Monthly Archives: November 2006

In every game, be this our aim, V-I-C-T-O-R-Y: week 11 vs. Gibraltar Carlson

Chelsea High School Football record through week 11: 22-7 (1-0 week 11; 15-6 SEC; 2-0 playoffs).

Poor Jerry Niehaus Field caught a break after the muddy Carleton Airport game: there was no rain during the week.  Of course, it was cold, so there was a bit of snow.  The cold temperatures did not let the field dry so much as they hardened it enough to be playable, with a minimum of mud.

Chelsea hosted two special guests for the game: the University of Michigan Navy ROTC, and the Ball State University marching band.

Prior to the game, the Navy ROTC presented the colors at midfield.  It was a very nice touch; thanks should go out to the ROTC for agreeing to honor us with their presence. 

The marching band was in town for Ball State’s football game against Michigan the next day, so it was no stretch to make a visit to Chelsea.  They played at halftime, and the drum line entertained the Chelsea students in the second half.

(As the band picture shows, in an effort to keep the field playable as long as possible, neither band stepped foot on the field.)

To start the game, Chelsea kicked to Gibraltar Carlson; Bulldogs fans became nervous when the Marauders returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown.  But that would prove to be Carlson’s only score of the first half; Chelsea trailed only once in the game.  The offense quickly tied the game with a touchdown pass to Connell, and after a quick Carlson three-and-out, the rout was on: at halftime, the Bulldogs had a comfortable 34-7 lead.

That margin allowed the second string some playing time in the second half; still, Carlson was able to muster only one touchdown run and another kickoff return, and Chelsea claimed a 48-21 victory.

The Bulldogs celebrated their convincing victory as coach Brad Bush accepted the trophy.  That led to a slightly bittersweet moment: Bush immediately handed the trophy to Seelbach.  And as Gibraltar Carlson contemplated the end of its season, Chelsea continued to enjoy the victory.

Next up: Fowlerville.  And, since Chelsea has more playoff points, the battered turf at Jerry Niehaus Field will have to last for one more game.  But who would argue with a third home playoff game?

Blood donors and lawbreakers, they’re all the same

This is hard to believe.

In Texas, the football coach at Willis High School removed six players from the team after they were late for practice. Their reason for being late? They were donating blood at a school blood drive.

Coach Mack Malone has refused comment, perhaps under the advice of the district or its legal counsel. But according to the players, when they arrived at practice, Malone told them they were done playing at Willis.

“The first thing (the coach) said was, ‘You’re off the team. Your career at Willis High School is over,'” football player Phillip McKenna said.

“We were all ready for practice,” player Jeff Chachem said. “We were going out to practice and all of our stuff was taken out of our lockers and we were told to go home, that we were done playing football.”

The subsequent uproar forced the school to reinstate the players, though they lost their starting positions, and they were suspended for one game as punishment for their tardiness.

“We did lose our starting positions,” Chachem said. “We do have to work and run to get them back, so it’s still showing that we’re being punished.”

The players will also not be allowed to participate in the team’s next game on Friday.

Taken at face value, this incident reflects very poorly on Malone. Six players were late to practice for a reason most would consider noble and selfless. His response — immediate dismissal — seems best suited for the latest in a pattern of misbehavior, or for a truly egregious violation of rules. Even the school superintendent said Malone “overreacted.”

That is where uncertainty begins to arise. Malone’s reaction to a seemingly minor incident seems very much over the top; that perception prompts one important question: was his response truly out of the blue, or had these players shown a pattern of misbehavior?

While that information would be helpful, the reports give no indication of persistent malfeasance on the part of the athletes; thus, any judgments based on that potential justification would be pure speculation.

Discarding such speculation, we are left simply with the reported incident: a coach summarily dismissed six players for being late to practice due to a school blood drive. In that light, we are left with the image of a coach who seems to have reacted excessively and impulsively to what should have been a minor incident.

This is not to say there was no justification for punishment. While these players were not late for purely irresponsible or illegal reasons, they were still late, and there is no indication of their having given Malone advance warning of their late arrival. In that case, it would be his responsibility as a coach to enforce consequences for their late arrival.

