Tiger Should Have Skipped the Masters.

If Tiger Woods really wanted to do the right thing he would have skipped the Masters. Playing shows he’s certainly putting himself first. Lucky for Tiger his whole ordeal went down in the winter, and he has missed no major tournaments. Sure he lost a few sponsors, and probably could have won a $1m or so golfing this year, but when you’re worth a couple hundred million who cares. I’m sure he believes that in a couple of years, he’ll have the most majors and public resentment will be long gone. He should’ve said I’m ready to play, but with everything that happened, I’m going to punish myself and withdrawal from the Masters. I guess missing a shot at another major is too important to miss.

Watching the NBA Playoffs?

While the NBA Playoffs hardly ever make news around here, I have to guess a few people are taking notice. For the record, the NBA playoffs have been filled with great games thus far. LeBron James and Cleveland are waiting for the winner of the Orlando vs. Boston series. Cleveland has yet to lose a game after sweeping their first two play-off opponents. With all the local attention focused on the Pens, the NBA playoffs have hard received a glance. While I by no means consider myself a follower of NBA basketball, I have to admit what LeBron is doing is incredible. Sidney Crosby is the most dominate player in the NHL period, but LeBron is on another level in the NBA. He is without a doubt the most dominate team athlete in this country. Remaining NBA play-offs might be worth a look.

Searching For the Next Great American Golfer

The first major of golf year starts today with the Masters. The media seems solely focused on three players, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Padraig Harrington. Harrington of course is going for his third straight major title. If you watched the tournament build up on the Golf Channel you might be surprised to learn there another 90 plus guys in the field. An interesting question over the first two days is will a young American be able to make a name for himself.

Here are three young Americans who could emerge:



Nick Watney (27) - 4 pro wins, best major result 11 in 08' Masters.


Sean O'Hair (26) - 2 pro wins, best major result: 12th 06' PGA



Dustin Johnson (24) - 2 pro wins, best major result: 48th 08' US Open

All three are under the age of thirty and are currently in the top 10 of 2009 FedEx Cup. Since 2000 only Phil and Tiger have won two or more majors. Will this be the year the wave of young American talent finally arrive and stays on the scene?

Interesting April for Local Sports Fans.

It figures to be an interesting April for sports fans through out Western Pa. The Pens will wrap up their season on the 10th, but so much is left to be decided between now and then. Before the end of the month we could see them in the second round of the NHL playoffs. The Pirates, open the season on April 6th against St. Louis. It has been 7 years since the Bucs finished an April above .500. The NFL Draft takes places on final weekend of the month, and the Super Bowl Champion Steelers have nine selections. Two in the fifth and seventh rounds if you’re wondering. Trout fishers have April 18th circled as the first day of trout. Also most local softball and baseball teams are scheduled to around dozen games this month.

No Final Four for Pitt

Pitt’s Men’s Basketball team came as close as you can to the school’s first Final Four. Their 78-76 lost to Villanova, left them just shy and it left Pitt fans heartbroken. Pitt definitely could have won the game. The Final Four is set, with no real surprises and two Big East teams. Will the Panthers make it to a Final Four in near future? The first question for Pitt fans is does Blair return. I think he leaves and if he does, it will take them a couple years to get back to this level. With the urban campus and the Pete, they should always get top level recruits. I think everyone thought this was their year to the make the Final Four, now there is a lot of uncertainty.

WPIAL Baseball / Softball Season Begins for Local Teams

Last year Ford City was the only Armstrong County baseball team finish the season over .500. In 2009 Ford City will look to make the playoffs for their fifth straight year. Kittanning has improved each of the last two seasons, and it’s fair to call them a playoff contender this year. I’m curious if the once proud Freeport and Leechburg Baseball programs will get back to the WPIAL playoffs. In softball, Leechburg has been Armstrong County’s premier program in any sport. They lost the WPIAL “A” Championship 1-0 last year, and a return trip will be their goal. The Ford City and Kittanning girls will look to make the playoffs again this season. The softball and baseball season is officially underway and next week section play begins.

2009 Cager Classic & NCAAs

This weekend it was all about teams from the East. Starting with the Cager Classic, The East Girls including Marisa Wolfe, Lynzee Panchik and Keri Neal won the Girl’s Classic. Bill Henry’s East Boys, with the help of Ryan Young, Matt Shanty, and Ryan Risch won the Boy’s Classic. In the NCAA Tournament the possibility of an all Big East Final Four is alive and well, as Uconn, Pitt, Villanova, Syracuse and Louisville all advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. Pitt will face Xavier next in what should be a good game, as Xavier always plays well in the Tournament. Pitt will play in Boston starting on Thursday night.

Armstrong County Hosting a Marquee Sporting Event?

