Beyond the Scoresheet

rainy Thursday in Houston

October 26, 2006 on 4:55 pm | In Uncategorized | 1 Comment

I’m enjoying a lazy day off today, updating and preparing schedule pages and emailing coaches about my Hockey Night in Boston preview. For the record, I have to turn in my preview before practices even start.

Giants – Cowboys
I’m lucky enough that one of my best friends/college roommates has Dallas Cowboys season tickets, so I drove up to Big D for the Giants-Cowboys MNF showdown this week. And despite ridiculous traffic problems, I emerged without having beer dumped on me and with bragging rights over both of my Dallas-residing college roomies and a certain NBIAL athletic director who will remain anonymous.

Due to traffic and the parking situation, we missed the opening kickoff and the Giants’ first possession, so it was already 7-0 when we got to our seats. I enjoyed the half, but when the Cowboys were driving down 12-0, I turned to my buddy and said, “You know, 12-7 would be a bad half-time score for the Giants.” He replied, “14-12 would be worse.” And wouldn’t you know it, the Cowboys were about to do just that when Bledsoe threw that wonderful interception in the front of the end zone. Just priceless.

I was stuck in line waiting for food when the second half started, but I got to watch the interception and Shockey touchdown on a nearby TV. I celebrated with a Giants fan next to me in line; he flew in from Connecticut because it was easier to get tickets in Dallas than East Rutherford. Crazy stuff.

So I missed two Giants touchdowns, but I saw plenty of good stuff and enjoyed myself thoroughly. Moreso than my roommate, that’s for sure.

Scheduling Stuff
I spent much of today working on Southern Conference schedules. Props to St. Joseph (Hammonton) for putting five non-league games on its schedule — its first non-league games ever in its third season. St. Joe has home-and-home series with fellow low-budget program Gloucester Catholic and first-year program Paul VI and a road game against Johnson.

And not that I hadn’t noticed this before, but the Shore Conference alignment is just moronic. If you’re unaware, the Shore ‘A’ division (which they tried to name a confusing color, as if we needed conflicting color scales) contains the two Gordon teams, the Bricks, and the Middletowns. That means CBA and St. John Vianney are required to schedule Brick Memorial, a Southern Blue team! Shore ‘B’ includes the Red Division privates (MonDon, RBC); the Toms Rivers; and RFH. Not a bad division, but why aren’t MonDon, RBC, and TRN in the top division? Shore ‘C’ includes RBR, Wall, Point, Southern, Manasquan, and St. Rose. Why are RBR and Wall playing in the Shore C when they’ve clearly earned the right to move up a division? Finally, here’s hoping newby Jackson Memorial gets on the schedule with Wall and Manasquan, thereby de facto adding it to the Shore C Division.

Misc.
Can anybody shed any light on Monroe Township? The school is listed on three varsity schedules even though I’ve never heard of it having a varsity program … Check out Lufkin-The Woodlands on ESPN2 tonight at 7 pm ET for a taste of Texas high school football. I haven’t seen either team, but Lufkin is in the top 10 in the country and The Woodlands is a legit program in a northern suburb of Houston.