Saturday, May 30, 2009

RIP Saturday and Monday editions

As many already know today was the last publication for the Saturday Herald-Press. Along with deciding to do away with Saturday's editions, the Monday edition also will be gone making the H-P a five-day a week newspaper. It is a sad day, but it is what the higher ups in our company feel needs to be done to help keep our newspaper surviving in these times. Sometimes it is hard to accept change, but we are going to need to because these are the decisions that have been made.
During the last few weeks as word has spread about the change, the main questions I get asked is what is going to happen come football season. With no more Saturday paper, it means no more football stories to read the day after the big games. But while there is no paper, those stories will still be there, just in another form. We will continue to cover the Dogwood Circle football scene as diligently as we have done in the past, but instead of the newspaper, those Friday night stories of your favorite area team, along with area box scores and football scores from around the state will be found on our web site either later on Friday nights or the wee hours of Saturday morning.
Sunday's edition of the Herald-Press will then recap those area games and have follow up stories from some of the top games in the area, giving our readers a more in depth perspective of the games in the area. In addition, we will continue to run area standings and stats and everything else that our readers have become accustomed to seeing during football season.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Are the Rangers for real - we need to wait to see.

It is a day after Memorial Day and the Rangers are sitting in first place in the American League West, but it is to early to start thinking that Texas can really have the staying power and make a run in the playoffs.
Texas continues to have one of the better offenses in the league and the Rangers have hit more home runs than anyone else in baseball. Ian Kinsler is turning into a super star at second base, even though he has been in a slump that dropped his average from mid 300 to ,278. Michael Young continues to just keep on hitting no matter what position he is playing, Nelson Cruz is turning into a big-time power threat and Hank Blalock is striving in the DH spot. And all this without a healthy Josh Hamilton, who has been in and out of the line up during the early part of the season.
The downfall of the Rangers – the pitching - even looks better this year. The Rangers have been bottom dwellers in the ERA category, but Texas is in the middle of the pack so far in the AL in ERA (4.57).
Kevin Millwood has became the Ranger ace with a 3.12 ERA and the Rangers are getting strong outings from others on the staff including Matt Harrison and Brandon McCarthy.
While it has been looking good for the Rangers, who took the lead in the AL West by sweeping the Mariners and Angels, there are some troubling signs. The Rangers have struggled against the better teams in the league. They have lost all six games to first-place Detroit, including being swept last week. They lost 2-of-3 to Toronto earlier this year and got creamed by the Yankees 11-1 on Memorial Day. Not the kind of games you want to have if you believe you are a postseason contender.
And the Rangers have several games against top teams coming up. Starting tonight against the Yankees, the Rangers play 15 of their next 19 games against teams that have a combined winning percentage of .600 (Five against New York, three vs. Boston, four vs. Toronto and three vs. Los Angeles Dodgers). The Rangers also have a four-game series this weekend in Oakland.
We will know a little more about just how good the Rangers are come mid June when they get through this stretch.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Michael Vick - Do we really care?

Just turn on Sports Center or look on sports web sites and one of the top stories is former Atlanta Falcon quarterback and convicted felon Michael Vick being released from federal prison and going back to his home, where he is under house arrest for the last part of his sentence for dog fighting.
Why do we care? Why do we want that to be the first story we see? Does it matter that he got out of prison? Do we really want to know what he is going to do his first day at home? (That actually was one of the questions the ESPN reporter on site at Vick's home reported on). Who cares? I know I don't care but am I the only one?
It is said that news reporters only report on what the public wants to hear. If people did not want to hear about the MLB player who is cheating on his wife, then they would not report about it. If people were not interested about the NBA player who is caught with a concealed weapon then nothing would be on Sports Center about it. But most people don't want to hear about that stuff, they want to know about actually sporting events, what is going on the field, not off of it. But all we get is non-stop coverage of off the field problems.
Do we really need to know or even care what time Michael Vick got out of prison and if he was going to fly home or drive? But at the top of each hour, that was what was being reported. Instead I want to see highlights of the Nuggets-Lakers game one Western Conference Final and here insight from the game. But what, lets first go to Virginia and find out what Michael Vick is going to eat this morning at his house.
Michael Vick committed a crime and he is getting more air time and print now then when he was with the Falcons. News outlets need to start covering what is one the field and not off the field because we don't want to hear about it.
The next time I want to hear Michael Vick's name is when he is actually playing on an NFL football team and not what is job is going to be for the next two months and what size of ankle bracelet he has to wear.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Could Favre make the Vikings better?

While nothing is official, there are rumors that the Minnesota Vikings want to talk to quarterback Brett Favre. Nothing has been done and nothing may happen, but it is an interesting thought, could Favre make the Vikings better?
Minnesota has the best running back in football. In two seasons, Adrian Peterson has cemented himself at the top of the league and every defense in the NFL are doing everything possible to stop the Palestine High School graduate. With defenses geared to stop Peterson at all means, that opens up the passing game which is where a Favre could be dangerous.
If Favre could come into Minnesota and not try to be a hero on every play, be a second fiddle to Peterson, then the Viking offense would be very dangerous. With defenses putting seven to eight players in the box to stop Peterson, putting one-on-one coverage on the wide receivers, Favre has the arm and the experience to do some damage, something last year's starter Tavaris Jackson seemed to struggle with a lot.
And if Minnesota can get a passing game going, that would loosen up the defense and give Peterson more running room. We have seen the kind of runs Peterson can have with eight in the box, just image what it would be like with less players crowding the line of scrimmage.
The problem with Favre could be ego. He would have to come into Minnesota and not try to make the big plays all the time but looking at Favre's past, can he really do that? Can he sit back and had the ball of 20 to 25 times and make the throws when need be, or would he try to be that gun slinger who wants to throw it 40 yards down field in double coverage?

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Thoughts on Hockey

I am not much of a hockey fan. Grew up in California when hockey was just starting to grow with the likes of Wayne Gretzky playing for the L.A. Kings. But while I may have watched a few games and even have been to a few hockey games (including one game in which we had seats that we could not see one of the goals, probably why I never got into the sport).
But despite that, hockey players have the most athletic talent than any players in any other of the major sports. Just think about it, hockey players have the toughness of football players, the agility of basketball players and the hand-eye coordination of baseball players. Take all that and then remember, hockey players do all that on a sheet of ice.
While I may not care too much about hockey, I have to respect how good these players are.

Friday, May 1, 2009

The right decision

The University Interscholastic League finally made the right decision Thursday when it found a way to have the regional track meets after saying those events would be cancelled Wednesday when the UIL first made its announcement of the postponement of events due to the swine flu outbreak.
The UIL seemed to act a little to hastily on Friday with the announcement that the regional track meets would be cancelled and the state track meet would have semifinal heats with the four top times from each region. The UIL needed to step back, say the events would be postponed and make a decision in the next couple of days on how the regional and state meets would be handled.
But because the UIL made the initial statement that regional meets would be cancelled, it caused panic and chaos throughout the high school track circuit and started lots of complaints. With the UIL going back and making the change because of these complaints, it makes the UIL look a little weak and during these times, that is the last thing we need is to have a system in place running the show that does not seem to know what is going on.
While it was the right decision to cancel upcoming events, the UIL made the mistake of trying to have all the answers at once and not stepping back and figuring out what the right solution is.