Scott Cordischi On Sports: Hoosier story?
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Monday’s announcement by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League that only one boys basketball championship will be crowned in 2011 was met with mixed emotions.
Proponents of the move say that a state the size of Rhode Island can afford to have an open tournament including teams from all three divisions. Better yet, the format could lend itself to a “Hoosiers”-like story with a team from a small school knocking off a power like Bishop Hendricken for the state crown.
Opponents say that the smaller schools in divisions two and three which already struggle to compete at those levels, will never have a shot at playing in the tournament, much less winning a state title. Count me among the latter.
We live in a state where the public schools already have to compete in the same league with the private schools who, essentially, have programs that recruit themselves. Now, an uneven playing field has become even more exaggerated.
The RIIL will go with this format for the next two seasons before reevaluating. If I were a betting man, I would favor power house Bishop Hendricken to win the state title the next two years with no team from division two of three winning it all. I’d also venture to guess that the RIIL will go back to crowning three boys basketball state champions in 2013.
-What a shame for Indianapolis Colts safety Jamie Silva. The former East Providence Townie suffered a torn ACL in the team’s preseason opener and will miss the entire 2010 NFL season.
-Kudos to the Cumberland National Little League team which came ever so close to a trip to Williamsport, PA and the Little League World Series. They made this great little state of ours very proud.
-Of course, when I say “great little state of ours,” I am referring to the what a great place it is to live with all of the beaches, things to do, great restaurants and sense of community, not the high unemployment, high taxes and shoddy government.
-Rex Ryan sure does make following the Jets a heck of a lot more interesting than when Al Groh, Herman Edwards and Eric Mangini were in charge.
-Dustin Johnson has no one to blame for his 72ndhole faux pas at the PGA other than himself and his caddy. Not only was Johnson and all of the other participants in the PGA Championship warned about all of the bunkers and the rules governing them at Whistling Straights, they received written notices in their lockers. The bottom line is, whether you’re a weekend hacker or a PGA pro, if you are not sure, either ask for a ruling or don’t ground your club! Johnson did neither so he can blame the man in the mirror for his costly mistake.
-Last week the Patriots practiced in Foxboro with New Orleans. This week they’re practicing with the Falcons down in Georgia. In my opinion, this is a great thing for a team trying to develop so many young players to be major contributors this season.
-Are we supposed to be surprised that Brett Favre will actually play this season for the Vikings? I hate to say, “I told you so,” but……
-Word out of New York is that the Mets will put “KO-Rod” on the back of Francisco Rodriguez’s uniform next year.
-He pitched 7 more innings of shutout baseball last night and is 14-5 with a 2.36 ERA this year. Still wondering why Theo was reluctant to trade Clay Buchholz?
-Of course, Epstein also spent megabucks signing John Lackey and Josh Beckett to long term contracts this year. How’s that working out for him?
-Am I the only one wondering why Nick Caserio appears to have much more of a voice than Scott Pioli did while he was here?
-Anyone who thinks that preseason football is meaningless should tell that to Giants QB Eli Manning who was bloodied by the Jets Monday night.
-The Red Sox are probably going to remain just close enough to the Rays and Yankees to make us pay attention to them for another month but never get close enough for us to seriously consider them a possible playoff team in 2010.
-I can understand why they Red Sox line-up has trouble producing runs consistently, but what’s the problem with the Yankee line-up?
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- Cordischi’s NFL News & Notes: Preseason
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- Scott Cordischi On Sports: Sox Season microcosm
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