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Abysmal?!?! Prepare to face our wrath, South Whidbey Record!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Ranting and Raving, Unleashing hell on the SW Record on February 10, 2013| 6 Comments »

Pardon me, but was this “abysmal?” (Shelli Trumbull photos)

Or this?

Maybe this?

They know not what they have unleashed.

We brought the Everett Herald to its knees, busted their preseason football poll into little bits and pieces. No matter how many times their maids and chauffeurs voted, Archbishop Thomas Murphy and King’s couldn’t hold off Wolf Nation.

We outvoted them, dominated the message board and left them crying.

And now the South Whidbey Record, a sliver of a paper compared to the Herald, wants to provoke us?

You don’t know the power of the Wolf. But you’re about to.

What’s ticking me off at the moment is a story in the Record about the Coupeville/South Whidbey boys’ basketball playoff game.

Or, more precisely, a word.

That word, written by Ben Watanabe, is “abysmal.” As in “ending Coupeville’s abysmal season.”

So, from the perspective of a writer who saw one or two Wolf games, he views our boys’ hoops squad and what they accomplished over the last four months as “extremely bad or appalling.”

I can think of a few words for Mr. Watanabe, but hesitate to use them, as he is a fellow ink-stained wretch. A misguided one, but part of the fraternity.

Now, I understand. From the outside, a 1-21 record doesn’t set the world on fire.

But where Watanabe and the other knee-jerkers fail, and fail miserably, is YOU WEREN’T THERE.

You didn’t see the broken leg. The severe concussion. The wrist injury. The stitches. The enormous black eye. The staph infection. The food poisoning. The viral crud that kept on swirling through town.

You didn’t see Drew Chan rise off his death bed and play virtually every minute against Blaine.

You didn’t see Ben Etzell, eye almost swollen shut, play on.

You didn’t see Caleb Valko, less than 24 hours after getting four stitches under his eye, play to the last ounce of his strength.

You didn’t see Carson Risner throw up, take the floor, then repeat that pattern for the next two hours.

You didn’t see a team that came back day after day after day with limited fan support.

A team beset by god-awful refs who allowed other teams to throw punches, refs who shoved Wolf players and then called a technical on the PLAYER.

You didn’t see every one of those Wolves work their ass off all season.

You didn’t see the emergence of younger players like Morgan Payne and Wiley Hesselgrave. You didn’t see the continued development of Nick Streubel into a force in the paint South Whidbey will have little chance to contain next season.

You didn’t see the improvement. The commitment. The fight still left in a program that is rebuilding after a 20+ year coach retired and his entire roster graduated two seasons ago.

You didn’t see a damn thing, but yet you’re very quick to reduce four months of sweat, of work, of commitment, of playing as a team and standing behind each other, to the word “abysmal.”

So, we’re going to give you a chance to think about your word choices. Because I am calling on every single one of my readers to go to the link down below and leave a comment on your story.

I’m not telling them what to say. That’s up to them.

Though, if they need help, calling YOU “abysmal” would be a good place to start.

http://www.southwhidbeyrecord.com/sports/190461791.html

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South Whidbey 30, Refs 26, Coupeville 45!!

Posted in Boys Basketball, Ranting and Raving on February 7, 2013| 27 Comments »

Playoff intensity, with Caleb Valko taking it hard to the hoop… (Shelli Trumbull photos)

A packed crowd, with Wiley Hesselgrave besieged by Falcon faithful…

And then … “Stop! It is I, the one who will save you from this thrilling affair! Just let me get my whistle pulled out of my ass first…” (Nanette Streubel photo)

Sadness. Deep, abiding sadness.

There was anger. “I was so mad I forgot to eat the Snicker’s bar I bought!!,” said one fan.

There was disbelief. “I have played basketball all over the world and never seen such a badly-called game,” said former Wolf hoops star Zepher Loesch.

There were three refs (their names scrawled in the score book looked like J. Washington, R. Neiffer and S. DePuy) who fled the scene of the crime as fast as their legs could carry them.

And then there was sadness.

Sadness that Wolf seniors Caleb Valko (playing with fresh stitches under his eye after taking an elbow in practice) and Drew Chan left their last ounce of strength on the court Thursday night and got bushwhacked.

Sadness that two rivals went toe-to-toe in a furious, sometimes fantastic brawl, a game of rallies, punches and counter punches, a game of dynamic plays and fiery intensity, as befits a winner-take-all playoff bout, only to have three refs drop their drawers at center court and take a dump all over the integrity of the game itself.

The score book will show that South Whidbey hit their free-throws down the stretch and held off Coupeville 56-45 to stay alive in the district playoffs.

