There’s plenty to pay attention to this week, and for locals the best possible week of the year if you’re a football fan. But at Press Pros we have an entirely different reason for welcoming the state football final.
A college friend and sports fan from Columbus, Kenny Marcum, texted me early Sunday morning to say:
“Look, I’ve known you for forty years and have always thought you were halfway full of it. But after reading your Friday column about Marion Local, Coldwater, Minster, and Ohio State all winning this weekend…I grudgingly pay my respects. PS…You’re still full of it, you know.”
Well, Kenny, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
But in retrospect, the only games I was THAT sure about were Marion and Coldwater, largely because of comparing strength of schedules throughout the year. Minster…was another matter. And true to form McComb did come back to make it exciting at the end.
And I know that people from other communities outside of Mercer, Auglaize and Darke counties get tired of reading this…but the intensity of competition in MAC conference prepares those teams so well that you NEVER take it for granted that another team outside is better just because they’re bigger, or they’re from a bigger zip code. Message to teams from Canton Central Catholic (Division V), Cuyahoga Heights (Division VI) and Warren John F. Kennedy (Division VII): Don’t come to Columbus this week with a chip on your shoulder.
As for the Ohio State game, the predictors had the Buckeyes winning by 6 and I wouldn’t have been surprised had it been more. My thinking…there was simply too much pressure on Michigan to come in there and win, for one…and two, Jim Harbaugh puts even more pressure on the program with his public persona. Yeah, he’s a good football coach, but like with so many other things in life…sometimes less is more. Tone it down a bit, Jim, until you’re certain you can cover the checks that you write.
As for you , Kenny, remember and cherish days at Stradley Hall, my friend. But still…don’t don’t believe everything you read, regardless of who writes it.
Refs, you have to have a better response….
There was a lot made over Jim Harbaugh’s unhappiness with the officials in Saturday’s game, especially with the unsportsmanlike penalty assessed to him for throwing his headset and play script.
And I’m paraphrasing the argument here, but Harbaugh apparently asked, “Since when is throwing a play script reason for a penalty?” The official supposedly said: “Well, it’s a technical foul in basketball, and I officiate basketball,too.”
At that point Harbaugh said: “I fail to see the relevance.”
Which is true. It was a horrible comeback response by the official if he really said that because it really was a lame defense. It brought to mind all those years of umpiring when managers would come out to argue with young minor league umpires who lacked the experience to deal with professionals who’d been around the game for decades. You always had to be on your toes. You always had to have the best defense available…the better comeback to diffuse people like Jim Leyland and Tony LaRussa. And frankly, you thought about stuff like that all through the off-season. If he says this…then you say that.
In defense of Harbaugh in this case, if you’re the official you NEVER mix your sports. Harbaugh probably should have said, “I bet you’re bad in basketball, too.”
Just for the sake of the argument!
The very best thing about the state football tournament….
Yes, as Kenny Marcum wrote, it’s a privilege to cover the tournament when you have three area teams all vying for titles in their respective divisions. That should be enough.
But people who read this website are consistently kind to compliment the photography we post, a credit to Julie Wright, Don Selanders, Jay Roman, yours truly, et.al., but to be honest…shooting night football in most high school stadiums is a real challenge because the lighting required is rarely up to standard. What your eye is able to see clearly is a far cry from the way cameras work. Photographers hear the question all the time: How do you do it?
Well, this week we’ll have the advantage of broad daylight. Marion’s and Minster’s game will be played at 10 am in the morning, which means you have more, and better, light; which means you can bring out the really big gear…600mm lenses that allow you to get inside the face masks for better expressions – and long shots downfield that simply aren’t available with those lenses when the game is played at night.
And, even when they do play the night games at Ohio Stadium the lights are far superior to the average high school venue because of television requirements. Instead of rating your exposures at 6400 ISO you can back down to about 2000 (photo people will get this) and get better color and better stoppage of action with higher shutter speeds. Trust it…if you’re a photographer…this really is the best thing about working at the state tournament this weekend. We’re licking our chops.
Good luck to all!