I don't know why, but suddenly I have found myself with a couple of opportunities to take the time to write a couple of blog entries within a week's span. I noticed Rod was able to do the same, so maybe that is just a clear indication that the sports broadcast season is pretty much over, and now we have a chance to relax, and maybe reflect a little as well. Actually, I've got some things I'd like to share that are a of a different nature than our recently completed season, so here we go.
First of all, I feel a little compelled to toot my own horn, though hopefully not too much to where you get the wrong impression of me. I was lucky enough this evening to bowl a perfect 300 game during the Capital City League at the Lariat Lanes. In fact, this year 2011 is turning out to be quite a good one for me so far, as this is my third 300 in the calendar year, with one coming in each month to date -- I just did squeak this one within the boundaries of March. During our "quiet time" on this blog, I did have one other very special night in late February, as I put together games of 300-290-269, for a 3-game series total of 859, which happens to be the highest 3-game series ever bowled at the Lariat in Pierre. I had a great night that night, but you can't do something like that without a lot of luck, that's for sure.
Tonight's game was my 10th career perfect game, and now, I believe, the 19th overall that has been achieved during this bowling season at the Lariat Lanes. Other perfectos have been achieved by Drew Nafus, Scott Stabnow, Brad Huck, and Drew Badger - all of whom have had two so far this season. We have also seen Tom Mullivan, Chad Kringel, Chris Henrichsen, and Albert Jewett all throw perfect gems this season as well in the adult leagues. In addition, we have also had two 300's turned in by Jared Erickson and one by Ryan Dufour in our youth leagues this season. (Dufour deserves a little guff, though, because his was in a make-up game and technically will not be sanctioned by the US Bowling Congress. :oP) I should also mention on the ladies' side, we had Theresa Burke come oh-so-close with a 299 earlier this season as well.
Speaking of our youth bowlers, the aforementioned Erickson and Dufour led a contingent of Pierre's finest youngsters at the State Pepsi Scholarship Tournament held last weekend in Mitchell. Erickson won the boys scratch division and has earned a berth in the National Tournament this summer in Vegas Baby!, while Dufour placed fourth - the second straight year he has finished in the top five in this event. Several other Pierre youth bowlers also competed in the tournament in both scratch and handicap divisions for both boys and girls, and while I can't name them all, the Pierre bowling community is very proud of all of them. By the way, this weekend most of our area youth bowlers will make their trip to Sioux Falls to compete in the State Youth Bowling Tournament, and we wish them all the best. This will be the first of four weekends of the tournament, so while we hope everyone does their best, we'll have to wait a while to see exactly how they fare, once the tournament ends about a month from now. Good luck everyone - let's go show 'em all how it's done!!
By the way, if you or your kids need something new to try, something that is a great stress reliever, a good way to keep the muscles working, or just to have an all-around good time, head to your nearest bowling center and make a day of it. The more you try it, the more you'll see that bowling truly is a sport for life. In fact, I'm in my 32nd year, and I know I've got at least that many to go before I'll hang it up. Talk to someone about joining a league - there are opportunities for everyone, no matter where you live. Bowling -- it's not just for the Wii anymore! :o) That's my public service announcement for the day - have a great Spring weekend!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Rod's Wednesday thoughts
As we move closer to the start of the spring sport season in the state some final notes on the winter season. Pierre held it's post season basketball banquet last night and gave out 4 awards. Jordan Jenkins was named the most improved player while Terrelle Walker was given the Hustler Award. The Offensive MVP was sophomore Lane Severyn and the defensive MVP was given to Scott Cichos. Cichos and Travis Adney were also named to the academic all state team. Congratulations to all of the players on their post season awards.
Now to spring sports, freshman Katie Berg, a sprinter, hurdler and jumper for the Lady Gov Track and Field team was named the Pierre Area Coaches Association Player of the Week award winner. Berg won the 55 meter dash in the girls division of Saturday's season opening John Huth Invitational Track and Field meet in Aberdeen. She also placed in the long jump and head coach Misty Larson says she ran a great leg on the 4 x 240 meter relay team.
