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Finally, wrestling rules changes for 2012-2013

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May 062012

I’ve had this NFHS release on the 2012-2013 wrestling rules for at least two weeks, and I’m just now posting it on my own website.

That says volumes about (a) how much work there is being a district staff person (lots) and (b) what a lazy bum I’ve been regarding RodFrisco.com. Shame on me.

Regardless, the wrestling rules for the upcoming season can be accessed here. I like ‘em, especially the lead rule regarding stalling, although banning the wristbands and what-not seems a little commie to me. The thing missing from the stalling rules changes is the usual: Call it more often.

I will be posting a little more frequently now that the spring postseason is here – yes, tennis counts – and I’m well aware that the site needs some major work, especially getting the records links functional.

I’ll get it done, but God only knows when. After all, I get to spend five of the next six days at the Hershey Racquet Club updating District 3 tennis.

It’s what I do.

Some track and field for ya

Apr 132012

I do virtually nothing with regular-season interschoalstic events these days for a host of reasons (No. 1: time. No. 2: time. No.3: I’m semi-retired and I don’t feel like it), but when someone is nice enough to send along something, why not?

Below are the performance lists for the 24th Annual Pan-Ram Track and Field Invitational on Saturday at Central Dauphin School District’s Landis Field, forwarded to me by CD cross-country coach Rick Leuschner, a very fine man. I always enjoyed covering the Pan-Ram (well, when it wasn’t 45 degrees and raining, which happened more than once at the P-R) because the folks running it were always such a hoot. They were always blasting me for huddling under a tent as opposed to, say, actually going out and covering the meet.

I always pointed out that despite my awful vision, I could see the finish line just fine. And as a scholastic sports sage pointed out to me years ago in regards to track: “You shoot the gun, the fastest guy wins.” Not a whole lot to argue there. As a sprinter once told me when I was trying to pry out some deep strategy re the start, the famous “second gear” in mid-race, whatever, “Um, I just run as fast as I can.”

Case closed. (Same sage as above also told me, long story short, that he couldn’t stand track because “they can teach a bleeping dog how to run around a circle.” Nearly pooped my pants.)

Besides, I was always faking it when it came to field events, especially the triple jump (Fave TJ question: “So, how’s your second phase going?”). Which reminds me: why did they rename the broad jump, anyway?

But the bottom line is that I generally enjoyed covering track despite my considerable lack of knowledge, mostly because the people – officials and athletes – were great, although sometimes that didn’t make up for 7 hours in the wind and cold (not that I made it to a whole lot of 100-meter and high hurdles prelims).

Whoa, got a little breezy myself. Anyhow, here are the Pan-Ram performance lists:

PAN-RAM 2012

Enjoy.

I hate April

Boys Sports, Girls Sports 3 Responses »

Apr 112012

Everyone has their favorite and least favorite times of the year. Some people love the winter holidays; other abhor them. Some love summer, some love winter and hate the opposite.

Me? I hate April.

The only sporting events in April that are worth a damn are the NCAA Final Fours in hoops and the Frozen Four in NCAA hockey. That’s it. And they’re done so quickly that you’re left dealing with howling winds and crab grass.

Don’t tell me about the Boston Marathon, the opening of Major League Baseball, the early round of the NHL Playoffs and for damn sure the NFL Draft. When did that thing – the draft – become a media event? Actually, I know when it did: When the four-letter network became full of crap. (Everyone agrees that ESPN is full of crap. The only argument is pinpointing the exact day it happened. I submit for your consideration the first day that Stuart Scott uttered “Boo-Yah”.)

And for purebred high school guys like me, April is just an abomination. There are no championship events in April, and when you think about it, that makes April a rare bird. High school sports in Pennsylvania begin in August and end in June. The only months that have no district or PIAA championship events are August, September, January and April. July is vacation, and vacation trumps everything else.

August and September don’t count. First, August is practice and run-up to the start of the season. August is all about re-catching the fever. Plus the missus usually busts out the swimsuits in North Carolina. So August is cool.

September? Anyone with a pulse and a brain (better with both) is cranked about regular-season football, be it high school, college and the NFL. OK, the other sports get a pat on the head, too, but let’s be honest: They’re just not violent enough. (On the other hand, I saw 23 field hockey games and 17 HS football games last fall, so what does that say?)

Bottom line: September is a great month, lack of playoffs notwithstanding.

January? So much going on across the board. It starts with major bowl games and ends with positioning for winter sports scholastic playoffs and the business end of the NFL playoff stick. It’s interesting. The TV is full, the house is warm and this past January you could walk the dogs without being assaulted by -10 degree wind chills.

Then comes April. I have no inherent dislike for spring sports – I’ve loved track and field ever since Nick Horvath forced me to cover it for The Patriot-News in 1989 (pole … what?) – and I grew up as a baseball guy. So it’s not the sports themselves. On the other hand, does the Patriot-News run GameDay features for baseball and softball? Lacrosse? Girls soccer? Didn’t think so. And for good reason. There’s just no escaping the fact that fall sports and spring sports reside on differently psychological planets.

Hell, the PIAA doesn’t even meet in April. (I know. You just stopped reading.) Is it any surprise, then, that I haven’t posted a thing on this site since March 29? Why should I post boredom? Although I should get around to re-posting the PIAA records on my site that were damaged in a plug-in assault over the winter. I guess April would be a good time to do that.

Since sports rules my worlds and April is the weakest sports month of the year, I just wish the month away as soon as possible on that basis alone.

The deeper reasons, of course, are taxes (God, please smite the IRS, the Pennsylvania Department of revenue and every other life-draining taxing body out there … oh, and public-sector unions, while You’re at it) and the fact that I became engaged to the ex in April. Lots of bad memories in April.

And there aren’t enough sports to wash it away.

But I see May is just three weeks away. That’s three weeks too many.

UPDATE: Think I was off my ever-slowing rocker? Here’s some supporting evidence: TAX DAY KILLS