Hear that? Yeah, it’s the sound of nothing. Zero. Zilch.
All season long you’ve heard bad things about the Waynesboro Little Giants girls basketball team. You’ve heard equal things about its coach.
You’ve heard people say they ran up the score against opponents. You’ve heard people call first-year coach Secrett Stubblefield an “embarrassment.”
Why? Because she got her players to relate to her? Because she’s not part of the old guard? Because she’s a fiery coach who doesn’t accept anything less than the best? Becuase she’s a coach that mirrors the community she coaches in? A coach, much like the city, tired of seeing others use their kids as punching bags on their way to better things?
She’s told us that. She wants to win. She wants her girls to win. To blazes with the rest of you. She didn’t come to Waynesboro to meet new poker buddies within the coaching ranks of the Southern Valley District. She came to lead one of the best female basketball players this area has ever seen — Devon Brown — and her very able supporting cast to the promised land down in Richmond.
Don’t think she cared about the girls? Then why did Stubblefield, during halftime of the Stuarts Draft girls’ consolation win over Rockbridge, only want to talk about how Shawnte Woodson and her double-digit scoring average did not make either first or second team in the SVD? She was confused over this snub. So was I.
Then I told her what people were saying about her.
She looked at me like I had four heads. She couldn’t understand.
“Well,” she said. “I guess people don’t like a winner.”
On Thursday night, Shanda Brown knocked down the 3-pointer heard round the River City. The long-range buzzer-beater that, when news of her heroics over No. 1 Turner Ashby reached the boys fans in Harrisonburg, sent the purple crowd into a tizzy.
The other Brown sent the Little Giants to the Group AA tournament.
And Stubblefield has silenced the critics.
You can almost hear the crickets chirping.
And another thing: If there’s a better place to be a high school sports fan right now than Waynesboro, please let me know where.
Joining the girls in the Group AA dance are the Little Giants boys for the second straight year. You know, those Giants, the ones that lost Todd Phillips, James Lucas, Ander Ross and any hope of being as good this year. Yeah, you said it, remember.
“People are saying we’re not as good as last year,” senior chin-beard Nick Gore said. “Nobody wants to hear that.”
Don’t worry, Nick, nobody is going to hear it anymore. Right?
Think Stubblefield and Wilson Memorial girls coach Jackie Bryan ought to start a support group. Hey, I’m just asking.
Wow, those crickets along U.S. 250 from Waynesboro to Fishersville just got louder.
A question for you: Do you think Shanda Brown slept last night after hitting that shot?
Another question for you: Did Region III, making Waynesboro fans choose a trip to Daleville for the girls title game or a trip to Penn Laird for the boys title game Saturday, take lessons from the Southern Valley District scheduling clowns?
One last thing: Who else is hoping there’s a Chamber of Commerce meeting during the state tournament?
Careers over and out: As the postseason starts to claim teams and careers, let us remember some of the great athletes (and those that just stick out in our minds) that will no longer grace area high school basketball courts …
Riverheads’ Jeremy Heizer: He was always smiling before and after games, earning him the nickname the Greenville Grinner. Heizer played with tons of intensity and had fun whilst doing so. He reminded you of that goofy class clown you had in study hall back in high school. As goal keeper on the soccer team, he was the centerpiece of all the jokes and relished it. But, more importantly, he’ll be in the same sentence with Josh Fox and Josh LaPorte when people talk about boys basketball at Riverheads.
Wilson Memorial’s Tucker Kirby: Not a flashy big man, more of a workhorse. “It’s quiet in there,” he told me standing outside a downtrodden Wilson Memorial locker room after they lost to Page County during the regular season. Somehow, he still managed to smile.
Buffalo Gap’s Chad Cauley: Total disclosure, I saw the Bison senior play three times. I didn’t know what I was missing. In Tuesday’s loss to Riverheads, he air balled his first 3-point attempt and heard about it every time he touched the ball after that. He hit his next three long-range shots to shut the student section up.
Stuarts Draft’s Kerby Hatter: A fiery little baller that played much bigger than she was. Do you miss her yet? Yep, thought so.
Say What?