A lot has been made about sell-out crowds at PIAA and WPIAL basketball playoff games. We’ll probably see another packed house at Saturday’s Cager Classic. Armstrong County rarely hosts neutral site playoff games for two reasons; first we’re not centrally located in the WPIAL, secondly we have no large venues. Other factors such as no field turf fields and lack of hotel space hurts. There are plenty of soccer tournaments, but we any such complex capable of hosting those. While I believe there is a market for a the right sporting event, but as of now the Freeport Baseball Invitational and the occasional Little League Section Tournament and fishing contest is the best I see us hosting for a long time.

Easy Road for Pitt?

Everyone is filling out their brackets today, and there are a lot of difficult games.  Pitt of course is a one seed, and playing in Dayton Ohio.  In the top half of their bracket they have to worry about either Oklahoma St. or Tennessee in the second round. To make the sweet sixteen, they got Xavier or Florida. If they play Xavier, they might be able to give Pitt a decent game. In the lower half, the two and three seeds are Duke and Villanova.  Pitt has already beat Villanova this year, and I think they match-up well against Duke. With some key injuries at Connecticut, and North Carolina, Pitt has to be the overall favorite to win the Championship period.

Pens Stanley Cups Favorites Again?

After a seven game winning streak the Penguins are once again playing like Stanley Cup Challengers. After five road wins the Pens look to climb up the standings as a mega nine game home stand is approaching. Pittsburgh is currently in sixth position but are only four points behind fourth. Are the Pens as strong as last year’s squad? Probably not, but they still have a team capable of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals, especially with everyone healthily. It’s a safe bet to say they’re the last team anyone wants to see in the playoffs. With 14 games left it’s going to be real interesting to see how things play out. I think it’s not entirely out of the question for one of the top three seeds to throw a game to avoid meeting the Pens in the first round.

Pitt looks like NCAA Favorites

Pitt defeated #1 Connecticut 70-60 on Saturday for the second time this season. This win all but guarantees the Panthers a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. If they win this week’s Big East tournament they’re for sure the overall top seed. Things are shaping up really nicely for Pitt, and another good thing is they seem to be healthy going into the tournament. If you look at this year’s contending teams, I don’t see a team Pitt shouldn’t be able to defeat. I also don’t see as many good teams from lower conferences. Pitt also has enough veterans on the team, that they shouldn’t beat themselves. It’s going to be a real interesting tournament locally as Penn State should be in, and Robert Morris is one win away from an automatic bid.

WPIAL Sports Future: Should PA to go 100 Districts

What happens if PA does go to 100 school districts? 

Since it’s a slow time for local sports I wanted to write a hypothetical look at the high school sport landscape should Ed Rendell’s plan for only 100 school districts be realized. The big question is what schools go into which district, supposedly in theory one per county and as many three for Allegheny County. This could lead to the expansion, contraction or destruction of the WPIAL. In theory a mega north Pittsburgh district wouldn’t have to play games out the district. Keeping games in district could be a cost saver. Some schools might receive increased athletic budgets while other see decreases. Riots might occur, but how could a two equal sizes schools in the same district not be given the same athletic budget? I doubt Pine-Richland and Shaler have the same athletic budgets. 

Kittanning and Ford City might be the state’s best case study. As they fall under the same school district. Ever wonder what the facilities and athletic programs would look like if each were its own district? It certainly seems a consolidation of districts would start to level the playing field in terms of facilities and money spent on training and coaching. Also another topic would be transfers, the WPIAL is very much against transfers, unless it's a coach changing schools. Its likely transfers would increase. One benefit, is it might be easier for students to participate in sports, their current school doesn’t offer. The only thing that is certain if PA goes to 100 school districts is the move would have a huge impact on high school sports, which would create ripple effects for years. 

High school sports seem to captivate people so much, its has been in the best interests of politicians to stay far away. The last thing they want is for people to pay attention to their antics in Harrisburg. However there are just too many special interests that would have a hand in reconstructing of PA school districts, therefore battle lines will be drawn, and the future of high school sports locally will be in for a big shake up.

WPIAL Basketball Champions - Girls & Boys 2009

Even though no local high schools made the finals this year, many local fans paid attention to this weekend’s WPIAL Basketball Championships. In Girls, starting with single “A” the winners were; North Catholic, Sto-Rox, New Castle, and Mt. Lebanon. I don’t recall any local team playing against these four schools this season. In Boys Basketball starting with single “A” the winners were; Sewickley Academy, North Catholic, Hampton, and Peters Township. North Catholic won the Girls in single “A” and Boys in double “AA”. Local fans were probably most interested in the Boys “AAA” match-up that had Hampton going against Highlands. Both teams play in the same “AAA” section as Kittanning, and Hampton was able to beat Highlands 84-59, which was third time this season they’ve defeated Highlands.

Tiger Woods is back - is the Golf Ready?

