Holidays tend to be a hectic mish-mash of get-togethers in which
there is always somewhere to be and, if time permits, someone to
see.
Keeping the focus on what we’re supposed to be doing –
celebrating past memories and making new ones, eating good food,
tricking the good-looking girl/guy at your office party to stand
under the mistletoe and the co-worker you don’t like to eat it –
can often get lost in the shuffle.
The same can be true for sports fans, especially Bay Area sports
fans. The games we watch are supposed to give us some release, not
make us feel like releasing a brick into our HD television screen.
(Check your warranty, this isn’t covered.)
Holidays tend to be a hectic mish-mash of get-togethers in which there is always somewhere to be and, if time permits, someone to see.
Keeping the focus on what we’re supposed to be doing – celebrating past memories and making new ones, eating good food, tricking the good-looking girl/guy at your office party to stand under the mistletoe and the co-worker you don’t like to eat it – can often get lost in the shuffle.
The same can be true for sports fans, especially Bay Area sports fans. The games we watch are supposed to give us some release, not make us feel like releasing a brick into our HD television screen. (Check your warranty, this isn’t covered.)
So, with Thanksgiving only a couple days away, I thought it’s time to make a list, or wishlist for some, of what to be thankful for:
A senior class that didn’t do much else other than win: Despite Friday’s playoff loss to Serra, the seniors on this year’s Gilroy High football team will go down as some of the biggest winners in GHS history. For those who played on the freshman team as first-year players, the junior varsity team as sophomores, and then varsity this season and last, their overall four-year record is 36-8.
That is unbelievable considering the kind of competition the Mustangs went up against in their preseason and league schedules.
Gilroy will once again be a contender in the Tri-County Athletic League next season, but once Christopher High starts pulling in classes over the next couple years, league titles in all sports will be harder and harder to come by.
Players should take pride in the fact they won the second-most games in a single season for GHS (9), won back-to-back league titles for the first time in school history, and consecutive Prune Bowls for the first time since 1991.
High-caliber high school sports across the board: GHS as a whole has had quite a run over the past couple years, and while much of the credit should go to the effort of some phenomenal athletes, the coordination between Athletic Director Jack Daley and his coaches could be the biggest reason.
Daley was named the Central Coast Section Athletic Director of the Year in early 2007, and he could/should have won it for his work last year. He knows how to keep an even-keel in heated moments, and he has a genuine, friendly relationship with every student-athlete I’ve seen him in contact with.
Hiring or keeping fall coaches such as Art and Cathy Silva (who will be leading the girls’ cross country team to state this weekend), Adam and Erin Gemar (who have created a field hockey powerhouse at GHS, and were robbed in last week’s CCS semifinal) and Rich Hammond (who may not rub everyone the right way but gets results and demands a winning attitude from his players) just to name a few, has been an obvious strong suit of Daley’s. Adding new coaches such as Sean La Guardia for girls’ water polo, Susan Shapiro for girls’ basketball and promoting Jeremy Dirks to the top spot of boys’ basketball are three moves that already seem promising.
Anchorpoint Christian is on the come-up, too: I’m contractually obligated to mention the Warriors otherwise K.C. Adams will be standing at my doorstep when I walk out to get the morning paper. Just kidding.
It’s nice to see the little school that could getting on its feet and establishing small, but strong programs.
Tim Lincecum: The San Francisco Giants have a a four-syllable explanation for why it’s okay to keep hope alive.
Gavilan football can’t stay down forever: It seems logical, right?
GHS wrestling is almost here: And you were starting to think the Mustangs wouldn’t win at least one CCS title this year.
Another year has gone by: Don’t worry Raiders fans. Al Davis can’t live forever. Or can he?
Mike Singletary: Niners fans should be happy that they have a coach who will demand the most from his players or put them on injured reserve with his bare hands.
Don Nelson still coaches the Warriors: Better to be running-and-gunning than losing games and boring.
The San Jose Sharks: Finally, a Bay Area pro sports franchise that has championship written all over it.