Mr. Sacco:
I just finished reading your article and watching your broadcast of local sports. I wanted to also send my kudos to Coach Bryan and the Lady Hornets for the run they are are presently on!! I couldn’t be prouder of them. I was lucky enough to make it down and catch the boys and girls semis at EMU and the Lady Hornets played outstanding. Tim Byers
Look at that Wilson Memorial girls, the coach you would have run through a brick wall for is still watching you. And proud.
The Pooch Punt home office recently acquired a guest blogger, Waynesboro junior Lindsey Marks. For reasons known only to the gods, she thinks I write a good column and blog and wants to be a columnist someday. Good on her. She’ll be posting from time to time giving us a high school student’s perspective on things. Oh, and you bet she’s excited, as a bona fide member of the WHS Wild Ones, that both the boys and girls basketball teams are heading to state. OK, here’s Lindsey.
The energy at Waynesboro High School is intense. It’s like a bunch of 11-year-old girls at a Hannah Montana concert. With the boys beating Broadway (not to mention Jordan Ross dropping nine points at the end of the last quarter), and Brown hitting the game-winning shot to beat Turner Ashby, it’s almost like it’s too good to be true. Both boys and girls team making it to the regional finals?! I don’t think I’ve even been in school long enough to remember the last time it happened.
But it’s happening now, and the teams need all the support they can get. The cheering section at the boys game was definitely an improvement. Now I know it’s impossible to get a good student section at both games (thanks to the boys and girls playing on the same night), but hopefully the pep rally today at the school will pump the teams up.
Both the girls and boys play at 7 Saturday night. But while the girls will be taking a long ride to Lord Botetourt to play Brookville, the boys will be traveling to Spotswood High School to face Lee, yet again. Let’s just hope that no matter which game people choose to go to, they still cheer, just like the 11-year-old girls at the Hannah Montana concert.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/29 at 10:39 AM
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Double the fun for Giantdom
The Little Giants boys squad beat Broadway 66-36 in the Region III semifinals. Waynesboro is making back-to-back trip to states and they’ll be joined by the girls to boot.
Of course, the Leap Day Edition of the Daily Pooch Punt will have more. Post time ETA: 11 a.m.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/28 at 11:24 PM
Finally. Waynesboro girls heading back to states
Thanks to a 3-pointer with three seconds left to play, the Little Giants upset No. 1 Turner Ashby in the Region III semifinal to earn a spot in the Group AA tournament.
More details to follow.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/28 at 10:01 PM
The Sports Desk: Part I
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/28 at 04:11 PM
The Sports Desk: 2/28/08 Part I
Sports columnist Jim Sacco and sports writer Corine Gatti talk about high school basketball.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/28 at 03:22 PM
Daily Pooch Punt: 2/28/08
Um, did I miss something?
Seriously, what did I miss because, according to my calculations, and trust me, I’m no mathematician, Wednesday night’s Central-Lunenburg at Buffalo Gap Region B, Division 1 girls quarterfinal should have taken place.
Yep, sorry to burst (or bust, whichever) your bubble, but according to the VHSL, the Chargers SHOULD have been involved in postseason play. Honestly, if you don’t like the new expanded regional play that’s fine and dandy. Go home and whine and cry about it all you want along with your coach pals or write a column about it, don’t slip your personal agenda into a story on the game. And to claim as fact that the Chargers at Buffalo Gap game shouldn’t have happened when, according to the new format, it should have happened, makes you just plain wrong.
And another thing: Still waiting to hear what they think of Wilson Memorial coach Jackie Bryan now. Still waiting … anybody? Hello? Oh, did all the naysayers suddenly pack up and leave because the Green Hornets — under said Bryan — are a win away from the Group A, Division 2 tournament? Or was it the end-of-season tear the Hornets have gone on to get them here? Hey, I’m just asking.
Isn’t this what you expect from a team coached by Dickie Bell: Sure it is. They’ve struggled all season and when it mattered most, the Riverheads girls clamped down on defense, shut down William Campbell’s long-range shooting and eked past the Generals 40-39 on the road. The wins sets up a Shenandoah District battle for a spot in the Group A, Division 1 tournament between Riverheads and Buffalo Gap.
May I ask another question? Sure I can. Buffalo Gap won the regular-season district title, so under the old format the Bison would have gotten into the regional tournament. The Gladiators? Not so much. So, using old-school, afraid-of-change logic, does that mean that this game has “no business being played?” Or how about that great Buffalo Gap at Riverheads first-round slugfest in the boys tournament? You know, that game that had the Greenville gym filled to the rafters with hyped-up fans of all ages. Yeah, that one.
