Off on another kid sport adventure. This time to Calgary, Canada. My loyal fans, the lovely Gail and the not so lovely brother Jim, asked for a journal so here it is. Click here.

And more congratulations to our CDM BB alum Shaun Mohler for his simply great game tonight for the Colorado Buffalos. That was so exciting. I told Scott to let Shaun know that we didn't really watch much of the game since we were just watching what Shaun did.

"The Beast" made some tremendous plays (of course, all on national television) and got his name mentioned a number of times. He was also involved in the ESPN Play of the Game when he absolutely, completely, and totally leveled a guy who got a toss and was trying to throw a pass. I was hoping they had a camera on that hit, but I guess not. It was an epic take-down. I hope that guy is out of the hospital by now.

Gail and I were imagining how exciting it must be for Shaun to be playing before such a huge crowd, all dressed in black, all going nuts, and half of which stormed the field at the end of the game.

For the record, Shaun is #57 on the Buffs and John Fairbanks is #59 on the Florida Gators. And we saw John playing for the Gators on the last televised Florida game.

Congratulations to former CDM basketball player Kevin Hansen who won a gold medal at the Olympics with the men's volleyball team.

H ere is a great article by Barry F about our former CDM basketball player, Shaun Mohler.

Off to Hawaii for the CDM girls volleyball tournament. I will keep a journal for those parents who are not along for the ride. Click here.

Congratulations to the Blade. We will be so thrilled to see Joe playing at the Bren. Plus, he got that first report in the Pilot fixed.

Coach S will be taking over for me soon. We are waiting for him to set up a web site. So that will be the end of seakingbasketball.com.

I started this clambake to let the parents know what was happening in Gillette, Wyoming, a place I never thought I would visit. We went there to play in the tournament put on by Coach Curry's brother. I would say most of the parents thought Coach Curry had lost his mind, and maybe he had. But it was one of the greatest adventures of my life. Freezing cold, out in the middle of nowhere, weird motel, but just the greatest. We also saw some pretty good high school basketball players and Mt. Rushmore.

CDM basketball alum Kevin Welch has signed to play volleyball with USC. Here is the story. Congratulations to Kevin and his family.

Villanova is the new home for Taylor King, released from his scholarship at Duke after averaging 5.9 points and 2.0 rebounds this past season as a freshman. King, who originally committed to UCLA before his freshman year in high school, played in every game for the Blue Devils but saw his role diminish during the season. He had 43 3-point field goals.

Kashif Watson

Idaho men's basketball coach Don Verlin added a pair of players Friday as guard Kashif Watson and forward Brandon Wiley signed national letters of intent.

Watson, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior, averaged 13.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per game for Irvine Valley Community College (Calif.) last season. He spent his freshman season at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.

Armon Johnson

Nevada guard Armon Johnson became the first Wolf Pack player to earn the WAC’s Freshman of the Year award since Ramon Sessions in 2005. In 16 conference games, Johnson averaged 14.1 points per contest, and 4.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 54.0 percent from the field.

OCC ATHLETES OF THE YEAR

Kevin Welch
Men’s Volleyball

Honors: A graduate from Corona del Mar High School, earned Pacific Coast Conference MVP honors this year, guiding the Pirates all the way to the State Championship match against Irvine Valley. Along the way, the 6-foot-2 outside hitter set the single-season school record for kills with 460 as well as the career record for kills with 785, topping the previous career mark by over 130. Showing his ability to play defense as well, Kevin finished his career with 266 digs, seventh-best in OCC history. His strong all-around play has grabbed the attention of the University of Hawaii and USC as collegiate possibilities for Kevin. A two-time All-PCC selection, Kevin helped lead the Pirates to the State Final Four in 2007 and helped the Pirates to a 32-11 two-year record.

Welch takes all-Pacific Coast POY honors

Former Corona del Mar High volleyball standout Kevin Welch was named the Pacific Coast Conference’s co-Player of the Year.

Welch, who set the OCC single-season (390) and career records (715) for kills, shares the honor with Peter Johnson of Irvine Valley. Freshmen Grant Keene and Michael Stewart were first-team all-conference picks. Andrew Pizula and Jake Awerkamp were named to the second team.

Keene had 209 kills and 93 digs as an outside hitter, while Stewart had 137 kills and 52 block assists at middle blocker. Pizula led the Pirates with 127 digs and Awerkamp led with 69 block assists.

4/27/08

Well, this is just the perfect end to a perfect career for a .......well.....almost perfect kid. OK, not almost perfect, but a pretty dang good young man that my whole family is proud to know. I don't want to swell your head too much, Stefan.

And his sidekick, Joe E, has done more in two years with CDM and Coach Schachter than could have been imagined when he was a super skinny soph on JV's. Put about 25 pounds on that kid and watch out. He may go further than anyone in recent memory at CDM. It is a matter of how hard he wants to work. I personally don't see an upside limit as of yet. He can get better in anything that matters in basketball. It will be fun to watch.

And here is the story from the Pilot of this morning. I am not posting the pathetic review by the OC Register of the premier, if only, All-Star BB game in the OC.

I missed the game because we were at IVC watching the Lasers and the OCC Pirates battle for the State Championship in volleyball. I was privileged to watch former CDM BB player Kevin Welch from OCC give a clinic in how to leave absolutely everything on the court. He is an amazing player and any D-1 program that signs him would be instantly better off. As IVC's Coach Petso told me, "Kevin makes every kid on his team at least 25% better than they really are." A unique combo of talent and leadership. A lot like E. Rask. A natural born leader.

So the Stefan Kaluz era at CDM is finally over. A completely dominant player. We will be looking long and hard to replace him. I remember his first big game at Canyon when he was a freshman. He got worked by a big senior center. He won't deny that. And, poof, Stefan is the big senior center working anybody and everybody in his way. He is going to be a star in college. Got my All-Access pass already.

One thing, Stefan did actually hit Ted with a snowball at the rest stop in Wyoming and successfully blamed Josh Miller. I have it on tape. A quick mind. Bad arm, but quick mind.

We are going to miss our big horse. It has been a fantastic opportunity to watch Stefan and the rest of the Sea Kings these past 4 years.

We finally hit the big time with Stefan and Coach Schachter. CDM BB is in the big leagues in OC high school basketball.

Large School Rosters

North All-Stars
Jerime Anderson, Canyon
Takeshi Clifford, Ocean View
Kenney McGee, Magnolia
Jamaal Trice, Mater De
Yaser Yousef, Bolsa Grande
Corbin Moore, Los Alamitos
Frank Gutierrez, Katella
Chad Miller, Foothill
Tony Pham, Garden Grove
Brandon Ishimoto, Ocean View
Dominique Williams, Savanna
Dillon Ratleff, Los Alamitos
Dwayne Fells, Fullerton
Jamar Bryant, Buena Park
Omar Mena, Santa Ana.

South All-Stars
Carlos Negrete, Tesoro
David Murillo, Century
Klay Thompson, Santa Margarita
Stefan Kaluz, Corona del Mar
Joe Eberhard, Corona del Mar
Chris Gabriel, JSerra
Kyle Caldwell, Newport Harbor
Andre Murillo, El Toro
Ryan Spurlock, Mission Viejo
Marcus Hairston, Laguna Beach
Grant Heineken, Mission Viejo
Ryan Hill, Dana Hills
Trevor Carroll, Huntington Beach
Wyatt Young, Irvine
Connor Crabtree, Aliso Niguel

I still love the names Grant Heineken and Connor Crabtree. Especially "I grant you a Heineken."

Division III All State
Division III player of the year: Klay Thompson (Santa Margarita)
Other Division III selections:
Stefan Kaluz (Corona del Mar)
Jaime Serna (Santa Margarita)
Zack Zaragoza (Santa Margarita)

Stefan is named co-Dream Player of the year along with Newport's Kyle Caldwell. Didn't we beat them? Joe and Erik were also named to the team. Here is the story.

Kaluz, Eberhard, Caldwell earn honor in basketball

Corona del Mar High 6-foot-9 senior center Stefan Kaluz, bound for Brown University, made the first-team All-Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association in Division III-A.

CdM 6-6 senior small forward Joe Eberhard was named to the second team.

Newport Harbor 6-9 senior center Kyle Caldwell, headed to play volleyball at UCLA, was a second-team Division I-A selection.

Kaluz, the Pacific Coast League MVP, led the Sea Kings (21-8, 8-0 in league) to their second straight league championship. He averaged 17.7 points, 11 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game, and made 54% of his shots.

Eberhard was second on the team in points (15.3) and rebounds (6.6) per game. He led the team with 32 three-pointers made.

Caldwell, the Sunset League Co-MVP, led the Sailors (17-10, 7-3 in league) by averaging 21.9 points, 13.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Caldwell, who garnered interest from Division I programs like Washington State and UC Santa Barbara, scored a school-record 47 points in one game.

Caldwell, a setter, considered one of the top prep volleyball players in the country, said he might try to walk on the UCLA men’s basketball team.

— From staff reports

Nevada guard Armon Johnson became the first Wolf Pack player to earn the WAC's Freshman of the Year award since Ramon Sessions in 2005. In 16 conference games, Johnson averaged 14.1 points per contest, and 4.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 54.0 percent from the field.

Freshman guard Armon Johnson on being named WAC Freshman of the Year:
“I am extremely honored by this award. This would have not been possible without the help of my teammates. There were some really good players in the running for this and that makes it that much more special.”

The final ignominity was suffered today when West Valley beat Perris 90-80 in overtime to capture the D-6 CIF title. We should have been there.

Perris was actually ahead most of the game and appeared to be the better team. They looked quicker and played better defense. West Valley made a bunch of silly passes which should have cost them more. But unfortunately for Perris, their big kid fouled out with a couple of minutes left in the 4th quarter. West Valley took advantage, crawled back, and were able to tie the game with just seconds remaining. Perris missed a shot to win and then West Valley blew a layup as the clock expired, sending the game into overtime.

With their big guy out, Perris had absolutely no answer for Joe Burton. He proceeded to torch Perris in the overtime period. He had a baseline drive with a reverse dunk which was the punctuation mark for the win. Perris could not stop him. He also showed a couple of great left handed hook shots. The kid has skills, in addition to a couple of gigantic feet.

So it looks like the CIF player of the year will go to big Joe, with their shooter not far behind.

The CDM boy's volleyball season kicked off the 2008 season tonight with the Sea Kings defeating Capo Valley 3-0 at the CDM gym.

Gus Ellis, Jeff Carlson, Dylan Davis, and Spencer Brown played just great. Connor Bannan opened his varsity career with a solid effort at setter. Jeff Carlson hits the ball as hard as most D-1 players. And Gus and Dylan have to be the best middle combination in the state.

I wish that I was writing about the Sea Kings having being named All CIF (or whatever it is called now) but even so, this is pretty good.

The Franchise, Ice, Sean D, the Real Deal, ABS, and LG were named to the All League teams today. Outstanding.

And Little Bro and Entourage (or should it be THE Entourage) will be there next year.

I am personally very depressed that we will not be able to watch this group of seniors ever play basketball for the Sea Kings again. It is just a fantastic group of kids. A bunch of complete overachievers and winners. I don't have a hat, but if I did, I would tip it to you.

I know this is somewhat stupid for an old guy to say but I have absolutely loved watching this class make their run through CDM. I got to film them their freshman and sophomore years and have followed them on this web site for the last two years.

You guys have it all and are going to be huge successes in the world. It will be fun for all of us to watch. And I will bet that the years you spent getting pushed and yelled at by the CDM basketball coaches will be the years that you will remember the best.

Gail and I were walking around CDM tonight with Pepper the Popular Pug. We agreed, without much argument, that CDM has to be one of the greatest high school opportunities in the United States for you kids. What else could you ask for? It has it all. What a school.

And then some complete nut CDM student almost hit Pepper in his Range Rover while he was yakking on his cell phone and sipping on his Mocha while typing on his Mac.

And Stefan, Erik, Joe, and Kevin, keep checking in as I am going to be following you guys for the locals. I need a hobby and criticizing Randino is too easy.

And by the way, there is an 8th grade coming along that is going to be amazing. A bunch of kids just like these boys. It will be fun.

And everybody get out there and support the CDM volleyball team. They are ready to win the CIF again but need your help. Does anyone think that the West Valley atmosphere was anything short of UNBELIEVABLE? Let's do that again with boys volleyball and support the best VB coach in America, Steve Conti.

West Valley beat Ren and Perris beat Cat City. So it is West Valley and Perris in the finals.

There are a series of photos on the Register's site which are pretty good. Here is the link. Click on the "More Photos" button below Joe's picture.

I recently read an article where Scott's coach from UCSB, Ken Preston, was discussing his 30 year college coaching career. He said that he was surprised that volleyball had not become a more mainstream sport.

Gail, Scott, and I just watched the BYU-Stanford game over the internet. None of us actually cared who won or lost but the match was fantastic. BYU finally won in the 5th, 15-12.

Volleyball is coming to the mainstream. When all of the colleges are able to stream games from their gyms over the internet, with students announcing the games (all of whom will love that chance), you are going to have Little Miss Muffett in Nantuckett watching Cal State Northridge battling UC Santa Cruz to 5. The game is completely in sync with television and radio. A good match is absolutely thrilling to watch or listen to. University of Hawaii actually has the dean of announcers, Scott Robb, who is very entertaining to listen to. Hearing him yelling about someone or another "pounding the coconut" is a treat.

So even if Fox doesn't care about VB, and ESPN doesn't care about VB, some knucklehead in Timbucktoo is going to run a video feed of a VB match from Gustaviaus College in Podunkville, NY and people will watch. Because it is flat out exciting.

Even Pepper the Popular Pug covered her eyes in the 5th game tonight. I think she was actually looking for a bone, but I can hope.

There are a series of photos on the Register's site which are pretty good. Here is the link. Click on the "More Photos" button below Joe's picture.

So, if I get this straight, Stefan will be playing for the possible president's brother-in-law next year?

And so that, no doubt, means the FBO will be appointed as the new president's supreme advisor on basketball. Isn't that how it works? And I will be the supreme advisor's web site manager. It will all be so very, very cool!!!

Anyway, all I know is that I am pitching in my application for the Supreme Court. JUSTICE DONALD. How does that sound? Do you think an earmark to fix up our back yard is a bit too much to ask for?

We will have the UCSB VB team over for brunch on Saturday at 10:45. They are playing UCI at 2:00 pm at the Bren. Come on over and get some lunch with the team. Scott will be here with arm in sling.

And thinking about this year, I am a bit melancholy realizing we will never be able to see this year's senior class play again for CDM. I know that is how it works, but it still comes as a shock.

I am sorry it ended that way but it was an absolutely awesome game with a fantastic crowd in attendance. The atmosphere in the gym was just electric. And when has anyone stood in line for a ticket at our gym? It took us 10 minutes just to get inside.

In the final analysis, West Valley did to us what we did to them last year. They hit their free throws when it counted.

FBO, you are one heck of a coach and Jason is right there with you. Thanks for picking CDM as your school. This is a program on the rise. I hope that we can keep you both for many years.

It is Perris, Ren, Cat City and West Valley in the semis. I say Ren punches out West Valley and then beats Perris in the finals. And it will be a sad day at Oil Can Harry's (that is an inside joke for all the desert rats).

I know this is somewhat silly but, as this thing shuts down, I would like to publicly tell Stefan how much I admire him and the way he has played for CDM these past 4 years. You are a truly fine young man. And I will never forget you getting moved out of the exit row on the airplane to Rapid City, South Dakota because you were just 14 years old. 6'6" and stronger than everyone on the plane but too young for the exit row.

And Erik and Kevin, you are cut from the same cloth as Stefan. You two guys will be successful in whatever you choose to do. We will follow your college football exploits.

And Joe, these last two weeks were unfortunate in their timing. But you have totally distinguished yourself in the Sea King uniform. You are one of those kids that will just get better and better. And whomever is lucky enough to land you as a player is going to get way more than they expect. It is going to be a treat for anyone who is a fan of CDM basketball to watch you playing 4 years from now for some college team. Don't sell yourself short.

Will Ho. Ted coached you in volleyball when you were a sophomore and told me you were one of his favorite players. He said you never, ever quit. And so you did not. You may not understand this right now, but people get that. They see how hard you try and they respect you. And, Andy, you are the just same. Quit is not in you kids. These are qualities which will carry you both a long way in your lives. And when you are a CFO of some major corporation, don't forget CDM, the basketball program, the coaches, your teammates, and what you have learned these past 4 years. It will get bigger as you move away from it.

Ali, let's see. What did you do in your last CDM basketball game? Well, just play the best game of your career. Unbelievable. You played flat out great tonight. A tremendous ending to four great years.

ABS, I unfortunately gave you the worst nickname ever dropped on anyone. Sorry about that. But I would say the same thing about you as I said about Ali. You came to play tonight and gave it your all. Which is what you and everyone else will remember in the long run. I wish we had been able to watch you play more than just this year.

And to Justin, the twins, and the jumper, a few years ago the CDM basketball coach told some kids that they could be on the varsity but would not play much. To their (shall we say) discredit, they quit then and there, never to be seen again. I will bet if you ask them today what they think about that decision, they would tell you it was a big, big mistake. So I give you guys complete credit for sticking in there. Not everyone can start on a basketball team, but not everyone finishes either. And you guys finished. That is what actually counts. I salute you.

Here is the Pilot's article written by Soraya. Not bad. A really good hook comparing the Palm Springs game of last year to this one.

Hopefully DCP, our regular beat writer, was not watching the Estancia debacle. A really sad ending for a good coach and a team that did much better than expected. And there seems to be no end to the Estancia/McClanahan connection. There must be 500 of those guys.

And here is a short blurb in another story where, reading through the lines, the West Valley coach doesn't like that CDM was seeded ahead of the Mustangs.

Here are the results in our division from the Times. The Ren score has to be wrong or, at least, I hope it is wrong.

DIVISION III-A - Second Round

Cathedral City 73, Paloma Valley 56
Bear Custer had 24 points for Cathedral City (26-1). [What an awesome name, Bear Custer.]

Corona del Mar 60, Sultana 41
Stefan Kaluz had 20 points and 20 rebounds for Corona del Mar (21-7).

Renaissance Academy 77, Estancia 19
Justin Cook had 20 points, Tremaine Tatum added 16 points and Josh Thomas had 15 points for Renaissance Academy (23-2) against visiting Estancia (14-14).

Nogales 48, Laguna Beach 44
Perris 71, California 52
Riverside Notre Dame 69, Hesperia 66
Serrano 71, West Covina 56
West Valley 90, Rowland 42

So IT IS ABSOLUTELY ON for the second year in a row. How great is this? CDM vs West Valley. The first one was a TRUE classic. For the second one, we are going to need the games of your young lives, so practice hard, eat your carrots, go to bed early, and bring just your A game. Please leave that thing you dragged into the gym this evening at home safely tucked in bed. And tell everybody you know to show up at the CDM gym on Tuesday. And Ski Week is not an acceptable excuse.

The game summary is posted here. Stefan, according to these stats, went for 20 and 20 and Joe had 15 points.

That was not exactly a thing of beauty but a win is a win. 10 days off for the team before playoffs, and two plus weeks in the sick bay for Joe E, is just too much. Lucky that those kids couldn't throw a pea in the ocean tonight. And good for Coach S for getting everyone off the bench and into the CIF record books.

So now there are 8 teams left. The scores are not posted for our division but I am going to guess (until proven wrong) that the teams left standing are Ren, Notre Dame, West Valley, Cat City, Serrano, Nogales, Perris, and (obviously) CDM. I am glad we hopefully have to play just 3 more from that group. It is a tough, tough crowd.

Speaking of crowds, the CDM gym was rocking tonight. I hope next Tuesday's crowd can equal the scene last year against West Valley.

And what is with the CDM crowd enforcers? There are more rules for the CDM kids than Ted and Scott had at Community Preschool. It is kind of ridiculous and, it seems to me, actually encourages misbehavior. The guards make it a contest to see what the kids can get away with.

So, to make it really easy, why not just ban all the CDM kids from the gym? No muss, no fuss.

I hope it was OK that the kids laughed at the hair-do ref sprinting here and there on the court.

Harbor went down tonight as did Estancia, Mission Viejo, Edison, teeny tiny Tesoro, and the CDM camera. The usual suspects won.

Somebody sign Sean D's brother up right now for CDM. That kid can shoot. And I hope he can pay for the camera repairs. It must have hit at least 5 rows on the way down the bleachers.

And in almost embarrassing news, UCSB knocked off the Banana Slugs from UCSC this evening. That has to be the worst nickname in college sports. It was funny 30 years ago but has lost a bit of the former "zippyness." Here is a story about how the 'Slugs got their name.

And you thought this site was only about basketball. Hey, you might win Jeopardy with this kind of information!

One other thing. This web site just clicked over to 20,000 hits. It may be that there are just 20 of you out there clicking 1,000 times each. But that is not what the logs say. So how this site has been looked at 200 times, let alone 20,000 times, is just staggering. I wish I actually had something to say. But in lieu of that, I think I will criticize Randino once again in a post to come. He is so easy to bag on. Especially when he cannot respond. Or maybe I will go after Simco or Bob Rovzar. It is just so great. I recommend a web site to all of you. It is therapeutic.

One of the Stasi told a fellow sitting near me that he could not take flash photos in the gym. That is fine but there were 46 SECONDS left in the game. The fan had been taking pictures the entire game. I know this is a rant but, really, did some Gestapo guy need to charge over from the other side of the gym with less than a minute to go to lay down the law to a CDM fan with a camera? It is just stupid to me. Completely pointless.

Goodbye. After those predictions, I am off to Vegas. Who needs this web site gig? I have to tell you that Google is amazing. While I was searching for West Valley stories, Google had already found and posted my copies of the articles mentioned above. Yeow. Big Bro is in the house. And his name is Google. And that would be a made dunk as opposed to a one-handed miss. But who is counting?

It looks like John Pearson, Bridget Pearson, and Austin Evett's dad in the background. I am kind of doubting they were in the gym this evening. Humm...? A mystery. But it is still a good pic.

UCI volleyball lost to BYU tonight in 5. The 5th game in college VB goes to 15 points and you have to win by two. BYU won the 5th game 28-26. That would have been an absolutely awesome match to watch. UCI's web site tagged it the "instant classic." The teams play again tonight at the Bren at 7:00 pm.

But back to what counts, that being basketball and, particularly, CDM basketball.

I am a basketball fan first. It is the best sport, bar none, requiring the best skill set. I have always said a coach can turn a good basketball team into a good volleyball team but cannot turn a good volleyball team into a good basketball team.

With that said, the excitement generated by a volleyball match WAY exceeds the excitement of a basketball game. There is just one ending to a basketball game and five endings to a good volleyball match.

In an upset, Sultana defeated La Quinta tonight 57-52. They are led by senior guard Joshua Johnson who is averaging 20.5 per game and has scored in the 30's four times this season. The team stats are here.

Upset - Estancia 73, Santa Fe 64 (GOOD FOR THE EAGLES AND COACH AUGIE!!)
Upset - Hesperia 64, Palm Springs 58
Riverside Notre Dame 78, Irvine 58
Paloma Valley 86, Banning 54

West Valley 73, La Serna 45
Kris Brooks and Eric Lawton each had 19 points, Joseph Burton 17 points and John Balwigare 10 points for West Valley (21-3).

Rowland 49, Citrus Hill 47
B.J. Oyefeso scored a basket at the buzzer for host Rowland (16-13), concluding with 21 points. Joey Chase added 14 points for the Raiders. Caleb Herring led Citrus Hills (12-13) with 16 points.

West Covina 71, Laguna Hills 57
Warren Samuels had 26 points for West Covina (20-8) at Laguna Hills (9-16).

Laguna Beach 53, Beckman 38
Ryan Lawler's 16 points and Kenny Sullivan's 11 powered host Laguna Beach (21-6). Rhett Bender scored 10 points for Beckman (12-14). Laguna Beach plays Nogales next.

California 59, South Hills 51
Drew Harris led California (17-9) with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Timmy Palomino added 17 points and eight caroms. The Condors advance to face second-seeded Perris in the second round Friday. South Hills finishes its season 12-13.

Top seeds: 1. Renaissance Academy of La Canada, 2. Perris, 3. Cathedral City, 4.Corona del Mar.

