Here's A Few More Thanksgiving Leftovers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Roger Grossman, Lake City Radio-
So many things to talk about, so little space to do it in … let’s open up the Tupperware and see what we’ve got:
• Notre Dame’s football team finished the regular season at 10-2. Looking back on it, when you consider they lost NINE starters during the year, including their starting quarterback and top running back and STILL had a spot in the Final Four until the final regular season ranking, that’s a pretty impressive season.
Then when you think about the fact that their two losses were in a hurricane at No. 1 Clemson where they failed on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game, and then at Stanford on a last-second field goal – it’s a testament to the will power of the young men on that team and their coaches.
• Damon Bailey and Calbert Cheaney will headline the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2016 men’s induction class. Cheaney graduated from Evansville Harrison in 1989 and Bailey from Bedford-North Lawrence a year later, then joined forces to become all-time greats at Indiana University.
• The Warsaw girls basketball team is 0-7 after losing 49-45 last night in overtime to 3A No. 5 Norwell 49-45. Not only is it the worst start in school history, Warsaw had never had a losing streak longer than five games in the 41-year history of girls basketball (it happened in 1981 and again in 1982).
Consider the meat-grinder schedule they have faced, which is rated 14th hardest in the state: Huntington North (6-2), Luers (4-3), 3A No. 8 Tippecanoe Valley (5-1), Noblesville (7-2) who had been ranked in 4A until this week, 4A No. 4 Penn (8-0), 2A No. 8 Whitko (6-1), and Norwell (6-0).
It doesn’t get easier with a trip to Hamlet to play 2A No. 2 Oregon-Davis Thursday night, and then road trips over the next two weeks to Carroll, Plymouth and Columbia City before they start conference play at Wawasee on Dec. 19. And all of that without a senior on the roster – and having good seniors matters.
• David Price is going to the Boston Red Sox for seven years at about $217 million in total value. Need some perspective on that? That’s $30 million per year, and most healthy starting pitchers make 33 starts per season. Do the math … that’s one million dollars every five days. If he throws 100 pitches a start, he’d get paid $10,000 a pitch.
• This sports season is my 25th at the radio stations in Warsaw, and I have seen and experienced a lot in my almost 2,100 games. But the dunk that Warsaw junior guard Kyle Mangas hammered home at Columbia City Saturday night was pretty high up the list of individual plays. After the M & M’s (Mangas and Paul Marandet) pried the ball out of the hands of one of the Eagle guards late in the third quarter, Mangas took a pass cutting in from the left and threw down a two-handed flush over a defender who had cut underneath him. It was so impressive, that even the Columbia City students were smacking each other in full “did you SEE that?” mode.
• There will be a huge hole at Grace College soon. Word came down overnight that Grace alum Heather Johnson will be fading out of her role as women’s softball coach as her family plans to move to North Carolina.
Her husband, who also has been her assistant coach at Grace, has accepted an assistant coaching position at NCAA Division I Elon University. Heather is the best softball player Grace has ever had and came back to resurrect the program from almost two decades of obscurity. She helped end a drought of 18 years without a winning season and led them to the school’s first 30-win campaign in 21 years. Next spring, Johnson will assist her former second baseman Genevieve Stoll, who moves from assistant coach to interim head coach.
• And for a sports fan, there may be nothing harder than watching our aging sports stars’ abilities drift. Three come to mind: Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods.
Bryant announced this week that this season would be his last, and then promptly went out and proved why last season should been his last: 13 points, 4 of 20 from the field.
Woods admitted that he may never be the player he once was. Sadly, he’s the last person to realize that.
Manning is dealing with foot, shoulder, and neck issues. Truth is, Peyton’s body retired three years ago, but his brain just won’t let him stop trying. I hope that when it’s my time to stop broadcasting, I will have the wisdom to stop before I make a fool of myself.
