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“You and I, we’re the same.
Live and die, we’re the same.
Hear my voice, know my name,
you and I, we’re the same.”
—The Avett Brothers

Kick it!

Oh, I’ve always been a fantasy football fan.

Schurr’s Adam Polanco…freshman…yeah, that dude’s alright.

I don’t like APU in black…

Artesia is winning and Mayfair is losing…I understand we are in drought conditions but I never saw the Monsoons losing to Gahr.

Between free safety Tyler Thornton, strong safety Taliuaki Suliafu, and corners C.J. Broussard and Ronald Douglas…APU’s secondary is in great shape. They looked fantastic last Thursday night…And I haven’t even started talking about Suliafu’s hair.

The Cougars have the talent to run the table…I said “have”, not that they will…they have issues to workout on offense before I say “they will”.

After eight quarters Bellflower has only allowed seven points on defense.

I know there have been a lot of changes in our world and to our world. Phones that do everything but make coffee (I think the new IPhone 6plus might do that), flat-screens, curved-screens, trunks that open with the wave of a foot under a rear bumper…but I never thought I’d live to see the day South Hills lost to anybody 61-0.

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer looked better last night than he has anytime since leaving USC…at least to me. I never thought he looked confident in Cincy and then of course Oakland…(Oakland is a dreadful place, do you know that they still have the plague? The plague! If I had to go to Oakland I wouldn’t use the bathroom the whole time I was there.)…but he looked confident, he looked healthy…Oh dang! I wish he was a Ram.

For What It’s Worth:
Being in Southern California we have a host of schools with names that start with “El”, “Don”, “La”, “San”, and “Los”…but of the 131 in our four division coverage area the leader is “La”…As in; La Serna, La Canada, La Salle, La Mirada, and La Puente.

Yes, I am intrigued by Twentynine Palms and Arrowhead Christian this week…but actually Pomona going north to play Mission Prep really has me interested. The Royals are a good team, but I like the Red Devils…The Red Devils should win this game, if they don’t…A hard rain is going to fall.

San Marino’s start is terrific and I guarantee when you wake up Saturday morning they will be 3-0, but the Titans are going to need bigger victories than Arroyo, Duarte, and San Gabriel to have folks take them seriously.

Not my words, but Arroyo HC Jim Singiser’s own words: “We aren’t very good right now.”

If viewing a standings box you’ll notice Whittier Christian is now 0-2. It had an ineligible player in for a few snaps in both games. It sucks, but better now than later.

Rio Hondo Prep going to Gabrielino this week is a big game for both teams. No Mission Valley League team has a real statement victory this season and getting by the Kares would be a good win for the Eagles. An RHP victory is another step into mainstream existence.

I’ve been asked if I disliked Rio Hondo Prep in the past…my answer is absolutely not. What I have said is it needs to play some larger area teams, like a Gabrielino, because all those CIF titles against other small schools become white noise after a while.

RHP has a serious program turning out players like vintage wine…after years of construction. The argument of being “too small” doesn’t wash…at least not anymore. These next couple of years are going to be really exciting.

Last Add Mission Valley: The seven teams are a combined 2-10 after two weeks…Not too good chief.

A week ago at this time I was ready to set sail with Salesian, but the question came up late Friday night…How did they lose to Claremont? We’re talking Claremont, not Upland. We’re talking about a team that was 1-9 last year.

I’m going to guess the Wolfpack’s Duy Tran-sampson’s 234 rushing yards had a lot to do with it.

Burbank is a classic example of how a couple of plays can change…at least…the outlook of a season.

First Add Burroughs: The Indians have an Anding? He wears number 21? He scored on a 60-yard run Friday night?…Interesting.

Is Ray Rice a dirtbag? Yes. Would justice be for him to have a baseball cracked several times across his knees? Probably. Would I want to kill him, cut up his corpse, and feed it to the sharks if he slugged one of my daughters? Oh yeah.

Great, now that I got that out of the way (and proven that I’m sensitive and a champion/advocate for women’s rights) there’s just a bunch of stuff that bugs me about this situation.

First, just my opinion, everyone texting, tweeting, commenting, blogging, sharing their anger over television strikes me as fraudulent. It’s hip, it’s cool, it’s very now to say what Ray Rice did was the worst thing ever and the NFL and Roger Goodell are guilty of cover up.

Everyone saw the first video, they saw Rice dragging his future wife out of the elevator. Did they think she slipped on a bar of soap? Did they think she passed out from too much booze? Was she stuck inside for two hours with an AmWay salesman? No, she got clocked. So what is the new revelation here other than emotional reaction to something we all knew had already happened?

Did the NFL and Goodell screw up on this? Absolutely. Should Goodell pay the price? Maybe he should suspend himself for the season, maybe he should resign. But why is everyone screaming about the NFL and Goodell when the prosecutors, the legal action people, essentially sentenced Rice to counseling. They had the video inside the elevator the whole time.

I’ll say it again…and I’m mainly saying it about the folks in the media but there are a lot of others as well…they are frauds. Giving into emotion, wanting to sound politically correct, pleading and making their points in front of the camera and all over social media so people will know they care. So everyone will know this isn’t acceptable. So everyone will know there is no place for this in society. Etc…etc…etc…

I was glad the Ravens released Rice, because it was a good business decision for them. After Rice was cut the NFL reacted and suspended him indefinitely. I don’t think they should have. This is where Goodell has to pay the price for a bad ruling. It’s on him

Goodell/NFL foolishly made its initial judgement a two game suspension and I don’t think they have the right to go back and change it. You pass judgement, you hand down a judgement, you have live with it. The league shouldn’t be allowed to go back and change it based on emotional reactions…to something we already understood as having happened.

Let the rest of the teams make their decision to sign or not sign Rice, but the NFL should be forced to live with its initial judgement. To the embarrassment of “The Shield”.

What if new video, film, suddenly emerged from Hall of Famer Jim Brown’s domestic violence incident? How about Warren Moon’s? Do we go back and take away their yellow blazers?

I’m not saying Rice, Brown, or Moon (and countless others) aren’t scumbags for hitting their partners, what I am saying is their suspensions, punishments, and sentencing should stand. They shouldn’t change based on the emotion of a video.

Again, Janay Rice was knocked out in the elevator. She was knocked out by Ray Rice. What does the release of the video do? What does it change? Didn’t we already know he was guilty? Didn’t we already know Goodell/NFL blew it? And why is the NFL being held to higher account than Atlantic City, New Jersey, and its justice system?

Instead what happened was the video was released and everyone got sanctimonious because it was the “in thing” to do.

Regards:
In regards to inspiring the troops: “Don’t let these mother-f-bombers breath!”—Grand Valley assistant E.J. Whitlow

In regards to former Arcadia quarterback Drew Wheat: He’s 28 today.

In regards to St. Louis Rams:…Take them please! Their loss to Minnesota was as painful to watch as any loss since the New England Patriots cheated to win Super Bowl 36.

In regards to Claremont defeating Salesian: It wasn’t a case of more beef in the trenches. The Wolfpack has three players weighing 250 and above, the Mustangs have seven, including three players who surpass three spins on the scale.

In regards to this date in 1994: Arroyo quarterback Gabriel Gutierrez completed 18 of 22 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns (also ran for one) in a 35-28 victory over Temple City at North Field.

The Dude abides…

580

Psalms 62:7

Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com

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