What the score won’t show you was rally after rally by a Wolf team battling through countless injuries and bouts of illness.

Ben Etzell flying at the basket like a rabid, well, Wolf, pouring in 19 points from all angles.

Young guns Morgan Payne and Wiley Hesselgrave driving the ball up-court with intensity, dribbling under fire and directing traffic like seasoned pros.

Nick Streubel rumbling in the paint like only The Big Hurt can, rising from the floor like a beast unleashed, throwing puny Falcons in all directions as he ripped down rebound after rebound.

Joel Walstad swishing a sweet three. Aaron Trumbull returning from a nasty concussion and freaking his mom out by promptly diving on the floor for a loose ball on his first play. Anthony Bergeron and Josiah Campbell repping the future while Valko and Chan went out the way grizzled captains are supposed to, fighting until the final tick of the clock.

But it also won’t show you three smirking, pompous con men who, just when the game was at its most frenzied, its most enthralling, interjected themselves in the only way that this hallowed season of the god-awful ref could be properly capped.

It started with a foul being called on a Wolf halfway down the court from the play (at which point the three less-than-wise men had to confer and switched the foul from player to player three times, then landed back on the player farthest from the play.)

Then came the three technical fouls, the intentional/flagrant foul snafu, the numerous phantom traveling calls and the refusal to even consider calling a foul on a South Whidbey player who hit Etzell so hard in the rib cage he remained flat on his back for two minutes.

It would take a month to break down the shoddiness, the amateur hour theatrics, the criminal misuse of power. One could also ask why South Whidbey players were allowed to spend a great deal of time with their arms slung over the ref’s shoulders, talking like best buds (do the Falcons have seven captains?).

But to go that route leaves one awash in anger and sadness.

Better to focus on the positives, as Etzell rained down nine points, Streubel rejected back-to-back shots and Coupeville roared to life in the second quarter. Down by 12, they cut the lead to five, then pulled to within 30-28 midway through the third.

Then came a rain of technicals, “flagrant” fouls and bouts of giggling by one of the refs.

Down by 12 in the fourth, the Wolves rallied one last time, surging 13-5, with the highlight being a play when Streubel, surprisingly light on his feet for a 6-foot-4, 280-pound college football prospect, made off with a steal and fed Etzell, who rained down a dazzling trey.

With the lead cut to 49-45 and the Falcons on their heels, suddenly a row of lights went out, Super Bowl-style. That it was the row of lights right above the Wolf fans could have been a coincidence, or it could have been a signal to the refs, who immediately threw a tire wrench into any hopes of, oh, I don’t know, letting the players decide the game.

As the Falcons slid seven straight free-throws through the net, those in the stands tried to focus on the positives of a Wolf squad who refused to give in, refused to give up, on this night or any night this season.

But then, as we watched the departing backsides of the worst ref crew we have seen in what has been a banner year for bad refs, that was replaced with sadness.

And that plain sucks.

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Keep it classy, Whidbey! We’re not Sultan!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Ranting and Raving on February 6, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Well, that escalated quickly.

Feelings are frayed right now on both sides of the Hayley Newman story, which is understandable. She has great support and some loud detractors.

I cover Coupeville sports. I don’t normally wander off into South Whidbey sports. What I do know about the Newmans is that they have a long family tradition of athletic excellence and have always been at the forefront of Falcon sports.

I chose to post my article about Hayley quitting the South Whidbey High School girls’ basketball team because, with her being the #3 scorer in the Cascade Conference and it looking like the Wolves and Falcons would face off in the playoffs, it was news to my readers.

I still feel that way, especially as we count down the hours to that game (Wednesday 7 PM in Langley).

The two squads split their regular season games. Tonight is a loser-out district playoff battle royale for the very soul of the Island.

Or something like that. I tend to blow things out of proportion.

As the story took off (it now has more than 1,000 page views and is the #3 most-read story on my site, out of 592 articles), the comment section also began to kick in.

At first, I was pleasantly surprised. The comments were eloquent essays from both sides of the argument.

Whether the writers thought Hayley was courageous for making a stand (a position I back) or pissed that she had deserted her team at a crucial point of the season, they made their points and kept the personal mud-slinging to a minimum.

Oh, how naive I am…

While the crayons didn’t come out as quickly as they did when I irritated Sultan (20 seconds) or ATM (12 minutes), they did eventually show up.

The First Amendment, it’s a hell of a drug…

But, there is a point which we’re not going past. If you drop allegations of people in the community having affairs or make references to teen girls sucking things other than lollipops, I am going to have to delete or edit your comments.