Thanksgiving leftovers are great … but I feel like I really need a nap.[[In-content Ad]]
So many things to talk about, so little space to do it in … let’s open up the Tupperware and see what we’ve got:
• Notre Dame’s football team finished the regular season at 10-2. Looking back on it, when you consider they lost NINE starters during the year, including their starting quarterback and top running back and STILL had a spot in the Final Four until the final regular season ranking, that’s a pretty impressive season.
Then when you think about the fact that their two losses were in a hurricane at No. 1 Clemson where they failed on a two-point conversion that would have tied the game, and then at Stanford on a last-second field goal – it’s a testament to the will power of the young men on that team and their coaches.
• Damon Bailey and Calbert Cheaney will headline the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2016 men’s induction class. Cheaney graduated from Evansville Harrison in 1989 and Bailey from Bedford-North Lawrence a year later, then joined forces to become all-time greats at Indiana University.
• The Warsaw girls basketball team is 0-7 after losing 49-45 last night in overtime to 3A No. 5 Norwell 49-45. Not only is it the worst start in school history, Warsaw had never had a losing streak longer than five games in the 41-year history of girls basketball (it happened in 1981 and again in 1982).
Consider the meat-grinder schedule they have faced, which is rated 14th hardest in the state: Huntington North (6-2), Luers (4-3), 3A No. 8 Tippecanoe Valley (5-1), Noblesville (7-2) who had been ranked in 4A until this week, 4A No. 4 Penn (8-0), 2A No. 8 Whitko (6-1), and Norwell (6-0).
It doesn’t get easier with a trip to Hamlet to play 2A No. 2 Oregon-Davis Thursday night, and then road trips over the next two weeks to Carroll, Plymouth and Columbia City before they start conference play at Wawasee on Dec. 19. And all of that without a senior on the roster – and having good seniors matters.
• David Price is going to the Boston Red Sox for seven years at about $217 million in total value. Need some perspective on that? That’s $30 million per year, and most healthy starting pitchers make 33 starts per season. Do the math … that’s one million dollars every five days. If he throws 100 pitches a start, he’d get paid $10,000 a pitch.
• This sports season is my 25th at the radio stations in Warsaw, and I have seen and experienced a lot in my almost 2,100 games. But the dunk that Warsaw junior guard Kyle Mangas hammered home at Columbia City Saturday night was pretty high up the list of individual plays. After the M & M’s (Mangas and Paul Marandet) pried the ball out of the hands of one of the Eagle guards late in the third quarter, Mangas took a pass cutting in from the left and threw down a two-handed flush over a defender who had cut underneath him. It was so impressive, that even the Columbia City students were smacking each other in full “did you SEE that?” mode.
• There will be a huge hole at Grace College soon. Word came down overnight that Grace alum Heather Johnson will be fading out of her role as women’s softball coach as her family plans to move to North Carolina.
Her husband, who also has been her assistant coach at Grace, has accepted an assistant coaching position at NCAA Division I Elon University. Heather is the best softball player Grace has ever had and came back to resurrect the program from almost two decades of obscurity. She helped end a drought of 18 years without a winning season and led them to the school’s first 30-win campaign in 21 years. Next spring, Johnson will assist her former second baseman Genevieve Stoll, who moves from assistant coach to interim head coach.
• And for a sports fan, there may be nothing harder than watching our aging sports stars’ abilities drift. Three come to mind: Kobe Bryant, Peyton Manning and Tiger Woods.
Bryant announced this week that this season would be his last, and then promptly went out and proved why last season should been his last: 13 points, 4 of 20 from the field.
Woods admitted that he may never be the player he once was. Sadly, he’s the last person to realize that.
Manning is dealing with foot, shoulder, and neck issues. Truth is, Peyton’s body retired three years ago, but his brain just won’t let him stop trying. I hope that when it’s my time to stop broadcasting, I will have the wisdom to stop before I make a fool of myself.
Thanksgiving leftovers are great … but I feel like I really need a nap.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092