The Pierre Athletic Booster Club's next meeting will be Monday evening up at the Riggs High School Lunch Room beginning at 5:45 pm. Anyone interested in Governor and Lady Governor sports is encouraged to attend the meeting. And also Monday evening is the Registration for Pierre Post 8 Legion and Teener baseball. That will be from 5 to 7 pm at the American Legion Cabins. Registration fee for all players is $25. This will be for all 13-14 Teener players that will be selected for the team after tryouts wrap up this weekend. And it is for all 15-16 Teener and Legion players.
Now to spring sports, freshman Katie Berg, a sprinter, hurdler and jumper for the Lady Gov Track and Field team was named the Pierre Area Coaches Association Player of the Week award winner. Berg won the 55 meter dash in the girls division of Saturday's season opening John Huth Invitational Track and Field meet in Aberdeen. She also placed in the long jump and head coach Misty Larson says she ran a great leg on the 4 x 240 meter relay team.
The Pierre Athletic Booster Club's next meeting will be Monday evening up at the Riggs High School Lunch Room beginning at 5:45 pm. Anyone interested in Governor and Lady Governor sports is encouraged to attend the meeting. And also Monday evening is the Registration for Pierre Post 8 Legion and Teener baseball. That will be from 5 to 7 pm at the American Legion Cabins. Registration fee for all players is $25. This will be for all 13-14 Teener players that will be selected for the team after tryouts wrap up this weekend. And it is for all 15-16 Teener and Legion players.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Rod has some Tuesday Thoughts
Since we last blogged on this site, the Pierre-Ft. Pierre Capitals Hockey team won a state championship and the Governor boys basketball team made it to the state tournament and finished 6th. Way to go Capitals. And even though the Governors did not have the state tournament that they were capable of having, they played hard in a tournament field that was very balanced from seeds 2 through 8. Sioux Falls Lincoln may have had the most consistent 3 games of any team. O'Gorman struggled but won the tournament. And Sturgis, who should have beat Mitchell on Thursday, bounced back nicely and won the consolation championship at Pierre's expense of course. The highlights of the tournament for yours truly from a broadcasting standpoint was Lane Severyn's 17 points first quarter in the opening game against Lincoln. And of course Terrelle Walker's two free throws with .3 seconds left in the Friday game against Brandon Valley that provided the Governors with the win and then his "shot" at the end of the first half in the consolation championship game against Sturgis that has had over 500 thousand hits on You Tube and apparently made the ESPN Top 10 Plays of the Day or so I have heard, I did not see it personally. So now it is on to spring sports where the Governor Tennis team is expected to be in the mix for an ESD championship. A young Lady Gov golf team that it will be interesting and fun to see them develop as the spring progresses and of course the Pierre Track Teams who should be in the mix with Watertown for a ESD championship and possibly state championship once again in the boys. And the Pierre Girls will be vastly improved over last season. Baseball also is getting ready to get on the field and begin to prep for the upcoming season, when the weather allows it. The Post 8 Legion team should be strong once again this summer with almost everybody back from last year's squad. The spring and summer will be fun to say the least. And last but not least congratulations to Craig Heller being named Region 4 Coach of the Year by the South Dakota Wrestling Coaches Association.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Brian is finally SICK OF SNOW!!!
