Pickerington Central 24 Troy 8

High School Football - Playoffs
Division I Region 3 Quarterfinals
Home Team: Pickerington Central Tigers
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: Pickerington Tiger Stadium
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Troy 57 Sidney 7

High School Football
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Sidney Yellowjackets
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Troy 50 Miamisburg 14

High School Football
Home Team: Miamisburg Vikings
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: Harmon Field
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Trotwood-Madison 18 Troy 0

High School Football
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Trotwood-Madison Rams
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Troy High School Class of 1995

Read my thoughts here.

Phillies 2 Reds 0

Major League Baseball
National League Division Series
Home Team: Cincinnati Reds (J. Cueto)
Visiting Team: Philadelphia Phillies (C. Hamels)
Venue: Great American Ball Park
Game Time: 8:07 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Game Story | Box Score

Commentary to come!

Troy 27 Piqua 14

High School Football
Home Team: Piqua Indians
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: Alexander Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Troy 34 Vandalia Butler 7

High School Football
Home Team: Vandalia Butler Aviators
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: Butler Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Troy 29 Beavercreek 0

High School Football
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Beavercreek Beavers
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Troy 21 Springboro 0

High School Football
Home Team: Springboro Panthers
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: CareFlight Field
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Troy 49 Fairborn 6

High School Football
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Fairborn Skyhawks
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Middletown 38 Troy 7

High School Football
Home Team: Middletown Middies
Visiting Team: Troy Trojans
Venue: Barnitz Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Troy 23 CJ 0

High School Football
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Chaminade-Julienne Eagles
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:30 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Read my thoughts here.

Dunbar 14 Troy 0

High School Football (scrimmage)
Home Team: Troy Trojans
Visiting Team: Dunbar Wolverines
Venue: Troy Memorial Stadium
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Gary and Nikki (3rd quarter only)

The Trojans didn't look all that great this evening. Since the game didn't count, I'm not worried about it. It was pretty obvious that they were working on some different formations and player packages and trying to get things figured out, and not actually focused on winning the game. I'm sure they would have liked for those things to work better and produce some points, sure, but no big deal that it didn't happen. Troy has talent and experience this year. When they tee it up for real next week, I'm sure they'll be fine.

One thing I thought was really interesting was how much the Trojan offense lined up in shotgun formation with anywhere from three to five receivers. They ran quite a few bubble screens and just weren't getting enough blocking out on the edges for them to be effective. Now, I don't expect to see that play as many times throughout the entire season as I saw it tonight, but if they can get it figured out, that could be quite a weapon, as it looks like they've got some guys with some speed and quickness. I should also note that on the few occasions when they lined up on the Wing-T formation, which has always been the base offense, they moved the ball pretty much at will.

The biggest reaction from the crowd actually came on the opening kickoff, when Troy's kicker booted the ball into the endzone against a pretty stiff breeze. Unfortunately, since Troy didn't score in the game, that was the only chance we had to see him kick off, so there's no telling whether or not that was a fluke. If he can do that on a fairly regular basis, though, that'll be great news for our special teams since Coach Nolan likes to do crazy things on kickoffs to keep opposing teams from getting a big return. Also, the punter (and I didn't really notice if the punter and kicker are the same player) seemed to have a big leg, getting height and distance on his kicks. Hopefully they won't be punting all that much, but it's good to know they can do it well when the need arises.

Anyway, now the scrimmage is out of the way and it's time for the season to begin for real. The Trojans kick off at home next Friday against the Chaminade-Julienne Eagles. The Eagles took the opener against the Trojans last year, 10-0 at Welcome Stadium in Dayton. That was a Thursday game that started at 5:30. I'm glad this year we're sticking with the Friday routine, and hopefully the Trojans will fare better this time.