Anybody? Hello? Yeah. Thought so.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/28 at 02:12 PM
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Daily Pooch Punt: 2/27/08
Dude, I love this circus. In two days this expanded regional playoff system has given fans a Waynesboro against three-win Turner Ashby boys game that saw the much-maligned Knights look like they were going to beat the Little Giants. Then, the next night, thanks to this expanded regional format, Augusta County got Buffalo Gap at Riverheads in what can only be described as a battle for the ages. Seriously, we have a problem with this why again?
Is it too much work? Too many games? Sure, it has its flaws and, you bet it’s made the district and the first part of the regional tournaments totally obsolete, but it’s given us some great basketball.
Hey, if this is a circus, somebody tell me where I sign up for the season pass.
Now the ball is in the VHSL’s court (sorry for the pun). With district and regional tournaments all but dead, let’s start seeding according to district regular seasons, let’s break the state up into sectionals and larger super sectionals and let’s put everybody in the state tournament. Just get rid of these stupid divisions.
And another thing: When was the last time you had to shimmy your way into the bleachers in order to watch a basketball game? Fans at Riverheads to watch the Gladiators’ game against Augusta, and Shenandoah, rival Buffalo Gap were packed so tight you couldn’t slip a piece of loose-leaf paper between them. How crowded was it? At one point the PA announcer had to get on the microphone and tell the fans already in the gym that there was still a crowd of folks in line and milling around the lobby stuffing their faces with hot dogs and pizza. “If you have a extra seat,” he said. “Please squeeze over to make room.”
Don’t look now, Waynesboro has an on-court veteran leader. This could get scary for the rest of the region, if you ask me.
Man, I can’t believe Waynesboro scored 80 points in its Region III quarterfinal win over Northside. Geezus, how could they do that? Are you kidding me? I can’t believe that first-year coach Secrett Stubblefield has the girls winning and ruffling feathers whilst doing so. Who does she think she is? Sure, this the farthest they’ve been since 1991, but … OK … you got me … I couldn’t act like a guy playing sports writer for a night with a straight face. Now go back to your Chamber of Commerce meeting. Oh, and good on you Little Giants. Good on you.
Nobody has told me yet how Shawnte Woodson was left off the all-district teams and two girls from winless Fort Defiance made it. Nobody.
A winless team making the regionals? All that does is expose the Southern Valley for the laughing stock it is. I mean, let’s be honest here, Fort Defiance (either team) can’t even get into its district tournament, but can watch a winless Covington girls team head to regionals, but who’s to blame for that? Yep, the Southern Valley District’s boneheaded decision to knock out the No. 5 seed instead of having either a play-in game or giving the top dog a first-round bye.
Seriously, I sat around a few irate fans during Monday’s first-round regional boys game at Waynesboro who were none too happy that, on Tuesday, both the boys and girls would be playing on the same night (of course at separate sites). Come on Region III, treat the Southern Valley administrators like they have leprosy and stay away. Don’t ask these clowns for advice on scheduling. Don’t let them touch your regional tournament until they can clean up their own mess. Southern Valley District basketball scheduling, now that’s the only circus in town.
OK, for the last time, all I know is he had it on when he went to the locker room at the half. He had it on when he came out to start the final 16 minutes. But at some point before the end of the game Riverheads coach John Corbett took his sport coat off (probably in frustration). And, since I forgot to write the time down, no I can’t help you settle your office pool.
Page vs. Riverheads? At EMU? At 6 p.m.? On Thursday? For the right to head to the Group A, Division 1 tournament? Uh, oh Shenandoah fans, I think your basketball-watching hat just fell out of the closet.
Jeremy Heizer was sick. Could barley talk. Even coughed a few times after the game. He scored 15 points. He went to the bench of grand total of zero seconds during the game. The Greenville Grinner? Nah, that’s what they call Red Pride — it’s a required course at that school.
To the guy working the spotlight at Riverheads: Montana Puffenbarger is a little to the left.
