From the every now and then you get lucky category—Kathy and I just flew back from a week in Wrightsville Beach, NC, Tuesday evening, and were fortunate to arrive back in Ohio before all of the flight cancellations and delays started to take effect. I have to tell you how convenient and easy it is to fly out of and into both Wilmington, NC, and Dayton. Took less than 15 minutes from drop-off to check luggage, get boarding passes, and clear security at both airports!
How about North Star’s Craig Stammen being named manager of the San Diego Padres!! The Versailles and University of Dayton graduate has the best wishes of all of West Central Ohio as he begins his first season as a manager at any professional level.
The first time I met Craig was when he was a guest speaker at a Greenville Rotary Club meeting a few years ago. At the time, I asked him what his plans were once his playing days were over, and he said he’d like to return home and sell farm equipment at North Star Hardware and Implement; evidently, he had a change of mind!!
Stammen pitched in the Majors for 13 seasons, first with the Washington Nationals and later with the Padres, compiling a career record of 55-44 with a 3.66 ERA. Here’s today’s two trivia questions—what other Darke County native recorded 48 career MLB victories and secondly, what present area high school athletic director won seven games in his MLB career?
Congratulations to the undefeated Tipp City Tippecanoe Lady Red Devils on winning the D III state volleyball championship and the Lady Redskins of St. Henry on runner-up honors in D VI, both finishing stellar seasons at the Nutter Center at Wright State, Saturday!
A lot of good high school matchups are set to take place this Friday as the State Playoffs reach the regional semifinal stage. In D-I, Troy’s Trojans will host the Wayne Warriors; Harrison visits Trotwood-Madison in D-II; Tipp’s MVL champions entertain dangerous Hamilton Badin in D-III; and Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy travels to Germantown to tangle with the Spartans of Valley View in D-IV action.
Meanwhile, in D-V it’s Carlisle hosting Richwood North Union; two huge games in D-VI of local interest find Tri-Village facing the Coldwater Cavaliers in New Madison and Anna’s Rockets venturing to Springfield Northeastern; and in D-VII Fort Recovery trying to end Marion Local’s 75 game winning streak at Maria Stein while St. Henry hosts Cedarville looking for a possible rematch with the Flyers.
This will be the final week of games being played on the higher seeds home turf. Next week’s regional championship games will be held at neutral sites around the state as teams vie for the right to play in each division’s Final Fours.
Did you by chance “catch” the tremendous finish to the Indiana-Penn State game Saturday? The second-ranked Hoosiers remained undefeated at 10-0 with a tremendous pass and catch at the back of the end zone to conclude a 75-yard drive in the game’s final two minutes to win 27-24. It was one of those games that defines the “heart” of a team as IU remains not only in contention for a spot in the Big Ten championship game but also the FCS playoff picture.
In other games for fans of offensive, high-scoring football at the collegiate level, the Ferrum Panthers clawed the Chowan Hawks 40-37; the Franklin Grizzlies dammed up the Bluffton Beavers 59-57 in triple overtime; and the Buffaloes of West Texas A&M outstampeded the Mustangs of Midwestern State 56-42.
Things maybe only I find interesting—
Do you ever wonder what the little pocket inside the front pocket of your jeans is all about? In 1873, Levi Strauss decided that workers and cowboys wearing his denims needed a place to hold their pocket watches while hard at work, and hence the “watch pocket”. What do you put in yours? Also, the rivets on all jeans’ pockets are there to reinforce “stress points”!
From the Wall Street Journal—“After decades of supremacy, KFC now ranks fourth in sales among chicken restaurants, behind Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane’s, and Dave’s Hot Chicken. Raising Cane’s US sales grew 32% last year while Dave’s rose a whopping 57%.” Do you think Colonel Harland Sanders is spinning in his grave? Personally, I like Cane’s, mainly because of the dipping sauce! Has anyone even heard of Dave’s because it’s new to me?
Don’t know if I’ve seen this once, let alone twice, in one weekend—Thursday night, the University of South Florida took a 14-0 lead over the University of Texas San Antonio without ever running an offensive play en route to a 55-23 win. A 40-yard interception return of a UTSA pass for a touchdown opened the game, followed by an 87-yard touchdown off of a UTSA fumble opened the gates to victory for the Bulls.
Meanwhile, the Jets returned a first-quarter kickoff 99 yards for a TD, followed by a 74-yard punt return for another score in the opening period, as the truly bad Jets beat the equally horrendous Browns 27-20.
Finally, Greenville’s Jack Baldschun, as has been mentioned in a previous Shots column, posted 48 wins in a career with the Phillies and the Reds, while current Eaton High School Athletic Director Travis Miller, a National Trail grad, recorded seven wins from 1996-2002 with the Minnesota Twins. Local hurlers making the “Show”, creating lifetime memories!! Stay active and healthy this week as the first signs of winter appear!