O.C. angle: When Corona del Mar plays Friday, it will be the Sea Kings' first game in 10 days, thanks to being in an odd-numbered, five-team league and a first-round bye (III-A first round games are today). But that's OK; senior guard Joe Eberhard, perhaps the team's second-best player after center Stefan Kaluz, needed as much time as possible to get over a respiratory infection that sidelined him for a couple weeks. Corona del Mar is in a tough bracket, with West Valley of Hemet a potential quarterfinal opponent and Renaissance Academy a potential foe in the semifinals.

The bracket for D-6 is available at cifss.org. I can't seem to link it. If anyone wants to torture themselves, go right ahead and take a look at it. Not pretty.

The path to the championship game from the upper bracket in D-6 is fraught with danger. There are a bunch of good teams (most of which seem to be from Riverside County), all fighting for the same thing.

In the limited good news department, no team this year is going to be a mystery to us. We know what is coming and can prepare.

In case anyone forgot, last year we had to go through Palm Springs, Elsinore, West Valley, and Ren Academy to get the ring.

This year, according to the seedings, we are going to have to get by La Quinta (which lost 7 games but 5 of their losses were to D-6 playoff teams Palm Springs and Cat City), West Valley, and Ren. And if we do that, we would face Perris in the finals. Last year, Ren beat Perris to get to the finals. This year, we may have to beat Ren to get to Perris. No picnic either way.

La Quinta, West Valley, Ren, and Perris this year if things go according to form.

Evening Update: Well, you have to love Coach S. He tells it like it is. Here are his comments about the brackets.

I say bring it on. If CDM is going to be the champs two years running, we should have to beat everybody. No gimmies, no excuses.

Our seeding and bracket are just the price we pay for playing the schedule we chose. But that schedule will prove to be the reason we will win. Opportunity comes from adversity.

Hey, in case anyone forgets, last year we had no idea what was going to happen to the Sea Kings in the playoffs. There were no expectations. The only difference is we won last year and everyone will be gunning for us.

Since I am in charge of this particular clambake, I am going to reprint something I wrote last year. It was true then and it is just as true now:

You guys are absolutely good enough to win another CIF ring. You have the talent, the determination, the leadership, and the coaching. So sayeth the fat guy behind the cyberspace curtain. Beat who is in front of you. That will be enough.

Stefan, don't forget you once told me that nobody would ever win a ring at CDM in basketball so you were going to switch to volleyball.

OK, OK, so maybe I actually suggested that to you in a moment of weakness. Everyone makes mistakes. I apologize, Boy King. Just prove me wrong one more time and we will all be happy for ever after in CDM Land.

Parings Day today. Our division should be out by 2:00 pm. As Chicky-Baby said, "nervous time in the Forum."

Just returned from Nor Cal. The local trips to Laguna, Tesoro, et al were a lot easier. But it was fun. The Tiger Woods Honorary Buick was great and Jet Blue was just awesome - the best airline ever. UOP was surprisingly nice for a school located about 50 miles west of nowhereville, USA. It has a great gym - the Alex G. Spanos Center which is named for the owner of the Chargers who cleaned up in apartments and now owns half of the San Joaquin Valley. It is always surprising to be driving through Stockton which is so far from the Pacific Ocean and see an ocean-going freighter on-loading rice or something else like that.

The Gauchos beat the Tigers 3-1 today. Your former schoolmate hit for a match high .727 which is his best so far by a long shot.

Up at Stanford for one of the worst athletic performances I have ever seen. Stop the prayers for UCSB - they didn't work. But Rosco Maples Pavillion is awesome. And CDM represented.

Off to Stockton tomorrow for the UOP game at the infamous Pit. For the drive, I rented a Buick in honor of THE MAN, Tiger Woods.

Cat City 25-1. They lost their last game in league to the Palm Springs Indians and ended up as co-champions of the Desert Valley League.

West Valley 20-3 They lost again to Perris on the 4th of Feb so they may drop below CDM in the final seeding - personally, I am not looking forward to seeing Big Joe again - he is a complete load.

Max Preps has posted a photo gallery of the Gahr game. There are some pretty good pictures here.

In the not so good news department, here is the latest CIF poll for Division 6 (Division III-A in CIF speak):

DIV. III-A
1. Renaissance Academy
2. Cathedral City
3. Perris
4. West Valley
5. Corona del Mar
6. Serrano
7. Nogales
8. Laguna Beach
9. Notre Dame (Riverside)
10. Palm Springs
11. Santa Fe
12. Rowland
13. West Covina
14. Paloma Valley
15. California
16. La Quinta (La Quinta)

That is not good for seeding. In the whining department, West Valley (former #5 in D-6) loses to Perris (#3 in D-6) and moves ahead of us to #4 (in D-6)? Meanwhile, we lose to #2 in D-1 and #10 in D-2 and we go undefeated in league. And we get dropped from #4 to #5 in D-6? What is up with that?

Here is a photo gallery from Etiwanda, the mystery game. Another push-over. Right.

The votes in the California primary have not yet been totaled but one race is way, way over. CDM completely waxed the Pacific Coast League competition this year from start to finish. Undefeated league champions. Dominating.

I know the Formerly Bearded One went to Uni and played for Coach Dineen but, I must say, I love beating University even more than Laguna. When CDM was down, Coach Dineen would not just beat us, he would humiliate us and run the score up mercilessly. We started beating them two years ago and now they cannot compete with us. Too small and their 3 point shooters are no where near as good as they have been in years past. Sniff, sniff. So sad.

Senior night was great as usual. I saw a few tears from the moms, especially someone with the initials BR. It is hard to think that this incredible time in your sons' lives is now almost over. Coach S should be honored by everyone in that gym for how he played the seniors tonight. That was an awesome tribute to them and their 4 years at CDM. But, just asking, did the entire senior class play varsity basketball this year? Cripes, that was a 2 hour ceremony. I thought they were going to start yanking kids out of the stands and give them a balloon!

Double Zero's (not exactly sure how he got that name since his number is 0) 3 point shot from deep in the corner was the perfect end to the night. The way the students in the stands and the players on the bench cheered on the guys who don't play as much as the rest was just fantastic to see. What an end to the regular season. And where did Flynn "Instant Points" Anand come from?

You guys have another chance to make history at CDM. It will be fun to watch it play out.

Franchise, Ice, Real Deal, K. Rask, Sean D, ABS, LG, Little Bro, Entourage, MacSquared, Justin, Ali, Andy R, Hunter, and, of course, the greatest rock band in history, Will the WHO - congratulations on a simply fantastic season, with more still to come.

Sean D lead the scorers on both teams with 18. The Big Fella had 14 and ABS had 8.

Sean has been on a tear these last four games, just in time for the playoffs. They had to start falling sometime. I never saw so many shots rim out, fouls on the floor after made shots, bad calls, and just bad luck. But that is over.

The Nike tournament is tomorrow. It is getting big ink in the Register. Unfortunately, I will be "shopping" in SB tomorrow with Gail and Kate. Translation, I drive them to the stores and wait in the car while they go spend money. It is really fun. Looking for shoes tomorrow. Whoopee. I will see if I can find some in the car.

UCSB beat Hawaii tonight in 5. The last game was 15-13 and the UCSB fans took a break from the Friday night parties in Isla Vista and stormed the court. It was a blast. Scott had his best game yet in college, hitting .778. The Gauchos are crawling back into contention in league. If they win tomorrow night, they will be back in the thick of it.

For anyone not completely sick of my kids and/or me, here is an article from the Santa Barbara News Press about the game. By the way, the News Press covers local sports just like the Daily Pilot. The sports section is awesome.

Hawaii's Ric Certantes was on the Santa Barbara team the Sea Kings beat in the unforgettable CIF semi-finals two years ago, a match which ranks up there with the West Valley game of last year as one of the best high school games ever. When Santa Barbara lost, Ric burst into tears and headed for the locker room. About 10 minutes later, he had composed himself and walked back on the court and congratulated each and every Sea King on their victory. A standup kid. He was a huge crowd favorite tonight.

Jeff Menzel was on the San Marcos team that CDM knocked out of the CIF playoffs two years in a row. One of the San Marcos dads came up to Scott after the game and told him that he hated CDM. Wow, how great is that?

You will see in the article that the Santa Barbara High School Volleyball coach subbed in as a ref tonight. He is still mad about that loss to CDM and made sure Scott knew it. Tell Gus, Coach Conti, and the rest of the VB team that that Santa Barbara is waiting for revenge.

I have to say it is great being a Sea King, at least by attribution. And don't forget that, FBO, when the offers are dangled in your face. And they will be dangled.

Good luck tomorrow against Gahr. I have only bad memories about that team from two years ago.

Terry Sullivan checked in and he is in....guess where? Scottsdale, of course, for the Pats game on Sunday. He doesn't miss the snow and says hello to all.

Watching sports TV tonight, it is All Patriots-All The Time. Does anyone know what kind of toilet paper Tom Brady uses? I really would like to know because I want to rush out and buy a peck or two just to honor the media superstar that he has become. The adulation is ridiculous.

But all of that aside, what tonight reminded me of was Coach Terry Sullivan. He was, and is, a true Patriots fan, so much so that he would depart Newport Beach on a weekend and fly back to Boston to sit in the snow and watch "his" Patriots beat up on some team or another. In my view, he was completely NUTS.

When Terry first arrived at CDM, the kids could not quite figure him out, especially given his New England accent. Ted was always telling me that he could not understand what the heck Coach Sullivan was saying. One of the kids told me he was a security guard at Savon. I did a little investigation and discovered that "security guard" was just a tiny bit off the mark. He was actually an executive with Savon in charge of store security for a good portion of the West Coast. He has since moved on to Lowe's and relocated to the East Coast. The latest I hear is that he is in charge of security for all of the West Coast Lowe's stores.

I think the breakthrough with the kids was the trip to Wyoming. They all got to see what a good guy he was and how funny he was. I remember watching him at the poker table in the middle of our hotel lobby (which, of course was "The Place To Be" in Gillette, Wyoming - an oxymoron if there ever was one) and what a great time everyone was having listening to his non-stop critique of the playing style of the kids. He is a funny guy.

So, on the eve of the potentially historic Patriot's Super Bowl victory, I want to pay tribute to Terry and say a big hello to him. You are missed in CDM land.

And Jason, if you think you are going to get such an accolade in the future ---- well, maybe you might if you move to North Carolina, get married, and have two nice kids. But I will always hold that Scott Markley JV game at Estancia against you.

The Super Sophs spectacular season continues. They defeated Laguna Hills yesterday, 48-43, to improve their record to 22-5. They look to stretch their win streak to 6 games when they play at San Juan Hills on Friday at 6pm. Coach Lim thinks this is the biggest game of the year for the Sophs. They lost to San Juan 55-60 when they played at home. Thanks to Coach Lim for the update.

In a must win game, the Sea Kings triumphed tonight on the road at Laguna Hills, 59-37. The first quarter was very entertaining but it got a little sloppy thereafter. The outside shooting of the Hawks was virtually non-existent. They also had trouble with our press. Once they got down by double figures, they had very little chance getting back into the game because it took too long for their motion offense to get a shot up. It would have taken them 7 or 8 quarters to catch up if they actually shot a decent percentage.

Stefan was just too much for the two Laguna Hills big guys (who looked remarkably like each other - maybe it was the haircuts). I can't say I will miss watching those two guys play as it seemed they were always pushing, poking, or kneeing somebody, much of which looked on the cheap side.

There were a number of outstanding plays by the Sea Kings. Stefan's running shot in the lane (I am not exactly sure what to call it), Sean D's unbelievable reverse baseline layup after he faked a 3 pointer, and a driving layup by the LG all stood out. Joey "Entourage" Jones played very well in relief, as did Little Bro. Joey had 7 points, E Rask had 13 points, and K Rask had 4. The Big Fella had 20. Ice went for 104 but, unfortunately, it was degrees, not points.

Coach S almost blowing a gasket in the 2nd half was quite entertaining to watch, as was Little Bro's attempt to run through the gym wall hustling after a ball going out of bounds (I actually couldn't see what happened to him but it didn't sound too good).

All in all, a great win tonight even if it was on the sloppy side. We can straighten that out in the Irvine game on Friday.

Cat City is 23-0, Ren is 21-2, Perris is 18-5, and West Valley is 18-2. It is going to be a dog fight.

The absolute biggest game of the year so far is tonight. Good luck to all of the Sea Kings.

The Franchise and Ice were both listed in the Register yesterday as among the top scorers in the county. And Stefan is listed in the top rebounder section as well.

First, Larry Smith died yesterday. He was the football coach at USC from '87 to '92. He was a good guy who conducted himself extremely well. Sorry to hear about his death and condolences to his family.

The loss on Saturday didn't hurt the Sea Kings in CIF. Still #4 in our division. Here is a copy of the polls.

It would be nice to post something about Saturday's game against Etiwanda but in cyberspace, it is like the game never happened. Nothing in any paper other than what appears below. So we will take the cue and tell everyone from CDM to throw that one in the trash and move on.org.

The next game is on Wednesday at 7:00 pm at Laguna Hills. A must will for the Sea Kings. They will be ready.

The perennial foil, Randino Lance (aka Shecky Lance), has been AOL this entire season so he is not fair game. For old times sake, a gratuitous insult should be thrown at him but it is just not the same.

There have been recent articles in the Pilot about the beating at Ensign. From what is in the paper, some people think it is the end of civilization as we know it.

OK, that may be true, but if we could flash back 40 years or so to the 8th grade at St. Theresa's grammar school, I got the ever-loving crap beaten out of me behind the end zone during a Palm Springs High School football game because I wouldn't give a football to some knucklehead and his buddies. As luck would have it, that guy was later was shot dead in a liquor store robbery in Beaumont so all is well that ends well. But there was no mention of that completely public beating in the Desert Sun, no hand wringing from anybody (including your Aunt Minny), and no one said the world would come to a stop because I couldn't walk for a week.

There was also a letter complaining about the coarseness of the younger generation from Newport Harbor and their "language and behavior" at a local fast food joint at lunch time. Having also been cold-cocked at a Jack in the Box in Monrovia in 1967, from my viewpoint, not much has changed. I personally would have preferred some kid mouthing off than two guys attacking me because I wouldn't buy them a Jumbo Jack.

Someone near and dear to me attended Indio High School. I took that someone to the quad at the University of Santa Clara in 1974 in hopes that he would attend the school. His only comment was "this is nice, no gang fights."

It should be noted that the Pilot recently felt constrained to post the following on their web site:,

Is that because of behavior of the younger generation. No, it is their parents. 'Nuf said.

So, when you read about Chicken Little complaining about the world coming to the end or the W, X, Y or Z generations failing in one way or another, just remember the kids of CDM. Are they all angels? You know the answer to that. But I will stack most of them against the kids I went to school with any day of the week. The world is not coming to an end. These are great kids and we are lucky to be able to follow along with the exploits of just a few of them on this web site. Just look to your left to see what some of them are doing. And there are plenty more where they came from.

"Surprises and stars: Pacific Coast

Finding the players and teams who stand out at the midway point in league play.

Surprise team
• None: Corona del Mar is unbeaten, as most thought, and everyone else is fighting for the playoffs.

Surprise players
• Kiril Sergeyev, Irvine
• Andrew Abrahm, University forward
• Wyatt Young, Irvine

The Fab 5
• Stefan Kaluz, Corona del Mar center
• Joe Eberhard, Corona del Mar forward
• Ryan Arbues, Laguna Hills forward
• Ben Kwan, University guard
• Collin Pfingst, Laguna Hills"

The Super Sophs win two more! Their record is now 21-5. They murdered Arnold O on Friday, 72-47, and then proceeded to clobber Fountain Valley today, 53-24. They have 3 games left with the next one being against Laguna Hills at CDM on Wednesday at 4:30 pm.

UCSB finally got off the schnide in league and beat Pacific 3-0 tonight. When we walked out of the gym, it looked like a monsoon had moved on shore. The drive home was nerve wracking, to say the least. It rained all the way and for most of the trip, everyone was in the middle lane or lanes to avoid the standing water on the sides of the freeway.

After watching UCSB gag 3 games to Stanford, it was really nice to see that the Sea Kings took care of business tonight. CDM bludgeoned Beckman, 70-32. Not as good as the shutout two years ago but pretty dominating. Sean D had a big game. He went for 18 with 4 threes. Atta boy!!

Here is an outstanding article about E. Rask signing with Penn to play football. Big congratulations to Erik. A truly outstanding school. He will be on Wall Street before you know it.

So we have two young men heading off to the Ivy League from this team. Fantastic. I am, however, a little worried about the mascots for the two schools. Apparently the Brown Bears kidnapped the Penn Quaker. Go here for the details. (be sure to watch the video).

On to Etiwanda, a universe or two away from Arnold O World. Good luck tonight, boys. And pray for UCSB.

A little late on this but we moved up to 4th in the most recent poll for our division, which is a lot better than 5th for seeding purposes.

Here are the polls from the various divisions. We are division 6 (AA-II-ABC-AA2 or something like that). A lot of familiar names in those polls. We have played a big schedule these past two years.

#2 Cathedral City is 22-0 and leading the Desert Valley League. In their last two games, they beat the Coachella Arabs 79-41 and the Indio Rajahs 86-40. If you throw in the Palm Desert Atzecs and the Palm Springs Indians, the DVL must have the most politically incorrect nicknames in the country.

I saw Kyle Caldwell from Harbor was named athlete of the week by the Pilot. That is just. The guy is a load and he deserves the honor.

Good luck tonight against Beckman and tomorrow against Etiwanda. Got to go to SB for the Stanford and UOP games this weekend. So I will reluctantly miss both CDM games. And that is why we need a new web site keeper for next year.

The Super Sophs exacted their revenge on Godinez yesterday, winning 43-37. Their record is now 19-5. That has to be the best record for a sophomore team since Coach Curry resurrected the sophomore team 7 years ago. And there is more to come.

Our Saturday opponent, Etiwanda, is now 21-0. Click here for an article about Monday's victory over Rancho Verde and here for an article about last night's victory over Upland.

Here is a very interesting article about their game with Ren Academy and here is an LA Times blog from a guy who apparently likes to yak as much as me. And this is a Inland Valley Daily Bulletin writer's analysis of the team's strengths and weaknesses.

Click here for a You Tube video about Etiwanda's teams of 2004 and 2005. It will give you a flavor of the school and the coach. Darrin Collison played at Etiwanda and he is interviewed in the video.

Here is a great article by DCP about the LG. I think the Daily Pilot has to be the best local newspaper in America.

The Super Sophs also won, beating Villa Park 47-36, and take their record to 18-5.

The Sea Kings KO'ed Villa Park tonight, 70-45. Stefan had another double double.

Here is the box score. Not much in the Pilot and this is all the Register could muster:

"No. 9 Corona del Mar 70, Villa Park 45: Stefan Kaluz and Joe Eberhard scored 15 points apiece for the Sea Kings (17-5)."

Wow, what a game at Uni this evening. CDM was up by just 6 with about 6 minutes to go in the 3rd. Then the LG simply went off and we were ahead by 25. When he went to the bench with 15 seconds left in the quarter, it was start the car time. An amazing performance for Mr. Ragsdale. He just took over.

The Sea Kings won 68-48. Here is the box score. Everybody got to play again. Justin A. played well, as did Andy R. The capper, however, was Hunter A's bomb from the corner in the 4th. Every player on the bench jumped up and the coaches were elbowing each other. And that was the end of the "football" chants from the Uni crowd.

Stefan had a double double with 16 points and 19 rebounds. The Trojans continually slapped away at him but they had no real answer for the Big Fella. Joe glided to 15 points and 8 assists.

Actually, the Uni crowd was great, yelling and waving signs at the free throw shooters. Michael Jackson and Shrek made appearances, along with many others. A lot of energy and spirit. The law showed up at halftime and took all the signs away.

And this was in the Uni program. Look down at 1996 for First Team All League and All City:

The Freshman team completely drubbed Uni this afternoon. Word is they are 4-0 in league.

Congratulations to Joe E for being selected the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week, an honor which is well deserved. Here is DCP's article. It is very noseworthy.

I posted the team photos which are to the left. Tell all the relatives back East. The photos might take a few seconds to load so be patient. I cut them down but they are still quite large. Thanks to Coach Schac, Soph Assistant Coach Rocky Bracho, and Lori Heinecke for helping me.

The Sea Kings blew in one door of the Irvine gym tonight and blew the Vaqueros right out the other door. CDM won 63-44 but it wasn't even that close. Little Bro had a big night with 11. Here is the box score. Everyone got to play again.

Irvine is a lot better than they were last year but was out manned by CDM tonight. They could be a very good team next year.

On to Uni on Friday at 7:00 pm for the last game in the first round of league. Uni lost to Laguna Hills tonight and their coach showed up in the 4th quarter to watch the end of our game. I think he jinxed Will's runner at the end of the game.

Ren Academy is 17-2. One of their losses was by one point to undefeated Etiwanda which we play a week from Saturday.

1. Renaissance Academy; 2. Cathedral City; 3. West Valley; 4. Nogales; 5. Corona del Mar; 6. Perris; 7 Serrano; 8. Laguna Beach; 9. Paloma Valley; 10. Apple Valley; 11. South Hills; 12. Notre Dame of Riverside; 13 La Quinta of La Quinta; 14. West Covina; 15. Santa Fe; 16. Palm Springs.

The Super Sophs took one on the chin tonight at Godinez High in Santa Ana, 46-44. While they lost the game on turnovers and some missed shots, one ref actually decided the game for Godinez. With 7.5 seconds to go and the score tied, Godinez missed a shot underneath. As the ball rolled off the rim, the ref called a mystery foul. And that was after he had called CDM for two late fouls which were impossible to see and a technical for literally nothing. So that one leaves a bitter taste.

The rematch between these two teams will be something to watch. It takes place at the CDM gym next Wednesday at 4:30. No other basketball games on that day so come out and support the Sophs.

Godinez Fundamental High School is a sight to be seen. The theatre is unbelievable for a high school and the gym is bigger and nicer than most junior college gyms.

The Super Sophs win twice over the weekend to bring their record to 17-3. This week's victims were the Laguna Hills Hawks and the Harbor Sailors.

The varsity is at Irvine on Wednesday and at Uni on Friday. Irvine is 8-8 and Uni is 7-9. But in case anyone is getting a big head, Laguna Hills was 5-12 and we could have lost to them. Lots of bad things can happen in league. Play hard.

We were talking about the game on Sunday and a couple of other things came up. Adam's taking the charge in the 1st half and Erik tipping the ball to himself on a breakaway in the 2nd. And there were so many other great plays. I asked an unnamed sophomore girl what she thought was the best play in the Harbor game and she said "the cheerleader falling down." No accounting for taste.

The Sea Kings earned a hard fought victory over Newport Harbor this evening, 47-32. The score was low because it is tough to try to squeeze some basketball into a WWF smackdown. That was brutal. At times, it looked more like a rugby game than a basketball game. If Harbor thought they could push CDM around to win, they were wrong.

First, thanks to Coach Schachter and Coach Simco for preparing the team for a big game like tonight's. The Sea Kings were totally ready for Harbor and the beast they call "Kyle."

Here is the scoring. The Daily Pilot article is here. A short article that appeared in the Register is here.

Adam B. starting out like a house afire, giving the Sea Kings early momentum and driving the CDM crowd nuts; Caldwell's two handed block in the first quarter - it looked like he was going to stick his head through the hoop; LG's two absolutely beautiful 3s leading to the "he's a freshman" cheer; the raucous CDM crowd with several guys and girls taking over for the missing CDM cheerleaders; no public address system - what a mercy; The Real Deal dismantling the Harbor press, his jumper in the 4th, and the late free throws sealing the deal; K. Rask's crucial 3 in the 4th - the crowd absolutely loved that shot and let Kevin know how much they respect him; Little Bro's and Sean D's almost miracle twisting buckets; Stefan getting a foul for an elbow in ..., wait a minute, ...an elbow in his own mouth?; the Wave, which our new cheerleaders named the "Tsunami;" the Harbor cheerleader falling on her face; the long NJB game at half which left the teams about a minute to warm up (those NJB refs looked pretty suspect); Stefan getting mauled by the Sailors down low - he probably should have charged them for a few of those touches; Joe E - what a great, great high school basketball player - just effortless; and everyone getting their name in the book as having played in the Battle of the Bay thanks to Coach S.

