MidValleySports.Com

By Tim Peterson

I purposely didn’t pick a Super Bowl winner in print. I’ll leave that to the coaches. But the truth is I did like the Rams by three. The problem was so did Vegas. So of course as a Ram fan, I didn’t want to bet on the Bengals and take the 4 1/2 points but I still wanted to lay down some cash to make things interesting. I couldn’t resist. I took the Rams, gave the points and my wallet is a little lighter as a result. Trust your instincts. Lesson learned.

As for the coaches nobody had it on the nose. Out of 83 coaches polled only 13 took the Bengals. Of the 70 that took the Rams nobody nailed the exact score. Some didn’t pick a score and the ones that did did not have it 23-20. The three that came closest were Wardell Crutchfield, (Rams by 3), Anthony Craft (Rams by 3) and Kevin Pearson (Rams 27-24). Great poll, great feedback. Maybe next year we’ll do it for money. I’ll take the points.

Best coaches line of the entire poll?- Dale Ziola “I want a good game. Because our world could use less bought championships.”

I don’t know if he nailed the Super Bowl score but one thing former Schurr/ Southern Utah quarterback Aaron Cantu did call was the ability of Cooper Kupp. When the Rams drafted Kupp in the third round in 2017 I ran across Cantu at a High School All-Star game shortly after the draft. Cantu, who played against Kupp when he was at Eastern Washington, said “This guy Kupp is a baller! As a Ram fan you’re going to love him. He’s going to be great.” Bingo!

I’ll probably take heat for this but I hate championship parades/ rallies. Celebrate on the field after the win, continue it in the locker room…heck even have a private team party that night, but the parades need to go away. Teams feel obligated to them to thank the fans but personally I don’t need to see a drunk player or coach yelling to “Run it back!” over and over again. Did anybody really buy into Aaron Donald and Sean McVay retiring anyway?

I like Matt Stafford on the field but would it have killed to him to see if the photographer that fell off of an eight-foot stage at the victory rally and broke her spine was ok? Oh he was drunk? Oh ok then I guess it was fine. Sorry not buying it.

If Robert Woods and Kupp come back completely healthy next year and Van Jefferson is still Van Jefferson that’s got to be it for Ben Skowronek. Another wide receiver can be acquired through the draft or free agency if necessary. The Rams don’t need to spend a roster spot on a guy that can’t catch passes.

The Rams are a team that can definitely run it back, but don’t be surprised if the Bengals are one and done.

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Did you know the idea to return as the head football coach at Rosemead was actually ran by Matt Koffler? Koffler would have been the Billy Martin of high school football but he said thanks but no thanks.

Aaron Berry at Covina is an interesting hire. I covered him when he was at Azusa Pacific and the dude can play. By all accounts he did a solid job as an assistant at Aquinas helping them win a CIF title. He doesn’t have head coaching experience but you have to start somewhere. Now is as good a time as any.

Worst kept secret in the world: Former Los Altos head football coach Travis Brown has joined the staff at Bishop Amat. Amat could use the help having recently lost Jacob Calderon (HC South Hills) and Hector Novoa (HC Bell Gardens). Maybe we should put the Lancers back in our coverage rotation.

Where does Ziola land? El Monte is still open. Rosemead? Back to Los Altos? Not sure. But I am sure that it will be somewhere that doesn’t have any bought championships.

That’s my principle.

Tim can be reached at tim.midvalleysports@gmail.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40. Facebook-Tim Peterson.