As spring has now arrived with...ahem...WINTER weather, I find it funny that the weather conditions for the recent State Tournament weekends really weren't all that bad. Although, gymnastics fans will be quick to point out that their weekend wasn't so much fun. It seems like it's been a while, but didn't it used to seem like the weather during the State Basketball Tournament weekends always seemed to include some kind of snowstorm? Obviously that wasn't the case this season, but as I spent time in Aberdeen for the State B's, I had to laugh to myself when an Aberdeen Central coach (who was helping to run the tournament that they were hosting) told me to not be fooled by the nice weather -- it hasn't been that nice all winter. I knew what he meant, but I still thought to myself: "Let's see, there's still about 5 feet of snow on the ground in most people's front yards, Moccasin Creek will be too full very soon, it was in the upper fifties in Pierre, and in the upper sixties in Rapid City. Wow, Aberdeen folks sure do get a kick out of a sunny, 40-degree day!" I think DRG's Chuck Hanson said it about as well as could be said once about Aberdeen, when he referred to the fact that it never stops snowing in the winter, there's no way to prevent major flooding in the spring, and your entire summer is spent cleaning the mess! Hey, nothing against Aberdeen - aside from the bad climate, it has produced some very fine people -- like ME! (I was born there.)
Speaking of the State B's, it was another fine tournament for two of our area teams, Sully Buttes and White River, who continue to make Aberdeen their second home in the month of March. Sully Buttes made their 7th straight trip and White River their 6th this year, which shows the true mark of consistency in two great basketball programs. But do you realize that in the six straight years that White River has made that tournament, they have played Sully Buttes now in five of them? Not only that, but every one of those five meetings has been on a Friday or Saturday night, which means they both played in the winner's bracket each time. Twice the two teams played for third place, splitting those two contests; twice they have met in the Friday night semifinals, with WR winning both of those, including last weekend; and then of course, there was their one-point championship classic that Sully won just two years ago. Talk about consistency....talk about basketball excellence, right here in Central South Dakota!!
Specifically, this year's State B featured an amazing fourth straight championship game appearance for WR, although they came up short to Corsica/Stickney this time, and are now 2-2 in those title tilts. However, for a team that started four sophomores and a junior, it'll be hard to imagine anyone preventing them from getting at least that far again next year, and maybe the year after that as well. As for Sully Buttes, a third place finish ended another fine season, but this year's tourney might best be remembered for the bracket busting first round upset of previously unbeaten Hitchcock-Tulare. What a great game to call, and I must say, what impressed me the most was that you just got the sense that the boys knew they were going to, if not beat H-T, then at least make it extremely difficult for them stay unbeaten. As a fan, I'm not sure I could have imagined a team playing a more perfect basketball game, and if you think about it, that's exactly what makes March basketball so awesome -- March Madness isn't just for the college ranks, is it?
It's all about match-ups, though. Sully Buttes was a bad match-up for Hitchcock-Tulare, and then the following night, the Chargers just had a bad match-up against White River, who themselves had a tough match-up against the champions from Corsica/Stickney. I think that's unfortunately how our area Class A teams may have felt in their tournament. I had seen Miller play two of their three postseason games going leading up to State, and I really couldn't imagine too many teams playing better ball than the Rustlers at the time. But, whatever the reason, it turned out to be a tough weekend for the guys. Maybe the same goes for Winner, who beat Miller for 7th place by turning a close 3-quarter game into an eventual 4th-quarter runaway. The hard part about playing in that 7th place game is that it sometimes feels like it taints what really was a great season, so let's not forget the successes of the seasons for those two teams, as well as all the others who came close to making the "Big Dance" as well.
Much of the buzz of the State Tournaments, though, came from the AA in Sioux Falls, and much of it centered around the Pierre Governors. Oh by the way, O'Gorman beat Mitchell for the championship, but who cares -- DID YOU SEE THAT SHOT BY TERRELLE WALKER?!?!?!?! What a way for a senior to finish a high school basketball career, even if his team didn't win a championship! As if sinking two clutch free throws to beat Brandon Valley on Friday wasn't good enough, Walker came back on Saturday and turned in a miracle one-handed heave that, once the word (and the video) finally spread enough, might very well land himself right into the ESPN Top 10 play list!! With an unfortunate irony, it wasn't enough to help the Govs beat Sturgis and claim the Consolation Championship, but as far as memories go, who cares?!