Careers over and out: As the postseason starts to claim teams and careers, let us remember some of the great athletes (and those that just stick out in our minds) that will no longer grace area high school basketball courts …
Wilson Memorial’s Tucker Kirby: Not a flashy big man, more of a workhorse. “It’s quiet in there,” he told me standing outside a downtrodden Wilson Memorial locker room after they lost to Page County during the regular season. Somehow, he still managed to smile.
Buffalo Gap’s Chad Cauley: Total disclosure, I saw the Bison senior play three times. I didn’t know what I was missing. In Tuesday’s loss to Riverheads, he air balled his first 3-point attempt and heard about it every time he touched the ball after that. He hit his next three long-range shots to shut the student section up.
Stuarts Draft’s Kerby Hatter: A fiery little baller that played much bigger than she was. Do you miss her yet? Yep, thought so.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/27 at 10:29 AM
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Daily Pooch Punt: 2/26/08
Nick Gore took an extra second to scan his surroundings.
Then he put it as simply as any senior could after playing their last game in front of a home crowd.
“I’m going to miss it,” he said.
This wasn’t the Oscars and nobody was going to strike up the band to play Gore off if his speech went too long, but the senior forward and the Southern Valley District’s leading scorer took as little time as possible. All he did was say his peace and thanked the student section (don’t know why he thanked the sleeping Wild Ones — said student section — after they mailed in a regional game).
Of course, all of this came after it looked like the Chin-Beard was going to rip someone’s head off inside. The Knights were going to let Waynesboro shoot them out of the gym and made sure of it by double- and triple-teaming Gore and fellow big man Blair deCourcy every time they touched the ball in the paint. Gore was frustrated most of the game (nothing new, he said, “I get frustrated every game.” )
Oh, he still blocked seven shots — including pinning Brad Wilfong’s first-quarter layup attempt against the glass.
Gore also handed out three assists.
What about deCourcy? He followed his lone score in the fourth with a big defensive rebound and block of his own.
Sure, the Giants’ game plan has been working as of late. On Monday, so was Turner Ashby’s, holding Gore to five first-half points (three of which came from the free-throw line) and keeping deCourcy off the scoreboard until the fourth quarter.
That’s life as a big man. A life made a little easier when the guards pick up the slack. They didn’t shoot the lights out, but the rest of the Little Giants hit 53 percent from the floor (mainly layups and short jumpers) which is usually good enough for the win.
And another thing: How about the way the three-win Knights hung in there for the first half. Hey, I’m not saying this new regional format is good, but I’m certainly not going to say it’s bad either. Sure, making the regional tournament in basketball is no longer the honor it once was (as evident by the Knights’ three-win, yet-moving-on season), but for a couple of quarters it looked like Turner Ashby could pull off the upset. Unless you wear purple and gold to games, how cool would that have been?
Maybe this is the way to do it: If we’re all going to sit around and complain about all these teams getting into regionals, maybe it’s time the whole regional concept is wiped away. Heck, let’s get rid of district tournaments too. Play a regular season, crown a district champion and seed the teams based on that. Then let everybody in the state tournament, break it into sectionals and super sectionals and let’s see how that works. Hey, it’s better than what we got now.
And, while you’re at it, get rid of these stupid divisions in Group A. (Of course, by “get rid of” the VHSL hears “extend to Group AA,” which is probably where it’s going next).
But back to Waynesboro: “Against Lee [on Friday] we were really, really good,” said Little Giant coach C. Jay DeWitt. “And when you’re really, really good maybe, the next game, you hope you get somewhere close to that level. We might never play that well again, you never know. But it shows we’re capable of doing it.”
Have you ever heard a truer quote in your life?
Careers over and out: As the postseason starts to claim teams and careers, let us remember some of the great athletes (and those that just stick out in our minds) that will no longer grace area high school basketball courts …
Stuarts Draft’s Kerby Hatter: A fiery little baller that played much bigger than she was. Do you miss her yet? Yep, thought so.
One last time: Now who do we thank for tonight’s Buffalo Gap at Riverheads Region B boys basketball game?
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/26 at 09:40 AM
Monday, February 25, 2008
Daily Pooch Punt: 2/25/08
So what do they think of Jackie Bryan’s coaching now? Hey man, I’m just asking.