Bats 10 Mud Hens 4

Minor League Baseball
Home Team: Toledo Mud Hens (Furbush)
Visiting Team: Louisville Bats (Reineke)
Venue: Fifth Third Field (Toledo, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Rankin

Blade Game Report | Box Score

Getting to go to this game was an pleasant surprise. I was in Toledo for my monthly trip to work in the office for a couple of days. The company I work for has a drawing for tickets to every Mud Hens home game, I think. Our graphics manager won these tickets in that drawing, but she couldn't use them, and since I'm rarely in town and don't get a chance to win, she decided to offer them to me. I'm a huge baseball fan, and any night at the ballpark is a good one, so I was more than happy to take them off her hands. And when I looked at the tickets and realized the Mud Hens were playing the Louisville Bats, the AAA affiliate of my beloved Cincinnati Reds, that was just icing on the cake.

And the Bats did not disappoint, living up to their name with a 17-hit, 10-run outburst that left little doubt about the outcome from pretty early on. Only one of those hits was a home run (third baseman Eric Eymann), but they banged a bunch of hits off the outfield wall. Fifth Third Field in Toledo is a pretty good-sized ballpark, so there's no shame in that. The Reds could use an infusion of offense in a couple of key areas, so it's nice to see that there's some help on the way.

Of course, I was really hoping to see some of the Reds organization's pitching depth on display, particularly in the person of Aroldis Chapman, the Cuban flamethrower they signed in the offseason. Alas, he didn't make it into the game; he'll likely be in Cincinnati before too much longer.

All in all, it was a great night. I got to spend a few hours at the ballpark, my friend Mike came along and we talked baseball pretty much the whole time, and there was a pretty cool fireworks show after the game, too. Not bad for what otherwise likely would have been a wasted evening.

Dragons 3 Loons 1

Minor League Baseball
Home Team: Dayton Dragons
Visiting Team: Great Lakes Loons
Venue: Fifth Third Field (Dayton, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi, Jeff, Mindy

DDN Game Tidbit | Box Score

Tickets to Dayton Dragons games are hard to come by, so it's always a treat to go to one when the opportunity arises. This, however, wasn't exactly an optimal situation. Brandi's employer got a block of tickets in the group seating section, which happens to be beyond the outfield wall in left field. This was my first time sitting in the outfield for a game, and I have to say, it was really hard to pay attention. All of the action seemed so far away. On top of that, several of her co-workers had kids that were running around - a couple of them made friends with us and sat in our laps for a fair portion of the evening.

So, needless to say, I don't really have much to say about the game, because I really didn't see all that much of it. We had a good time, though, and that's all that matters. Oh, and I will say that sitting in the outfield gives an awesome perspective on balls hit in the air, particularly when they're hit hard. Other than that, I can't recommend it.

Astros 2 Reds 0

Major League Baseball
Home Team: Cincinnati Reds (M. Leake)
Visiting Team: Houston Astros (F. Paulino)
Venue: Great American Ball Park
Game Time: 1:10 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi

Game Story | Box Score

Reds 12 Astros 2

Major League Baseball
Home Team: Cincinnati Reds (A. Harang)
Visiting Team: Houston Astros (B. Moehler)
Venue: Great American Ball Park
Game Time: 7:10 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi

Game Story | Box Score

Reds 3 Cubs 1

Major League Baseball
Home Team: Cincinnati Reds (M. Leake)
Visiting Team: Chicago Cubs (T. Gorzelanny)
Venue: Great American Ball Park
Game Time: 1:10 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

Game Story | Official Box Score

This was kind of a different experience. Going to the game was, more or less, a spur-of-the-moment decision. I bought my ticket online around 10:20 a.m. and hit the road at 11:00. I took nothing with me: no glove, no camera, no sunscreen. I regret that last one. I thought my seat would be in the shade, for at least part of the game, but it was not. I can feel the heat building in my sun-pinkened arms and face already.

The main reason I decided to go was to see the professional debut of Reds starter Mike Leake, their first-round draft pick last year. He became a rare player in Major League history (the first pitcher since 1988) by playing his first big-league game without spending any time in the minor leagues. That being the case, I thought it would be fun to be in the stands for such an event, and to see this young phenom for myself.