It’s really easy to sit behind the computer and rant and rave. I do it all the time.

But remember, these are real people, people in your communities, that you are smearing.

I hope that people give Hayley the benefit of the doubt. I hope that people can see both sides of the issue. I kind of hope I don’t have pop bottles thrown at my head tonight when I show up at the SWHS gym to cover the playoff game…

Most of all, I hope people remember one thing. Whether South, Central or North, we ARE Whidbey. We are NOT Sultan.

Stay classy, Whidbey.

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Bring on the Falcons! It’s dinner time!!

Posted in Girls Basketball, Ranting and Raving on February 5, 2013| Leave a Comment »

So it comes to this.

Two teams enter the arena Wednesday and only one will exit with games left to play.

But when the Coupeville High School girls’ basketball squad travels to Langley to face off with Island rival South Whidbey (7 PM tip-off), there will be more than just a loser-out district playoff game on the line.

Sure, on the surface, the stakes are easy.

Lose and you’re done. Win and you advance to play the loser of King’s/Blaine in another loser-out game Friday. Win that one and you play Saturday for third place and a spot at tri-districts.

But this is Coupeville/South Whidbey, so it’s more.

It will be a battle for the very soul of this Island.

Now, Madi Boyd and Ellie Greene and their Falcon teammates seem like very nice young women, bright, intelligent, athletically talented. If they win, I will root for them in their coming games, as, above all, you always want Whidbey teams to kick the snot out of non-Whidbey teams.

But, Wednesday night, Boyd and Co. will have to be viewed as the bad guys, the Evil Empire, the oppressors of everything that is good and wonderful.

You made your rumpled bed, South Whidbey. Now prepare to cry into your pillows.

You (or your parents) chose to live in Hippieville, when you knew Poopville was the better choice.

We are the county seat of government, we are the second oldest town in the state, we have Mussel Fest, we have better school colors, we possess The Bucket (ooh! shot to the ribs!!), we have a bowling alley, we are where Isaac Ebey got his head lopped off and … well, I could go on for days now, couldn’t I?

And you, South Whidbey, what exactly are you?

You’re a couple of towns loosely held together, boasting stores that open and close whenever the owners decide to crawl out of their Yurt.

Your biggest historical marker is a phone booth and you’re best remembered for that time when the FBI came by and shot up a bunch of Neo-Nazi’s.

We have a ferocious beast as our school mascot. You have a beady-eyed bird that probably eats its own poop from time to time.

We still have all our players (ooh! shot to the ribs, 35 times!!).

And yes, you may be more mature than we are, but no one asked, OK?

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Dear Canada, we want our history back, you syrup-suckin’ hosers!!

Posted in Baseball, Little League, Poking the Canucks, Ranting and Raving on February 4, 2013| Leave a Comment »

And now I’m cheesed off again.

Every time I think I’ve gotten past my hatred of the morons in Moosejaw who bought the Whidbey Examiner and then, in one twitch of a data entry person’s finger, erased three years worth of my bylines, I find a new reason to let my annoyance run free again.

When they flipped the Examiner’s web site to resemble that of the News-Times (and every other corporate drone paper Black Press owns), most of my bylines vanished in an instance, replaced by that of Vincent Nattress, an accomplished local chef who had written three articles to my 41,209.

When I raised this “quirk” with the Evil Empire, they responded by simply disabling all the links.

Bam! Problem solved! I never existed!

And so the Examiner, the plucky paper that could (until carpetbaggers sold it to robber barons), became irrelevant in an instant. Three years worth of history, gone, vanished off this thing called the internet.

You know, the internet, the thing that the kids actually read, unlike your yellowing bound volumes from 1912.

So let’s say you want to look up the biggest event in Central Whidbey sports in the last three years. Let’s say you want to go back to July 24, 2010, a day when the little town of Coupeville beat the big boys and won a state little league title.

A day when Korbin and Brian and Ben and Morgan and Jake and the Aarons and a lot of other guys beat Goliath.

A day when we were the champs.

A day that will stand in local memories forever.

Let’s say you want to go back and look at all the stories I wrote during that voyage, of the wins, of the comebacks, of the rallies, of the community effort to raise funds.

Let’s say you want to do that.

Well, forget about it, because Canada couldn’t give a crap.

Try going on the Examiner web site and looking up “little league,” “Central Whidbey Little League” or “state champs.” Heck, try looking up “baseball.”

And what do you get?

Yep, a 404 error that simply states: “We’re Canadian. We don’t give a crap about your history.”

And they wonder why we call them hosers, eh?

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