ProfessorBriggs.com
THE Sports
Authority in Mercer County!
Note: This does not reflect the opinion of Grove City College, WSAJ-FM, The Herald, or their respective sponsors and supporters.
Professor's Proverbs -- March 17, 2009
Professor Briggs is a big fan of newspapers. I frequently read The (Sharon) Herald, The Franklin News-Herald/Oil City Derrick and the most prominent daily newspaper in our region, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The Post-Gazette bills itself as "One of America's Great Newspapers," and I would tend to agree with that assessment. While most media today (all forms) have the class and dignity of a bad lounge act, the Post-Gazette still has an air of regality to me.
That standard took a hit over the weekend though as I read something in the P-G's Varsity Blog. Colin Dunlap made a rather foolish and borderline ignorant remark in a posting Saturday afternoon. Dunlap ventured out of District 7 up to venerable Sharon Tiger Gymnasium for inter-district basketball playoff action. Those of you who have gone to games at Sharon know that there is a large banner above the gymnasium that highlights Sharon's 1926 girls basketball national title.
Instead of maybe being intrigued by it, said writer took a picture of it and mocked it on the P-G web site. The truth is, there is a great story behind the 1926 Sharon High girls basketball team and this national title. Had the writer taken, say 35-40 seconds to run a search on Google, Yahoo! or any search engine, he could have found this out. (You'll notice on the posting that someone has already called him on it.) It really could have made for a neat sidebar on the P-G blog.
Instead, it's a slap in the face to the proud athletic tradition of Sharon High School and to our area at large. The nature of the writer's response to the person who called him out is also disappointing.
> Good story written by Ken Wunderley in the Monday Post-Gazette about Grove City High School senior Caleb Kolb, who earned Most Outstanding Wrestler honors for Pennsylvania at the Dapper Dan Classic Sunday night in Pittsburgh. Kolb, the Class AA state champion at 171 pounds, rolled to an 8-3 victory over Newberg, Ore.'s Alec Ortiz. Ortiz entered the bout with 115 career wins -- in 115 career matches. I remember seeing Caleb with his dad when he was 9 or 10 years old and to see him develop into such a well-conditioned athletic machine over the past few years is really neat.
> It's amazing to me how great the wrestling in Pennsylvania is on a year-to-year basis. Not just in our neck of the woods, but throughout the state. The Lehigh Valley and "coal country" areas churn out great wrestlers the way Motown Records produced hit songs in the 1960s. The NCAA Championships in Divisions I, II and III are chock full of Commonwealth wrestlers year after year.
Professor Briggs doesn't know a great deal about wrestling -- I leave that to writers like Lynn Saternow (Herald), Craig Phillips (News-Herald/Derrick), Bill Albright (various), Joe Tuscano (Observer-Reporter) and Wunderley (Tri-State News/P-G). I do know a wrestler gets two points for a takedown, two for a reversal and one point for an escape. But when I hear someone mention the move "Cement Mixer," I think of this. A "Peterson?" -- this comes to mind. All kidding aside, if you like excellence in athletics, it's hard to top Pennsylvania wrestling.
> This week is the state semifinals and championship games in high school basketball. Three District 10 teams remain alive. In Class A boys, Kennedy Catholic is in the western final once again and will play Elk County Catholic Tuesday night for a berth in the state title game. Two years ago in the western finals, Chris Burtch and I got to call one of the greatest games that either of us has witnessed as DuBois Central Catholic nipped Kennedy at Clarion University, 51-50. Last year, Serra Catholic nipped Kennedy 78-76 in the western finals. Hopefully, the third time will be the charm for the Golden Eagles. Mark Slezak and Bob Greenburg will have the call on 790 WPIC Tuesday night, starting at 6:05 with the pre-game show live from Clarion U.
Also alive from District 10 are Villa Maria in "AA" girls and General McLane in "AAA" girls.
District 7 has seven teams still alive. However, further inspection shows that District 10 has fared better than District 7 from that standpoint. District 7 placed 48 total teams in the state tournament while District 10 had 20. Thus, District 7 has 14.6 percent of its entries still alive while District 10 has an even 15 percent.
Overall, District 10 teams will finish with a 15-11 record in the state playoffs against District 7 teams. There are no D-10 vs. D-7 clashes in the western finals.
> The Shenango Valley Modified Softball League is seeking new players and teams for the 2009 season. If you or someone you know is interested in getting involved, please contact me.
> Keep the cards and letters coming at at ryanbriggs@zoominternet.net
