You may have noticed (or not) that I haven’t posted in quite some time. Two factors play into this. 1) This sports blog has now been blocked by websense at school, thus limiting my time that I normally blog; and 2) I have been running non-stop taking a pep band through the playoff season of our high school basketball team. It’s number 2 that I would like to expound on a bit here.

I want to describe the events of the past month here in generic terms…I don’t think that our situation is all that unique. So, let me give you general information about the program. I teach in a small rural school, and the pep band is made up of approximately 30 students grades 7-12. Some live close to school, others as much as an hour away.

The first full week of February began the odyssey. The students and I piled into a bus to head to the first playoff game of many, a girls game at the district tournament. The game was at a local community college, about 40 minutes from school. The girls team, with only 2 regular season losses, won, thus advancing to next week’s regional tournament. The band began their regular contribution…play for pregame, disappear into the lobby to hang out (they really don’t care much for basketball, they just like to play in the band), reappear for halftime, and retreat again. The scene was repeated again the next night, only to a different venue and for the boy’s team. The boys lost a close one in overtime, sending them to a loser out game later in the week. Wednesday was another girls game, which the girls won. Thursday, the boy’s survived their loser out game, thereby advancing to next week’s regionals. Friday was another boy’s game (crazy format…8 teams, with 6 advancing, making anything past the second game meaningless except for seeding), which they won. Saturday was TWO games…boys won, making them the 3rd seed to regionals, and the girls won the district championship. Luckily, the two games were back to back.

One of the constants throughout the first week was parent support. Parents of my main drummer were fantastic. They took a pickup truck to each game, carrying music stands, the humongously heavy drum platform needed during the first week, and some of the drum equipment. Another parents sent homemade goodies for the band and cheerleaders (we share the bus with them) each and every game. Other parents made sure that their kids had money for concession stand food or the rare fast food stop going to or from the game, which was no small expense. For the most part, parents were great about notifying me when their kids could not attend due to conflicts, illness, etc. The kids were great…a minimum of problems, all of which were fixed in a real hurry. There were relatively few bus behavior problems, considering they had spent 9 hours that week on a bus. Since the kids were gone literally every evening, I knew they wouldn’t have time for homework, so band class (at the end of the day) was devoted to study hall.

Next week brought a lull before the next onslaught. There were no games until Saturday, when the regional tournament began. There were two new venues, large high schools about an hour away. Saturday brought two games, with one game in between. Both teams won, and the band kids played a lot of cards during the game in between. They did make it a point to listen to other bands that were playing. As I mentioned, they really don’t pay much attention to basketball…a few would ask if we won or lost as they were getting off the bus after the game! Monday brought the next round of games. Keep in mind that there was no school on Monday, due to President’s Day. Our 3 day weekend was reduced to one day. In spite of that, there was a minimum of complaints from the kids. They showed up, enjoyed each other’s company, and took pride in how they sounded. The girls team won that day, sending them to the state tournament. The boys lost against an extremely tough opponent with only one loss.

Friday brought the next game. Again, an hour bus ride took us to the site. The boys lost a heartbreaker, ending their season. Saturday brought the girls regional championship. It was a very fun event, for me particularly. Our team played against a school I formerly taught at before coming to my present position. The band director there was a student of mine when I taught there, and the 2 seniors in his band were students I started as fifth graders my last year there. At halftime, we combined the two bands and played 3 songs together. The kids loved the big powerful sound, and I loved the sentimentality of it all. Our girls team won, sending them to the state tournament as the top seed.

The story ends with a brief trip to the state tournament. Although it would have been nice for the boys team to advance, I have to admit that it made my life simpler chasing just one team instead of two. The girls drew the 5:30 p.m. game on Wednesday. The venue was an honest to goodness sports facility (capable of hosting first round NCAA action). The kids were a bit in awe…a facility large enough to have two games going on simultaneously, separated by a large curtain. The staff at the facility was fantastic…friendly, helpful, and professional. Our sound was dwarfed a bit by the large surroundings, but the kids didn’t care…they played their hearts out and were glad to be there. The girls team, entering with only two losses during the season, battled, but were unable to get things rolling and lost the first round game. More of the band kids watched the game this time, when they weren’t exploring the upscale (and expensive) concession stands. The opposing team’s band would clap for us from across the court after we played, and we would do the same in return. As much as I enjoy competition, it’s nice to know that some things don’t need to be competitive to be good.

The loss Wednesday sent the girls team to the 12:30 game in the loser’s bracket. That meant missing school! It was the only time they would miss significant school time to attend the games. We left at 10:45, since the venue is actually the closest to the school, approximately 40 minutes away. The band kids did their thing, and were actually cheering their team on, but sadly the girls lost again and were eliminated. A nice surprise ensued following the game, however. At the conclusion of each game, there are two sportsmanship medals awarded, one for each team. Our girls point guard had won the award the previous night. As we were putting equipment away, they announced that the sportsmanship award was being presented to the band! I went to mid-court to accept the medal, and the officials told me they had heard from many community members how much they appreciated the efforts of the band throughout the season. The kids were a bit shocked, but I think it was a nice reward for them after all their hard work.

