Time For Some Whack-A-Mole
August 6, 2021 at 11:59 p.m.
Time For Some Whack-A-Mole
By Chip Davenport-
IHSAA official fall athletic team practices launched this week although conditioning and camps have been running since the IHSAA’s official “week one” in July. I share the same sentiments Roger Grossman shared recently in a Facebook live feed.
My summer is over.
The Warsaw campus is buzzing as its numerous fall sports teams are spending this week getting to hand out uniforms, getting team, group, and individual athlete photos. Each coach, regardless of the likelihood of his or her season’s success, will tell you there is still a long row to hoe.
Not a single coach is a sandbagger, though. The regular season opening matches, games, and meets seem to pop up as quickly as that first mole’s head in the classic Whack-A-Mole arcade game.
One hammer, so many moles.
I felt like I was having a writer’s version of Whack-A-Mole going on in my mind, too.
So many thoughts, only so much copy space.
Most of the time I usually cover one or two topics, related or unrelated, and 800-1,000 words later, another chi shot you can wrap fish with by Saturday evening.
I’ll topic hop in true ADHD fashion this morning.
I’m not covering the Warsaw Tiger preview for the Times-Union this year, but I shall, at this point in time, still cover the orange and black in what will be an exciting season. There appears to be one of Warsaw’s largest junior classes (29 athletes) comprising the Tiger gridiron roster although the senior class (17) is the smallest in at least four seasons. The 2019 Tigers, first-ever sectional champs in the program’s history, were fast. The 2020 Tigers, the first conference champs since 2001, were big. These 2021 Tigers, headed to Leo for a 7 p.m. Aug. 13 scrimmage are big and fast.
I’m very excited about the 2021 campaign, but I’ll leave the rest of the story to the freelance writer who covers the preview.
I’m looking forward to big, energetic crowds. I have a feeling it’s what we’ll see. Once people are shut out from something due to limited capacity or limited availability it makes them appreciate the energy of live action on site.
I shall be spending time in soccer and football press boxes this fall for the Times-Union. The big question is whether I shall be wearing multiple hats this fall in the manner I did covering Warsaw softball last season (public address at home games and reporting). I shall keep you posted.
I do not try to feign objectivity among sports of interest in terms of media coverage. Warsaw Tiger football is a clear favorite of mine, but I’m learning to enjoy soccer.
“Futbol” is much easier to find during decent television viewing hours on multiple channels than it was years ago. The games tend to take a little over two hours. This makes your weekend to-do list easier to “bookshelf” before and after the action. I’m looking forward to some of the opportunities I’ll have covering matches as my scholastic sports schedule permits.
If you take the number of touchdowns scored in a competitive 21—14 football final score (three to two), isn’t “futbol” just as exciting? The misnomer of the latter being slow and boring almost solely belongs to those who haven’t spent a reasonable time watching “the beautiful game.”
Another misnomer bothering me is the grousing I hear when fans are watching the Tigers execute the triple-option. The last two seasons in particular fans would exclaim things like, “Why are they handing it to the fullback every time?”
Well, folks, I’m going to tell you something that might surprise you if you are not well-versed in triple-option football.
The offensive coordinator, in this case Warsaw’s Michael Curtis, calling the play from the crow’s nest does not know what player will get the ball. The play is designed for the quarterback to select among at least three options (hence the name, folks).
The quarterback will tuck the ball into the fullback’s hand (mesh point) and in an instant he will determine whether that fullback has an opening he can take for some good yardage, or the quarterback will keep the ball and very quickly decide to run it himself, or to pitch it ta a trailing halfback.
There is no time for indecision, or the quarterback and halfback will be on their backs simultaneously.
The split-second decision skills people only think are demonstrated in the passing game are just as skillfully demonstrated on every single triple-option play. The most successful execution of the triple-option offense is having a quarterback intelligent enough to detect what defender among the front seven defenders will make the incorrect choice; will they cheat toward the quarterback, the fullback, or the halfback? If the quarterback sees the right defender doing the wrong thing, this is when you see explosive, long gains like Juan Jaramillo’s 77-yard touchdown run from up the middle that reversed the fortunes of the Tigers on the night they capture the program’s first sectional championship.
Keep an eye on head coach Bart Curtis when the Tigers have the ball while you’re watching gridiron action this fall. Curtis isn’t watching the offense. He also has no idea who will get the ball, and he is watching the defense to see individuals and areas of the open field he can tell his offensive coordinator to exploit.
The triple-option, as far as passing goes, doesn’t afford fans much action through the air. However, as a defense continues to be sucked into dozens of consecutive running plays, when the Tigers decide to throw, they are wide open. Case in point, Luke Adamiec caught three passes his sophomore season for 92 yards (a 30.7-yard average) and scored – you guessed it – three touchdowns. When he was open, heeeee was ooooopen.
