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“Love writes a letter and sends it to hate.
My vacations ending. I’m coming home late.
The weather was fine and the ocean was great
and I can’t wait to see you again.”
—The Avett Brothers

Kick it!

I was thinking about 9/11 this morning……and I thought was there ever a time in the last hundred years when nothing was in the skies over a America? The day after you occasionally saw a fighter jet streaking across the sky, but other than that nothing was in the sky. I’ve lived next to airports all my life so that kind of quiet from above was strange.

Almost as strange is working with junior high kids on Monday nights, 12 and 13 years old, who of course have no recollection of the day. When I share about it I feel like one of my teachers in grade school describing what they were doing the day President Kennedy was killed in Dallas.

I usually start by sharing that I cried and knew right away that nothing would ever be the same again…and it hasn’t. Nine-Eleven has affected elections, travel, entertainment, how we speak, think, and view everything.

***

Is anyone else as interested as I am at seeing how Claremont does going forward? I still haven’t pieced together that win, the Salesian loss, the Muir loss to Salesian, and Cathedral’s narrow victory over Muir.

If Bishop Diego blows out La Salle Friday night this Angelus League, hyped as unstoppable, is starting to look very mortal…

Keep an eye on St. Francis, they get Moorpark this week and Monrovia the next…They got the win over Chino, but then again it was just Chino.

The power in the Southeast might be down the 605 in the Suburban and San Gabriel Valley Leagues.

“Yeah the Burbank people came in here and told me to tell the Burroughs people to stay in the flatlands and that this place was theirs,” said Dujuan Sharkey, owner and operator of “Sharkey’s” in Burbank.

With all that has taken place the first two weeks of the season for Bank, they probably could use the comfort of some pulled pork, trip tip, and other good stuff at Sharkey’s. Keith Knoop, however, might disagree.

I’m not slamming Duarte, but let’s just say I drew the short straw tonight. Rio Hondo Prep is at Gabrielino, which I think is a really interesting game, and Maranatha is bumping heads with Azusa, another interesting game…but I’m going to Duarte at Montclair.

The Cavaliers are 2-0, with victories over San Gabriel and Garey, and playing solid defense. I know, I know, everyone treats defensive stats with suspicion but Montclair has recorded 14 sacks in two games…Saeed Abdulrazzak (now that’s a name), defensive end, has five of them…

Who needs a victory more? El Monte or Bassett? Both teams are 0-2.

Yeah, I guess I’m still a St. Louis/Los Angeles Rams fan…Sam Bradford, Trumaine Johnson, now Chris Long for ten weeks…It’s a curse to be a St. Louis Ram…or a St. Louis Rams fan…I am depressed. One week into the 2014 season and my professional football emotions are already in need of Prozac, Xanax, and electric shock.

On the other side of the Rams equation…Temple City Rams HC Rob Castanada took a beating on the boards this week for employing onside kicks, not punting, and going for two after every score in the 42-32 loss to Arroyo.

I get it. I understand the criticism, but something Temple City fans need to digest, if they haven’t already, is the days of running “6 Power” are over. The district is too small to expect a vast pool of players to come up through the system. The demographics of the city are cutting that pool in half. It’s hard to move into TC because the price of dirt there is almost the equivalent of gold.

Does this mean you can’t be competitive? No, but it does mean you’re going to have to change your way of thinking. The new “sabermetric” version of football is hard to buy into, but it is going to take something like it, something truly out of the box, for the Rams to compete…Especially in the Central Division. This truly might be a blue pill, red pill, decision fans are going to have to make.

Logic says Servite over La Mirada…and then move on to the next game. I agree its a step up, but its not like the Matadores have been playing chumps to this point. The victories over Tesoro and Charter Oak have built up to this match. They have an experienced quarterback in Christian Lara, who is playing great.

If there was every an opportunity to dream about an upset…this is the time. I’m gonna dance La Mirada 31-24 and I’ll swing by Mike Moschetti’s office this week to pick up some gear as a reward of my faith.

…On the other hand if it doesn’t turn out the way I predicted…well…Ray Rice is a jerk!

(That’s the ultimate cover these days right? Just say “Ray Rice is a jerk” and everyone will know you care.)

Note to Joel Sanchez: Put 9 in the box to stop Ricky Meija.

Last Add Home of The Camellias: TC played hard, that’s the good news. I know people are upset because they said the coaches were yelling and blaming players and have asked for my opinion…Sorry guys, I wasn’t there.

I still think Rosemead can have a good season…I still think they will have to be reckoned with come league play.

Has anyone seen a Dodger game lately? I haven’t. I understand there’s a big three game series with the Giants approaching…I don’t know, I’m part of the 72% the management at Chavez Ravine chose to ignore.

But I’m not offended…Angry, but not offended…

Curious to see how Cantwell fares against El Segundo…They don’t need a victory as much as they need to make a good showing. This will tell us if they are a one and done in the post season or a final four candidate in the Northwest Division.

The “All Boom Boom Bash Backs” to Keep an Eye on:
Dyllan Smiley (Mission Prep), Justin Osborn (Whittier Christian), Isaiah Ortega-dage (Shadow Hills), Jonathan Nicholson (Valley Christian), Marquise Lowe (Bellflower), Isaiah Copado (El Rancho), Mikey Dean (Chaffey),

Ray Rice One More Time:
“LAST IRONY ON RICE–Inevitably he will be reinstated after a second week out. The NFL already adjudicated and penalized him two games. Under the CBA a player can only be punished ONCE for ONE incident. There was nothing that occurred between that penalty and today that justified another penalty except ugly press and reaction. The NFL had its chance to get this right earlier, they didn’t,and have violated their constitution. I know this is the last thing anyone wants to hear, but that’s how badly they have bungled this.”—Sports Agent Leigh Steinberg

Last Add 9/11: “We must fight them, not talk to them, but cut into them and pursue them until they cry enough! War is the remedy that our enemies have chosen, and I say let us give them all they want.”—William Tecumseh Sherman

Regards:
In regards to Josh Lowden: The former Monrovia linebacker turns 22 today.

In regards to Roger Goodell: Well…He can kiss the baby…

In regards to Fantasy Football: If I had known Fantasy Football is actually a painkiller for the real agony of being a Rams fan…I would have started playing years ago.

In regards to Pomona-Mission Prep being cancelled: Terrible…Not even just in football terms…

In regards to Downey: They beat Mira Costa this week.

The Dude abides…

581

Psalms 63:1

Contact Joe at joe@midvalleysports.com

“Joe T.’s Scoreboard” is found at www.midvalleynews.com every Wednesday & in the hard copy of the Mid Valley News, published every Wednesday

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