That being said, immediate dismissal for an instance of tardiness seems excessive, to say the least. Even his modified punishment, levied after he was compelled to apologize and reinstate the players, seems larger than the crime.

In the end, this incident substantially alters Malone’s position in eyes of his athletes and their parents, and it may irrevocably damage his leadership credibility among those whose success depends on it. If that occurs, his departure would be best action, both for Malone and for the school.

The players said they are happy to be back on the team but wish things could return to normal.

“I’m not going to be able to look at him the same way,” player Garrett Scott said.

Sponsored sponsors; A tunnel at the end of the light

1)This sponsor sponsored by our sponsor
The University of Michigan football postgame radio show has no shortage of sponsors, as evidenced by their player of the game declaration following the Northwestern game:

“The Walt Michals RV Superstore player of the game was brought to you by Capital Mortgage Funding.”

2)Wait, is that good or bad?
In their season opener, the defending NBA champion Miami Heat lost to the Chicago Bulls, 108-66.  The margin of defeat was the largest ever for a champion’s season opener.

After the game, Heat player Alonzo Mourning waxed philosophical:

“Obviously this is a total embarrassment,” Alonzo Mourning said. “We’re better than what we showed out there tonight. I know things will get better before they get worse. Just kind of unfortunate in our home opener that we came out with this kind of showing.”

“Things will get better before they get worse.”  You heard it from ‘Zo first: the Heat will lose games by fewer than 42 points … and then they will lose by more than 42 points.

Photo of the Variable Time Period, vol. 25

Don’t Forget My Number (01 November 2006).

With the Bulldogs in the playoffs, a number of players have altered their hairstyles for the occasion.  Most opted for mohawks, while two — Adams, pictured here, and Connell — incorporated their jersey numbers into their haircuts.

Baseball math … part 4

In the comments on a previous post, there was a brief conversation on the merits of longer playoff series, centered around the idea that a longer playoff series is more likely to see the better team emerge with a victory.

Recently, on ESPN.com’s Page 2, Tim Keown criticized the length of the MLB playoffs, saying that the wild card makes the playoffs too long:

But the bigger issue is one nobody in baseball wants to acknowledge: The World Series has declined in suspense and aesthetic value since the beginning of the wild card format. Three rounds of playoffs has cheapened the World Series, to the point where it is now the end of an endurance race, the prize at the end of a grueling trail, rather than the climax of a long season.

The wild-card format isn’t going anywhere. For baseball’s purposes, it works, keeping more teams interested and more fans in the stands. The extra round of playoffs means big bucks.

But six of the last nine World Series have ended in four or five games, and the extra round has to get some of the blame for that. The emphasis seems to have changed from winning the Series to simply getting there, kind of like the Super Bowl.

That’s a theory, but some things are inarguable: Guys wearing ski caps in the batter’s box are not good for the game. Teams with nothing left by the time they get to the World Series are not good for the game. The decreased television audience isn’t good, either.

You know what they’re talking about, though, right? Expanding the first round to seven games.

While he is specifically addressing the wild card’s effect on the playoffs, he seems not to echo Glavine’s sentiment that a longer playoff series benefits purportedly better teams.  At the very least, the two topics do not seem entirely disconnected.

But, if nothing else, the 2006 World Series seems to have notched one major accomplishment: thanks to the baseball-unfriendly weather and weary players, it has more people wondering if perhaps the MLB season is too long.  There is little hope of a shortened baseball season, but at least it’s a topic of conversation now.

Here’s one more indication of the excessive length of the modern MLB season:

  • The Tigers played their first game of the 2006 season on 02 April.
  • The Chelsea (MI) High School varsity baseball team played its first game of the 2005-2006 season on 13 April.
  • The Chelsea High School varsity football team played its last game of the 2006-2007 regular season on 20 October; its first-round playoff game was on 27 October.
  • The Tigers played game 5 — which turned out to be the final game — of the World Series on 27 October.

To summarize, the 2006 Tigers started their season before the 2005-2006 Chelsea high school season and finished their World Series appearance after the 2006-2007 Chelsea varsity football regular season.