And one more thing. Erik, Gail wants to know what you said to Caldwell when he was getting ready to shoot his second set of free throws in the 4th? She said her lip reading skills had slipped a bit.

Congratulations to the team and the coaches for an absolutely great evening. We got our money's worth. Now, back to work.

Congratulations to the team and the coaches for payback #1 to Laguna Hills. The Sea Kings dropped the Hawks tonight, 68 to 53. But it wasn't easy. Ice came through with a career game and scored 35. Where are the recruiters? The Big Fella had 15 and ABS had 9. We didn't need much more as 35 goes a long way.

On to the Battle of the Bay today at Harbor. Here is another DCP article about the game. The Frosh play at 2:30 pm, the Super Sophs at 4:00 pm, the JU's at 5:30, and the varsity at 7:00 pm. Always a great day of basketball.

Bill Macdonald gave a spiff to the team last night on Fox during the UCLA game. The "Corona Del Mar Mighty Sea Kings" made an appearance during a discussion of shooting when coming off the bench. He might wear bad basketball shoes but he knows good teams.

Good luck tonight, boys. No prisoners. And, Franchise, if you need any anger management counseling, come see me this afternoon!!!

Here is the Pilot article. Entourage and MD2/2 got big press, which is just.

The Super Sophs continue. Last Saturday, they defeated J. Serra 71-40 and yesterday they defeated Beckman 60-32. They have now increased their overall record to 15-3.

The ritual slaying known as the Beckman game was 43-17 at half and ended up at 65-40.

As far as stats, Stefan had 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks; Sean D had 11 points, 2 rebounds and 3 steals; Ice had 9 points, 6 rebounds and 2 blocks; E Rask had 6 rebounds, 3 steals, and 6 assists; and Steven G had 6 rebounds and 3 blocks. Here is the box score and here is the more complete Max Preps stats. Eleven players scored. I will post the Pilot story if one appears.

I checked on the teams we played last year in the playoffs. Here are their records:

Teams in our division with good records are Cathedral City at 16-0, Nogales at 14-5, and Laguna Beach at 12-4.

DCP penned a very complimentary article about the team which appears in today's Pilot. The story is here. I included just the part about CDM, leaving the rest of the local teams to their own devices.

Sherlock finally figured out why the JV's are playing during lunch hour tomorrow. The league has returned to the practice of scheduling the boy's and girl's varsity games on the same night. The girls play Beckman at 5:30 tomorrow. Not a big fan of that practice as it really takes away from the JV's. It is always fun to come early and see what's in the cupboard for next year but 4:00 is too early for that.

The schedule shows the JV's play at 4:00 pm but that seems a little early so be sure to check that.

If you will recall, the Sea Kings shut out Beckman for the entire first half two years ago. That won't happen again. The Patriots are 7-8 this year so they are getting better.

Winning league is huge for CIF, as well as other things. Remember last year, the first Laguna Hills game, and the consequences of that loss. Hopefully that loss will help us this year.

Over the weekend, I have been spending time with volleyball instead of basketball. An unnamed person (me) reports that the following appeared today in the Santa Barbara News Press.

UCSB freshman Jeff Menzel tries to sneak a ball past the UC Irvine block as fellow freshman Scott Slaughter (19) gets ready to cover.

Sophomore Coach Daniel Lim advises that the Super Sophs fantastic season continues. Over the weekend, the boys took 2nd place in the Sunny Hills Winter Shoot-Out beating Canyon (66-40), Sunny Hills (42-39) and Brea (70-68 on a buzzer beater from Dillon C.) before losing to Compton Centennial in the championship game 77-66. Their record is 13-3 after taking 1st in the Westminster Tournament, 2nd in the Saddleback Tournament, 3rd in the Fountain Valley Tournament, and 2nd this weekend. Congratulations to the Sophs and Coach Lim.

We are the Daily Pilot number two sports story of the year!! I think I am going to have an infarction. But, many thanks to the Pilot, the single best local paper in America.

"Shaun Mohler, a former Corona del Mar High football standout playing his second season for Orange Coast College, became one of the most recruited Newport-Mesa products in recent memory. After verbally committing to Cal, then Nebraska, he finally chose Colorado among more than two dozen scholarship offers. His rise to Division I college football required a steadfast commitment to academics that enabled him to overcome a learning disability."

They forgot to mention that Shaun was a basketball and baseball player for CDM and that he has the distinction of the scoring the single greatest basket in Tesoro/CDM history.

Our Sea Kings win tonight, 72 to 66 over San Marcos in overtime. We finish 3rd in the tourney. Congratulations to the team and the coaches. We are 10-5 after a brutal preseason schedule, which will only help the team down the road. Here is the Santa Barbara News Press article. Not much about CDM. Somebody had to be all tourney but no mention in the papers as of yet.

West Valley from Hemet is rolling along at 10-1 and averaging 75 points a game. Joseph Burton is averaging 25 per game. Elsinore is 3-9.

We go down to Upland, 51 to 46. So we play for 3rd place tomorrow against San Marcos. The revised bracket is here. The local paper coverage is here.

Renaissance Academy 61, El Monte 43
DeAndre Daniels had 21 points in the victory for the Wildcats (11-1).

Here is the revised bracket. And here is the Press News story about the tournament. Good coverage.

So it is Upland tomorrow. They beat Clovis West 53-44. And they look to be a very good team. 11-2 with wins over Trabuco Hills, Dana Hills, and LB Wilson. Another dog fight thanks to the FBO. Where is the most famous East Cupcake? Two giant Upland guys and a matchup zone. Here are the articles.

In case you might think we are just rolling along in D-1 on our own, here is the latest from Ren Academy:

Renaissance Academy 70, Gladstone 30
Justin Cook had 15 points and Anthony Stover 12 in the victory for the Wildcats (10-2 ).

Today's review of our league in the Register is so bad, I refuse to post it. The on-line picture they had for Stefan was flat out ridiculous. Anyway, who needs the Register? We have the Pilot.

And, by the way, the Sea Kings murdered previously undefeated Saugus this evening in the first round of the Santa Barbara Tournament.

Here is the box score and here is the Pilot blurb. And here is the Santa Barbara News Press story. It didn't sound like the coach for SB was too happy about Willie Reese-Jordan not making the game.

We play 13-1 Palisades tomorrow and the mellifluous named Arron Hawk Harris, a 6-5 guard who is apparently a very good player.

In the slightly strange department, Palisades beat West Adams Prep (who?) 71-17 and Canoga Park 114-16. I hope those are misprints but that is what Max Preps says. 17 and 16? But they also played some good teams including LB Poly and Campbell Hall.

6’4” 2008
Palisades (Los Angeles CA)
Very underrated Southern California prospect has a strong body, a great first step and nice ability to score within the three-point stripe (per a scouting service).

SANTA BARBARA

First Round

Clovis West 68, Mira Costa 63
Mike Miller had 19 points and Adam Karaczynski added 17 for Mira Costa (6-6). Clovis West improved to 9-1.

Oxnard 62, Agoura 47
Ryan Islas had 19 points and four steals, Jamal Smith had 11 points and Kevin Mulloy added 11 points, 18 rebounds and six blocks for Oxnard (6-6). Mike Richard scored 22 points for Agoura (9-4), which trailed 35-26 at halftime.

Santa Monica 53, Dos Pueblos 48
Edward Willis and Jamen Fearon both had 16 points for the victorious Vikings (8-3).

South Pasadena 61, St. Margaret's 47
Tyler Stowers scored 14 points for St. Margaret's (5-4).

Upland 72, Curtis (Washington) 42
Kevin Bradshaw scored 20 of his 26 points in the first half for Upland (11-2).

For 4th and last year for this web site, Merry Christmas to all of the CDM basketball families. And that specifically includes my good friend, and the best sport, Randino (who is very old and decrepit now) and all of his.

I was walking out of our church on Christmas Eve and a friend of mine asked if I could go back and change things, would I have done anything different with my kids' schooling? You know, Mater Dei, Servite, or Sage instead of CDM? It did not take me a millisecond to reply. CDM all the way, baby. If CDM is not the best neighborhood school in America, I would like to know what is. The best kids ever. OK, a couple of knuckleheads (and you know who you are). But not too many. And if you are one of the knuckleheads, why don't you fix it?

On the volleyball front, the pre-season coaches rankings came out recently. Here is a short list of the teams and the local players. It is sightly incredible that so many of the top teams have kids from Newport/Mesa and the surrounding area.

1. Pepperdine (Jon Winder - Woodbridge [also a great basketball player]; Sean Grubbs - Newport Harbor)

3. UCLA (Ted - CDM; Jamie Diefenback - Harbor; Brett Perrine - Harbor; Wes Dunlap - Harbor [all of whom also played BB])

8. Hawaii (Ric Certantes - Santa Barbara [a little out of the area but I mention him because he is a standout kid who showed who he really is when CDM beat SB 2 years ago in the CIF semi-finals])

So if you get a chance to go to a VB game this year at UCI, there will be someone local to watch in just about every game.

And, before we depart the Santa Margarita scene for the final time, who was the Eagle's 6th man in 1997 (I am pretty sure of that year but it might have been 1996)? Whichever, it was Carson Palmer and he specialized in a bomb right off the bench. How about that?

And one more thing, was Jordan Johnson (#52) the biggest high school basketball player you have ever seen? What a whopper!!. I almost left the gym when he hit that hook. He made Stefan look like a midget. I hope he is a football player because he is not going anywhere with basketball. But that boy is a true giant human being.

The Santa Margarita coaches decided that they were going to stop Stefan no matter what it took. I also thought their second goal was to stop the break. And guess what, we still almost beat them. Klay Thompson might get the pub but Joe E got the points in that game.

Congratulations to Erik, Kevin, and Ali being named All League in football. The story is here.

Here are the articles I could find about our next opponent, Saugus. Looks like a good team with number of good players. I also found a preseason outlook which is here. The Tournament bracket is here.

If a couple of shots had dropped, you guys would have walked out of that gym with a win over the #2 ranked team in Orange County. I am sure everyone is heartbroken but at least you know you can play with the best of them. The Eagle coaches and Klay Thompson are very glad to leave the Sea Kings in their rear view mirrors. Here is the box score. There will be better days this season.

Here is DCP's take on the big game this evening. It is exciting to have a chance to play such a good team. Good luck to you guys.

Super Sophs win again. On Tuesday they beat Esperanza 45-34 to improve their record to 10-2.

I would be happy to post news and/or pictures for the Frosh and JVs. Send the info to [email protected].

If you want to go to Avalon but skip the boat ride, click here. It is a camera on top of the Casino looking back at the harbor.

"The Orange County North-South Challenge boys basketball event is at El Toro on Friday and Saturday, and again there are some great matchups. Among them: Capistrano Valley-Canyon, Friday at 6:30 p.m.; El Toro-Los Alamitos, Saturday at 6:30 p.m.; and Santa Margarita-Corona del Mar, Saturday at 8 p.m."

There is a new gallery on Max Preps from the Esperanza game here. Some good shots.

I updated the Max Preps links to the left (now linked to 2007-08 instead of last year - sorry about that), the tournament schedules, and the link to the current news articles. I will post the team photos and coaching photos as soon as I get a copy of this year's photo disk. The stats on Max Preps are great this year.

Before a surprisingly large and noisy crowd, the Sea Kings played their first home game of the 2007-2008 season this evening. They simply clobbered Esperanza, much to the delight of the student section. The team started out slowly but took off half way through the first quarter and never looked back. Here is the review by the Daily Pilot written by the inestimable DCP. How great is the Daily Pilot?

It was a tremendous game to watch, the best part being that every player on the team got to play. And we must have at least 25 players or so. The Macdonald boys, Will, Hunter, Jordan, and Andy all acquitted themselves very well in the 4th, with Andy sending a couple of the Aztecs into the popcorn machine with his ball fakes. Everybody contributed in a game against a good team but one that is going to have some trouble in the tough Sunset League.

Stefan had a dunk and a 3. Ice Man was simply on fire in the first, scoring 11 of our 17 points. Erik handled the ball well as did Clayton (who Scott nicknamed "LG" [little guy] after his second big block). LG also canned a beautiful 3 to end the 3rd. Adam B is like the Energizer Bunny sprinting up and down the court. Constant motion. He had one circus layup as did E Rask (making up for that Wells Fargo shot to end the first half). And if that wasn't enough, we had Sean D, Ali, Kevin R, and Little Bro (who is about ready to have a breakout game) punishing the Aztecs on defense and on the boards. And then, of course, our new ball boy, Entourage, is on the bench flexing away. Oh, and I heard at least one marriage proposal for Ali shouted out from the stands. What's up with that?

For a home varsity debut for many of the kids on the team, they could not have wished for much more. Try to keep the head sizes in check this week. That was fun.

This is a good team and it is going to get better. They can score and they can defend. In fact, the defensive intensity is relentless. Just listen to the coaches on defense constantly telling the kids to "deny" and "step up on that guy." The defense literally knocked the stuffings out of the Aztecs in the second half. I almost expected to see the Esperanza bench waving the white flag as the 4th quarter began.

I do think the Esperanza coaches would admit that they had no answer for Stefan and needed to have a better defensive player on Joe E. And give Stefan credit for playing on while getting hammered on virtually every play. The third foul called on Stefan was ticky-tack at best, nothing like the 20 or so fouls on him at the other end of the court. But that is the game. Big boys get fouled. The midget ref syndrome. In that regard, Joe E almost had his eyes plucked out on a drive in the 2nd half but no foul. He made the bucket anyway.

Our next game is on Saturday against one of the top teams in California, the Santa Margarita Eagles. The Eagle coaches were in the stands scouting us tonight. I asked one what he thought of CDM. "Big" was the reply. He also told me that Klay Thompson is a standout player. His dad, Mychal, is truly a giant human being.

Here is one article about the Eagles and a second. And a third. It will be a really tough game but this is a lot better than playing East Cupcake.

1. Mater Dei (Trinity) 9-0, 50 points
2. Santa Margarita (Trinity) 9-1, 45
3. El Toro (Sea View) 9-1, 40
4. JSerra (Trinity) 6-3, 35
5. Ocean View (Golden West) 7-2, 28

6. Mission Viejo (South Coast) 7-3, 25 points
7. Canyon (Century) 7-2, 22
8. Capistrano Valley (South Coast) 7-3, 15
9. Corona del Mar (Pacific Coast) 6-3, 9
10. Tesoro (South Coast) 6-4, 6
Also receiving votes: Los Alamitos (Sunset) 6-4, 4

Tell your friends and neighbors that the Sea Kings are back again with a powerhouse team. It is going to be another great ride.

The Super Sophs continue winning. They are now 9-2. They took 3rd at the Fountain Valley Tournament, beating J Serra, Los Al, and Dana Hills along the way.

The Sea Kings were dropped by Vista Murietta Saturday afternoon in the 9th place game in the North Orange County Tournament. Here is the story from the Daily Pilot. CDM finishes 10th out of 32 teams. Mater Dei won the tournament by beating Riverside King. In other games, Gahr beat Tesoro and Los Al beat Esperanza.

The next game for the Sea Kings is at CDM on Tuesday at 7:00 pm. We play Esperanza which also lost to Vista Murietta in the North OC Championship.

Stuck in Lodi again (actually the boat parade) so I missed what looks like a great game. That is a big win for CDM. I will post the articles when they appear. The Sea Kings took out a top team in Los Al tonight, 57 to 50. Here is the box score. It looks like the Ice Man got untracked with 19. The Real Deal had 12 and the ABS had 10. So here we go as a team. The game tomorrow is at 1:30 at Sonora High School against the winner of Esperanza and Vista Murietta.

Here is Matt Sabo's article on the game for the Pilot. A very nice job and he even got a comment from a parent.

Riverside King whacked "Teeny Tiny" Tesoro by 20. King plays Mater Dei in the finals.

Looks like super fleas Zack and Jessie knew something about Northwood. The Timberwolves have turned into The Pasturelambs. Here are the scores from this year so far:

Hey, it looks like our boys beat Diamond Bar 57 to 54 today. The LA Times is reporting the Sea Kings rallied from a six point deficit in the final minute and a half. Stefan got 17, Adam scored 13, and Joe Ice had 10 . Here is the boxscore. And here is the story from the DP. So it was Ice who hit the big shot.

If I figured it right, we play Los Al on Friday at 5:00 PM at Troy. They have the monster Corbin Moore who is 6'10" and averaging 17 pts per game. That should be a battle. Scouthoops says this about Moore:

"Moore is one of the top centers in the west for 2008. He's got a good frame, moves well and possesses good hands. He's better facing up than with his back to the basket. Nice shot to 15-17. A high major prospect."

"BIG CHALLENGE: Los Alamitos, led by 6-foot-10 center Corbin Moore, is among the top county teams in the North Orange County Championships."

Stefan is ranked 9th in the top 15 Ivy League recruits. There is another 6'9" kid from Utah. It is a strange blog but that's what it says. Check it out here.

Actually having a job and no child on the team, it is hard to drive to Fullerton at 5:00 pm to watch the team play. So I am waiting for the score to show up somewhere. While doing so, I took a look at the schedule. You have to give the FBO credit for what he thinks the team can do. Not counting the unknown teams we are going to play in the tournaments (depending on how things work out), check out this lineup of known opponents:

We are not going to beat all those teams but we will certainly be ready for the playoffs. I am hoping for another game like the Hemet game at Uni last year. The best high school basketball game I have ever seen. And the Elsinore game was pretty good too.

Oh oh, we got clobbered tonight by Tesoro. That is a surprise. There will be no joy in Mudville. Here is the box score. Off to the early afternoon games in the loser gyms.

Here is the new bracket. I was hoping I would not have to post it. Oh well. If I read it correctly, we play at Troy at 3:30 on Wednesday against the loser of the LB Poly-Diamond Bar game.

In other news, CDM BB player Shaun Mohler has signed with Colorado after he was recruited by Oregon, Cal, Arizona State, Kansas, Washington State, Kentucky, Iowa, Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Nebraska, San Diego State and Colorado. What a lineup!! They say good things come to those who wait. I have detailed in these pages how Shaun has developed over the years and how truly kind he was to Kate when we were lugging him to JV basketball games just a few short years ago.

So good for Shaun, congratulations to him, and good luck with the Bufs. Here is the Pilot article about his recruitment.

So the 2006 year continues to amaze. Big John with Florida (and a ring), Shaun now with Colorado, Matt L with Georgetown, and Scott with UCSB. How about them apples?

And here is a story in the same edition of the Pilot about Trevor Theriot earning a scholarship at UCLA. Trevor played NJB every year in grammar school and, even though he is a Sailor, he is a great kid who never, ever quits. Good for him.

Chalk up another one for the Sea Kings who defeat Downey High 53-45 in the first round of the North County Tournament. Stefan got 26, Joe E 10, and Clayton R 8. Here is the blurb from the Daily Pilot.

Next game is today at 5:00 pm at Troy High School in Fullerton (the home of many past NJB battles).

You have probably seen this but I had not. Max Preps has a great gallery of shots from last year's title game. It is here.

The super sophs finished second in the Saddleback Tournament and have improved their record to 6-1.

I corrected Matt Black's stats below. 22 points and 18 rebounds, not the other way around. Either way, it is pretty impressive for a guard. How does he get back on defense if he is rebounding so much?

For the second straight year, the Sea Kings beat Edison, 59-56. Stefan scored 29 in the victory. The team finishes third in the tournament. Stefan and Joe E made all tournament. Here is the box score.

Next is the North Orange County Tourney. The first game is tomorrow at 6:30 pm against the Downey High Vikings at La Serna (wherever that might be). The last reported record for Downey was 3-2 but one score was missing from Max-Preps. The team apparently has two juniors named Matt who are pretty good, one of whom is the euphoniously named Matt Black. He had 22 points, 18 rebounds, 3 blocks, and hit three 3's. And he is a 6'4" guard. Here is a short article from the Press Telegram about the team. They clobbered Northwood, Loara, and Valencia and got clobbered by Mater Dei.

CDM knocked off Fountain Valley tonight 48-39 in a typical pre-season few fouls called (hey, we are on a tourney schedule!) hack-a-thon. That type of game played out in favor of FV which had to be physical to stay in the game. FV is actually not that bad of a team but we were just too big and opportunistic for them.

Stephan got 15 hard earned points while AB (the new dude from Mater Dei South who was out for quite a while with an eye injury) and Joe E scored 9 each (and, Joe, it will come to you - those shots are going to drop - 9 will become 19 or 29 or more).

I am guessing that the packed in zone defense used by FV will be the defense of choice against the Sea Kings this year. Stefan's ability to step out and hit the 10-15 foot jumper is huge.

It was really nice to see Erik back again and getting a chance to run and use his point skills. Two years ago he single handedly stopped teams full court pressing us.

I missed the first quarter but saw most of the second quarter in which the scoring was, well, ..... abominable. We couldn't throw the proverbial pea in the ocean. The first half score was 16-15 in favor of the Sea Kings. That would be the same team that scored 87 in the opener. Wow, 16 whole points. But we got back on track in the 3rd quarter and doubled the points scored to 32. Which is slightly more than Stefan scored by himself in the first game.

Even though I am sure coach would like it to be better, I thought the defensive intensity of the Sea Kings was just great. It is obvious that if you don't want to play defensive basketball for CDM, you better try some other sport. And they will just get better as the season wears on and everyone gets use to each other.

This is going to be a really good team but I don't want to jinx them by saying any more about that. The boys had one fast break in the 3rd that was close to perfect which drew applause even from the FV fans sitting next to me.

And finally, as much as I tried, it was impossible not to stare at that thing the older ref was sporting on his head. What was that, a wombat? Even so, he was very entertaining between interfering with our fast break after a steal, yelling at Coach Schach, and trying to give the evil eye to FV kid who hit him in the foot with the ball. He kind of looked like the grandpa in Christmas Vacation who lit the tree on fire.

High school basketball. How can you beat it? 5 bucks and you get to watch great athletes and a toupee run around.

We play the winner of Servite and El Toro on Friday at 8:00 pm. Servite arrived with 18 players tonight and El Toro showed up with an absolute beast. Not sure if he can play, but he is huge.

CDM has hit the big, big time. And I mean the big time. Stefan was selected today by the Orange County Register as one of the top 5 players in the county. For CDM, that is shocking. Steve Fryer actually wrote the article which is even more surprising. Here it is. Fantastic for Stefan, CDM, and the coaching staff. A scrapbook item.

Wait, wait, wait!!. I am trying to catch my breath. I just looked at the Register's preseason rankings for Orange County and CDM (WHAT DID YOU SAY?), yeah, CDM, is ranked 5th. Here is the article. Staggering. FBO, take a bow. You got us to the big time for at least one day. How can it be that a school which was virtually dismissed last year makes it into the top 10 this year? Remember that Fryer kicked us out of the top 25 mid-season last year, right after we beat Mission Viejo without Stefan. Being a cynic, maybe he put us up there so he can kick us out again if we stumble. But let's not do that.

Back to the Register BB Preview and I think I have taken an alternate universe pill. Joe E is mentioned as one of the top players in the county to watch. Way to go, Ice Man!!

Fryer must be drinking too much coffee. We never get treated like this. I thought we would go back to his overmatched little school doghouse again in this year's preview, with last year being written off as an aberration. Maybe we will end up there again but I doubt it will be this year.

I love the name of the Mission Viejo player, Grant Heineken. "Jamie to the left and Jamie to the right" got mentioned. A top player in the county at Sage? OK, if you say so. Super Flea Zack Zaragosa (Northwood to Santa Margarita) also got mentioned. How old is that guy, 50? Is he on social security yet?

The rest of the stuff in the Preview is kind of silly, top tournaments and top games. We did get dissed on the top underclassmen but I am so shocked right now, I have no energy to protest. I have been whining about the Register coverage of CDM for 3 years and now it has all changed. It is good news for the school and the program.

Oh, and CDM blew out Westminster tonight in game 1, just exactly what they have to do to repeat. They need to pound the weaker teams. Stefan had 29, Ice had 17, and Sean D had 11; the new dudes had 5 each; Erik, Ali, Little Bro, and Justin had 4 each; Hunter kicked a field goal and Entourage had 1. Good start. Keep it going.

Here is the article about tonight's game written by DCP. It is nice to have the same guy from the Pilot following the team this year as he has some history with the program, the players, and the coaches.