I was not disappointed. At first, it looked like it was going to be a disaster - after throwing a first-pitch strike, he proceeded to walk the leadoff hitter on the following four pitches. A double and another walk left the bases loaded for the Cubs with no one out in the first inning. But Leake got out of the inning without allowing any runs, and that set the tone for the day. He ended up walking seven guys before his day was done, but he only gave up one run in 6 2/3 innings. You could definitely tell he was tired just before he was taken out, but the bullpen was able to hold down the fort while the Reds scored some runs and got the win. Leake didn't get credit for it, but there's no doubt that he had a huge hand in the victory.

He had two hits at the plate, too.

Bowling Green 87 Valparaiso 70

Men's Basketball
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: Valparaiso Crusaders
Venue: Anderson Arena (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 2:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

I hate to admit (although anyone can tell with just a cursory examination of how this blog works) that this is just the second BG basketball game I've made it to this season. In general, I still consider games at Anderson Arena to be must-attend events, but extreme winter weather and several other factors have been conspiring against me.

All that said, I've still been following the team as closely as possible through streaming Internet video when available and streaming Internet audio otherwise. I was well aware, at any rate, of the struggles the Falcons have had at times this season with scoring the basketball. Even on grainy or pixelated Internet feeds, they're sometimes hard to watch. So it was awesome to be at a game in which that wasn't an issue. They were able to score pretty much at will, with all five starters ending the game in double figures (and sophomore Scott Thomas posting a double-double). I can't think of anyone that didn't look like they had a good game. I find Thomas to be a really impressive player all around. I do wish, though, that senior center Otis Polk would have, at some point during his playing career, figured out how to continue playing solid defense without fouling so much. It's a lot of fun to watch him play, but he just doesn't log many minutes.

And it was a win over a pretty solid opponent, too. Valparaiso is currently in fourth place in the Horizon League (credit goes to ESPN's BracketBuster event for a non-conference game so late in the season), but that's a pretty good mid-major basketball league. You know the Crusaders, of course, from the highlight shown each year during March Madness of the buzzer-beating 3-point shot that allowed them, as a 13 seed, to upset 4 seed Ole Miss in the first round of the 1998 NCAA Tournament, on the basketball equivalent of football's hook and lateral play. That shot was made by Bryce Drew, who is now an assistant coach with Valpo, and his dad, Homer Drew, is now and was then Valpo's head coach.

Anyway, as I mentioned, it was good to see BG come out aggressive and be able to score and build a big lead early. It was almost too big of a lead, actually - they led 49-24 at halftime, which led to what looked like a little complacency in the second half. They were obviously trying to slow the game down, but they got a little sloppy and let Valpo at least entertain some thoughts of getting back into the game. Personally, I would have liked to see the Falcons stay aggressive, put their foots on the Crusaders' throats, but that's just me - I think that's always the way to go until the game is unquestionably out of reach. And to give the Falcons the credit they deserve, they weathered everything Valpo threw at them, and whenever the Crusaders made a run, they'd get a little run of their own going to push the lead back up close to where it was before. So that was nice to see.

Finally, I'd just like to send out a plea to BG Athletics' marketing department to can all the games and gimmicks going on during official timeouts. Seriously. They've been doing this for quite some time, but the inanity of it hit me anew during this game, possibly because this is only the second game I've been to this season and I've been away from it for a while. I realize this is probably an effort to get more people to come to the games, but it's not working. I mean, the arena was less than half full, and that was even with a decent-sized singing group there for the National Anthem, plus the fact that it was SICSIC beheading day and senior day for the cheerleading squad and dance team. A much better strategy would be to just let the band and cheerleaders do their thing during timeouts; the marketing crap just drains whatever energy the crowd has managed to build during the action. Case in point: at one point during this game, there was a minor scuffle underneath the north basket, and the crowd got at least a little frothy. But as the officials called their timeout to sort things out, here comes "Brian from Marketing" to play some asinine game, and there went the energy. Instead, the band should have been playing the theme from Rocky or something, and the cheerleaders should have been leading a BG-SU chant. Or something. Feed the fire, instead of dousing it.