Let me ask you, how tough was that R.E. Lee boys practice Monday? I’m saying, probably pretty tough. Let’s be honest here folks, this is a very talented R.E. Lee team that knows when you wear the Blue and White (and yes, we’ll capitalize the Blue and White, thanks for asking though) you finish the deal. You don’t lay an egg in the district championship game.
Now, if they didn’t know that before, do you think they know it after practice Monday? Yeah, I’m guessing they pretty much will.
Ya think Jeremy Heizer and Riverheads are playing for Pride (yes, we know, that’s capitalized as well. Thanks again) from here on out?
(Random thought interruption: Josh Miller, Hunter Cullen and Tucker Kirby, your table is ready.)
Who do we thank for the Buffalo Gap at Riverheads boys first-round Region B, Division 1 (whew, that “division” part sure makes it a lot to type. Sorry, didn’t mean to complain) battle?
What are you talking about? “Winning it at Lord Botetourt” sounds just as cool as “winning the title at the Convo,” right?
Tell me you just didn’t forget about the X-Factor? You know, Waynesboro’s Blair deCourcy?
So, knowing the game Lee played Friday, do you want to be facing this mad-as-hell team in regionals?
So, how important was the Wilson Memorial girl’s win over Riverheads in the regular-season finale?
Did we already ask about Bryan?
Sure we did. Sure we did.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/25 at 12:19 PM
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Daily Pooch Punt: 2/21/08
Oh Southern Valley District, how hath thee screwed over high school basketball players? Let us count the ways …
One … two … three … four … five … six (is that another person? Yep, OK) … seven … eight … nine … 10 …11 (oops, that guy just walked in) 12 … 13 … make that 14, she’s holding a baby … 15 … 16 … 17 … 18 … 19 … 20 … hang on, make that 22, didn’t see those two kids behind that guy in the Virginia Tech sweater … 23 … 24 … 25 … 26 … probably shouldn’t count the three Waynesboro girls basketball players (Devon Brown, Shawnte Woodson and Kiawna Berry) or their coach.
You get the picture, right?
In a game that meant the world to the Stuarts Draft Cougars girls basketball team, they had to play second fiddle to the boys team that found itself in a similar situation. With Region III berths on the line, and playing the same school (Rockbridge), fans, once again, had to choose between the girls and boys. They had to choose between driving to Lexington to cheer on the Cougar boys or staying in Draft where they could watch the Cougar girls try to do the same. Attending the game in the still-new-smelling Cougar gym were a little over 55 fans. According to one Rockbridge fan who was texting another fan at the boys game, he knew where the fans were.
“Where do you think they’re at?” he shot back when asked where all the fans were. “They’re at the boys game.”
Rockbridge fans had to make the same choice. They didn’t seem happy.
Sorry folks, whilst I don’t condone violence unless it’s on the officiated confines of a football field, boxing ring or scripted by Vince McMahon Jr., how long can the administrators in the Southern Valley District slap high school basketball players in the face? Because, sooner or later, aren’t they going to slap back?
OK, so here’s how it goes: The fans at Draft, mostly parents, grandmas, grandpas and the die-hards you see ever time you show up, shuffle in. It never gets really crowded and you don’t realize it’s time to tip off until the horn sounds. Usually, at big games, you always know when it’s getting ready to start. You can feel the energy and excitement coming from the stands. You can see the players feeding off it as they huddle around their coach before the referee blows the whistle. Not the case Wednesday night in a gym that, due to the lack of people, couldn’t get loud without the help of air horns (which, sadly, nobody had). You could hear the refs trying to catch their breath, for crying out loud.
But no, this is all good. Right Southern Valley District? This is the way it should be, correct ADs? I mean, oh never mind. You guys are doing a great job. Sure, splitting the championship games was a great idea, but I guess these consolation games in which, by the way, the players are fighting for their postseason lives and not just a $5 trophy (remember, the teams in the title game were already guaranteed a Region III berth; the ones in the consolation games, not so much. They had to win to move on) aren’t as important. So yeah, good job SVD. Good job.
And another thing: Riverheads girls hit 16 of their 21 field goals in their 61-34 first-round win over Page County on Wednesday. So, I’m asking, where the heck has that been all year? (Betcha’ coach Dickie Bell is asking the same thing.)
For the 50 people who “packed” the Stuarts Draft gym for the girls game Wednesday: The boys team won by one over Rockbridge. They’re moving on too. Just letting you know.