How about this? CDM is on a roll. John Fairbanks won an NCAA championship ring with Florida for football last year and yesterday Thomas Pearson won his second NCAA championship ring with Cal for water polo!! Congratulations to Thomas. He was famous in this house for wearing Stan Smith Adidas tennis shoes. He told me they were very "retro." Three rings for CDM alums that I know about in two years. Not too bad.

Here is the first review of the team written by DCP from the Pilot. A nice article.

I saw in the paper that today's game against Westminster has been moved to Servite at 5:00 pm.

Sorry to be off line for so long but our site got hit by some "phishers" who were trying to use us to spam the universe. Maniacs. My brother was able to fend them off with no damage other than having to change all passwords and user names. But it took several days to fix. Randino, where were you on November 29, 2007 at 8:21:257 pm? Just asking.....and did you have a phishing licence?

Just kidding. I have watched you with a computer and you could not possibly be a suspect.

So, with that problem behind us, we begin the greatest season once again. I am looking forward to year two with the FBO (Formerly Bearded One) to see how he changes his attack based on the players available to him. No more Eddie, unfortunately, but I am sure he has it figured out.

Our loyal and intrepid reporter Kathy Cole advises that the Sophs are on a roll and are currently 4-0. They won the Westminster Tournament over the weekend and beat Fairmont Prep 75-46 in the championship game. Big congrats to the team and to Coach Lim.

And just so I have said it, has any team in Orange County been on the no-play shelf as long as we have this year? I am sure there is a good reason but it is frustrating to read the box-scores for the other teams in the Register. So let's get to it.

On the subject of the Register, they are supposed to profile our team on Tuesday. I am not sure who is behind the pen in that effort but if it is Steve Fryer, count on some dissing. It is my distinct impression that Fryer does not like CDM for reasons unknown. But we shall see.

UCSB volleyball got whomped twice in a weekend tourney at Long Beach State, once by LBSU and then by BYU. The Cougars have one player (#8) who is competely insane to watch. It could be a long year for UCSB.

And finally, and this is completely off point as usual, but my dad died on Saturday. He was 90 years old and lived just the greatest life. He was also the best dad ever from start to finish. He move to Newport from the desert just so he could sit in the CDM stands and watch Ted, Scott, and Kate play volleyball and basketball.

I have had a number of calls over the weekend from guys I knew when I was young and, in a completely freaky way, their uniform message has been that "Judge Slaughter was one of the few adults who actually listened to me and cared what I thought."

I watched the 2nd half of the Staff game tonight and the 1st half of the Alumni game. A great tradition. How often could it happen that the coach of the Alumni and two of the Alumni players have kids on the CDM varsity? The Jones family, the Alder family, and the Macdonald family were all so represented.

4. The big fella's outside shot. When did he pick that up? I saw two from downtown.

3. Bill Macdonald's shoes. What were those? Black low top Keds? He should have worn ankle socks to complete the ensemble.

1. The formerly bearded one's 30 foot shot that missed everything by at least 4 feet. He looked a tad slow tonight.

Late word. The CDM girls lost in the State tournament this evening. The match went to 5 and one of the games was 38-36. Maddie Smith had 54 assists. They went out with a bang.

I watched part of the JV and Varsity scrimmage today against LB Wilson. Both CDM teams struggled. Too many turnovers. But the talent is there. It is going to be another good year. And you can book that, Dano. You too, Randino.

The greatest thing about high school sports is that each year is a completely new experience. New kids and a new dynamic. Nobody knows what this team will or will not accomplish. It is up to the boys and the coaches to create the 2007-2008 legacy.

"Shake a Tail Feather" Evett was in the gym tonight. A fine young man who is going to be a big success in life.

Taylor King played tonight in the Maui Invitational. We were there a few years ago when Santa Clara played in the tourney. My memory is a hot-box of a gym where the temperature was about 95 degrees and the humidity was at least 90%. Incredibly hot place to play basketball. The TV announcer tonight (Jay) said Taylor had to do more than just shoot. He was also going to have to play defense in the paint in the ACC. Good luck. So maybe it is a committee of two.

Armon Johnson is averaging 11 points per game for Nevada. He is shooting .522 from the floor, .500 from 3 point land, 1.000 for free throws, and is averaging 5 rebounds per game. He is also averaging the most minutes per game at 35. Not bad for a true freshman point guard.

Phoenix like, the CDM Girl's volleyball team has arisen from the ashes and have been picked to play in the state tournament. They play a first round match tomorrow down in San Diego. Wish them luck.

The long awaited CDM basketball season kicks off tomorrow in our gym against Long Beach Wilson. It starts at 5:00 pm.

In volleyball news, the college season is going to be a dog fight. In this week's tournament, UCLA beat Long Beach State who beat Northridge who beat UCLA who beat UCSB who beat Long Beach State. Confusing.

Less than a week to kickoff. The scrimmage for the varsity and JV's is next Monday in our gym against Long Beach Wilson, with the Sophs and Frosh at Wilson. Then on Tuesday is the always entertaining alumni matches, again in our gym. The season starts in earnest on December 3 with the La Quinta tournament. The times for the games and the bracket for La Quinta are posted on Coach Schac's webpage.

Former Sea King basketball player Shaun Molher continues on a tear. Apparently more schools are looking at him. The story is here.

So that is that for the CDM Girl's Volleyball team, losing in 5 tonight to Bishop Montgomery in the CIF Semi-Finals. They had a good year and won league but the loss tonight is bitter. They wanted another shot at Laguna. The team will lose a lot of seniors, including the always great Lindsay Fry and hard hitting Chelsea Dalton, but they have a strong group returning and will pretty good again next year with a chance to be really good.

Our resident game announcer, Brent Ogden, was asked by CIF to be the announcer for all matches at the CIF Girl's Volleyball Finals this Saturday.

I am so bored waiting for the CDM BB season to open I checked on Taylor King's debut with Duke.

"The 6-foot-6 King went 7-for-9 from the field and hit five 3-pointers in 19 minutes."

Duke played NC Central, a DII team moving to DI but, even so, it is a great opener. Good for him but I still don't believe it. He can shoot but I can't see him playing any defense. I may be a committee of one.

Has anyone seen Derrick Rose from Memphis play? I caught a few highlights the other night. Jeepers creepers - a monster!

Bye the bye, Armon Johnson made his debut with Nevada tonight. He went for 22 points with 8 assists. Not bad for a true freshman in his first college game. But there are not many players at any level with his range. That kid can score. Here is the story.

In the random info category, Ted's JC coach at Irvine Valley College, Tom Pestolesi, also coaches the IVC Women's team. They are 19-0 as I write this. His daughter, Kari, is a freshman at UCI and leading the team. His son Tommy plays VB for Long Beach State and should be a star this year. So if you are a high school volleyball player looking for a college, give Tom a call. Great guy and a complete coach.

CDM's Stefan Kaluz has verbally committed to Brown University. He is going to be an Ivy Leaguer. WOW!!!. Fantastic!!! This could not happen to a better kid.

The Browns of Brown do not know what they have landed. I don't care what they think he is, Stefan is better than whatever they think. Not just basketball, but in every way.

Just an example. When the CDM team played in Wyoming three years ago, Stefan sat behind me on the flight to Reno. He was a 14 year old freshman at the time. A businessman, who had kids at Rancho Santa Margarita Catholic High School, was sitting next to him. I couldn't help hearing their discussion. When we were leaving the plane, I was next to the businessman and I asked him what he thought of Stefan. If he had had a daughter (sorry, Lindsay), he wanted Stefan to marry her. A grown up at 14.

Congratulations from the entire Slaughter family to a truly GREAT kid. And if I might be so bold, and without any permission, I think congratulations from everyone who has anything to do with CDM basketball is warranted, including congrats from Coach Curry and Coach Sullivan from years past. I know they will be super proud of you and what you have accomplished.

I do not think a CDM player in the last 5 years has signed to play basketball with a 4 year school. I may be wrong on that and hope that I will be corrected with an email at [email protected] if I am. In any event, this is big for Stefan, the CDM program, and Coaches Curry, Sullivan, Schachter and Simco. I know from the scuttlebutt that Coach Ryan Schachter was doing all he could for Stefan on the recuiting scene. It is really hard to get picked up to play basketball in college. To be signed by Brown University is just fantastic.

Several years ago we were in the Eastbluff gym and, without naming names, the ref was a 7'1" guy from Villa Park who played for Kansas and almost made the Laker squad. He told one of my boys that he needed to transfer from CDM to a "good" school because no one would ever be recruited from CDM to play basketball in college.

Coach Schachter has announced his summer basketball camp schedule. The camps are open to boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 15 and will be held at the CDM gym. The schedule is as follows:

With two exceptions, the kids are all from Orange County and played for Edison, Huntington, Mater Dei, Santa Margarita, Esperanza, Valencia, Irvine, Newport Harbor, and CDM.

Men's volleyball team beats Grossmont, earns share of conference title

It wasn't easy, or very pretty for that matter. The Irvine Valley men's volleyball team could care less. The Lasers will take the win and the title.rvine Valley, made up of 11 freshmen and one sophomore, capped a late season run to the Pacific Coast Conference crown with a five-game, 31-33, 30-26, 22-30, 30-28, 18-16 victory over Grossmont Wednesday night at home.

The victory in the regular season finale, which was the Lasers' fifth straight win, earned Irvine Valley a share of the conference title with Orange Coast. It also gave Irvine Valley (because of tiebreakers) the No. 1 seed out of the conference for the playoffs.

And that is big because the top-seeded team out of the Pacific Coast Conference and Western State Conference earn direct berths into the state tournament, which will be held April 27-28 at Santa Monica College. The semifinals will be played Friday night with the championship final on Saturday.

"From day one our goal was to make it to the last weekend (the state tournament)," Irvine Valley Coach Tom Pestolesi said. "And now that we've made it we want to go and get a couple of more (wins)."

It will be Irvine Valley's third straight trip to the state tournament. IVC lost in the semifinals the previous two years. The conference title is Irvine Valley's second straight. IVC won the Orange Empire Conference championship a year ago. And the win Wednesday night was the Lasers' sixth straight. Pestolesi admitted that his team wasn't at its best against Grossmont, but the Lasers still did enough for the victory.

They led, 22-15, in the first game, but couldn't hold on and ended up losing, 33-31. The Lasers got back in the match in game two. The Lasers held a 23-22 lead and then scored three straight points, two coming off kills by freshman outside hitter Marcus Fernandez, to take control. Irvine Valley made it a 28-23 lead on a kill by freshman outside hitter Peter Johnson. Johnson got some help on the play from teammates Sean Grubbs and Rory Jones, who each made diving digs to keep the point alive. Ahead, 29-26, Johnson put the game away with a kill.

The third game was tight early. Not more than two points separated the teams until Grossmont took a 20-17 lead on a kill by Armando Lopez. Grossmont was up, 22-20, and then went on a 6-0 run to put the game away. Down, two games to one, Irvine Valley battled to a tough win in game four. The Lasers led for most of the game, but had trouble putting it away at the end. The Lasers were up, 29-25, but Grossmont scored three straight points to make things interesting. Two of the points came on IVC errors. But Johnson came through with a kill at 29-28 to give the Lasers the game and send the match into a fifth and final frame. Both teams had chances to come out on top. The fifth game was tied at 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12 13-13, 14-14, 15-15 and 16-16. Grossmont had a match point at 14-13, but Johnson came through with a kill for IVC from the left side to tie things at 14-14. IVC had match points at 15-14 and 16-15, but Grossmont answered with kills each time. Tied 16-16, Johnson knocked a kill off the Griffin block to set up IVC's third match point. And then Johnson served an ace to give Irvine Valley the game and match and set off the celebration. "I am happy for the guys," Pestolesi said. "They have worked hard. They put the time and effort in and good things happened. It is a neat time for them."

Johnson led the way for IVC with a career-high 28 kills. He has led IVC in kills in 16 of 18 matches this season. "Peter just came up huge for us tonight," Pestolesi said. "We needed every one of his 28 kills. His kill on their match point was our biggest one of the night." Freshman outside hitter Marcus Fernandez added a season-high 16 kills. "The last month he has played really well," Pestolesi said. "We typically take him out in the back row, but we kept him in there tonight and he kept coming up with plays for us."

Several other players did as well. Freshman middle blocker Bryan Simmons contributed 10 kills and four blocks, freshman middle blocker Ted Slaughter had nine kills and six blocks, outside hitter Cory Walker had four blocks, libero Sean Grubbs finished with 13 digs, outside hitter Rory Jones had seven digs and freshman setter Tyler Rex ended with 64 assists. The 64 assists was a career-high for Rex.

"Overall we didn't play very clean volleyball, but it was a match where we hung in there long enough and gave ourselves an opportunity to win and that is all you can ask for from the guys," Pestolesi said. "A couple of kids just made huge plays late in the match for us and that was the difference."

Notes
Irvine Valley went undefeated at home this season with a record of 9-0.

The match was also Irvine Valley's sixth contest that went to five games this season. IVC had a record of 5-1 in five-game matches. "It is our guys sucking it up and finding a way to get it done late," Pestolesi said of his team pulling out five-game matches.

The Lasers will find out Tuesday night who they play in the state semifinals next Friday.

It all comes down to the final men's volleyball matches of the season. Wednesday's contests will decide which team(s) will stand at the top of the Pacific Coast Conference.

Irvine Valley, Grossmont, and Orange Coast all enter Wednesday with records of 9-2 in conference. Orange Coast takes on Golden West, a team it swept in three straight games earlier this season.

IVC meets Grossmont at 6 p.m. Wednesday night at home. The winner will most likely share the conference title with Orange Coast.

Irvine Valley is coming off a straight-game win at Palomar last Friday. IVC hit .370 as a team, led by middle blocker Bryan Simmons, who hit .714 (14-11-1).

Outside hitter Peter Johnson finished with a team-high 18 kills. Johnson has led the team in kills in 15 of 17 matches this season. He is averaging 4.67 kills per game this year.

Simmons added 11 kills and had four blocks. Outside hitter Marcus Hernandez contributed nine kills and two aces, while middle blocker Ted Slaughter had seven kills and four blocks.

Libero Sean Grubbs paced the team in digs with nine and setter Tyler Rex ended with 43 assists in the win over Palomar. Rex is averaging 13.38 assists per game.

The victory was IVC’s fifth in a row and seventh in its last eight contests. The lone loss in that span was to Grossmont. Grossmont swept Irvine Valley in three straight games three weeks ago, although Irvine Valley had late leads in the first and third games.

Grossmont set itself up for a title shot with a 30-22, 28-30, 30-24, 30-25 win over Palomar last Wednesday.

The Griffins feature six players that were among conference statistical leaders last season as freshmen. Tyler Schielke was named first team all-conference after averaging 3.95 kills per game in 2006. Dane Jensen, Travis Lee, Andy Frontz, Jeff Lee and Jimmy Lopez are other top returners. Lopez was also a first team all-conference player a season ago.

Irvine Valley has already assured itself a spot in the playoffs. The three best teams from the conference make the playoffs.

The top team goes straight to the state tourney. The other two teams will play the second and third-place teams, respectively, from the South Coast Conference on Tuesday, April 24, with trips to the state tournament on the line.

The state tournament will be held at Santa Monica College April 27-28. Irvine Valley has reached the state tournament the past two seasons.

The Daily Pilot reports that Stefan's real name is Poi. Poi Kaluz. That is interesting.

"The play is Jamie to the left and Jamie to the right and Jamie up the middle" is also mentioned.

Here is a pretty darn good Valley Sun article about Ren Academy's players and their battle against CDM. Also ran across (late) this article by Frank Burleson of the LB Press Telegram which mentions Stefan and Joe. The more I read him, the more I think he gets it. The article is here.

Stefan was named to the Register's All County team today, second team. Here is the story. And here is a video interview with the first team players.

Frank Burlison of the Long Beach Press Telegram got closer when he named Stefan to his all So-Cal Team. The story is here.

Since everyone has left the CDM building, I will post something from the distant past.

Coach Troy Hall and I were the co-coaches of an NJB team long ago. And here is what I sent to the Pilot when our season ended:

I am sending to you a picture of the undefeated (10 wins – 0 Losses) 1999-2000 Boys Division 2 Newport Mesa League Champion Hawks. I know that you receive a lot of pictures and information about various youth sports and probably have a hard time picking what to run. I do hope that you give these boys some recognition because they are a very special group of kids.

I have been coaching my two boys in various sports for the past 8 years or so. Without fear of contradiction, I will tell you that this group of boys were the best I have ever coached. They were not the biggest, not the quickest, and not the best athletes in our league. What they did do was to play intelligently, to play as a team, to try every minute of every game, and to work hard to make each player an important cog in the team effort. The players made many, many mistakes this season but not once was any player criticized by another player for a mistake. If someone made a mistake, the rest of the team would tell the player to forget it and come back next time. At the risk of sounding like a nut, I would tell anyone who is wondering what is happening to the youth of America to stop worrying. There are lots of great kids on the way up. These are good boys.

The people in the picture are as follows: front row from left – Scott Markley, Jake Lemmerman, Joshua Knauer, and Troy Hall. Back row from left – Don Slaughter (Coach), Tom Sturla, Roy Martinez, Scott Slaughter, Shaun Markley, and Troy Hall (Coach). Our secret weapon was the enthusiasm, kindness, and basketball knowledge of Coach Troy Hall.

Roy played high school basketball for Mater Dei, Scott S and Troy Hall, Jr. played for CDM, and Shaun and Scott Markely played for Coach Simco at Estancia. Fast forward to today and Scott Markley is playing volleyball for the NAII Champions Cal Baptist, Sean Markley is attending UCI and playing club volleyball, Scott S is playing volleyball for UCSB, Jake Lemmerman is going to play baseball for Duke next year, and Troy Sr. is coaching at CDM. How about that for a 5th and 6th grade basketball team?

And look how handsome Coach Hall is!! Oh, yeah, he is the guy on the right. The handsome fat guy on the left is me.

So, the CIF Player of the Year in our entire CIF division is just named the Co-MVP of our league? Not MVP?

Actually, as I said earlier, the spoils to the victors are just a numbers game. Teams tie for the championship, league coaches hold a so-called "vote" (read pre-ordained negotiation), and, miraculously, two players are judged to be just as good as each other and they end up Co-MVP's. Pathetic. Nobody buys that.

I saw the Laguna Hills kid play and he is a good basketball player. But he is no Stefan. No chance, no way, no how. It is nice for him to be named but, really, it is a shame.

JJ (the putative Headband) and 00 (the real Headband) were named to second team All-League (which is justice), and Joe E and Eddie were named to the first team (also righteous). Not bad, our entire starting lineup made All-League. And Joe E hit 50% of his 3 point shots? Are you kidding me? Forget first team all CIF, elect him governor!

But in all of this, where is the 3 point maven, Sean D? CDM would not be the champs but for Sean D. So sayeth I. But, it is just a numbers game and they think Sean has two more years to become famous. And so he shall.

And my final (ha ha) comment is that 2007-2008 for CDM basketball is going to be even better than this year. Mark those words, Randino. And also mark the fact that the bearded one stuck up for his kids in the PCL All-League You-Pick 'Em Wrestle-maina.

And one other thing. Steve Fryer of the Register picks the All-County teams. Stefan deserves to be first team All-County but I doubt he will be selected. I really hope I am wrong. A kid that makes CIF Player of the Year in any division deserves All-County honors.

And, finally (really), one other thing. I have watched Jake Campbell and Ryan Anderson play for CDM for 4 years. Both of them are kids I admire because they hung in there and never quit. I will always remember Jake's 3's on the videos and Ryan's flying defense. John Wooden's famous saying is that "basketball does not build character, it reveals it." And that sums it up for these two young men, each of whom will do just great in the battle of life. For what it is worth, they make First Team All Seakingbasketball.com. And they depart CDM with CIF championship rings.

Ted was asked by our friends to film the CDM Orchesis dance show this evening over at Uni. He did so and brought the tape home. We all watched it and it was a very impressive performance. But guess who showed up on stage? None other than our version of Emmett Smith, the dancing #00 fool, Austin "Shake A Tail Feather" Evett.

The boy's volleyball team won the San Diego Tournament today. That is a big deal and the first time while we have been at CDM that it has happened. They beat Santa Barbara in the final and knocked off both Valencia and Harvard Westlake along the way. So they are 9-0 so far.

I say La Canada takes out Mission Bay tonight. Twenty-Nine Palms is toast against Artesia. So the finals will be La Canada v Artesia.

Santa Barbara volleyball lost again tonight. The big guy was no where to be found.

Here is a U-Tube post of highlights of the CIF Championship game. Scroll down.

The really pathetic San Diego Union Tribune coverage of the Mission Bay game is as follows:

And that is all there was. Wow! A lost dog in Chula Vista got more ink. The next time I criticize the Daily Pilot, someone should hit me with a baseball bat. So my new mantra is "The Pilot Is Great."

One bone to pick with Stefan. Both Ted and Scott were a little hacked about the DC wavymark P "volleyball" article. I believe Ted actually said he was going to do you major harm the next time he sees you. Gail wanted me to tell you that you had left out a big part of the story and you would know what that part is.

One thing I am a little sad about is the fact that I could not use the headline I had ginned up for yesterday's post. It was: CDM Drowns Mission at the Bay.

Santa Barbara volleyball choked another one against BYU this evening. The big guy for UCSB hit .000 for the match. Nice senior leadership.

On a more positive note, Irvine Valley College Volleyball beat Golden West College tonight to set up the really big conference match against Orange Coast College this coming Wednesday. The match is at OCC at 6:00 PM. The games are fun to watch as a bunch of Irvine junior high girl's volleyball teams discovered tonight at the IVC match. I was waiting outside after the match and several of the girls were professing their new found undying love for Sean Grubbs, the IVC libero from Newport Harbor. Sean blew that off immediately but it was pretty funny. The teeny bopper king.

Ted plays for IVC and his CDM classmate Kevin Welch plays for OCC. The setter for OCC is Trevor Holmes, who many will remember from NJB and Estancia. All three of them played basketball and volleyball and each has a CIF Volleyball Championship ring.

IVC is 7-1 and 2-0 in league. OCC is 8-1 and 3-0 in league. At stake is a ticket to the state championships. It should be a great match. Here is the link to the OCC game summary for tonight and here is the link to the IVC game summary. College games are played to 30 and IVC's first game tonight was 37-35. A heart attack.

And while I am on that subject, if anyone wants to play JC volleyball for a really, really great coach, Tom Pestolesi at IVC is the guy. He is up in my pantheon with Steve Conti from CDM as a truly fine person and, co-incidentally, or perhaps not, a tremendous role model and coach.

On another subject, the CDM boy's volleyball team is in San Diego in a big pre-season tournament today and tomorrow. All the teams who are the teams are there. CDM won three matches today so they are in the gold division tomorrow. There is a web site where you can follow along. Click here for that site.

It would have been great to win but the 500 lb gorilla, Artesia, is waiting for whatever team advances out of the lower bracket of D-3.

The CIF State brackets are messed up, just as our Southern Section Divisions were fouled up the past 5 years. The Southern Division has tried to fix the problem with their new alignment (which has its own issues) but the State has stayed with the school population measuring stick for placement in divisions.

The repaired Southern Section alignment opens things up to more teams, or at least opens it up for some different teams, namely CDM. The finalists are not just foregone conclusions. As an example, look at our games in D-6. Our four CIF games were all nail-biters. We could have lost any of them. At least in our division, the Southern Section did a great job of placing teams which had a competitive balance.

Last year, under the old school population system, if we had beaten Gahr, the next team would have been Santa Margarita. Just turn the lights out and don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Under the old system, Ren Academy's 50 students (of which at least 12 are basketball players) competed as as a small school and had a chance at a CIF Championship but for Price. Under the new system, they got moved up to play the big bad bully CDM because they are competitive with CDM regardless of the school population.

The fish wrap experts are having a fit with the new Southern Section System. ES from the LA Times thinks the new CIF Southern Section alignment will mean the Southern Section teams will be too weak to compete in the State tourney. He used CDM as his Exhibit A. He thought CDM would be too weak to compete in the State D-3.

CDM gave the top San Diego Section D-3 representative all it could handle tonight while the second San Diego D-3 team got creamed by Artesia. To make matters worse for that argument, Ren Academy won, as did Twenty-Nine Palms.

