|
|
|
It's a great time of year because the postseason for most fall sports is winding down (a couple of exceptions to that which I'll note below) and football playoffs are just gearing up, so I'm able to turn focus almost completely to them.
The two exceptions are tomorrow, when volleyball has its...
|
Comments [12] - Views [888]
|
|
|
|
Down to the final eight in volleyball playoffs. Here are the Division I quarterfinal matchups for Thursday:
(8) Stockdale at (1) Clovis-Buchanan
(5) Fresno-Bullard at (4) Bakersfield
(6) Liberty at (3) Centennial
(10) Clovis East at (2) Clovis West
Other Kern teams still alive: In Division...
|
Comments [18] - Views [1228]
|
|
|
|
A quick note relating the World Series to Bakersfield on this, the night of Game 6: I ran into K.C. and Butch Hobson today at Stockdale while working on a story about this weekend's big football game. Butch said he's organizing Northwest and Southwest youth baseball camps in December and...
|
Comments [12] - Views [1202]
|
|
|
|
This is the time of year when upsets happen. That's because teams get worn out, or they try to get away with resting someone, something clicks for a teams that's been struggling, or someone notices a tendency on film. But it's also because of the way the Kern County schedule is set up. The...
|
Comments [21] - Views [1193]
|
|
|
|
It's absolutely amazing how fast some of these seasons fly by. Seems like we were just wondering about whether Liberty would win a big game this year as it entered its Week 0 showdown at Clovis West, and now the Patriots are about out of "big games" to win (they did beat Bakersfield,...
|
Comments [8] - Views [1015]
|
|
|
|
Lots of little news items this week, for those interested: Centennial's Cody Kessler is hurt, but not too badly, and Frontier's Matt Darr will be punting in the Alamodome in January, to an All-American punt returner and behind an All-American offensive line. That is, if his team's All-American...
|
Comments [18] - Views [1001]
|
|
|
|
I know it's football season now, but I have to say, there's something about playoff baseball that absolutely captures my attention. These guys play 162 games in a game that's all about repitition and longevitiy and then have their entire seasons come down to one game. That said, the...
|
Comments [8] - Views [898]
|
|
|
|
As you might have read in this morning's Californian, Garces football coach David Fanucchi apparently has told his team he will resign at the end of this season. It's a strange situation at Garces, where no one is allowed to share any personnel information, not even the man who resigned. But a...
|
Comments [6] - Views [1096]
|
|
|
|
Which of the following most efficiently sums up my feelings after my gaudy 2009 predictions record went up in flames last Friday?
(a) Oi vay!
(b) Aye carumba!
(c) C'est la vie
(d) Oh man that was so pathetic
I tend to think in English, so if you guessed (d), you're our big winner!...
|
Comments [9] - Views [931]
|
|
|
|
I had an interesting breaking news story to do Tuesday night. The Porterville Recorder ran a story in its Tuesday edition based on a letter it received from Rick McIntire, who's the father of Porterville senior Jordan McIntire.
You can read the Recorder's initial report here, and my full report...
|
Comments [8] - Views [862]
|
|
|
|
A quick note on the local girls tennis scene, seeing as I was out at my first dual match of the year last night. The best teams in town might be Bakersfield Christian and Garces. The Eagles are typically loaded, but this year's team is especially so, with the Cooke sisters at the top. Garces...
|
Comments [7] - Views [999]
|
|
|
|
It's that time of year again, football fans. Time for me to put my pride on the line and be wrong about multiple game results each week!
Seriously, though, these predictions are meant more like brief game previews than betting advice or anything. Any prediction I give, especially early in...
|
Comments [10] - Views [1061]
|
|
|
|
Flooded, soggy Southeast braces for more rain
The West Pearl River, already more than four feet above flood stage at about 19 feet, had emergency officials in St. Tammany Parish, La., bracing for flooding, particularly in low-lying areas. The National Weather...
|
Comments [8] - Views [40]
|
|
|
|
We've got the Sacramento-Grant—Long Beach-Poly Open Division state championship football game on TV here in the office, and it's a somewhat surprising 13-7 lead for Grant at the half. Maybe by the time I'm done with this all-encompassing football wrap-up, the game will be close to over....
|
Comments [2] - Views [151]
|
|
|
|
After a perfect week last week (granted, it was just 5-for-5), I take a stab at the last four Central Section games of the season.