Look, I speak from experience on this. When I first came to BG in the fall of 1997, I wasn't the world's biggest basketball fan. Once I started going to games at Anderson Arena, though, I was hooked. Why? Because it's a small, cramped arena, with the crowd right on top of the action, and the place would get loud. It fed on itself. It would start to get loud; you'd see the Falcons feeding off of it, and the visitors getting rattled (I'm looking at you, Andy Hipsher); then it would get louder. And that was awesome. The games were so much fun, and I got addicted. Don't get me wrong, the band and cheerleaders didn't always have the right song or cheer at exactly the right moment, but they did their best to add to the energy. Being there was  electric, and I loved it. It made Anderson Arena one of my favorite places in the world, and the games were the highlight of my week. When I think back on my time at BG, basketball is the first thing that comes to mind. Now, Anderson is still one of my favorites places, but that atmosphere is completely gone. And the timeout crap isn't the only contributing factor in its demise, but it is a factor. There's only one season of basketball left at Anderson after this one, and I'd like to see at least one game in that time with a crowd that's just balls-out insane. If they really want to build a crowd, a following, I think getting rid of the marketing crap and letting the atmosphere speak for itself would be the best first step they could make.

Bowling Green 59 St. Louis 50

Men's Basketball
Home Team: BGSU Falcons
Visiting Team: St. Louis Billikens
Venue: Anderson Arena (Bowling Green, Ohio)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: Brandi

 Hard as it is for me to believe, this was my first trip to Anderson Arena since the last home game of last season, which was in March. Since this was my first time seeing this year's squad play in person, I spent most of the pregame warmup period going over the program and familiarizing myself with the newcomers.

Aside from seeing this year's team for the first time, I was also interested in this game in particular because of the opponent, the St. Louis Billikens, led by Coach Rick Majerus. I wasn't paying attention when he was coaching at Ball State, but I watched his teams play quite a bit when he was at Utah, and I've always liked him as a coach. I was looking forward to seeing one of his teams play in person, and I thought they'd be a good test for the Falcons.

I was pleasantly surprised when BG came out strong, taking and building a lead early. St. Louis didn't even score until nearly seven minutes into the game, and none of their starters scored in the first half at all. The Falcons were running an active zone defense, spreading it out into a trap occasionally to mix things up, and the Billikens just couldn't solve it. That let BG run the lead out to as many as twenty in the second half before they got a little sloppy toward the end and let St. Louis whittle the lead down to the final margin.

BG pretty much dominated the game, but I still found myself impressed with St. Louis, at least on the defensive end. I liked their aggressive style, especially how they doubled the ballhandler on just about every screen. They pressured the Falcons into quite a few turnovers - fortunately, they weren't able to turn those turnovers into points on a regular basis.

For the Falcons, I was impressed with the post play of center Otis Polk, who continues to evolve as a player. He's always been a defensive force, due to his size and bulk, if nothing else. He still has some work to do in keeping his fouls under control (although he's light years ahead of where he was when he came in), but he's developed into a strong offensive force to complement his work on the other end. It's going to be fun to watch him in MAC play. I also really enjoyed watching freshman guard Jordon Crawford. He's tiny (5'6") but quick, and seems pretty heady for a freshman, and he's got a nice touch on his shot.

So yes, this was my first time seeing the Falcons play this year, but it won't be the last. I'll be making the trip to BG whenever possible for the remainder of the season. I just hope the weather cooperates - the snow on the drive back to Troy was a bit of a nightmare. It was so heavy around Bluffton that we couldn't even see the lines on the interstate. We just had to slow down and feel our way along until it finally started to clear up a bit around Lima.