As a further example of the mismatch between the State system and the Southern Section system, the SS D-1 finalists, Mater Dei and Artesia, were dropped to State Sections D-2 and D-3, respectively. This was done despite the fact that the two teams had just played each other for the D-1 Southern Section Championship. And, of course, the State D-3 team (which is also the number one ranked team in the entire state) beat the State D-2 team. Nevertheless, the loser, Mater Dei, goes to State D-2 and wins 90-41 tonight. The winner, Artesia, goes to State D-3 and wins 99-55. The team we beat in CIF SS D-6, Ren Academy, goes to up to State D-5 and wins.

So who is wrong? CIF State or the CIF Southern Section? Take your pick. I say the new CIF Southern Section program is better. At least for CDM it is better.

I think the Southern Section will be just fine in the State tourney despite all the hand wringing by the fish wrap guys. Especially that ES fellow from the LA Times. If form holds, Pasadena, Mater Dei, Artesia, Campbell Hall, and Price will be competitive for the next two weeks and, hopefully, will move on to the state finals.

I personally could have skipped State all together, at least until they get it fixed competitively. The CIF ring and patch were the goal and they were good enough for this fan. State, under the present set-up, was a bit anticlimactic, especially when it was expanded to 3 weeks. Basketball is fun but it does have to end some time. Right, Randino?

Unfortunately, CDM lost to Mission Bay by 7 tonight. Stefan had 25, Joe E had 19, and Sean D had 9. More later.

Congratulations to each and every member of the team and to the incredible coaching staff. All of you made us proud to be fans of CDM basketball. It was truly a fantastic year.

The greatest part is that there will be a ring on your finger, a picture in the trophy case, and a banner in the gym you can point to when, 15 years hence, you bring your own unruly rug rats to the CDM gym just like those "old guys" do now.

Now on to the aftermath and the awards. I am predicting at least 3 all CIF players from our team and the CIF Coach of the Year for the bearded one.

And I still say Eddie Lane is the most exciting player in all of Orange County and, I am sure, many places beyond. CDM has not seen the likes of him in my time.

Here is a good article by DCP in this morning's Daily Pilot. The only thing Wavy Mark got wrong was saying Stefan might have wondered about his decision to just play basketball. If he ever did, it is total news to me and mine, and, I am sure, to Gus E as well. He never wavered.

Again, how great is this picture? Those little red patches are very hard earned and will become more important to you as you get older. A tremendous accomplishment.

We drove to San Diego this afternoon, leaving at 3:30 PM and made it by 5:00 PM. Another parent left Mission Viejo at 4:00 PM and just made the 6:00 PM match. The traffic at 5:00 PM was pretty bad.

3/6/07

Just coincidentally, the school is very near the Catamaran, the Pacific Beach hotel where the legendary "Dr. Dean" started performing his hypnotism act in the late 60's. It was awesome to behold and a completely boffo hit in San Diego. He could make his subjects do virtually anything. "Dr. Dean, hypnotist" was actually Dr. Sanford I. Berman, Ph.D. Who knew?

I have searched the internet. Mission Bay High School basketball is a complete unknown in cyberspace. For a team that is 23-6, the coverage is abysmal. I am sure Coach has secured some video but the average yahoo won't be able to discover much about the Buccaneers past what I have posted already. Even less than the completely mysterious Ren Academy (anybody figured out that scene as of yet?).

Since I don't have much to post, I am going to list my top ten memories (good and really bad) of this season:

10. Erik tearing his ACL. PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T PLAY FOOTBALL NEXT YEAR even though I know that request is going nowhere.

6. Stefan getting two techs in the first Laguna Hills game. He grew up right there.

5. The crowd at Elsinore even though they out numbered us 10-1. It was still awesome to be in the stands, especially when the Elsinore fans almost jumped Stefan when he got knocked down in front of the students, something I will never forget.

4. Our crowd at Uni for the West Valley game. Where did that come from? I have been repeatedly told that the West Valley game was one of the best high school basketball games ever from start to finish and I have to agree. But most of the people who told me that had missed the PS game and the Elsinore game. But the West Valley game had it all, including that ridiculous Eddie rise-up jumper in the 4th.

Off to San Diego for an IVC VB game tomorrow. I will report on the travel time tomorrow night.

Here is an article from the San Diego McDonalds' owner-operators talking about the San Diego nominees for the McDonald's All-Star game.

So James Hancock is a 6'6" 210 lbs. scorer who can rebound. He will be tough from all I have read.

This is the North County Times summary of the San Diego championship game of last week:

Here is an article from the Mission Bay High School web site which has some photos of the championship game.

I checked the CIF site and realized the the game is scheduled for this Thursday, March 8, at 7:00 pm at Mission Bay High School. Sorry for any confusion.

I hope no one left early for the game. If so, they are going to be 3 days early. The power of the internet - the power to be really wrong. Sorry.

Thanks to Craig E for the heads up. And while I am on the E subject, I do not believe there were three fans in the entire Honda Center who were more excited and thrilled for CDM than Craig and Tanya Eberhard and Tanya's dad. They have been long time loyal CDM fans through the Pete E and Joe E years. Always positive and always happy. CDM is lucky to have a family like them. Both Gail and I were thrilled and, to be perfectly honest, just a little jealous of the E family this week. But we will get over it.

The brackets are up. It is Mission Bay at Mission Bay on ~~Tuesday~~Thursday, March 68th at 7:00 pm. Here is a map showing where the school is located.

The seedings are in this order, Artesia, La Canada, Mission Bay, Tehachapi, Twenty Nine Palms, CDM, Hanford West, and St. Augustine.

Here is the Max Preps info on the Mission Bay Buccaneers. Here is a photo album of the team

Robledo's take on the Championship game is here (he had predicted Ren would win).

DCP, your early season bashing of Stefan, and anything else you have ever done wrong, is completely forgiven with this headline and fantastic tribute to our team:

Coach, this one is for you: Click here. Apparently Steve Fryer was sitting on our side instead of up in the booth and heard a few of our fans. We can't get a break from the Register. We lose, or team is terrible. We win, our fans are terrible. Did Fryer go to Laguna High?

Our game is up on Vootage. Tom Kelly is announcing and he starts out by saying CDM has more cheerleaders than Ren Academy has students. Touche.

How great is this? You can have anyone, anywhere watch the championship game. It is a bit small but Coach Schachter's beautiful striped shirt and tie showed up well. I am waiting to see Troy's very nice ensemble.

Frank Burleson from the Press Telegram just said Stefan would get a lot of looks from the "high majors."

Our unis look great. And now they mention the great one from CDM, Casey Jones, making TK feel really old. JJ is styled as having a "plethora" of post moves

So how many times is Stefan going to watch this tape? My guess is at least 8 today. OK, he is now a media superstar. They love him - "Big future ahead of him" says TK.

My guess (yeah, MY self absorbed guess, Randino) is that Stefan will be the CIF Player of the Year and that Joe E, Eddie, JJ, and Austin will be named to All-CIF teams. Sean (Dunivan per TK) should get consideration but he is just a sophomore even though I hope they don't count that against him. Without him, we would not have made it to the finals. It is a numbers game but to the winner goes the spoils and they don't seem to count the Player of the Year against the winner's numbers. So I look for, at a minimum, 3 CDM All CIF players on one level or another. And if Coach is not the CIF Coach of the Year, I want a recount.

Another thing I would like to mention is the fact that Coach S was able to get every player into the CIF Championship game, including the JV players he brought up for the finals. That was simply awesome and, I am sure, thrilling for their parents.

Congratulations to the 2006-2007 CIF Division III-A Basketball Champions. What a game, what a season, and what a team. And congratulations to Varsity coaches Ryan Schachter and Jason Simco. Nice way to start your careers at CDM. Just the greatest.

CIF Champs and a CIF ring. It is a day and an achievement you guys will never forget.

The top story on the front page of the online Pilot today is about our Fast Eddie Lane. Not just the first article in the sports section, the first article in the online version of the whole paper. Take that, Dr. Phillips High. Here is the headline:

If I may say (and who is going to stop me?), I have watched Eddie play this season from start to finish, I wish he had been here for four years. It has been a privilege to watch him play and to watch how he conducts himself on the court. He is the most exciting player in Orange County, bar none. He must have been a pretty bad fighter in Orlando because I have seen absolutely nothing of that this year. As my father used to say, he is "a model of decorum" on the court.

Having been exposed to some awesome CDM coaches these past few years, it is my opinion that kids don't always understand their coaches and what they are trying to do. The last line of today's article is the one that I think will matter in years hence. Eddie said about Coach S:

From a maudlin sap, what a great statement. Real coaches want to help the kids. It is not about them, their record, their legacy, or their ego. It is about the kids. It is a special calling and they all have different styles. But those coaches who succeed are those who want to help their kids. They are the people 20 years from now you will ask yourself, "what would Coach tell me to do?"

(1) Joe E's passes have made you look pretty good so far, so you definitely owe him;

(4) Most importantly, how great is it that your godmother would be quoted in the local newspaper as calling you a "a phenomenal young man?" I am 56 years old and I would be wearing that quote on my forehead today if it was about me. Yeeow. Good for her.

So throw away the clippings. You and the rest of these phenomenal young men of CDM have a chance to do something truly great on Saturday morning. So let's get to it.

In case anyone is feeling good about CDM, get a load of the article by Eric Sondheimer in the Times today which is here. The money quote for CDM is as follows:

Well, there it is in black and white. CDM is a joke in the eyes of the LA Times. I hope that little midget Sondheimer is in the stands on Saturday morning to eat his words.

And one other thing, Sondheimer is ga-ga about the D-1 matchup between Mater Dei and Artesia. That would be the same Artesia that was in our division last year. Jeepers, what a silly little guy.

Sid Cooke, the coach for Ren Academy, was interviewed by the La Canada Sun. In response to a question about the Corona Del Mar game, the coach says:

"Last year we were just happy to get to the championship game," Wildcats Coach Sid Cooke said. "This year we're going to take it to another level."

The fat man behind the curtain says "Congratulations on a truly great season, Coach Sid, but when you get up to that other level you are taking it to, CDM will be waiting for you."

Our basketball finals are going to be webcast this week on www.Vootage.com. Some of you may already be familiar with the website and for those of you who aren't, it's free, you just need to register to watch your game or anyone else's whenever you'd like. It doesn't work very well with Mac's so try to watch on a PC. The games should be up by Saturday morning. Check out http://www.vootage.com/MatchDetails.aspx?intGID=117 for more information. These are all the games we're doing and they will all be available for free on Vootage.com:

Girls Finals:
Friday
CIF Southern Section
Division V-A LA Baptist vs Bishop Conaty-Loretto
Division IV-AA St Mary's Academy vs Costa Mesa
Division I-A Mira Costa vs San Clemente (airing on KDOC on Sunday 3-11 at 8pm)
Division I-AA Long Beach Poly vs Brea Olinda (airing on KDOC this Sunday night at 8pm) LB Poly is #2 in the US and Brea Olinda is #3 according to MaxPreps.com

Saturday
LA City Section
Championship Division Taft vs Washington (produced by LA36)

Boys Finals: Saturday CIF Southern Section
Division III-A Corona del Mar vs Renaissance Academy
Division III-AA Campbell Hall vs La Canada
Division II-A Norco vs Corona Centennial
Division II-AA Pasadena vs St Bernard
Division I-A Redondo vs Los Alamitos

LA City Section
Championship Division Westchester vs Fairfax (produced by LA36)
Invitational Division Hamilton vs Bell (produced by LA36)

The games should all be available on Vootage.com by the following morning of the game...

I realize we have qualified for the State Tourney but I really have no interest in that right now. Saturday morning is the big one.

And just in case you were thinking you are pretty good, the Pasadena Star News columnist Tony Robledo got a bunch of his friends together to predict what is going to happen on Saturday. They don't think much of you. They are already wearing the ring as you can see from the picture. You can read it all here.

They are all posted now and our game is set for 9:00 am on Saturday March 3rd at the Honda Center (nee the Pond).

Here is a shocker. Our game is posted to be at 9:00 pm at the Honda Center on Saturday. I will check back on this to see if it changes.

Waiting on the time for the game on Saturday. The times for the Friday night games have been posted for the lower divisions. I am guessing we will be the first game, around noon or so.

In case you don't have anything else to do, here is a huge photo album of last year's CIF Final game between Ren and Price. The Price coach is totally styling. Check his suit out in picture 6.

Coach S? Are we matching that outfit on Saturday? If Jason shows up in a yellow suit, I am leaving the building.

And here is a little Valentine from the LA Times which I missed when it appeared. As usual, CDM is completely ignored. Even Laguna gets mentioned:

Here is another Fred Robledo article about Ren Academy. Kind of rehash but there is a picture of Ren's Justin Cook.

Here is the latest Pilot article by DCP which covers the Costa Mesa girls team and our team in one article. It is pretty cool. And he also weaves in Paul Orris and Jack Errion (who my brother in law played for ages ago). What has come over DC wavy mark P?

If you want to know anything more about Olivia DiCamilli, just go over to the Little Pickle on Fairview and read the articles on the wall. She could play.

And it is great to see Coach Orris, now AD Orris, getting some ink. He deserves it. This appears in today's Pilot.

I checked on Kashif Watson from Bishop Gorman. His JC team is 28-0. I will be interested to see if he actually goes to SDSU.

Here is a Press Enterprise story about the Perris-Ren Academy game last Friday.

And here is an article from Fred Robledo, who is a columnist for the Pasadena Star News picking Ren Academy to win. Among other things, I don't think he is right on the time of the game.

Here is a Long Beach Press Telegram article about a January game between Ren Academy and Long Beach Pacific Hills and here is the accompanying photo album.

And here is a Burbank Leader article about Ren Academy winning the Burbank tournament early in the year.

This is going to be a dog-fight. This is Ren's third consecutive CIF Championship game so they know what to expect and will be ready. Justin Cook sounds like a player from all I have read and the leader of the team.

And, finally, who knew that my favorite OC Register writer, Damian Calhoun, is also a movie critic? Here is the video. The sports department at the Register is having a lot of fun with their new video capabilities.

Just nosing around this evening, I found this article about Renaissance Academy. If the article is correct, Ren Academy is a co-ed K-12 school and the high school has the following student census:

Here is page one and here is page two of the Register article. It will take a while to load.

With 40 seconds left in the game tonight, I happened to look over toward the CDM bench and I saw something that I thought I would never see. It was the beginnings of a grin on the face of none other than Head Coach Ryan Schachter. He recovered quickly and got back into his normal intense coaching mode, but it was there for a moment.

And grin he should as he led the Sea Kings to a 67-61 victory over a completely worthy opponent, the Mustangs from Hemet's West Valley High.

The result was actually in doubt until the last minute or so. Once again our free throw shooting was perfect when it had to be, with Stefan hitting the two biggest free throws of his career, and Austin and Joe E following the same script moments later. We pounded it inside again and again, finally fouling out #11 with a couple of minutes to go. That was big as his replacement, #40, shortly threw up (and I mean that in both senses) what had to be the worst looking free throw in the history of basketball. It barely hit the backboard. I told my friend in front of me that #40's free throw was going to miss by 3 feet. When it hit something, he turned to me and said I was wrong because "it only missed by 2 feet."

One question about #11. He is a sophomore? You have to be kidding me. What a load. In the pre game, I thought they should get a giant toaster oven out to try to warm him up. He was so slow and lethargic. Wrong. That guy was quick. And big.

One other question, where in the heck did all those CDM fans come from? That was the best CDM basketball crowd I have seen in the past 6 years, and it was during ski week to boot. The noise was thunderous in the gym from beginning to end. Who needs cheerleaders? The CDM kids in the stands on the west side of the gym set the pace. I didn't quite understand why the wet blanket VP told them to sit down. Come on, the first sign of spirit in a long time and they have to sit? Maybe there is some CIF rule about that. At least I hope there is a rule. Otherwise, that was ridiculous. If there is a rule, somebody should have told the West Valley fan egging on the CDM kids to sit down as well.

Congratulations to the CDM team for a completely exhausting and thrilling adventure tonight. You were just great. And the coaches need to take another bow for a wondrous season.

Here is the Pilot article about the West Valley game. As the faithful reader of this never ceasing drivel will remember, I have bagged repeatedly on "DC Wavymark P." After reading his effort of this evening, I bury the hatchet. It is a great article. An interesting hook and it tells what happens. So I am moving DCP from the Sea King penalty box to the writer's bench to sit with my favorite high school writer, the Register's Damian Calhoun. Steve Fryer has not gotten out of the penalty box as a result of his CDM work this year. Maybe he will do better today. Let's hope so.

Here is an article from the Daily News about the win by Renaissance Academy this evening.

The high school career of Hug High School's Armon Johnson's is now over but take a look at this little Nevada Journal blurb from his final game:

How great is it that we got to play him last year? 46 points. The last I saw, his future college team, Nevada, was 24-2 and ranked #15th in the nation. They are getting a player.

Anybody gotten over that unbelievably tremendous high school basketball game of this evening? Landed back on mother earth as of yet? I doubt it. Just fantastic. I am so happy that we were there to watch the Sea Kings win tonight in such a great fashion.

I keep preaching Confidence and Team. And I saw that in spades tonight. The free throw assassins just stuck the dagger in the hearts of the Mustangs with our perfect foul shooting in crunch time. You can't do that unless you have Confidence in yourself. And as far as the Team, there are lots of mistakes in any basketball game. But what matters is how your team responds to the mistakes. These boys stick up for each other. It is a special deal which doesn't come around very often.

If your experience is anything like our CIF runs these past two years in volleyball, the parents are embarking upon the most nervous week of their lives. The anticipation is excruciating. Gail couldn't eat for the entire week and I think she almost flipped out both times from the anticipation of the CIF championship game.

The first is the best without doubt. It is like climbing a mountain. Can we make it, are we good enough, do we have a Lab dog to keep us warm (sorry), what if we win, what if we lose, and what is going to happen? It never stops and you can't forget the impending game for more than a second or two. It is right back in front of you.

"Hey dear, I have to go to the market and, OH MY GOD, ARE WE GOING TO WIN ON SATURDAY AT THE POND???"

It is the greatest. Enjoy it. I wish I would have the chance to do it again. Oh well.

The team is on the brink of achieving something truly great. Something that they will never forget. What an opportunity for them and, by extension, the rest of the CDM family. A CIF ring is a really big deal.

It is Renaissance Academy in the finals. They beat Perris tonight 64-53. Here are all the scores from tonight. And what was with the Register's vote which put the Mater Dei-Mayfair as the best game of the evening? Mater Dei beat Mayfair 79-57. Let's have another vote.

Los Al, Ocean View, Norco, and Camarillo all won. Woodbridge, Inglewood, and Great Oak bit the dust.

Update Here is one article about West Valley and here is another. Sounds like they have a legitimate big guy who can score, rebound and block shots. So this will be good.

The game is at Uni. It is definitely closer than Elsinore so it is perfect by me. Weird lighting but a familiar gym. Here is the post from the Register regarding the neutral site.

Here is the North County Times' take on the game. The Elsinore coach bet that Sean D could not hit the 3 in crunch time so he left him open. Bad bet.

And then there were four!! And the four are CDM, West Valley, Renaissance Academy, and Perris.

As for our game, CDM won tonight 65-58 in a really wild scene at Elsinore High School. Once again, a clutch 3 by Sean D with about 1:20 or so to go gave us some breathing room. Then Stefan put back an offensive rebound off a beautiful driving shot by Eddie which just would not drop. A big defensive rebound by JJ, 2 free throws by Austin, 4 free throws by Joe E, and that game was over. I am not sure if Coach designed the inbounds play so the last 2 foul shots were taken by the Ice Man, Joe E, but it looked that way. We made all 6 free throws in crunch time. And did I see a little stare-down by the former Headband toward #11 when the first one of his 2 went in? I think so.

According to the Register, Stefan had 20 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 blocks, Joe E got 13, Eddie had 9, and Austin and JJ each had 8. The Pilot is reporting Stefan had 19 points and 11 rebounds, JJ had 19 rebounds (eight offensive), and Joe E had 15 points and eight rebounds. We are now 20-8 or 20-7 depending on which paper is correct. I am going with the Pilot's 20-7.

I am not saying that Elsinore is a long way from Newport but when did they move it to Arizona? Jeepers, what a trek. We decided to take the Ortega and got stuck in traffic for an hour. That was not the best idea I have ever had. So we missed the first half and arrived with the score 29-26. But what a second half! Elsinore got ahead of us early but we came back and actually led by 11 at one point. But it got tighter and tighter down the stretch, with the lead shrinking to, I believe, 2 at one point (the Pilot says 1 which I am sure is correct).

It was a beautiful school, a great gym, a wild crowd, red black and white balloons everywhere, almost everybody wearing red, a good sized CDM contingent, and a victory. It was just awesome to be there. I have not seen such an enthusiastic high school crowd in a long time. The gym is set up with stands on 3 sides and the students, some 250 or so strong, sat right under the CDM basket. They were having a blast and were completely nuts.

I was told that Elsinore's #3 is going to Fresno State to play football. I can believe that. His last foul consisted of blocking Stefan out so hard under our basket that Stefan actually got airborne and ended up on his back on the floor surrounded by a bunch of Tiger fans screaming at him.

Congratulations to the team and the coaches for a tremendous achievement. But don't get the big head. Two more to go.

So we play West Valley in a neutral location on Friday at 7:30. In a bracket buster, West Valley beat Serrano, the number one ranked team, 91-87. The Times says Serrano was down by 22 at the half.

And here is DCP's article from this morning. I didn't post it for fear Elsinore would read it.

The game is today, Tuesday February 20th, at Elsinore (directions are here). Tip off is 7:30 pm.

The game is tomorrow, Tuesday February 20th, at Elsinore (directions are here). Tip off is 7:30 pm.

I will predict that the Elsinore gym is going to be rocking on Tuesday. Way more than we have seen so far. So get there early to get a seat.

I emailed Denise Curry at Long Beach State a couple of weeks ago and asked her to send me her brother's new email so I could keep him posted but I did not hear back from her. Does anyone have Ryan's email in Idaho? He would be so proud of you guys. Send it to me at [email protected] if you have it.

We do play at Elsinore (Wildomar). The address is 21800 Canyon Dr, Wildomar, CA 92595 . The school is right off the 15 south of Lake Elsinore and north of Murietta. Directions are here.

Here is a recent story from the North County Times on a game Elsinore played against West Valley. So it looks like we will be chasing Scotty Buck and others around the gym. It looks like a nice school with a senior laden team that can shoot. Dangerous.

"In Division 3A, Elsinore stunned No.5 seed Laguna Beach, 52-39, behind a game-high 15 points from Aaron Davis, who was an all-Riverside County linebacker in football. The Tigers have always played tough defense, and they held Laguna Beach's Cheyne Martin to 10 points, nearly 20 under his average."

And here are some photos of the Elsinore (Wildomar) Tigers in action. For some reason I can't get some of the photos to post. You can find them all here.

Here is a good Pilot article on the game tonight. This is all the Desert Sun could muster:

"Corona Del Mar 70, Palm Springs 52: The Indians' speed worked well in the first half, but the hosts from Corona Del Mar used its size in the second half to pull away for the victory in CIF Division III-A playoff action. Palm Springs trailed by four at the half, but a 22-11 edge in the fourth quarter for Corona Del Mar was the difference. Mike Brown had 18 points for Palm Springs and Trent Wilder added nine points and 11 rebounds. Palm Springs finishes the season 18-8."

We play Elsinore in the quarterfinals. They beat Laguna tonight 52-39 at Laguna. Elsinore is 15-13 and play in the same league as Perris. Elsinore had 7 3's tonight. I think the game is at Elsinore since they have not yet had a home game. I may be wrong on that but my memory is that is how it works. I am sure Coach will correct me if I am wrong.

Sage, Northwood, Capo, Gahr, Edison, and Canyon lost. Harbor, Woodbridge, Santa Margarita, Oxnard, Great Oak, Mater Dei, Artesia, Mission Viejo, and Inglewood won. In our division, Rennaisance beat Paloma Valley 79-66 to go to 25-1 and Serrano beat Nogales 76-54. West Valley, Perris, Santa Fe, and Serrano also won. Calvary Chapel lost. Cathedral City, the #3 seed lost to Serrano. So except for that, it is setting up as expected so far.

The Laguna Super Flea was able to come back from his wrist injury and play for Laguna but he only got 10.

Way to go, boys!! CDM won their first round CIF game this evening, 70-52. One down, three to go. It is a long road so don't get too excited yet.

