played their last games, respectively, against South Hills in the second round of the CIF-SS Div. VII playoffs last November.

SGV still sending out ballerz!





Los Altos' Brigham Harwell ... the Trib's Player of the Year in 2003.

I like to save old sections and today I was thumbing my 2003-04 school year All-Area football and baseball teams. You're not going to believe the talent from that year and where they are now:

Some people don't like to deal with reality, but yes, this unfortunately really did happen.





And as much as it pains me to do this, and believe me I shouldn't have to, here's the Whittier Daily News and LA Times articles about the costly throw down ...

Replacing this is the only concern Big Lou had this off-season

I have started CO as the unofficial No. 1 team in the area heading into Spring practice. Do I expect to find out something that makes me shake up the rankings? No, I don't. What you saw below with the rankings is merely a guideline for the summer. Tons will happen between now and the SGV Tribune football preview issue, which by the way, sports some serious one-day sales figures.

Wow, the SGV got shocked! Los Altos (Miramonte League champ), Northview (Valle Vista League champ), South Hills (San Antonio League champ), South El Monte (co- Mission Valley league champ) all ONE-AND-DONE!

CO, of course, is still going.

PLEASE USE THIS THREAD TO SHARE ANY RUMORS ABOUT THE UPCOMING FOOTBALL SEASON. ANY INFO TIDBITS FROM SPRING PRACTICE WOULD BE GREAT. BELIEVE ME, I WANT ANYTHING.
ALSO, I WILL POST WHATEVER I CAN ABOUT SPRING PRACTICES THAT I PERSONALLY SEE AND WHATEVER I HEAR.

I got to catch some of Amat's Spring football practice while I covered the school's CIF baseball playoffs game.

The Saints better toughen up in '06, or else ...






San Dimas was soft in 2005. There, I said it. This was a team that looked good in its uniforms, but wanted no piece of being aggressive - especially on defense. The Saints didn't like to tackle and there was just no nastiness to the stop unit.

The success is easily explained ...

here's your thread. Click here to read about the latest.

Things haven't been this exciting around the Rowland football program since, well, most of this year's team wasn't a lock to make it thru the night without wetting the bed. So, it's pretty exciting.

It's very important for all of you to know that the athletes discussed or pictured on this Web site are getting some excellent exposure and props due to the sick amount of hits this blog continues to receive.

The guy couldn't sleep on his side for a while after the Tesoro game ...
Covina QB Mike McDonough

This post is dedicated to Charter Oak offensive coordinator Dom Farrar, who once said he wanted to follow me around and see what a normal week in the life of a prep sportswriter was like.

Am I the only person in the SGV who feels like the OC is a totally different world?
I really like Orange County's intensity toward high school sports. I like the fans, I like the OC Register, I like the dedication, I like Disneyland, I like my NL-only fantasy baseball league which is based out of North Orange County, I like Newport Beach in August ... I just like it all.

We're all waiting to see what happens.

I can do this because I have the sources. Here's what some of the top coaches in the area think about the legitimacy of all-league and Tribune all-area teams.

Because this ended up being such a hot topic on another thread, I decided to get the opinions of some local coaches because I have access to it.

If any other coaches want to post their opinions, then please leave your name with your post. Start with all-league voting opinion and then Tribune All-Area. Please be honest, there will be no hard feelings whatsoever.

BUT FIRST A DIATRIBE: When I go cover a game I often form opinions about the teams, players and coaches, most of which doesn't come out in my game story. Or at least they're not supposed to. Anyway, a game story isn't supposed to include Aram Tolegian's opinion of a team, its players and coaches. It's supposed to be "here's the final score, this is what happened, and my best explanation of why." Only in columns do my opinions come out. But columns (in print) are rare. However, I do often wonder the same things that fans do. But in game stories I can't say what I really think, only what happened. And sometimes there just isn't enough to say to fill a column. That's why I have this blog. This is what I truly think. If you no likey, then post a counter argument. If you really no likey, then kick rocks. There are plenty of other places in Al Gore's Internet where you can go be miserable. I also have this blog because I like to read the opinions of others, no matter if we agree or disagree.

I know, I know ... we're all sweating it, too!

League finals are now history and it looks as though the SGV is going to have swimmers to reckon with at next week's CIF-Southern Section swim finals.

Walnut's Mustangs are now 16-0 with three more games standing between them and a perfect regular season.

Temple City HS alum Jimmy Conrad made the US World Cup team. Read about it here

Panthers will be all out to produce a regular season like 2005

Going 10-0 never felt so bad. Rosemead put together a dominant regular season in 2005, only to see the empire come crashing down with a bad loss in the first round of the CIF-SS Division VII playoffs - as a No. 4 seed!

This is what I felt like doing when I heard the numbers!





SGVN Internet coordinator Adrian Guerrero has informed me that this blog has had nearly 5,500 hits since it opened on April 10. Thank you all!

Utama time!

What's the deal with the Sierra League and San Antonio League swim finals? I need times and locations!