After 20 hours on the bus, 16 games in 12 days, and way too many hot dogs and nachos, it was all over. Why am I telling you all this? Just so that you know that some people put a lot of work and effort into sports that you may not realize. So, next time you see a band director at a game, tell them thank you. Actually, we get paid for it…the more important thank you’s should go to the members of the band. So, tell a band kid thank you!

Listening to sports radio this morning to hear about yesterday's "report first, ask questions later" latest screw up. Seems that "An accident on Terry Bradshaw Passway" somehow morphed into "Terry Bradshaw passed away from a heart attack" and made the rounds on the airwaves and internet.

Of course, this is just a small example of journalism's drive to be the first to break a story in any genre, facts be damned. But we could possibly have some fun with it...

I'll start with a typical lame example, and you truly creative folks can do it up right

"Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning thumbed his way through questions about his injured throwing hand on Wednesday."

Becomes:

Distraught from injuries, Peyton Manning has left the Colts and is hitchhiking back to his home town.

I know you can do better...

As a baseball junkie, I used to frequent the MLB message boards. I stopped going there because the discussions generally turned into "my #### is bigger than yours" contests, so to speak. For the most part, I have enjoyed reading sports blogs, and have even started to appreciate some sports I hadn't paid much attention to for quite some time.

With that in mind, here is what I see as the major difference between Blogs and Message Boards.

Blogs--Blogs are generally written like an essay. Unless designated up front as "ramblings", or something like that, they should have a direction. They need a premise, evidence supporting that premise, and hopefully a conclusion. There should be SOME degree of objectivity, but there should also be voice...that which identifies the writer as a real person with opinions, not just a personality-free recounter of events. Sometimes that voice is the predominant part of the post, especially when it is a humorous blog. To include these things, a blog by nature should have more than a sentence or two.

Message Board posts--Message boards are by nature shorter. They seem to be an excellent place for people to pump up their favorites or tear down their enemies. Posts like "Dodgers #### and r a bunch of lozers" seem to be ideal for message boards (and a reason I try to stay away from them).

Perhaps it would be overly generalizing to say that blogging is like college and message boards are like Jr. High. But I really encourage people to look at their posts and see where they belong. If they are thoughtful, well stated, punctuated, and thought-provoking...then it belongs in a blog. If speling ####, cuz all i wanna do is trash talk u, and I can't formulate a coherent paragraph...then perhaps the message boards are for you.

(Now I really hope I haven't spelled anything incorrectly, except the intentional ones..."

Thank you as always for reading.

I used to get Mike and Mike in the Morning, but they seem to have disappeared from my drive time radio. I can still listen to Tony Bruno, who I'm learning to appreciate, but only the first half of my drive. After that it's some REALLY lame local program, or Colin Cowherd if I want to get my morning sports fix.

I've heard Cowherd compare major sports to types of restaurants..and NFL playoff teams to used cars. With that inspiration, allow me to issue the first Colin Cowherd Challenge.

Take a group...it can be individuals (members of the Indianapolis Colts, MVP Candidates), teams (National League West teams, World Cup Soccer teams), or entire entities (Major sports, Olympic events). Next, take a group of something else ENTIRELY different (sitcoms, historic events)....and connect the two! Sounds like fun? Let me begin.

"The Yankees are the condiments of baseball. You start with Derek Jeter. Jeter is the Grey Poupon of the team. Sure, you could go with regular yellow mustard...but Jeter takes mustard to the next level. He brings that extra flavoring that makes mustard something special, and he comes in such an attractive package. No plain plastic yellow squeeze bottle...Jeter is in a classy glass jar, in a unique shape. Jeter is the Grey Poupon of the Yankees" (Extra points for repeating yourself!)

"A-Rod is the Viniagrette of the Yankees. Very high priced, and such a great flavoring. But you know how Viniagrette loses it's flavoring if you leave the lid off for too long? A-Rod hit the point last season where he lost his flavor. Too many errors, pressing at the plate...he's lost his zip. You can still put him in the recipe, but it won't give you the results you've paid for.

"So, Jeter is the Grey Poupon, A-Rod is the Viniagrette. Jorge Posada is the Catsup. You can't have fries without catsup, and you can't have a pitching staff without a catcher. Posada has a great work ethic, shows up, plays hard every day...he's the catsup of the Yankees. You wonder if he's that important...but you just try eating those fries without him.

"Gary Sheffield is the Mayonnaise of the Yankees. Mmmm, so good at first...but when it goes bad, it goes bad in a hurry. And you can't doctor it up, or try to hide it. You have to throw it out. If you eat bad mayonnaise, it makes you violently ill. You'll be throwing up all night long if you eat bad mayo. You have to throw it out, and quickly.

See how it works? I'm looking forward to seeing what some of you more articulate and creative people can come up with! Enjoy!