I walked in in the last couple of minutes of the 3rd to find a huge crowd and a tight game. It was 45-41 in favor of the Sea Kings. There was a smaller crowd on the Palm Springs side which seemed more interested in taunting the CDM fans than who was winning. CDM had a big 4th quarter pounding it inside, getting fouled and making free throws. It was capped off by a beautiful Sean D 3. Joe E was huge with his ball handling, rebounding, and passing. And Stefan and JJ dominated on the boards, blocking at least 4 shots between them in the 4th. Ryan had a couple of crucial offensive rebounds and a very nice bucket.

The nuttiest play I saw was when JJ and the Indians' 5'9" Deandre Goree (more like 5'5") got tangled up after the whistle blew. Deandre got mad and decided to shove JJ. There was nothing else to watch at that moment so everybody, including the refs, got a very good view of what was happening. Not exactly a Phi Beta Kappa foul. Deandre got a T, was thrown out of the game, and Joe E made both his foul shots. Deandre retired to his bench and looked like he was crying. The idiots from Palm Springs started chanting "WHO'S YOUR DADDY" when JJ hit the floor but shut up when they realized the game was over then and there. I guess "WHOSE YOUR BABY" would have been an appropriate cheer back at the PSHS fans. I think it was Eddie, Austin, and Sean who were holding JJ back. If he had mixed it up, he would have gotten a T and would have had to sit out the next game. That would have been really unfortunate. But it worked out and we go forward. Got to keep your cool.

I will post DCP's Pilot article and the Desert Sun article when they appear, along with the winner of the Laguna-Elsinore game.

Here is the Desert Sun's article about the PSHS Indians' win over Whittier. And here are some photos of the Indians' players.

Congratulations to Stefan Kaluz for being named the Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week. And the picture in today's Pilot of the whole team was just great. DCP has redeemed himself. A very nice article that does justice to Stefan. The article is here.

So we play Palm Springs on Friday. The Indians beat Whitter this evening, 59-52.

Renn Academy beat Laguna Hills 62-57 in OT. Calvary got by Apple Valley, 59-47. Harbor beat Riverside Poly 56-40. Costa Mesa got killed by Sultana.

Armon Johnson is averaging 33 points per game this season for Hug High. Anyone surprised? He went for 41 points, including eight 3's, in his last game. He is ridiculous.

NAIA Cal Baptist University from Riverside (with Scott Markley from Estancia) has SWEPT the number one ranked NCAA D-1 BYU volleyball team (with Capo Valley's Robby Stovall). This is equivalent to Al McGuire's "East Cupcake" defeating UCLA.

The scores were 30-25, 30-23 and 31-29. The BYU Cougars said they went with their second team players against a much, much lower ranked team and they got totally smacked by the CBU Lancers. So much for that plan. This is a complete shocker any way you read it. It just goes to show that the ever increasing high school volleyball talent pool has to go somewhere. More D-1 colleges need to add volleyball to their sports programs. The Emperors of D-1 can still pretend that the lower division 4 year colleges and the JC's are so much worse than they are. But not for long.

In this particular case, East Cupcake has an incredible player in Shamsu Awudu. To watch a play from Cal Baptist's Shammy Awudu, go here.

And here is a Pilot story from today about CDM's Economist, Adam Smith, to whom we offer congratulations:

"CDM'S SMITH PICKS UCLA
Corona del Mar High senior Adam Smith, a 6-foot standout on the Sea Kings' boys' volleyball team, has committed to continue his career at UCLA. Becoming a Bruin seemed inevitable for Smith, who will become the eighth member of his family to attend the school. He said he plans to sign his national letter of intent in April. Smith, a second-team All-CIF Southern Section Division II performer last year, is projected to be a libero for the Bruins, the defending national champions. Smith said he was told he could become a difference-maker in the future.
Smith was also second-team All-CIF in Division II in 2005 when the Sea Kings won the section championship. He said he wanted to keep the family tradition going at UCLA. His older sister, Morgan, played for the Bruins and graduated from UCLA in 2005. His other older sister, Jordan, is a sophomore and competes on the women's team. Smith's father, Scott, and his two uncles, Steve and Stuart, also attended UCLA. Smith's has two other uncles and an aunt who were also Bruins."

As you will see on the video, even he can't keep track of the new CIF Divisions, which is understandable given that IIIAA is hard to distinguish from IIAAA or whatever. Let's get back to the old days of D-1, D-2, etc. I think CDM can stand the political correctness baggage of being called D-6. No shame in that. So doth speak the curmudgeon at large.

Fryer is of the mind that if both CDM and Laguna win their first game, Laguna might beat us in the second game. If we make it that far (hopefully) and Laguna makes it that far, Fryer better show up with his note pad, his really good pen, and some ear plugs. CDM-Laguna is personal for some reason. Harbor is a rivalry, Laguna is a blood pledge. Anyone who was there will never forget the fight at CDM three years ago when the "super flea" Kyle Hogan and another Laguna player left the court and headed out the north gym door toward the CDM parking lot in pursuit of Hogan's brother and a bunch of CDM guys. That was off the hook. And, of course, don't forgetThe Shot from two years ago. Just in case you can't remember it, here it is (sorry, I love posting that clip - all three of my kids are in it).

As to Fryer, I personally invited him by e-mail to the Laguna matinee game last year and he took a pass. Getting his car washed, no doubt. It has been my distinct impression that he does not think much of CDM basketball. That worm is turning, or will be turning soon.

In any event, Fryer doesn't give us a chance for a championship on the video. He also thinks Santa Margarita has a tough draw against Tesoro in the first round. Maybe, assuming Tesoro has just imported an entirely new squad from Serbia. Put that one in the Santa Margarita Eagles' win column right now. No need to even show up at the game. The teeny tiny Titans are going down.

And, for a trip down the Tesoro bad memory lane, I hope we never have to play them again with their ridiculous home gym fans. Good riddance. I particularly remember three things about Tesoro over the past few years: JJ's dunk at Tesoro when he was on JV's; Ted scoring the winning basket two years ago at CDM and literally getting thrown into the gym wall by a Tesoro player after the shot; and Shaun Moeller's awesome sub silencio taunting of their out of control crowd when we beat them last year in their own gym. That was the best ever. But enough of that bitterness. Peace to all. Even so, I know Coach Curry would understand.

The irony for me regarding the Register's video is that Steve Fryer is promoting the Mater Dei vs. Artesia game as the hot D-1 championship game. He may be right on that. The odd fact is that Artesia was in our division last year. And we are still happily in D-6. And Gahr, which we should have defeated in the playoffs last year, is also now in D-1, along with Santa Margarita and Tesoro. Hmm.... interesting. I wonder why we never were thought to have a chance to win? Maybe we have been overlooked for some time in the Orange County rankings.

Two years ago, Ted, Scott, Phil Bannan, the Welch brothers, Adam Smith, Shane Collins, Ben Applebee, Brad Stone, Grant Almquist, Blaine Nielsen, Austin Brawner, Chris Reilly, Spencer Brown, Gus Ellis, David Yi, and Sam Stafford won the CIF Volleyball championship for CDM. Living and dying that CIF experience for five weeks, I know that it all comes down to the confidence that you can beat anyone. You really have to believe that. Coaching, preparation and guts count. But you have to know that you can beat anyone you face. If I had been asked if the 2005 volleyball team could win it all when we started out, I would have said "absolutely." I watched them play the entire year and knew they were strong enough to win. I feel exactly the same way about this team. You have a legitimate chance to walk out of CDM with the very rare CIF championship ring. And there is NOTHING better than that. Well, maybe a Porsche Carrera, but no one is giving those away.

Don't leave anything on the court and listen to your coaches. They have gotten you this far. People jammed together on a team, and otherwise, always have issues. Cast those aside. What matters now is the team and only the team. You will win together. Get yanked for a crappy play? Cheer on your substitute. Get out of yourself. It is not about you. It is about the team. When you are given a chance to perform, even if for just one play, give it all you have. If you are lucky enough to win it all, it will not matter if you played the entire year or just one second. You will have the ring. Nobody can take that from you. It is indelible.

Several years ago, Pat Conroy wrote a book about a losing season he experienced on a college basketball team. I read the book. The only thing I remember is something along the lines that "winning teams get together to talk about the past while losing teams never get together again."

And one other thing. To all the parents, this fantastic ride can be, and will be, over in the blink of an eye. Enjoy it while you can. I doubt you will forget even a moment of what is going to happen. It is so exciting.

Here is an article about the Desert Valley League championship game between Palm Springs and Cathedral City, both of whom are in our division.

We finally made it back to the Pilot with a featured article. A little confusing to read but better than nothing.

Thanks to Lori Heinecke, there are new photos posted on the frosh and soph pages.

And Renaissance seems to be a Scientology school or at least draws from L. Ron Hubbard's teaching principles. Here is their website.

Renaissance Academy is 24-1. Their only loss was to Simi Valley. I looked up the school, which is located in La Canada. It is a co-ed K-12 school but only has 150 kids according to their web site. They apparently had a good year last year and made it to the state tournament but in a small school division. I had never heard of them before the polls came out. Here is a Daily News article about them. And here is another and here is one more. I am not sure on the dates on these articles as one appears to be from last season.

Scott's 19th B-Day. He was in a stroller about 2 minutes ago. Enjoy it while you can. I envy the coaches who always have new kids. We parents limit out.

OK, I have heard about blow outs, mismatches, and stomps. But this takes the cake. The sophs, led by Coach Troy Hall, defeated Westminster on Saturday 84-27. YEE-OUCH. That is a wipe out. The Sophs move their record to 14-8. Their last game is against J-Serra this Tuesday at 6:00 at the CDM gym.

I watched a big time college volleyball game tonight in person (Pepperdine v. UCSB) and then watched a big time high school basketball game on TV (Lake Oswego v. Mater Dei).

There were several coincidences in the games. Each game had a big underdog. The favored team had an all star leader who has been heralded by the local media as one of the greatest of all time. The games were both in the favored team's gym with a huge crowd (in the case of Santa Barbara, the biggest crowd in 25 years - for Mater Dei, standing room only in their new state of the art gym). The underdog in both games was playing a team rated higher in the media rankings. The outcome in both games was a foregone conclusion, at least by the local media.

In the college game, the media superstar leader of the ranked team yakked it repeatedly at the crucial moments. In the high school game, the media superstar leader was just missing in action.

Which again goes to show, you can measure the dog in the fight, but you cannot measure the fight in the dog. To steal a phrase. And that is why they play the game, to steal another. I say teams have to be able to rely on their leaders in crunch time.

Taylor King is a fantastic shooter. He can score from anywhere. Other facets of his game need work, including the way he reacts to adversity. Kevin Love is a genuine big time baskeball player in a NFL tackle's body who appears to be the perfect teammate. The giant and 4 gutty midgets. And he makes the midgets great.

What I loved the most about the victory over Mater Dei was the guard play of Lake Oswego. #12 and #5 were both skinny little hustlers who were completely outmatched by Mater Dei's players - on paper at least. And #11 was way overmatched by King and the Wear twins, again on paper, but he found ways to score. Love's stuff of the 7 foot flea Jacobson was the best moment of all. Which Wear twin is Under and which is Outer?

Saw a bunch of familar faces on the TV screen. Most from OLQA days. But there was OUR Sir Chase Pinesett, big as life. I miss him and his happy demeanor.

One other thing. Stefan is not in the Register's top 15 players in OC? Or Joe E? Both of them, along with E Rask and Sean D, are going to be in the top something next year, if the Register shows up to a game or two. So sayeth I. We are on a roll. And I nominate Eddie as the most exciting player in Orange County.

Here is a Pasadena Star News article which mentions Renaissance Academy which is ranked 3 in our CIF Division. These boys need to be scouted as their page on Max Preps is blank.

Up in Santa Barbara for the big volleyball game tomorrow night between Pepperdine and UCSB. So I missed that mess at Irvine. Who drew up this league?

Here is a Pasadena Star News article which mentions Renaissance Academy which is ranked 3 in our CIF Division. These boys need to be scouted as their page on Max Preps is blank.

Clutch, clutch free throws tonight. CDM wins 56-51 in what I would style an ugly hack-a-thon. Laguna Hills just ran around and hacked CDM. Numbers 35 and 36 were pretty good for Laguna Hills but the rest just kept hacking and got away with it for the most part.

Here is the Pilot article. The best CDM article ever written about CDM by "DC wavymark P." It is pretty good and partially makes up for the thrashing he gave Stephan after the Northwood game. He better stick around. There is more to come from the Sea Kings.

We generally did well on their press. They invited us to throw the ball into the corner to get trapped but our guards were able to get it back to the trailer and up the court. Rebounding wasn't our strong point tonight. Butterfingers. I don't know what we shot but I gave up keeping track in the first quarter when we were 2-10. Not too good. We missed a bunch of cripples. But Sean D. came through with a HUGE bucket in crunch time. I thought for a second that it was short but it was all net. Never question #15. That was what Coach Curry called a "just a basketball play by a basketball player." Great clutch shot.

An exciting game complete with two fantastic blocks and another Joe E to Eddie alley-oop. Eddie better start paying Joe for those passes! The crowd went nuts over the Austin block, more nuts over the Eddie block, and then close to insane over the alley-oop. If Stefan had jammed his last bucket, instead of making the safe play, we might have had to call 911. That was what I expect the energy of a high school game to be.

Congratulations to the team and the coaches for a completely entertaining evening. My brother-in-law Tom came to the game. When it was over he said he had not expected to see a WWF match. He also commented on the quickness and defensive intensity of CDM.

It was senior night tonight. It does go fast. High fives to Ryan, Austin, JJ, Jake, and Eddie. The first four were freshman two minutes ago and I wish Eddie had been here from the beginning. I thought it was pretty cool for Coach to start the seniors in their final game and stick with them. Thanks to all of you for the many hours of practice and the determination to make it all the way to varsity. And a ring would be the final touch. Just ask the Welch boys.

Did anyone see that screen set by the ref on Austin's breakaway? That was the same guy who caught the errant pass and then gave the ball back to Laguna Hills. I am not sure of what that rule might be but it just shows why basketball is such a great game. Anything can happen.

I had a chance to speak to Coach Troy Hall tonight and he was very happy with the development of the Soph team. I will wait for the report from my correspondent, Kathy Cole, but I thought I heard from "Turn and Burn" Brent Ogden that they had won tonight, which would make them 12-8. Good job, Coach.

The LHHS coach and the lady at the scorer's table were all over the place tonight and the Hawks reflected that odd energy.

I had a huge laugh over the imitation that the CDM crowd was making of the parent on the Laguna Hills side. I also enjoyed the Jake Lemmerman half-court shot at half-time. He must have had good training when he was just a little guy in NJB. Gee, I wonder who that might have been?

Game of the year on Wednesday at the CDM gym against Laguna Hills. We are going to shock them.

Ted's Irvine Valley College volleyball team opened their season on Saturday by beating Utah Valley College in the championship game of the Long Beach tournament. The Lasers played very well and did not lose a game in the 16 team field. The IVC libero is Shaun Grubbs from Newport Harbor.

Scott's UCSB volleyball team beat Long Beach State on Friday and beat UCSD on Saturday.

#1 UCI lost to Pepperdine in 3 while USC beat UCLA in 3. Jamie Diefenbach and Brett Perrine from Newport Harbor play for UCLA.

Just in passing, UCLA volleyball won the national championship last year. They are presently 1-5 in league. They lost to USC on Saturday night 3-0. That would be the same USC team who lost to D-II UCSD this past week.

What an unmerciful beating. I have seen some wipe outs in my life, but that might just take the cake. We were up by 50 at one point with a running clock. Complete, total, and utter mastery of Beckman.

In my view, good teams dominate the lesser teams while pretenders play down to the lesser teams, No such worries about this squad. Everybody played well. I half expected E Rask out there pumping up a jumper or two. Or maybe even the strength guy.

Kudos to Jake, Ryan, Joe "3" E, Ali, Joey J, and Kevin for particularly good games. Joe E was on fire.

Let's keep that one in the memory bank for the Laguna Hills game on Wednesday. I have heard tale what happened in the first game with Laguna Hills. That is not happening again. They will be lucky to get out of our gym alive. And they may be set upon and attacked by all of our 7 CDM student fans. By the way, again, where are the CDM students? At one point only Adam Smith and his girlfriend were sitting in the student section. Incredible.

CORONA DEL MAR — Sea Kings junior Joe Eberhard had 20 points, including five three-pointers, to lead CdM, ranked No. 5 in CIF Southern Section Division III-A, in the Pacific Coast League home game Friday. Stefan Kaluz added 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Sea Kings (15-7, 4-1 in league), who led, 38-9, at halftime. Corona del Mar plays host to first-place Laguna Hills (4-0 in league) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Pacific Coast League
Corona del Mar 70, Beckman 23
Score by Quarters

3-pt. goals -- Greenbaum 2, Arambulo 1.

Corona del Mar -- Eberhard 20, Kaluz 12, Meshkin 10, Lane 7, Anderson 7, Donovan 5, Jones 4, Campbell 3, Rask 2.

3-pt. goals -- Eberhard 5, Campbell 1, Donovan 1.

Good luck tomorrow in the scheduled ritual slaying of Beckman. Uni beat them by just 2. We need to beat them by 20+. Or even more.

One thing is stuck in my craw. Stefan Kaluz is the best basketball player in the Newport Mesa area, bar none. And there are a couple of CDM kids right behind him on the list of best players. Nobody on any other Newport Mesa team is even close. Wouldn't you think Stefan, or somebody on our team, would be honored by the Pilot as the Athlete of the Week? Just wondering.

One other thing is bugging me. I went to a UCI game this week at the Bren. The student cheering section, which has some weird name like the CIA or something or other, is just a bunch of weenies wearing yellow shirts and yapping non stop. They mainly try to make fun of the players on the other team. "You have a big head, #14" isn't really that funny after 5 or 6 reps. I don't think they get the game. Maybe they should try to throw out a few odd ball equations or a killer formula which would really make all the eggheads in the crowd go wild. It is a science festival. Mainly, I would tell the CIA, or whatever they are called, to get a mirror out and take a look at how they are acting. That would be really funny. And the recent graduates are worse than the current students (I guess the new job is not working out as well as could be hoped so we have to come back and try to make fun of some student athletes). It is embarrassing for UCI Athletics. If I was made king for a day, I would throw the loudmouths out of the Bren. Well......if I was king for a day, maybe I would award myself $10M instead. I would still be upset at the idiots at the Bren but I would be on my yacht.

Thanks to a tip from Coach, here is the latest poll from our division. We have crawled up to fifth. The key in CIF seeding is to make it to one or two but that might be hard given the records of the teams ahead of us:

Where ever we end up, we can compete in this division. Serrano looks like a tough team and Cat City looks that way as well based on who they have played. Laguna has lost Cheyne "the Double Flea" Martin which is a huge blow and they may drop. Ren Academy looks like Sage Hill based on who they are playing. So let's leave them where they are.

I could see us moving up in the rankings a couple of spots before the playoffs assuming we play like we are capable of playing. So, Franchise, JJ, Headband, Fast E, Sean D, Joe E, and the rest of you, let's blow the doors off Laguna Hills and be done with it all. OK? We have bigger fish to fry than those LH Hawks (or birdies to filet or whatever.......you get it). No mercy.

Hopefully without jinxing the team, I think we have a legitimate chance to win a CIF Championship for the first time in 7 or so years. You heard it here first.

And one other thing, even though I just said no mercy. I thought the last few minutes of the Uni game were a total class act for CDM. Good for the coaches. Always proud to be associated with CDM (assuming JJ loses that blue headband for good.)

Coach Shac advises that the Huntington Beach game has been moved to February 10 at 5:30 pm. Mark your calendars for what should be a great game and tremendous tune up for playoffs.

Tremendously entertaining game tonight. I think the final was 86-59 but I am not sure. I will post the final when the Pilot article is posted. It was 58.

As to the game, the switch to man to man was timely and we really never looked back from that point. Ryan A did a great job on Uni's #33 in the 3rd quarter.

Another Eddie alley-oop, a Stefan dunk, a Sean swat block, a nice hook in the lane by Ali, a couple of K Rask buckets, and domination on the boards. What more could you ask for?

The best thing I have seen in a long time is right here, the latest CIF poll. With the realignment, we no longer have Artesia, Gahr, and Santa Margarita in our division. Now we have a bunch of little schools. We are division III-A.

That guy sitting under the basket at the Irvine game was a Max Preps photographer. Here is the link to see what he shot. Some pretty amazing photos.

UCSB Volleyball beat UCLA 3-2 tonight after UCSB dropped the first two games 31-33 and 27-30. UCSB goes to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in league. Defending National Champ UCLA falls to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in league. Scott says the UCSB gym was totally insane. He could barely talk on the phone. How great is college? I want to go back.

1. Where are the CDM fans? That was a pathetic turnout. This is the best team that CDM has had in many years and it deserves better support.

2. Two alley-oop dunks by Eddie Lane on passes by Joe Eberhard in one game? Unbelievable. I would like to ask Coach Orris if that has happened in the CDM gym in the past 30 years.

3. How can Irvine be so bad when Northwood, Woodbridge, and Uni have been so good in the last few years?

4. Whoever was in charge of this year's program should take a bow. It is great. And the $5 charge will discourage fans from littering the gym with programs. Assuming we get any fans. The best quote was from the 6'7," 250 pound freshman who said his favorite food was "pretty much everything."

5. Congratulations to the team and the coaches for dominating a team that had no business being on the same court as CDM. It is exactly what you needed to do.

6. The Joey Jones entourage went wild when he made a spectacular bucket in the lane.

7. Jake Campbell passed up an open 3 to make a pass, much to the consternation of his teammates and many of the fans who were yelling for the patented "Campbell 3."

Corona del Mar 71, Irvine 29 CORONA DEL MAR — In his return after sitting out the previous game because of receiving two technical fouls Friday, 6-foot-9 center Stefan Kaluz scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the Sea Kings to the Pacific Coast League victory Wednesday. Joe Eberhard finished with 10 points, six rebounds and two dazzling alley-oop lobs to guard Eddie Lane, who easily threw them down for CdM (13-7 overall, 2-1 league). John Joyce added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Sea Kings, who will play host to University in a league game Friday at 7:30 p.m. Coach Ryan Schachter said point guard Austin Evett might return after he injured his ankle last week.

Pacific Coast League
Corona del Mar 71,
Irvine 29

Score by Quarters

Irvine -- Herzog 13, Young 5, Ahmed 5, Orozco 2, Watkins 2, Metrakos 2.
3-pt. goals -- Herzog 3, Ahmed 1.
Corona del Mar -- Kaluz 22, Eberhard 14, Joyce 10, Jones 8, Lane 6, Meshkin 4, Campbell 4, Anderson 3.
3-pt. goals -- Eberhard 2, Jones 1.

This is kind of amazing. It is a post that appeared this evening on the Pilot website:

"Steve Burgess wrote on January 17, 2007 9:49 AM:"My son Caleb Burgess scored 24 points in the Varsity victory over Costa Mesa on Tuesday. Caleb played Baseball, Basketball and Soccer with many of the players on Estancia and Costa Mesa. Now that we are in the new Orange Coast League and subscribe to your paper I would appreciate a little more coverage of Calvary Chapel. One last note...we have been rated as high as 18th in THE O.C. this year and hope to surpass that by year end. Thank You "

I just read the Register's top 10 and Steve Fryer's 11-25 for boy's basketball. Maybe it is a misprint, but I did not see CDM anywhere. We really are inching, or maybe crawling, our way into the OC elite. I sent the following to Steve Fryer at the Register:

Regarding the top 10 and your 11-25 for basketball, you left out CDM. We have already played 6 of the top 25 teams and our record against those teams is as follows:

Beat Mission Viejo (your #4) by 3 without our starting center and starting point guard.

"Your timing is excellent ... I was kicking myself, hard, last night while
watching CdM beat MV last night ... CdM loses by one point to Laguna Hills,
and that gets them booted out of the top 25??? That's wrong, Fryer."

Pacific Coast League
Corona del Mar, which fell to Northwood by a point, has already shown why it is the league favorite. Laguna Hills will be looking to overcome a slow start and compete for a league championship. University might be in the same boat. Pacific Coast league play begins on Wednesday. If Laguna Hills can play more like it did in its recent three-game win streak, its game against Corona del Mar should be this league’s premier game this week.