Bonus picks this week of the Divisions II and IV championship games — and barring any unforeseen miracles, that will be it. If Bakersfield Christian had...
|
Comments [1] - Views [174]
|
|
|
|
With the football season winding down, I'd like to take this chance to remind you (sounds like a Public Service Announcement, doesn't it?) that this blog does have year-round service. Football, I think, is the sports fan's entreé, but I will be here through Kern County basketball and...
|
Comments [5] - Views [214]
|
|
|
|
A happy Thanksgiving Eve to everyone. I'll be heading up to Kingsburg in a couple of hours for the Vikings' Division IV game with Taft, which the teams mutually agreed to move up to save holiday plans.
I love the idea, not only because it gives the players, their parents and coaches...
|
Comments [0] - Views [213]
|
|
|
|
It's shaping up to be quite an end of the month. Four Kern County volleyball teams are in Central Section volleyball championships Thursday, the football playoffs start Friday and the state volleyball and cross country championships will be decided in the coming weeks as well.
Both McFarland and...
|
Comments [7] - Views [372]
|
|
|
|
Live to you from Fresno, where some congratulations are in order to the Stockdale girls tennis team for its sixth straight Division I Central Section championship. The Mustangs won it today with a 6-3 victory at top seed Fresno-Bullard.
Can you imagine a football team winning six straight D-I...
|
Comments [4] - Views [409]
|
|
|
|
I think I might need to see a psychologist or something: I can't even make up my own mind. This prediction blog becomes the highlight and lowlight of my week every Wednesday.
On one level, I love doing it and love going out on a limb and taking a shot at what's going on. But at the same...
|
Comments [4] - Views [481]
|
|
|
|
Things are getting serious in the Fresno-Edison grade-changing case. The school district has asked Central Section commissioner Jim Crichlow to re-investigate the matter, which concerns a teacher's allegation that a player's grade in a math class was changed from an F to an A. Crichlow's first...
|
Comments [9] - Views [438]
|
|
|
|
There comes a time in every season, I like to think, when the best teams start playing like the best teams and the pretenders start to fade and/or expose themselves. I don't think there's a set point in every season where it happens — in the baseball season, for instance, is it after the...
|
Comments [2] - Views [349]
|
|
|
|
First off, sorry for the late post; we had technical issues all last night at The Californian and I was helping out with some other things — and coaches, if you tried to call in your score from a Wednesday event, you might try back tonight, as the phone lines were affected too....
|
Comments [0] - Views [92]
|
|
|
|
I can't seem to shake this feeling that this week is going by soooo slowly. I even took Monday off, and yet it feels like it should be Friday afternoon already. I almost don't have the energy to go through all of these predictions.
Nah, I take that back. I can always get up for some...
|
Comments [3] - Views [573]
|
|
|
|
I did a little better in my picks last week, getting exactly two-thirds of the games right. Still not great, but I'm working on it, and at least I'm not in chicken-peck territory.
I'll steal a feature from one of my favorite college football bloggers to recap last week's picks: the...
|
Comments [5] - Views [381]
|
|
|
|
As exciting as last week was, I took a big hit in my predictions. Going .500 isn't exactly the point — after all, a coin flip or a chicken pecking at one team's name or the other would go .500 over the long run, and I'd like to think I do more research than either. No, we have...
|
Comments [8] - Views [411]
|
|
|
|
Before we begin, there's some gravely sad news to report out of Riverside. Boron sophomore Vinnie Rodriguez, who was taken to the Loma Linda Medical Center in Riverside after sustaining apparent head injuries in the Bobcats game Friday, died last night.
It's a shock any time this happens, but...
|
Comments [22] - Views [556]
|
|
|
|
Isn't it nice when things work out?
After a star-studded and heavy-on-drama Week 0, the opening day's major players — Bakersfield, Bakersfield Christian, Liberty — take this week off to cede the spotlight to some of the other teams we need to keep an eye on. Everyone will reconvene...
|
Comments [8] - Views [613]
|
|
|
|
As I type this, it's 7:33 p.m. That means that in two days, the national anthems will be sung, the balls will have been checked for air, the kickoffs taken, and the first plays in the high school football season finished.
In two days, we'll finally begin to figure out who the haves and have-nots...
|
Comments [3] - Views [227]
|
|
|
|
The Kern County Young Republicans tried to turn their collective brains to predicting the primary results Tuesday night, and they came pretty close.
Ryan Leggio, who hosted the KCYR’s primary-night party, had attendees write down who would win the GOP primary in California, and with what...
|
Comments [1] - Views [89]
|
|
|
|
Another week like last week and I'm removing myself from the panel of experts. Finishing a week 8-7 is an embarrassment to our staff. If not for a stinky goat, I'd be in last place. Of course, there's always next week:
Todd Camps and Mason Kelley saved the experts from too much embarrassment...
|
Comments [0] - Views [60]
|
|
|
1