I’ve had enough Whack-A-Mole this morning. See you in the stadiums and press boxes.
IHSAA official fall athletic team practices launched this week although conditioning and camps have been running since the IHSAA’s official “week one” in July. I share the same sentiments Roger Grossman shared recently in a Facebook live feed.
My summer is over.
The Warsaw campus is buzzing as its numerous fall sports teams are spending this week getting to hand out uniforms, getting team, group, and individual athlete photos. Each coach, regardless of the likelihood of his or her season’s success, will tell you there is still a long row to hoe.
Not a single coach is a sandbagger, though. The regular season opening matches, games, and meets seem to pop up as quickly as that first mole’s head in the classic Whack-A-Mole arcade game.
One hammer, so many moles.
I felt like I was having a writer’s version of Whack-A-Mole going on in my mind, too.
So many thoughts, only so much copy space.
Most of the time I usually cover one or two topics, related or unrelated, and 800-1,000 words later, another chi shot you can wrap fish with by Saturday evening.
I’ll topic hop in true ADHD fashion this morning.
I’m not covering the Warsaw Tiger preview for the Times-Union this year, but I shall, at this point in time, still cover the orange and black in what will be an exciting season. There appears to be one of Warsaw’s largest junior classes (29 athletes) comprising the Tiger gridiron roster although the senior class (17) is the smallest in at least four seasons. The 2019 Tigers, first-ever sectional champs in the program’s history, were fast. The 2020 Tigers, the first conference champs since 2001, were big. These 2021 Tigers, headed to Leo for a 7 p.m. Aug. 13 scrimmage are big and fast.
I’m very excited about the 2021 campaign, but I’ll leave the rest of the story to the freelance writer who covers the preview.
I’m looking forward to big, energetic crowds. I have a feeling it’s what we’ll see. Once people are shut out from something due to limited capacity or limited availability it makes them appreciate the energy of live action on site.
I shall be spending time in soccer and football press boxes this fall for the Times-Union. The big question is whether I shall be wearing multiple hats this fall in the manner I did covering Warsaw softball last season (public address at home games and reporting). I shall keep you posted.
I do not try to feign objectivity among sports of interest in terms of media coverage. Warsaw Tiger football is a clear favorite of mine, but I’m learning to enjoy soccer.
“Futbol” is much easier to find during decent television viewing hours on multiple channels than it was years ago. The games tend to take a little over two hours. This makes your weekend to-do list easier to “bookshelf” before and after the action. I’m looking forward to some of the opportunities I’ll have covering matches as my scholastic sports schedule permits.
If you take the number of touchdowns scored in a competitive 21—14 football final score (three to two), isn’t “futbol” just as exciting? The misnomer of the latter being slow and boring almost solely belongs to those who haven’t spent a reasonable time watching “the beautiful game.”
Another misnomer bothering me is the grousing I hear when fans are watching the Tigers execute the triple-option. The last two seasons in particular fans would exclaim things like, “Why are they handing it to the fullback every time?”
Well, folks, I’m going to tell you something that might surprise you if you are not well-versed in triple-option football.
The offensive coordinator, in this case Warsaw’s Michael Curtis, calling the play from the crow’s nest does not know what player will get the ball. The play is designed for the quarterback to select among at least three options (hence the name, folks).
The quarterback will tuck the ball into the fullback’s hand (mesh point) and in an instant he will determine whether that fullback has an opening he can take for some good yardage, or the quarterback will keep the ball and very quickly decide to run it himself, or to pitch it ta a trailing halfback.
There is no time for indecision, or the quarterback and halfback will be on their backs simultaneously.
The split-second decision skills people only think are demonstrated in the passing game are just as skillfully demonstrated on every single triple-option play. The most successful execution of the triple-option offense is having a quarterback intelligent enough to detect what defender among the front seven defenders will make the incorrect choice; will they cheat toward the quarterback, the fullback, or the halfback? If the quarterback sees the right defender doing the wrong thing, this is when you see explosive, long gains like Juan Jaramillo’s 77-yard touchdown run from up the middle that reversed the fortunes of the Tigers on the night they capture the program’s first sectional championship.
Keep an eye on head coach Bart Curtis when the Tigers have the ball while you’re watching gridiron action this fall. Curtis isn’t watching the offense. He also has no idea who will get the ball, and he is watching the defense to see individuals and areas of the open field he can tell his offensive coordinator to exploit.
The triple-option, as far as passing goes, doesn’t afford fans much action through the air. However, as a defense continues to be sucked into dozens of consecutive running plays, when the Tigers decide to throw, they are wide open. Case in point, Luke Adamiec caught three passes his sophomore season for 92 yards (a 30.7-yard average) and scored – you guessed it – three touchdowns. When he was open, heeeee was ooooopen.
I’ve had enough Whack-A-Mole this morning. See you in the stadiums and press boxes.
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