Laguna Hills took the first step in turning its season around when it beat league favorite Corona del Mar. The Hawks edged the Sea Kings by a point behind Duane Salinas’ 24 points. Leading scorer Garrett Fritz had 16 points for Laguna Hills. This week it plays Beckman and University but the league title might come down to its rematch with Corona del Mar on the last day of January.

I think the saying is good teams find a way to win. Tonight, your Sea Kings found that way.

The "Franchise" was banned from the gym (who, by the way, will henceforward be referred to as "Mr. Double T") and the "Headband" was injured and could not play.

Ryan Anderson and Eddie Lane both went for 13 and JJ scored 15 to lead the Sea Kings to a victory over the #6 ranked team in Orange County. Did you read that? The #6 team in Orange County!

That is big. Joe Eberhard had 8 points and 10 rebounds, JJ had 10 rebounds, and Sean Donovan had 6 rebounds.

Gutty, gutty deal. Congratulations to the team and the coaches. We are still slowly inching our way into the OC basketball elite but this was a huge inch.

This may be a surprise, but we have just 7 games left to go in the regular season. So let's build on this win, play like you can, and clobber the PCL teams. No mercy. Really, D up and no mercy.

Here is the Daily Pilot's article, once again written by the estimable DC wavy mark P. For some reason he loves to describe Coach with action words. Tonight, Coach was "livid."

I might have a few action words in my satchel to describe DCP's writing style but I will hold my tongue for now. I would, however, observe that I thought a reporter was supposed to report facts. Are the following facts or DCP's interpretations? "Schachter knew he could rely on his makeshift lineup" and "Mission Viejo's Coach Troy Roelen soon learned he couldn't count on his team." That last one will be really good for the MVHS team morale.

In any event, after digging through the various hyper-adjectives in the Pilot article, I would like to congratulate Ryan Anderson for his performance tonight. A truly fine young man who deserves any success that might come his way.

After watching tonight's game, I would be my observation that CDM has one heck of a good basketball team. The defensive intensity is way up and the guards did a great job with the ball, especially the "Headband." I told Stefan if he had hit that last shot, it would have been the second greatest shot in CDM history. I was also wondering how you can knock down a pass, pick it up, heave a 3, miss it, and then fall down, all with one second on the clock? The CDM timekeeper needs a raise.

I am going to leave the following up in case any of Rob Rask's friends from Washington want to take a look at his kids playing basketball. Here is the Seattle Times article about Rob. Be sure to click on the links in the article.

Here is a pretty interesting Seattle Times article about Erik and Kevin's dad. Be sure to click on the links in the article. I never throw anything away.

CDM did lose to Palisades on Thursday but bounced back to defeat Washington's Tacoma Lincoln on Friday 63-55. Stefan got 22 and Eddie had 16.

Big game on Wednesday against Northwood at CDM at 7:00 pm. They have the big kid Jessee, the driver O'Brien, and the shooter Avner. Tough team and a good warm up for league. Northwood was moved to the Sea View League this year so this is not a league game for us. The Timberwolves are 9-5 (I think but one game is missing from MaxPreps) but lost to Santa Margarita by just 2 and beat Los Al, Tesoro, and Woodbridge. So even without the Santa Margarita Flea, they are tough.

If I have this correct, CDM lost to Palisades yesterday and will be playing Lincoln, Washington for 7th place today in the Santa Barbara tournament. Here is an article about the tournament but no mention of CDM.

Here is another article about the tournament. The game today is against Palisades at 5:30.

Here is an article from the Oxnard paper about yesterday's game. CDM lost 62-47 to drop to 8-4.

Here is an article from the SB paper on the Carpinteria game and the rest of the tournament. The paper says Stefan got 27.

CDM wins its first round game against Carpinteria this afternoon. Next game is tomorrow at 5:30 against the Oxnard Yellowjackets at SB High School. Early details of today's game are here. Stefan got 25 and Joe Eberhard scored 11. Good job, boys. Keep it up.

Good Luck to the Sea Kings in the Santa Barbara Tournament which kicks off tomorrow.

And, by the way, I have always loved the nickname "Sea Kings." Not too big on the "Sea Queens" or the "Sea Weeds" but the "SEA KINGS" is way, way cool.

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and Santa brought you what you wanted. I had a little trouble. Got a CD and looked in the case. No CD.....nice case, but no CD. As usual, Mr. Popular.

And what is up with Uni? They are 2-8 and lost to Costa Mesa in their last game. Not being a big Uni fan, I am not too sorry but they need to get in gear.

Here is an article about our first round opponent, Carpenteria, and the tourney host, Santa Barbara.

How about this great article about our BB/FB players? I included Ford Noe because he played BB last year and, drum roll, I coached him in NJB when he was in the 7th grade. Great kid.

I like following along with the players we have seen over the past five years. My favorite is Reno Hug High's Armon Johnson. For anyone who saw him last year, here is the latest quote from an absolute legit D-1 player who can score 40 against anyone:

Get out your video from last year and look at the pass he made against us, which drew gasps at the banquet, and the shots he made. He is going to attend Nevada Reno next year to stay close to home. It may be that he will turn out to be just like the rest, but I doubt it. I personally have never seen a kid that can score from that far out that easily. It was a joke. I keep telling Scott that his block on Armon's dunk will end up being a classic. And I have it on tape. ESPN will be begging for it.

Train, New Found Glory, Hinder, Guster, All American Rejects, The Fray, Bowling for Soup, Jack’s Mannequin, the Killers, Saving Jane, Snow Patrol, Weezer, Cobra Starship, Bon Jovi, Fall Out Boys, Shinedown, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Sugarcult, Billy Idol.

How great was that photo in the Daily Plot of Fast Eddie? That was a keeper for the scrapbook. I am a bit unclear as to how we ended up with him on our team this year (maybe karma for the E Rask injury) but I will take it whatever the reason. At least he did not transfer from Santa Margarita.

So the team is off to Santa Barbara for their third tournament of the year. I think they are ready for a breakout performance. 'Nuf said on that in case I jinx them.

I have added an Alum tab to the left. John Fairbanks is the first link. That is one good boy who was in large part responsible for how well the team did last year.

Did I see Erik marching across the court with a red American Girl bag at the Troy game? Yeow. It was his dad's fault.

Sorry about the Sophomores and Frosh. No info here. If anyone has the roster or pictures or whatever, send them to me at [email protected] and I will post them.

Finally, Pepper the Popular Pug, who allegedly can say "Mama," wants you to look at this:

If it is possible to be entertained in a loss, that was the game. Really a fantastic spectator game. Relentless pace and pressure. Back and forth. Lots of good plays. Elation and heartbreak. We handled the Troy press well for the most part but then really, really flopped in the overtime. No excuse but I thought we tired in the 4th and gave them a way back. And once they got rolling, the emotion took over. So next time, step on their neck and don't let up.

Ted filmed this evening. As soon as we get the server out of the shop, we will post some video.

That one ref is a former NJB ref who we called the "wrong way ref." He gets virtually every call wrong. He was also one of the refs at the CDM-Lynwood game a few years ago when the police were called to control some fans who were threatening to strangle him. For one time, I am not exaggerating. Everyone but Gail, Kate, and I got thrown out of the gym in the 4th quarter. Gail and I were scoring so we got to stay and Kate started crying when they asked her to leave so the police took pity on her and let her stay with us. But everyone else who was not a coach or player got tossed out of the gym by the police.

So that same guy did John Joyce in tonight with a couple of really bad calls (I did think the first call when John fouled the kid and then proceeded to pound him to the floor was a foul) but the refs are just part of the game. He made some bad calls against Troy as well.

At the risk of being called a cheerleader, it is my view that this CDM team is very, very good and it will get better. I have not seen CDM play since the Inglewood game but noticed immediately that the intensity level is way up. I was very impressed with the offensive play of Fast Eddie and the overall play of Joe Eberhard. And the two free throws by the Franchise with 5 seconds to go were clutch. Ryan Anderson's steal and layup in the 2nd half were fantastic. A great play. Oh well.

CDM vs Fullerton's 8-3 Troy High School at the CDM gym today Wednesday the 20th. The JV's tip off against Troy at 5:45, followed by the Varsity at 7:30.

In what has to be the strangest tournament path ever, CDM finished third today in the Great Oak Southwest Shootout as a result of a 56-46 win over a tough 7-1 Temecula Chaparral High team. Ouch. What might have been.

Eddie "Money in the" Lane, aka Fast Eddie, went for a CDM career high of 18. The Franchise had 11 and the rest of the scoring was spread out. Sean was 7-8 from the line.

And may I repeat once again, the VIBE or the BUZZ or whatever you want to call it is on with CDM Basketball. You can feel it. That's right, So Cal. Read it and weep. CDM is back in a big way.

Here is a story about the Great Oak win over Paloma (Looking for the Exit Ramp) Valley. They finish 5th or 6th. Great plan. San Gorgonio High will play the Great Oak Twigs in the final. Check here for the story. I grew up near San Gorgonio and I cannot believe that little wide spot in the road has enough people to field a decent basketball team.

UPDATE: LITTLE WIDE SPOT LOSES, THE TWIGS WIN: This is from the LA Times noting the big perfomances yesterday:

Gerard Glass and Bryant Taylor, Great Oak: Glass had 20 points and Taylor added 19 in a 74-71 over San Gorgonio in the championship game of the Murrieta Valley/Great Oak tournament. Alex Jacobs led San Gorgonio with 25 points.

Update: Here is the Pilot article about today's game. Stefan makes All-Tourney. And that makes three. I will bet the organizers had a hard time figuring out what to do with a team that almost beat the host, whomped Notre Dame, beat Cajon, got promoted to the 3rd place game, and then throttled the darlings from Chaparral. If my calculations are correct, the Twigs from Great Oak were 4-0, San Gorgonio was 3-1, CDM was 3-1 and Chaparral was 3-1 (and lost to us). From afar, I hope Fast Eddie got some recognition from the tournament fathers for his play.

What might have been will be. So sayeth I. And if the Twigs were to seed that tourney again, CDM would be far away from Great Oak. They were lucky this time.

Next game is CDM vs Fullerton's 8-3 Troy High School at the CDM gym this Wednesday. The JV's tip off against Troy at 5:45, followed by the Varsity at 7:30.

If you check out the Junior Varsity tab to the left you will see that they are having a good year so far. Zach Mauer-Erickson is averaging almost 18 per game and the Big Fella, Steven Gallian, is averaging 13.6.

I was going to tell you all to check out the JV roster to see what Hunter Alder had posted but it got taken down in the last day or so. It was pretty funny.

CDM wins in overtime 61-59, dropping San Bernardino Cajon in the third round of the Great Oak Southwest Shootout this afternoon.

The "Franchise" got 23, the "Stiletto" got 16, and "Air Eddie," or as Scott wants me to call him, the "Scott Stuffee," got 14. Too cool. It is incredible to see a team that anyone can score 10 and more on a given night. Wait until you all score 10 in one game. It could happen.

So we apparently get a rematch with 8-1 Chapparal at 6:00 pm on Monday at Murietta Valley High. They lost for the first time this season today to 9-0 San Gorgonio (the high school, not the mountain). In an odd development, Paloma Valley was supposed to play Chapparal for 3rd place on Monday. However, those teams have played each other twice already, with Chapparal winning the first by 20 and the second by 12. So to avoid a third beating, Paloma took the exit ramp and traded their place in the 3rd place game for our place in the 5th place game. As I said, an odd tournament. Last year we lost to Edison 3 times early but we got better each time and almost beat them the last time we played. It was painful but I thought it was good for us to have to play them repeatedly.

Chapparal beat us at the Estancia tourney last year. Big guys in green uniforms pouring it in from the outside was the nail in our coffin that day. But, of course, we were trying to beat them from the 3 pt line as well. Their big guys were skinny. They also had a good ball handling guard who could penetrate. They were a good team and they spanked CDM.

And if I might,I am watching Canyon defeat the #1 High School football team in the country, Concord De La Salle, in the California State D-1 Football Championship. It is a thrill to see the underdog Canyon, who allegedly didn't deserve to be in the game, beat DLS soundly.

In that regard, Nick Goodspeed of OLQA fame, was great tonight for Palo Alto in the DII game even though his team lost. The kid has heart.

Per Coach S, game 3 of the Southwest Shootout is today (Saturday) at 4:30 at Murietta Valley High School. Click here for directions to the game.

I will confess that I cannot figure this tournament out from the tournament bracket and who is supposed to play whom. The local paper is reporting that Great Oak vs. Paloma is one-semifinal today and Chapparal vs. San Gorgonio is the other semi. But the brackets say the Blue Pool plays the White Pool on Saturday, Great Oak is in the Blue Pool, and Paloma is in the Black Pool. So I would just be guessing about the opponent today. The paper was wrong the other day so maybe they are wrong again.

Back on track. CDM defeats Riverside Notre Dame 64-49 last night in round 2 of the Southwest Shootout. Game stats show everyone who played scored. Three players in double figures for scoring; Stefan, Sean, and John at 18, 12, 10 respectively. Joe had 9. Checking the stats from the Great Oak game, it would appear the Californian article was way off.

As far as the next game, Great Oak plays Riverside Notre Dame tonight. So, I think, we will end up either Blue 2 if Great Oak wins or everyone will be tied for Blue 1 at 1-1 if Riverside ND wins. The bracket says tie breakers are determined by points, quarters won, and coin flips. I get we are +12 on points and +4 on quarters. So a close game won by Riverside and the teams splitting the quarters is the desired result. If that happens, we are in the winner's bracket. If not, down to the lower bracket. But either way the Saturday game will be at 4:00 pm or 4:30 pm. Go Riverside ND!

I think the above is correct. Email me at [email protected] if a correction is needed.

Here are the directions to Great Oak which is located at 32555 Deer Hollow Wy Temecula, CA 92592. Click Here

Sorry to say that CDM fell to Great Oak this afternoon 62-59. The article is here. Not quite sure who Dustin Koppel might be. Sounds like we had a chance to win in the last few seconds. According to the article, two players scored 25 each for Great Oak. Is that possible when the team scores 62 total?

Found the line score and just posted it with the article. If it is correct, one guy from Great Oak got 25 and the other got 24. Hard to believe. Also, it looks like CDM stormed back in the 4th. Dustin apparently plays for Great Oak. Stefan had 3 3's? Is there some kind of time warp when you cross the Riverside County line? Joe E had 17. Good for him.

Tomorrow's game is at 4:30 at Great Oak against Notre Dame (which I presume is the Riverside variety, not the Sherman Oaks ND).

Nice Daily Pilot article on Coach S is here.DCP redeems himself slightly. I doubt Coach is thinking much of this tonight.

CDM's Ashley Kirby is the Pilot Athlete of the Week. Congrats to her. The article is here.

Here are the directions to the school which is located at 32555 Deer Hollow Wy Temecula, CA 92592.

Uni got spanked tonight by Santa Margarita, 93-50. Zach "these boots are made for transferring" Zaragosa got 40. Can't say I am too sorry the score got run up on Uni as they are famous for doing so themselves. But I hate fleas.

Tomorrow 12/13/06 at 3:00 pm CDM will play its first game in the Great OakTourney against Great Oak at Great Oak. Great, no joak. sorry

Here are the directions to the school which is located at 32555 Deer Hollow Wy Temecula, CA 92592.

Santa Margarita beat Tesoro (too bad) 59-34. Zack "I am fleeing Northwood for SMCHS" Zaragoa got 14.

Laguna beat Sunny Hills 60-44. Cheyne "I am fleeing Laguna for SMCHS and then fleeing SMCHS for Laguna" Martin got 33.

A little off topic but I learned today that the quarterback of Palo Alto High School which will be playing Orange Lutheran on Saturday for the California State Championship in DII happens to be none other than Newport's own Nick Goodspeed. The Goodspeeds lived in Irvine Terrace until a job transfer sent them to Palo Alto. Nick was in Scott's class at OLQA and a really great kid. He and Scott were the pitchers on the world's worst Triple A Little League team in the 5th or 6th grade. I am trying to forget that experience. Awesomely bad team. Here is a link to the story about the Nor Cal Championship game:

His coach is quoted as saying "Goodspeed was unbelievable,' Hansen said. 'He kept his poise and made great plays." Good for Nick. But an uphill deal against Orange Lu.

The vibe is ON for CDM Basketball. See if I am not right. So let's show everyone else.

If anyone was thinking that high school will never end, just look at this web site:

Be sure to look at Shaun Mohler's picture. It is funny now but the way the seniors welcomed Shaun when he was brought up from the JV's doomed the team. Shaun wouldn't even play the next year which doomed that team as well. I am sure someone got a big kick out of drawing that picture but the last laugh will be Shaun's. As they say, he who laughs last, laughs hardest. It is a good lesson for any team.

And not to say I am bitter, but we would have won the Harbor game in 2003 if Brett Hirata had gotten the ball as time ran out. He was wide open, clapping his hands, and was on fire. But someone, who shall remain nameless, looked right at him and decided to do something else which included turning the ball over. Odd dynamic in those days.

Oh, and by the way, in case no one noticed, the 2006 Varsity alumni team whomped the 2004 Varsity alumni team in the tournament this summer. A lot of whiners on that 2004 team. "LEG CRAMP!!!" I wonder if they understand why it mattered to the 2006 guys? Probably not.

So make the most of this year. Do your best. Have fun. Treat everybody with respect. Get to know the freshmen and say hi to them in the halls. This whole thing goes fast and it won't come again. In 3 years, the freshman midgets will be as big as you are today and they will remember how you treated them. And how will you want them to remember you?

If you click on the links at the bottom of the Sea King 2003-2004 web site, there is a reference to Newport Harbor's Jamie Diefenbach who is now playing for UCLA both in basketball and volleyball. He already has an NCAA ring for volleyball and is apparently trying to get one for basketball. He is down at the end of the bench but he is wearing a UCLA jersey. A self-made athlete if there ever was one. I admire the kid.

For any link challenged people, here are the Google Map directions to Great Oak High School.

If you see Coach Bryan Cottriel, late of Newport Harbor and who is now the head volleyball coach at Great Oak, give him our best. He coached Scott's team to a bronze medal this past summer in Minnesota at the USA Volleyball Junior Olympics (the famous "JOs")..

Check out this picture. You will recognize at least two guys. Sorry, the dad in me. Love the hair on the guy next to Scott.

Front Row: Charles Bell (Asics Rainbows), Nicholas Castello (Asics Rainbows)
Middle Row: Scott Slaughter (Tar 18’s), Tommy Grandy (Riptides 18 Orange OC), MVP – Austin Pfingst (Riptides 18 Orange OC), James Anderson (Riptides 18 Orange OC), Phil Burton (Riptides 18 Orange OC)
Back Row: Richard Teixeria (SOVA 18 Gold), Mike Cleary (SOVA 18 Gold), Matt Figiel (SOVA 18 Gold), Ted Slater (Tar 18’s), Joe Kauliakamoa (Molten Warriors), Tyler Laurin (Juggernaut)
Not Pictured: Dave Reilly (WSY 18 Soul), Doug Spots (Cinci Attack 18 Black)

Just posted the first video for this year. Click on the Varsity tab to the left.

Ted showed me a new compression scheme which I used on these clips and it will allow me to post longer clips. I will go back and make these longer and add some clips from the second half which will be better than these.

Click on the bigger screen to watch these in a larger size but you will lose detail

Congratulations to the team! The Sea Kings defeated Aliso Niguel 47-37 to finish 3rd in the 37th annual La Quinta Aztec Classic. Stefan had 14 and 12 while Eddie had 11 points and 6 steals. Stefan and John Joyce were named All-Tournament. How great is that? So that is Stefan's second all tournament team. He was named all tournament last year in the Reno Nugget Classic as well. Inglewood beat Servite 56-53 to win the championship.

I will post the Daily Pilot article as soon as it appears on the Pilot web site. There is also a long article about the local coaching changes written by DCP.

On to Great Oak and possible rematches with both Norco and Chapparal both of whom we played in last year's Estancia tournament (we beat Norco and lost to Chapparal).

I added links to Max Preps for CDM, CDM stats and the Pacific Coast League standings.

Just read the Daily Pilot summary of yesterday's game against Inglewood. It is posted to the left and I hope everyone reads it.

I don't know who David Carrillo Peñaloza might be but he wasn't watching the same game I was watching or listening to the same coach Gail was listening to. Maybe he went on a smoke break, had a cell call, had a writer's block moment, or something. I will give him the benefit of the doubt this time only.

You have my view of the game below. Gail is an observer par excellance of any athletic sporting event, especially basketball. She sat behind the team bench tonight, specifically to observe the new coaches and how they handle the team. She could not have been more complimentary on the drive home about the team dynamic, how Ryan and Jason behaved, and how they coached the team. And that was after a loss.

So to read in our local paper that Coach S "didn't know what to do next," followed by Coach S blaming the loss on the fact that CDM was "soft," or saying his team "didn't want to be here" has to be a joke. CDM was down by 21 and cut it to 4 with 2 minutes to go after a hellacious half of shooting by Inglewood. Hello? "Soft?" A soft team cuts a 21 point lead to 4 and almost wins against what the writer styles as a "perennial CIF Southern Section title contender?"

"But when Austin Evett admitted the team mentally couldn't perform, it made sense why Schachter said, 'we didn't want to be here.' The play showed as a handful of Inglewood guards, no taller than 6-foot, beat guys five to nine inches taller to rebounds. When they didn't, they stole the ball away from CdM."

I am sure David Carrillo Peñaloza is a literary genius but someone should point out to him that the second sentence of that little ditty doesn't make sense. Also, I very much doubt that he actually knows Austin Evett or what he is about. I happen to know Austin. He may not have had the greatest game of his career tonight, but I will put my money on him anytime. Austin will listen to Coach S (even if Coach is so incredibly histrionically challenged on the sidelines that he does not know what to do according to DCP), will learn, and in the end will show us all how good he can really be. Ridiculous effort covering CDM varsity basketball by the Pilot.

Went to the Inglewood game tonight. The Sea Kings were blown off the court and almost out of Orange County in the first quarter. By my count, "The Wood" shot 11 for 14 in the first. It was 8-0 before we got a shot off. I think we were down by 18 at half and the lead was stretched to 21 early in the 3rd. I thought I heard some cars starting in the La Quinta High parking lot. But then, CDM started the slow climb back into the game. Inglewood predictably cooled off, mainly to the stifling man-to man D on their super hot shooter who eventually got taken out of the game, and we kept pounding it inside. And with 2 minutes to go, we were within 4. Get rid of 3 turnovers, calm down, and CDM wins that game.

Since I don't have a kid on the team, I hope I can be a bit more dispassionate than in years past. So with that said, I think this is already a really good team and it will just get better and better. This particular game might have been a loss but in the long run, I think it will be a turning point for team confidence. Inglewood is a really good team and very well coached. They have a definite concept. They are quick, run, press, jump, were disciplined in the 4th, and had a shooter who was on fire. If they had some size, they would be lethal. We got smoked early. Maybe it was jitters, as I saw someone signaling at half-time, but I don't think so. Inglewood was just on fire early in the first half. We adjusted and got back in the game. If we take care of the ball, we win. The odd thing is that the press didn't bother us much. The turnovers were of the "you have to be kidding me" variety after the press was broken. But we learn. The goal, as always, is to win league and then get as far into the CIF as possible. If the stars are lined up, who knows? It will be fun with this well coached group.

I don't want to be a personal cheerleader, and Coach might hammer me for any comments in this regard, but I thought Joey Jones performed very well tonight as did Joe Eberhard and Sean Donovan. These are three kids who have never played at the varsity level, were faced with a very good team with a pressing defense, and they took care of business. Good for you guys. I am sure Coach will have a much better analysis but that is what I thought from the cheap seats.

It looks like the Sea Kings play Aliso Niguel at 6:30 pm on Saturday for 3rd place in the tournament. Servite will play "The Wood" for the championship at 8:00 pm.

Laguna beat the Daily Pilot's favorite team tonight. The favorite team would be, of course, Sage Hill School. Sage really bit the dust. The score was 80-33 in favor of Laguna. Yeow!!.

I am sitting here patiently. Well, if you count asking everyone to call anyone they can think of to find out what happened tonight, I am sitting patiently.