Oh, when the time for the players to slap back comes, can the Stuarts Draft girls be first in line? Please.
Quote of the night The Thursday Edition: “It’s hard to beat a team three times. We are definitely going to win [against Stonewall Jackson.]” – Riverheads’ Kristin Shomo.
Non-quote of the night The Thursday Edition: “No comment,” Stuarts Draft coach Marc Sweigart when asked about fans having to choose between the boys and girls consolation games Wednesday.
If someone can tell me how one of the area’s top 10 leading scorers in girls basketball was left off BOTH All-Southern Valley District girls teams – Waynesboro’s Woodson – please let me know.
Wow, Nick Gore drives the lane against Rockbridge on Tuesday, opens things up for everybody else and the Little Giants win. Rinse, repeat. We got a pattern here.
Tim “Slick” Brown hits two freebies for the Giants with 10 seconds left to play. The shots give Waynesboro breathing room in a tight game. And Brown manages to stay down to earth about the whole thing: “I practice them, so I’m supposed to hit them.”
That sound you hear is applause.
Oh, that sound you just heard was Draft guard Kerby Hatter’s lip busting open on the hardwood. Which, thanks to an near-empty gym, you heard from the rafters.
But hey, good job, Southern Valley District schedule makers. Good job.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/21 at 09:42 AM
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Another Sports Desk: 2/19/08
Sports Columnist Jim Sacco and sports writer Corine Gatti talk about the Lee Ladies’ win over Stuarts Draft in the Southern Valley District semis.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/19 at 05:33 PM
The Sports Desk: 2/19/08
Jim and Rob talk about Waynesboro girls’ big win over Rockbridge in the Southern Valley District semifinals.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/19 at 05:23 PM
Daily Pooch Punt: 2/19/08
Grab your coffee, a pen and a piece of paper (to keep score) because it’s time for a local sports quiz.
Take your basketball-watching hat off and put on your thinking caps. It’s time to rock and, dare we say, roll.
1. Neither Fort Defiance basketball team is playing in the Southern Valley District tournament because: A) The Indians are hosting the championship matches.
B) In an effort to cut down on costs, they decided they couldn’t send the buses out to away games for the tourney.
C) They’re the No. 5 seed and, well you know how the Southern Valley is.
D) Southern Valley administrators should be lined up against the wall and verbally chastised for buffoonery.
E) Both C and D.
2. Who forgot to tell Buffalo Gap girls that they shouldn’t have beaten Group A No. 4 Stonewall Jackson twice in one week: A) First-year coach and he-best-be-Shenandoah-District-Coach-of-the-Year Chad Coffey.
B) Stonewall coach Jeff Burner.
C) Sports Editors that refused to give the Shenandoah District girls any props in the state polls. (Guilty.)
D)Really, they beat them twice? In less than four days? Both times on the road? With a Region B berth on the line? C) Really? They beat them.
3. In order to win the Southern Valley boys tournament, Waynesboro must: A) Watch forward Nick Gore drive the lane.
B) Watch the Southern Valley’s leading scoring, Nick Gore, drive the lane.
C) Give the ball to Nick Gore and let him drive the lane.
D) All of the above. (What?!?)
4. The Shenandoah boys tournament will feature: A) Great games every night.
B) Another battle between Riverheads and Wilson Memorial.
C) Buffalo Gap returning to its old form and winning the whole darn thing.
D) Page County, Riverheads, Wilson Memorial and Buffalo Gap all making it to the championship game.
E) Really, D could happen. Right? OK, maybe not but … well … anyway.
5. In an effort to right their wrongs, Southern Valley administrators will do the following next year when it comes to the Southern Valley basketball schedules: A) They’ll listen to the fans and give the Shenandoah District a call to learn how they managed to keep fans happy.
B) I mean, how tough can “A” be?
C) Really, how hard can it be to schedule rivalry games on different nights? I mean, come on. You don’t have a master’s degree but even you can figure out it’s not that tough.
D) They’ll do nothing. Some adults just love watching kids who represent their schools suffer. Maybe it’s a power-trip thing. Who knows.
And another thing: Remember when Waynesboro girls basketball was the punching bag of the then-Valley District? Sure you do (unless you decide that sitting at Chamber of Commerce meetings is boring and play sports writer for a day like some people).
