Brian's Monday Quarterback

Well, Weekend #1 is past in high school football -- actually the SDHSAA calls it "Week 0" -- and judging by the scores from some of the games that were played, I think we may be in for a very interesting season. First of all, perennial 11A power West Central starts the season 0-1 after being upended by Harrisburg, who is also always tough, 21-19. If I'm not mistaken, that is the first regular season loss for West Central in the last 3 or 4 years. The defending 11A champions went down too, when Sisseton beat Milbank 42-20. Another team that is always good, Aberdeen Roncalli, also lost -- 28-14 to Redfield. And then the reigning 9AA champion, while they still won, did not do it as easily as they did at the end of last year. Howard averaged a whopping 59 points in four playoff games last season, but couldn't even muster half of that in beating Parker, who hasn't been very good lately, 28-8. I guess the point is, as seniors come and go, player turnover could be a big issue for a lot of teams this season (see Aberdeen Central), so maybe we'll see a little changing of the guard in some classes this year. I mean....Sturgis 27, Brandon Valley 13?? Are you kidding me?

However, as some things change, some may still be the same, or better for that matter. 11B champion Winner started strong, 34-0 out at Hot Springs. And the 9A champs, Hanson, but a mercy hurtin' on Marion as well. Closer to home, Herreid/Selby and Sully Buttes have reasons to be excited this season too, and they did not disappoint on Friday. Meanwhile, the Stanley Co. Buffalos went down to Martin and sweated out a 14-3 victory over Bennett Co. Both teams moved the ball in this one, but crossing the goal line was the hard part. The Buffs are expecting improvements from last year's 5-4 squad, but we'll see just where they're at when Winner comes to town this coming Friday. Region 4 in 11B still seems to belong to Winner, but Mobridge-Pollock looks to be very good again this season, even though they lost to Linton, ND, in a barn-burner, 34-28. As usual, Linton is no slouch, though.

On Saturday, I had the rare opportunity to take in a Governors game - rare because I'm usually following the Buffs on the same nights - and although the Govs lost to SF Lincoln, 29-22, I thought it was a very good game for Week 1. Lincoln looked like they were really executing their game plan well on offense, and while the Govs showed some real grit in coming from 22-6 down to tie at 22 in the fourth quarter, Lincoln responded for the winning score. But for what it's worth, the winning pass and catch on a fake field goal attempt were a little luckier than the rest of the winning drive for the Patriots. However, even though I'm rarely one to complain about officiating -- it's just fun to do sometimes, though, you know? -- I can't let this one go. If a receiver turns around to catch a pass and has to reach back around (or THROUGH) a defender who not only runs right into him before the ball gets there, but doesn't even turn his own head so much as to smell his own armpit....well, if you weren't there, I'll let you guess what blatant penalty was not called. By the way, if this potential game-changing play didn't occur inside the 5-yard line on a long pass play, I probably wouldn't even bring it up. At any rate, I'm just sayin'.......

Speaking of officiating, although I won't complain on this point, and also of fake field goals, Lincoln made good twice on fake kicks to complete passes. This brought up a topic of debate in my section of the stands about whether the holder on a place kick can have his knee on the ground as he takes the snap, only to get up make some other play. After all, if a high school (or college) player has possession of the ball, is he not in fact down by rule? Well, thanks to modern technology, I was able to Google the point as we continued to watch the game, and supposedly, there is an exception written in to the rule in question that does allow the holder to have his knee down, if a kick is simulated. On that note, however, this begs the question as to why two separate officiating crews called the holder down for that very reason on fake field goals, not once, but twice last year. Sometimes you wonder just how much different officials interpret different rules of the game. But hey, as a whole, those officials deserve a lot of credit for the job they do, so I want to make sure they know they have my appreciation. My only advice is to look up pass interference in the dictionary and pay special attention to the picture next to the definition. :oP

A couple of other tidbits:
My favorite NFL defensive player on my favorite NFL team -- if you don't know me well, that would be Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers -- now has insurance on, of all things, his HAIR! Actually, it's Polamalu who has helped Head and Shoulders sell so much shampoo ("Isn't it? Isn't it??"), so it was H&S who took out the one million dollar insurance policy on Polamalu's hair. As the AP says: "The insurance was obtained through Lloyd's of London, which did not reveal what must be done to Polamalu's hair for anyone to collect on the policy." Now, I don't know much about Lloyd's of London, but I do know for a fact that this is not the first head of hair they have ever insured. In a prime example of meaningless trivia that I tend to never forget, back in the 80's when Twisted Sister was popular for about two years, their lead singer, Dee Snider, also had a million dollar insurance policy taken out on his hair. See folks? Growing up watching MTV wasn't a TOTAL waste of time!

In baseball, as I have written this post, I have been watching the MLB Network's bonus coverage of the Dodgers-Phillies game in which Hiroki Kuroda flirted with a no-hitter. I always like it when they cut in to a Dodger broadcast because I get to listen to Vin Scully, who in my opinion is the greatest baseball broadcaster of all time. But I'm noticing something on this night that I've never noticed before that makes me think Scully is that much better than everyone else at what he does. For four innings I've listened to this broadcast, and I've realized the one thing that Scully does not have is a color analyst! How rare is that?!?! It's a FOX Sports broadcast - no color guy, no sideline reporter, just Vin Scully - and there is nothing boring about this broadcast at all! Heck, he probably does a full pregame and postgame show, too. I guess at age 81, you just let the man do it his way or no way.

And finally, Manny Ramirez is coming to the White Sox, which makes me think of a Metallica song called......"SO WHAT!" Metallica always introduces that song with a certain gerund word in the middle of the title phrase that also fits well in this case. :o)
That's enough for now......Peace!