Here's the fun fact, though. In my regular day job, I deal with South Dakota Public Broadcasting on a fairly regular basis. SDPB, of course, not only televises the State Tournaments, but they also run live video webcasts of all the games of all the tournaments on their website. Not long after the game was completed, the video clip of Walker's 65-footer made it to YouTube, and naturally, it took off from there. From YouTube, the clip was added to articles in other websites, including one I saw called PrepRally.com, or something like that, which also had a very nice write-up along with the video clip. Meanwhile, on Friday (6 days after the game), I had a conversation with the webmaster for SDPB in Vermillion, who had the proud task of telling me, as well as all of his SDPB co-workers, and I quote: "We (SDPB) finally have our first viral video!" (If you're not familiar with the term, a "viral" video is one that literally spreads like an airborne virus. See the movie Outbreak.) Anyway, the webmaster told me that early on Friday, that clip on YouTube had about 6000 hits in its first 6 days on the site, but late in the afternoon, it was up over 83,000! Now, as I write this late Saturday evening, I just went to YouTube and watched it again, and I was viewer number 514,111! Dude, that's INSANE!!! The webmaster also mentioned to me that they had been contacted directly by Yahoo!, probably for permission to use the video, and that it had also made ESPN's YouTube channel, which might be the best indicator that we may very well see the shot on ESPN's Top 10 play list, as mentioned earlier.
So with that, congratulations to Terrelle, and congrats to the Govs, who along with the other area teams who made State Tournament appearances, capped off very fine seasons. And with apologies for not writing up on the girls teams who made it that far -- Highmore-Harrold, Kadoka, Mobridge-Pollock -- congratulations on your efforts and successes this season as well. I'm sure I speak for all my fellow DRG sportscasters when I say it was definitely another fun season of sports coverage, so I think we'll stick around and do it again next sports season. :o)
Speaking of the State B's, it was another fine tournament for two of our area teams, Sully Buttes and White River, who continue to make Aberdeen their second home in the month of March. Sully Buttes made their 7th straight trip and White River their 6th this year, which shows the true mark of consistency in two great basketball programs. But do you realize that in the six straight years that White River has made that tournament, they have played Sully Buttes now in five of them? Not only that, but every one of those five meetings has been on a Friday or Saturday night, which means they both played in the winner's bracket each time. Twice the two teams played for third place, splitting those two contests; twice they have met in the Friday night semifinals, with WR winning both of those, including last weekend; and then of course, there was their one-point championship classic that Sully won just two years ago. Talk about consistency....talk about basketball excellence, right here in Central South Dakota!!
Specifically, this year's State B featured an amazing fourth straight championship game appearance for WR, although they came up short to Corsica/Stickney this time, and are now 2-2 in those title tilts. However, for a team that started four sophomores and a junior, it'll be hard to imagine anyone preventing them from getting at least that far again next year, and maybe the year after that as well. As for Sully Buttes, a third place finish ended another fine season, but this year's tourney might best be remembered for the bracket busting first round upset of previously unbeaten Hitchcock-Tulare. What a great game to call, and I must say, what impressed me the most was that you just got the sense that the boys knew they were going to, if not beat H-T, then at least make it extremely difficult for them stay unbeaten. As a fan, I'm not sure I could have imagined a team playing a more perfect basketball game, and if you think about it, that's exactly what makes March basketball so awesome -- March Madness isn't just for the college ranks, is it?
It's all about match-ups, though. Sully Buttes was a bad match-up for Hitchcock-Tulare, and then the following night, the Chargers just had a bad match-up against White River, who themselves had a tough match-up against the champions from Corsica/Stickney. I think that's unfortunately how our area Class A teams may have felt in their tournament. I had seen Miller play two of their three postseason games going leading up to State, and I really couldn't imagine too many teams playing better ball than the Rustlers at the time. But, whatever the reason, it turned out to be a tough weekend for the guys. Maybe the same goes for Winner, who beat Miller for 7th place by turning a close 3-quarter game into an eventual 4th-quarter runaway. The hard part about playing in that 7th place game is that it sometimes feels like it taints what really was a great season, so let's not forget the successes of the seasons for those two teams, as well as all the others who came close to making the "Big Dance" as well.