That’s why Secrett Stubblefield’s quote after the Little Giants hammered away at Rockbridge on Monday had to make Waynesboro fans smile a bit. “We think we are the No. 1 team in the state,” she said, “regardless of what people say and what the polls say. In the region tournament, we have high expectations of ourselves.” Wow.
Is Waynesboro girls basketball the No. 1 team in the state? Not at all.
Are they good enough to make a run in the Region III tourney? Of course they are. Devon Brown can chuck two teams on her back and carry them to the Siegel Center in Richmond. But, whether you agree or disagree with Stubblefield’s quote, the truth is, she’s got a group of girls believing they can win any game, any night. Wow. Imagine that, high school girls believing in themselves.
Is that any reason to criticize a coach? Nope, now go back to your Chamber meeting.
Will it get any better than the Southern Valley girls tournament championship? Nope, it won’t get any better. Why, you ask? Well, let us revisit what R.E. Lee coach Jeremy Hartman said after Waynesboro beat R.E. Lee after the teams’ first meeting of the season: “Our kids know their kids and you know what they say, ‘familiarity breeds contempt.’ And that’s what this was.”
Oh, daddy: You know you can’t wait for this third battle between the Lee Ladies and Little Giants. Right.
And the answers to the quiz are: 1) E; 2) D; 3) Really? Just take your pick, man; 4) Let’s hope E; 5) C
Give yourself one point for each correct answer. Now let’s see how you did.
5 points – Want a job?
4 points – Nice job, you can schedule games for Shenandoah District basketball.
3 points – OK, which two did you miss?
2 points – You can be a slack-jawed always local sports blogger.
1 point – Don’t worry, you can always do the Southern Valley District basketball schedule.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/19 at 11:28 AM
Monday, February 18, 2008
Daily Pooch Punt: 2/18/08
Thankfully, I stopped at Martin’s on the way to the office this morning. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have had a conversation with Jared Tyler, a local sports fan in line with milk, two packs of bacon, a big jug of orange juice and a flu-addled wife waiting for him at home.
“Gonna rail on those idiots in charge of the [Southern Valley District]?” he asked.
I said probably not this week and he shook his head.
“You should” he said and he grabbed his bags and walked away.
So how can we summarize the first full basketball season in the Southern Valley? In three words: Full of Fail.
It was an experiment gone wrong with dropped opportunities to do things the right way by everyone in charge. First, they refused to budge on their same-night-different-sight format when it came to the boys and girls. Missing out on extra dollars and, what should be more important but probably isn’t, screwing fans out of seeing some good basketball. (And let’s not forget depriving both the teams of playing in front of larger crowds in what, chances are, will be the only four years the athletes will play organized sports in their lives.)
Every time a boys game meant something, you had to choose them over the girls. Every time a girls game was a doozy, you had to throw a big diss at the boys.
In the final meeting between Waynesboro and R.E. Lee, legendary Leemen coach Paul Hatcher expressed his disappointment that, 10 miles away in Staunton, was another big basketball game that people wanted to watch. Heck, the man said playing on different nights would even open up the gym for his team to practice.
R.E. Lee girls coach Jeremy Hartman was willing to move his game. No such luck.
Then, there’s the issue of dumping the No. 5 seed in a five-team district out of the tournament. No play-in game, no first-round bye for the top seed. Nothing. In a split made to get more Johnnies and Susies a chance to win some hardware, the Southern Valley couldn’t even get this right. Um, if the whole idea of the split was to give everybody a chance (a scary notion that the VHSL has bought into by splitting the Group A basketball tournament into divisions), then why are both Fort Defiance basketball teams going home without stepping foot on a court in the postseason?
The tournament begins tonight for the girls. R.E. Lee hosts Stuarts Draft and Waynesboro hosts Rockbridge. Sitting at home in this whole shame of a district is Fort Defiance, a team young team that would probably love another shot at the other four that kept them winless in the district.
And another thing: I asked Waynesboro Superintendent of Schools Robin Crowder why the Southern Valley could not see the light of day. His response: “Doesn’t the VHSL [Virginia High School League] set that?”