The top sports story of the day is Tiger Wood’s return to the PGA Tour. He’ll be competing for real today in the Accenture Match Play Championship, where he is the defending champion. Last year Tiger only played in 6 events, wining four and finishing in the top 10 in all six. All indications are Woods will be playing at a top level, since he’s been playing a lot of golf, just not in PGA tournaments. The big question is can he quickly rise to the top again or have other golfers raised their games. In Tiger’s quarter of the bracket there are a couple of guys who might be measuring sticks. He’s got a possible 2nd round match-up against Retief Goosen, but the real story will come in the quarterfinals. Potential long term challengers, Geoff Ogilvy (31) & Camilo Villegas (27) might be waiting to either make a statement or get crushed, we’ll see.

Pens Back on Track?

I don’t think many people expected the Penguins to be in their current position. However the pieces could be falling back in place after last night’s home victory over Montreal. First off they gained two points on three key teams ahead of them and there still is a lot of season to go. Most importantly they have Gonchar back, and Whitney is also getting healthy. The Pens probably believe they’re capable of anything if they can get into the playoffs. Though they probably want to avoid Boston and get at least sixth seed. The key might be this weekend’s two big games against, Philly and Washington. They must keep their momentum going. The big question will is do they make trade or go with the team they have. The next four games will probably determine were this team is headed.

Pirates Start Spring Training

The Pirates made only one significant off-season personnel move by bringing 3B/OF Eric Hinske from Tampa Bay. Spring Training should at the very least be interesting. Really no player from last year’s 67-95 team is much of a proven commodity. Position battles should be plentiful, and the search for a major league caliber pitcher is always fun to watch. The Pirates should give some young guys like Andrew McCuthen and Neil Walker an extended look. Last year, when the Bucs gave away, I mean traded away their two best hitters, they received a handful of players. Will any of those players make the opening day starting line-up? At the very least it means warmer weather is not far away.

Lots to talk about tonight on RSW

We’ll have a lot to talk about tonight at 7:30 on Family-Life TV. I’ll be updating everyone on how the local high school teams are doing in WPIAL Basketball playoffs. Of course, we’ll talk about Pitt’s big win over UCONN last night! Is Pitt now the team to beat in college basketball? I’d like to hear your thoughts. Also, I’m sure a lot of you will have thoughts on the Penguins firing of Therrien and where the season is now headed. Another quick note: KHS wrestler and recent show guest Keith Cornman took 2nd place at the sections at 112 lbs. So,there is a lot talk about. I look forward to hearing from you tonight at 7:30. Don’t forget ifyou can’t watch on cable, we’ll be live on Familylifetv.com

Ford City Boys Advance in WPIAL Playoffs

In the preliminary round of the WPIAL Basketball playoffs, the Ford City Boys were 59 – 49 winners over Avonworth. They’ll now face Quaker Valley at Shaler on Tuesday night. Ironically, the FC Girls will also be in action on Tuesday as they’ll meet Jeannette. The West Shamokin Boys were four-point winners over Fort Cherry and now they’ll face Washington. In girls’ basketball, Kittanning lost by 2 to McGuffey and Freeport was knocked out by Greensburg Catholic. The Apollo Ridge girls won, setting up a show down with top seed Beaver on
Friday.

Don’t forget about the big college basketball tonight as #4 Pitt travels to take on #1 Connecticut.
Pitt is actually ranked first in the famous RPI. The eyes of the college basketball world will be watching.

Kittanning Boys & FC Girls Armstrong County Basketball Champions

Six years ago I created a formula for ranking all seven Armstrong County high school basketball teams, essentially creating a mythical County Championship. This year’s section realignment created some dramatic games. The Ford City girls finish the season 10-0 against county teams, including two narrow victories over 2nd place Apollo Ridge. The playoff bound KHS Girls took third, unfortunately for them didn’t have the opportunity to face FC or Apollo, which is just plain stupid. In boys, section champion Ford City could only secure 2nd place. Kittanning showed there is a huge difference between “AAA” and “AA”, as they defeated both Ford City and West Shamokin on the road in their only match-ups. It’s Kittanning’s first every title, boy or girls and the fourth straight the FC Girls. Congratulations!

Here are the final rankings of 2008-09

Boys
1. Kittanning - 157
2. Ford City - 156
3. West Shamokin - 147
4. Freeport - 85
5. Apollo Ridge - 80
6. Leechburg -30
7. Elderton - 27

Girls
1. Ford City - 193
2. Apollo Ridge - 156
3. Kittanning - 126
4. Freeport - 93
5. Elderton - 69
6. West Shamokin - 58
7. Leechurg - 19

WPIAL Basketball Playoff Tonight on RSW.

Tonight on RSW we’ll welcome the playoff bound Kittanning High School girls to the show. The Lady Wildcats won their last three section games to earn a trip to the “AAA” playoffs. I’ll be speaking about the season and the upcoming playoffs. The WPIAL will be announcing the playoff pairing tonight’s so there will be plenty to talk about. Both Ford City’s girls and boys’ teams won their section titles this season, and will be headed to the playoffs. The West Shamokin boys and the Freeport and Apollo Ridge girls will also be headed to the playoffs. With all the local teams in the playoffs I hope to hear your thoughts and opinions tonight at 7:30 on FLTV.