Much of the buzz of the State Tournaments, though, came from the AA in Sioux Falls, and much of it centered around the Pierre Governors. Oh by the way, O'Gorman beat Mitchell for the championship, but who cares -- DID YOU SEE THAT SHOT BY TERRELLE WALKER?!?!?!?! What a way for a senior to finish a high school basketball career, even if his team didn't win a championship! As if sinking two clutch free throws to beat Brandon Valley on Friday wasn't good enough, Walker came back on Saturday and turned in a miracle one-handed heave that, once the word (and the video) finally spread enough, might very well land himself right into the ESPN Top 10 play list!! With an unfortunate irony, it wasn't enough to help the Govs beat Sturgis and claim the Consolation Championship, but as far as memories go, who cares?!
Here's the fun fact, though. In my regular day job, I deal with South Dakota Public Broadcasting on a fairly regular basis. SDPB, of course, not only televises the State Tournaments, but they also run live video webcasts of all the games of all the tournaments on their website. Not long after the game was completed, the video clip of Walker's 65-footer made it to YouTube, and naturally, it took off from there. From YouTube, the clip was added to articles in other websites, including one I saw called PrepRally.com, or something like that, which also had a very nice write-up along with the video clip. Meanwhile, on Friday (6 days after the game), I had a conversation with the webmaster for SDPB in Vermillion, who had the proud task of telling me, as well as all of his SDPB co-workers, and I quote: "We (SDPB) finally have our first viral video!" (If you're not familiar with the term, a "viral" video is one that literally spreads like an airborne virus. See the movie Outbreak.) Anyway, the webmaster told me that early on Friday, that clip on YouTube had about 6000 hits in its first 6 days on the site, but late in the afternoon, it was up over 83,000! Now, as I write this late Saturday evening, I just went to YouTube and watched it again, and I was viewer number 514,111! Dude, that's INSANE!!! The webmaster also mentioned to me that they had been contacted directly by Yahoo!, probably for permission to use the video, and that it had also made ESPN's YouTube channel, which might be the best indicator that we may very well see the shot on ESPN's Top 10 play list, as mentioned earlier.
So with that, congratulations to Terrelle, and congrats to the Govs, who along with the other area teams who made State Tournament appearances, capped off very fine seasons. And with apologies for not writing up on the girls teams who made it that far -- Highmore-Harrold, Kadoka, Mobridge-Pollock -- congratulations on your efforts and successes this season as well. I'm sure I speak for all my fellow DRG sportscasters when I say it was definitely another fun season of sports coverage, so I think we'll stick around and do it again next sports season. :o)
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Rod's Sunday Thoughts
It has been awhile since I blogged. My apologies for that. It has been quite a month. The Pierre-Ft. Pierre Capitals are playing for a hockey state championship, something that has eluded Pierre teams since the mid 90's when the Governor Golf team won a state title. Curry Kuehl and Taylor Smalley did win individual state championships and there is a Governor state soccer championship but of the big name sports, mainly Basketball, Pierre has been a runner up in the new century. 2001 and 2006 for the boys. 2007 and 2008 for the girls. And the hockey team in 2007. The Pierre-Ft. Pierre girls hockey team did well this year with a third place finish last week at the state tournament. We only hope that the hockey team will end that runner up phobia later today. And the Governor basketball team will continue it's hot play next weekend at the AA Boys State tournament and perhaps make it to the top. If any team can do it, it is this year's squad. It has been a tough weekend for me personally. On Friday, I took a part of our family to the vet's office. Our family dog is now resting peacefully in doggie heaven if there is one. But we have a new puppy which we have had for the last couple of months. So it helps ease the pain a little bit. Go Capitals and Go Govs next weekend.
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