Really? OK, so the Southern Valley refuses to change its same-night-different-site schedule. They decide to dump the No. 5 seed without the courtesy of a play-in game or a first-round bye for the district winner. They, as one Shenandoah District coach told me, probably have just dug their heels in because they don’t want to admit they’re wrong. And here’s the superintendent of the Waynesboro schools, granted a guy who has a few other things to worry about, not knowing who set the rules in this debacle of a district.
Man, will somebody just throw a pie or something.
Once again, let me tip my hat to the Shenandoah District, you know, that league all those Group A country schools play in. You know, the district that sent e-mails out to media outlets informing them when the tournament games were taking place (No such e-mail from the Southern Valley, though Waynesboro High School did send an e-mail letting the media know when and where its tournament games were). You know, that “podunk” district that let local fans see both Riverheads boys at Wilson Memorial and, a night later, Wilson Memorial girls at Riverheads. (Unlike our rootin’-tootin’ “Big City” schools that can’t seem to get anything right.)
The best way to summarize it: Shenandoah District basketball rules. Southern Valley? Not so much. Thanks for the screw job Waynesboro, Rockbridge, Stuarts Draft, Fort Defiance and R.E. Lee.
Posted by Jim Sacco on 02/18 at 11:22 AM
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Daily Pooch Punt: 2/16/08
You’ve sat here and watched them re-open that old hotel with enough fanfare to last decades. That red-neon “Stonewall Jackson Hotel” sign looming larger than life in the distance as your drive into Staunton along U.S. 250 from Waynesboro.
They got that downtown.
They got that Shakespeare Theater to flaunt in your face. (And they do.)
Staunton’s high school basketball team has more state titles than yours. They got a couple of revamped trendy theaters.
Heck, their Wal-Mart’s aisles are wide. Your Wal-Mart packs you like sardines pushing shopping carts on a busy Sunday afternoon.
But hey, you got Martin’s first.
Then someone mentions “baseball stadium” and yes, you are allowed to swoon like it’s June. Because that sounds pretty exciting.
If Charlottesville investor Jim Morris is serious about his $20-million, 4,000-seat baseball stadium downtown, the city best listen. They best listen good. Because if anybody else can think of a better way to take the defibrillator to Main Street, please tell us. It’s getting late.
Baseball along the South River, he proposed. Finally, an idea that moves away from big-box stores and toward keeping your own box score under the summer sun. Along your river. In your town.
Something for people of all ages to do in a town that high school kids can’t run fast enough away from ... tired of the cops being called on them for skate boarding or playing football in an alley and knocking down a garbage can.
Where’s the Greenway that’s been talked about for close to six years? But thanks for those weird fake-brick-looking crosswalks. The lights? Nice touch, but who are we lighting the way for downtown?
Let’s use them to show fans the way to what, excuse the reference, could be your field of dreams. Make it homey, like a mini-Camden Yards replete with brick façade (real ones, not those crosswalks, please) with lights outside to match the now-useless ones along Main Street.
A river, known for its mercury, can be known as the splashdown point for monster blasts. A place to catch a game, walking distance away (for most) and there, as you make your way to the stadium, is your long suffering downtown. Reborn thanks to the American Pastime.
Building it is no guarantee the alleged Red Sox team or independent league squad will be lured here. If it’s built, someone will come. Or maybe the Valley League’s Generals have a new home and, more importantly, it’s a place for the Little Giants to play. The best dang home field in the Southern Valley District.
Heck, bid to host the state championships in baseball. No matter what you do with it, a ball park can anchor Main Street and the many restaurants and other shops that would finally be able to survive with twinight double-header crowds.
Make it homage to your past, when the old timers at DuPont donned custom jerseys and played in the old industrial leagues.
Or maybe living in the past is too Staunton with its nice Victorian homes and those beautiful buildings downtown. Don’t forget their latest brand, “Staunton: As U Like It,” which once again bows to a niche group that doesn’t tire of the Bard and his endless, “thees” and “thous.” (Really? They actually hired somebody to think this up. I know, don’t laugh.)
You don’t drink your tea with pinkies up in Waynesboro; your fingernails are too gritty from the years spent working at Invista, WaynTex or similar blue-collar jobs. You’re Joe and Jane American aren’t you, Waynesboro? Hard working, middle-class, paycheck-to-paycheck, knothole kind of crowd.
Let them have Midsummer Nights Dream. You prefer midsummer night swings just like most of America.