Hey, OC Varsity just posted the results from tonight's game against the vaunted Edison High of Huntington Beach. And for the first time in my very long and unhappy memory, I am thrilled to say the following about a CDM-Edison basketball game:

As I told Coach Schachter the other day, I don't remember ever beating Edison while my boys played on any level in the past 5 years. In fact, the varsity lost to them 3 times last year and if I remember correctly, 2 times the year before. Why we kept playing them is a bit of a mystery but we did and kept on losing. Even the baby sitting in the coach's lap was laughing at us.

So a HUGE congrats to the team, especially the seniors who will remember this the most.

I have posted the local newspaper articles on the tab to the left and will keep that up. Edison's results are a bit weak tonight but I will get the Pilot article this evening. I don't have any way to keep stats this year for all of you that have asked but I will post whatever Coach S asks me to put up. He, of course, being THE MAN.

From what I can tell, we will play Inglewood at 6:30 on Friday night at La Quinta High. Be there. I will ask Ted to film some footage and post it for all to see. La Quinta is, of course, the site of the slightly famous "Doran Does It" video from last year....OK, nobody saw the video but I liked it.

CLICK HERE for tonight's line when Inglewood beat Huntington Beach 57-48 (another team that has killed us for 5 years). Huntington just squeezed by Calvary 58-53 in the first round to put it slightly in perspective.

And if you are bored, CLICK HERE for a U Tube memory. I am working on getting the video better.

Thanks to Billy Mac for the CDM hat tip today on Fox Prime during the UCLA-UCR game. We also taped 00's shot which was shown on Friday Night Lights. Awesome.

So I was flipping through the channels this afternoon and happened to hit on the BCS Selection show. A comedy act for sure, computers picking the teams and all the rest. A playoff is my view of how to settle a championship but I am not an advertiser at the Poulon Weed Wacker Bowl so no one listens. But guess what? Chris Meyers was interviewing Florida coach Urban Meyer and who should I see right behind the coach other than Big John Fairbanks!! For anyone who does not know, John played both football and basketball at CDM and was also on the track team. His family relocated to Florida after his senior year and he decided to walk-on at Florida. He did so and made the team. There is a tradition at Florida where all the new players have a piece of tape on their helmets and get to take it off after they have distinguished themselves in practice. John was the 3rd player of all the new players, scholarship et. al., to be able to remove the tape this year. He had an outstanding pre-season, so much so that the coaches asked him to red-shirt this season, not something that happens very often to walk-ons. So he is a red-shirt member of the team and was right there on Fox with the rest of the Gators. Not to tell any stories out of school, but I first saw John playing basketball at the Boy's Club. He was about twice the size of every other kid so Ted nicknamed him "Thor." He had a great career at CDM. The main thing I will remember about John and CDM basketball was that he rallied the seniors who had other competing interests last year to come back for their final year. Without John's encouragement, CDM would not have had Shaun, Scott, Matt L, or John playing last year, all of whom made a huge contribution to the best record Coach Curry ever had at CDM. He is really a great kid even though he almost ate us out of house and home his sophomore year and Pepper always barked at him. I sat with Coach Sullivan at the Newport Harbor game and he echoed those thoughts about the Big Fella and what a heart he has. Our family was able to speak to him early in the football season via computer cam and he said that the experience at Florida playing football was beyond fun. And in passing, we had 7 seniors on the basketball team last year. Matt L is playing football at Georgetown, Peter is playing basketball at North Park University in Chicago, John F is playing football at Florida, Scott is playing volleyball at UCSB, Matt D is playing baseball at OCC, and Shaun is playing football at OCC and will soon be playing D-1 football. So all you CDM kids, keep trying. Great and unexpected things can happen to you too. Which reminds me, Ryan Lance, please report to a D-1 athletic program. You were the best of all of them.

And one more thing, UCSB beat UCLA in today's NCAA soccer championship game - and so will the volleyball team, so sayeht I.

Congrats to the Sea Kings for their thrilling win over Newport Harbor this evening. It may not have been pretty, but as the shot clock ran out late in the 4th quarter, Austin "00" Evett spun in a 3 pointer to put the Sea Kings in a position to win. I will leave the analysis to the Daily Pilot but I would characterize the team as opportunistic. Congrats to Joe Eberhard and Sean Donovan for tremendous varsity debuts. And kudos to Coaches Schachter and Simco for their first official win in the CDM gym.

All I will say about the retirement ceremony for John Vallely is my wife started crying in the middle of the Money Man's talk. It was very, very touching and we were glad to have been there. Two standing O's. Billy Mac did a super job as the MC. I am sure everyone who was in the gym (other than a couple of second string football knuckleheads yapping in the CDM student section - really embarrassing for them) were very proud to have had some connection with CDM tonight. A start of a great tradition.

Finally, Ted reminded me that his number was also 21 and he was wondering how Coach was going to retire it again in a couple of years.

The game against Newport Harbor will also feature a very special event. The Corona del Mar Athletic Department will be retiring the number of one of the best basketball players to ever play at CDM, John Vallely. After starring at CDM, John went on to play two years at Orange Coast College where he was the 1968 Athlete of the Year. He then played two years at UCLA under the legendary coach John Wooden. While at UCLA, John was a starting guard on two NCAA championship teams and is known as the "Money Man" for his stellar performances in big games. A list of his teammates reads like a who's who of college basketball and includes Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, Lynn Shackleford, Henry Bibby, Steve Patterson, and Kenny Heitz. John was a first round draft choice of the Atlanta Hawks in the 1970 NBA draft. He was also drafted in the first round by Denver Nuggets of the ABA. He is a member of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame. He was also a great beach volleyball player and teamed with the legendary Ron Von Hagen on the early beach circuit.

Congratulations to an extremely deserving person for this honor and we will all look forward to seeing his jersey hanging proudly in the CDM gym.

And one other thing. In 1969, I was a freshman at the University of Santa Clara. We were 23-1, our only loss having come in double overtime at the hands of the Darnell Hillman led San Jose State team (Hillman later played for the Indiana Pacers). Bud Ogden (who played for the Philadelphia 76'ers), Dennis Awtrey (who played for the Phoenix Suns and the Boston Celtics), and Bud's brother Ralph led Santa Clara. Bud Ogden had just appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, a cover I still have today. We were rolling and thought no one could stop us. We won our league, made the NCAA playoffs, won our first round game, and then drew UCLA in the second round of the Western Regionals which were held at Pauley Pavillion. We thought we were going to hammer UCLA. If I recall correctly, Vallely and Company never let us cross half-court in the first quarter. That may be an overstatement or a mis-memory, but not by much. The pretenders from Santa Clara were dispatched home in very short order. I had no connection with CDM at that time and did not know anything about John Vallely other than I hated him because he was such a great player.

So congratulations to John Vallely, the newest member of the Corona del Mar Athletic Hall of Fame, who is known to me as the Bronco Killer.

Wow! There is a definite buzz at the CDM gym and it is not a busted loudspeaker.

The JV's played the Coaches and Staff this evening, followed by the Varsity against the Alumni. The JV's manhandled the Coaches and Staff and the Varsity defeated the Alumni by almost 20 (although Bob Rovzar's score keeping was more than a little suspect).

It was great to see Paul Orris on the bench again (he got stuck with the Coaches and Staff team and did his best with that group of prima donnas!) Coach Schachter and Coach Simco were bombing away from 3 point land with some success (well, with limited success to be completely honest). Coach Simco was really quick in the first minute and 3 seconds but then seemed to lose a few steps...and then a few more.

The JV's were a typical Coach Sturgeon team, tough and under control. The Coaches and Staff made a late run but ran out of gas.

The Varsity game was really entertaining. It was great to see some of the recent players and some old time stars playing together. CDM-USC great Casey Jones was the player coach and did his best with a bench of 12. Casey's dad George was in attendance and got to see his son Casey playing against his grandson Joey. You don't see that every day. But, as I am sure any honest observer would conclude, Coach Schachter did expose a few weaknesses of the Alumni, such as being old, out of shape, and unable to defend the backdoor. I do think if the Alumni had a practice, it would have been a lot closer. Just wait 'til next year.

A great evening of fun and hopefully the beginning of a tradition. I especially loved the introductions of the Alumni and the Varsity players before the game.

CDM Varsity vs CDM Alumni on Wednesday, November 22 at 7 pm at the CDM Gym. The games start at 4:00 for the lower division teams. It should be fun to see the oldsters on the floor again.

Just 8 days to the tip-off against the team we played in CIF last year, Gahr High School. We were clobbering them in the first half but let them back in with 9 straight points to end the first half. They went on to dictate the pace in the second half and we could not keep up. It turned into a track meet. Gahr went on to give Santa Margarita a battle in the next round, ultimately losing to the Eagles. But that was last year. It will be most interesting.

A Big Welcome to the new varsity coaches, Head Coach Ryan Schachter and Assistant Coach Jason Simco.

I also want to offer the best wishes of the entire CDM athletic family to Erik "The Real Deal" Rask. He suffered an ACL injury in football and will require surgery. I am sure he will approach rehab like he plays, all out. He is a unique combination of athletic ability and leadership and respected by everyone. He will be missed and we are all pulling for a speedy and full recovery.

Archive - 2004 to 2005 - This is where this site started - it was a way to let the parents know what was happening in Wyoming

The team had a nice Christmas present in the Daily Pilot this morning. Good job, Coach Curry. I think it is an omen of big things to come! The rest of this season can't possibly be as tough as our preseason.

The Pilot article didn't name Adam, Steve, and the two Matts so they get a special mention here.

One other thing. Ted has a new bodyboarding website featuring pictures he and his friends have taken over the last few years. It is invertbb.com. Only the Profiles page is up as of now. He is working on the rest. Check it out.

PS - To the Best Basketball Player in Orange County That Nobody Has Ever Heard Of (whose initials happen to be BH), that's what I am talking about! Front page color photo!!!! Yeah, baby! Now hit your shots.

It appears that our 4 team bracket in Gillette includes the top ranked high school basketball team in the state of Nevada (Bishop Gorman) and the 7th ranked high school basketball team in the state of Oregon (Centennial). The other team (Cheyenne Central) finished 4th in the Laramie Tournament this last weekend and I think they are 2-4.

In the lower bracket, Prairie High School is mentioned in the Seattle Times top ten state basketball rankings as "on the bubble." Gillette is tied for 3rd in the 4-A state rankings in Wyoming.

Bishop Gorman's Kashif Watson has signed with San Diego State. Gresham Centennial's Mike McClain has signed with Air Force. So we will be seeing some D-1 players up close and personal in this tournament.

Coach Curry told us he waited until this year to return to the tournament because he thought we would be competitive. So let's count on that since his Nevada Union team played in the Gillette tournament in 1999 and 2000 and he knows how we will stack up with teams of this caliber.

I have added some links to the Gillette Teams tab. Be sure to read the article on Oregon Preps about Centennial. It is a great scouting report on our first opponent.

Our neighbor is a member of the Team USA Triathlon team and has competed in triathlons all over the world. Gail called him this morning and asked what preparations he would take if he was going to compete at an elevation of 4500 feet. After he told her his team spends at least one week at the site to acclimate (which we obviously can't do), he told her the following:

1. Dehydration is the main problem at elevation. You can't do much about altitude sickness but he doubted that would occur at 4500 feet to most well conditioned people.

2. Starting 4 days out, be sure to drink 1 oz of fluids per pound of your body weight each day.

3. Water and Gatorade are the preferred fluids. For every 4 oz of water, drink 1 oz of Gatorade.

7. Before you play, take the time to warm up slowly to get your body acclimated to the elevation.

The word is out that Matt Loyd has been brought up to the varsity and will be with the team in Wyoming. Welcome and congratulations to Matt. I am hoping his dad, Ed, makes the trip so he can yell at the refs instead of me. Matt played on our 6th grade NJB team when we battled the Lance brothers at Lincoln Gym for the league title. The underdogs were ahead until the 5th quarter when the then great Randino pulled a Yacko out of his pocket and squeaked out a win. Ouch. It still hurts.

It is going to be a dog fight in league this year. Check out the records of the league teams on the Max Preps tab. Calvary Chapel is coming back to the pack. 6-1 turned into 6-5. Everyone else is close. Hopefully our (shall we say) "challenging" pre-league season will lead to good things when we hit the league. We can beat every team in our league, so sayeth I. Brett, start hitting your shots or I am going to strangle you. We can do this.

I have added the Wyoming bracket and some links to the teams in the tournament under the Wyoming Trip tab. I will add more as I find them. If you find any, send them to me at [email protected] and I will add them.

As you might guess, I love to watch basketball, especially when my kids are playing. I think it is the sport that requires the most athletic ability and is extremely complicated when you sit down and consider what might happen in any given situation. From my limited experience, it is a very difficult task to coach basketball team, let alone to run an entire basketball program. So for those of us who are at least moderately interested, you can find two things on this page.

First, I have extracted (and slightly edited) a short article which I think shows what the coaches have to consider when they are making decisions that impact the team. It is not an easy job, You can find that article here.

The second thing that is attached is a parent's guide to behavior that was developed by Morgan Wootten from which I think we all can benefit. You can find that list here.

I was doing the stat update today. Take a look at the Game Summary stat sheet which lists the season's highs and lows in the various categories.

In the game against Rigby, we had our season low 3 pt attempts, our season high of 2pt attempts, our season high of FT attempts, our season high of FTs made, and we scored the most points of any game this year.

"We used to live and die by the three-pointer...Now, we will be looking to go to the low post or penetrate the lane."

Ryan got mentioned in the Gillette News-Record for the all tournament team and there is an article on the CDM-Rigby game too. Both are linked under the Wyoming trip tab.

The highest our 4 team bracket could have finished in the tournament was 1st, 3rd, consolation champs and 7th. And that is exactly how our bracket finished. So I think you must conclude our bracket was tougher than the lower bracket.

We are getting better. Keep it up and we are finally going to string together 4 good quarters and blow some team out of the gym. And everyone is going to be surprised other than those of us who have been watching you get better and better and better this year. It is now or never time.

Tesoro plays at 7:00 tonight at Aliso Niguel if anyone wants to watch them instead of the USC-Oklahome game

When USC got ahead of Oklahoma 35-10 this evening, I decided to drive down to Aliso Niguel to see the second half of the Tesoro Titan's game.

First observation, Tesoro has the most kids on a varsity basketball team I have ever seen. I counted 20. A couple of them were sitting in the stands and I think one of them left early to warm up the bus.

Third observation, and read my lips: I DON'T CARE WHO TESORO HAS PLAYED UP UNTIL NOW OR WHAT THEIR RECORD MIGHT BE, WE CAN BEAT THOSE GUYS!!! AND YOU CAN TAKE THAT TO THE BANK!

A certain person well known to all of you with the initials RC happened to also be in the gym this evening watching the "titans" get mauled by Aliso. He did lose it when Baby RC rushed the court to pick up a stray binky but I was able to restrain him.

RC told me that the Estancia, Northwood, Laguna, and (I think he said) Tesoro coaches were all at Canyon last night to see us play. Now I ask you, if we were as bad as the OC Register and Steve Fryer seem to think we are, why would they all waste their time? The reason is that they know you can beat all of them if you show up with your A game, hit your shots, pound the boards, and get out on the shooters. If we do that, I, the GREAT DONDINO (and, if I might speak for the very, and not so memorable, tiny randino), guarantee a victory.

And may I also say, enough with the moral victories. Let's put a W up on Friday and inform this league that the Sea Kings mean business.

Tell all your friends, your family, your neighbors, your postman, your teachers, your therapist, and even the dork sitting next to you in Science class to get to the game on Friday night. We need a crowd like we had at Harbor to hammer those knuckleheads from teeny tiny tesoro into submission. Promote this game and let's have a great crowd at the ____ on Friday night. Which reminds me, we need a nickname for the gym like the "Camel Castle of Chaos." Bling, get on that if you will. It may be your legacy. Tell ten people to get to the gym on Friday night BEFORE the 4th quarter. What else are they going to be doing that is legal?

Speaking of the gym, could someone please take down the girl's volleyball team roster from the west wall and put up the boy's basketball roster? That is embarrassing.

I had a preview of the team program this week. It is a production of Vivian Hirata (the mother of Bling) with assistance from Joanne Miller (the mother of aka #4) and it looks great. It is a throwback to earlier days. Just the facts, only one ad, real basketball pictures, and rosters of the league teams. When you see Mrs. Hirata and Mrs. Miller, please be sure to thank them for their efforts in putting together a fantastic keepsake for all of us. The Brandon Quon photo is funny.

The first Varsity Team Dinner is Thursday night at the Lance abode. The hot rumor is that Randy is going to bbq New York strips for the players and send the leftovers to all the parents by messenger. That Randino is really something. What a guy!

We watched the CDM varsity girl's team yesterday evening. A really exciting game but a tough ending. Coach K has them playing hard.

PS - R, the leftovers were great. A little skimpy but tasty, especially that blue thing.

THAT'S WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!!! HERE WE GO. KEEP PLAYING WITH THAT INTENSITY AND NO TELLING WHERE WE ARE GOING TO END UP.

That was HUGE this evening. Great job, especially on the defensive end. We stopped them in the middle and they couldn't shoot 83% from the outside like Canyon. The zone flummoxed us for a time in the second half, especially at the start of the 4th quarter, but Coach Curry's adjustments finally worked and we were able to get the ball inside when we cooled off from the outside. We also got some crucial steals in the 4th.

We had our season high on assists tonight with 17. I had Bling with 7, Tyler with 4, and Ryan with 3. Brett's pass to Scott late in the 4th was a back breaker for the Titans. But I thought the play of the game was the inbounds pass with 4 seconds to go. Scott first burned some time off the clock and then threw a lob pass to Tyler who got fouled. As my neighbor told me, it is a good thing that Tyler is also a tight end as he made a fantastic over the shoulder catch to seal the win. Way to go, Twinkle.

That was a total team effort tonight. Let's do it again tomorrow night against Estancia.

I asked Coach Curry if it would be OK to introduce everyone to the home crowd tonight for the team video. He said fine. So I told the announcer that Coach Curry had said he should introduce each of our players. He must have thought I was from Tesoro as he proceeded to introduce every Tesoro kid, and there must have been close to 20 of them. I think they were astounded that they were getting introduced as they acted like a bunch of goofballs. Then the announcer decided to introduce only the starters from CDM which confused everyone on our side. But he corrected himself quickly and we got all the players from from CDM introduced. I thought it was a great touch, especially for the kids who practice every day and don't get to play much. It gives them some public recognition for their efforts. Let's do it every home game.

Who picked the warm-up music tonight? Was that our normal music? It sounded like Lawrence Welk to me.

I sat with Pat from the attendance office this evening for a few minutes. What a nice person. I got a shot of her hugging Tyler after the game. Ted told me later that she hugged him too but was only able to get up to his knees.

There was a certain person who was actually smiling this evening who knows a lot about basketball, loves UCLA, and is the father of a certain player on our team who can shoot real well. I even got him smiling on video. So it must have been a good game.

Some other dad came up and gave me a bear hug after the game. Enough of that stuff. Plus, I can't find my wallet.

I spoke to the father of one of the Tesoro big kids as we were walking out. He was upset over the mismatches and said CDM always had at least two kids on the floor who were bigger than anyone on the floor for the Titans. He was wrong but I just nodded and told him to wait until the next game when we have Bobby J. on the floor. By the way, Bobby, welcome back. It was nice to see you on the bench again and ready to go.

As you might have see Brandon "Camacho" Quon is sporting 11 stitches on his eyebrow. That is a gift from a person whose name shall not be revealed here but he likes airplanes a lot. Brandon says he is out for a week or so.

Congrats on the name board in the gym. It finally ticked over to boy's basketball.

I heard Coach Curry tell "Cho" after the game that tonight's game was the best we have played all year. That may be true, but it is not the best we can play. And you can take that to the bank and put it right beside my prediction of yesterday that we could beat Tesoro (D-2 Tesoro, by the way) if we brought our A game.

It was nice to see D Manni and B Reynolds at the game tonight. Nice kids. The same goes for Neal R., Alex A., big and little Ali, Tom and Kevin W, Ryan G., Shaun M., and Chad W., all of whom were part of the CDM BB program. Thanks also to the many parents and friends that came to the game tonight, especially Jim Ferguson who has to be the biggest CDM supporter of all time. I think he lives on campus. Also the left handed snorkler.

"Senior Ted Slaughter hit a layup with just seconds remaining to give the Sea Kings (6-9, 1-0 in league) a three-point lead. Tesoro then quickly scored, got the ball back and fired the buzzer-beater, but it was missed."

First, Ted scored with 14 seconds to go. We then let Tesoro score a 2 with about 8 seconds to go because it couldn't beat us. They only got the ball back when they fouled Tyler with 1 second to go. The buzzer-beater wasn't "missed," it was volleyball blocked into shooter's face after travelling about 2 feet. And if the guy who blocked it had fouled the shooter, he would have been sleeping with Pepper in her dog house tonight in the rain with no blankets.

Northwood beat Laguna at Laguna and Uni beat Calvary at Uni. League is going to be a dog fight.

As an act of self-torture, I watched the game tape twice this morning. Once to get the stats and a second time to figure out why my numbers were different than the Daily Pilot. It turns out the paper was slightly off on both our free throw percentage (too low) and our shooting percentage (too high).

In any event, watching the tape the second time, I wrote down what happended between 6:32 in the 4th until 2:45 in the 4th. At 6:32 we were down by 2, 34-32. During the next 3 minutes and 47 seconds, Estancia scored just 4 points, all on CDM fouls, and we scored none. Here is the sequence:

I had us 1-17 (6%) on 3 pointers, 12 for 35 on 2 pointers (34%), 13 for 52 overall (25%), and 15 for 20 from the line.

We are apparently back. Since we don't know why we were knocked off by our internet service company, L-40, in the first place, I have no explaination for the message that was posted on Tuesday. We tried to contact L-40 but they are unavailable by telephone and won't respond to emails. I am guessing they finally figured out that they had booted us off by mistake and corrected it without a comment. Since that is not good enough for even government work, we are voting with our feet and departing L-40 as quickly as possible. I am sure that L-40 will have to advise their bankers that seakingbasketball.com and invertbb.com have been lost as customers as we were HUGE. We will now be hosted by Third Stone Media which is, of course, the company owned by our own Joanne Miller, the mother of Josh Miller. So if we get cut off again, it will have to be Joanne's fault. I hope she has a better cut off message than L-40 posted. I would also like to thank the great Randino for passing the hat at the last game for contributions to keep us on the air. But as I told Randino, money was not the issue, which is good since all the contributions collected by Randino disappeared anyway.

I read the Pilot article on our game against University. Was the author at the game? The title had to do with Uni running away from CDM. We were within 5 in the middle of the 4th and nobody ran anywhere other than to the foul line. What he forgot to mention were the 28 turnovers and the 29 points Uni scored off the turnovers. Hopefully we will devise a better way to attack the press in our next game against Uni. Throwing over the press seemed to work.

Off to the Calvary game. I told Ted this is the most important game so far this year. We have to win to keep in the hunt for a CIF spot.

The freshman are killing. The last I heard, they were 14-2. Imagine if they had Stephan. They have a woman coach who takes no guff and has the boys playing at a high level. Good for her.

Uni squeaked by Northwood tonight at Northwood and Laguna clobbered Tesoro at Tesoro. So that makes the league standings as follows:

It's a dogfight as expected. And we are taking out Uni the next time we play them. We could have beaten them this week but revenge is sweetest served cold.

We play Northwood at home on Wednesday. I have seen them play twice and we can definitely beat them. And you can take that to the bank and put it right next to my Tesoro prediction. They have the Zaragosa brother act but we have 2 brother acts. If I remember my algebra correctly, 2+2>1+1. I am also predicting that Tino Zaragosa is not going to score anywhere near the 37 he scored against Tesoro.

Stephan's dad, who is also a Stephan and a very nice person, sat next to me at the Uni game. Due to incessant yapping by me, mostly about throwing the ball over the press, I am sure he will never sit next to me again at a game. Thank goodness my kids can't hear me.

I was at Jack Murphy the day Dave Casper kicked the ball into the end zone and covered it for the winning touchdown. But that play had nothing on tonight's full court soccer play in the 4th quarter. You can see on the tape that the Calvary player kicked the ball 3 separate times, at least once intentionally, right in front of the ref and nothing was called. Maybe the ref was hoping to see him kick it into the basket. Refs are just part of the game but is anyone else wondering when we are going to get a break on the calls? The gray haired guy at Uni killed us. His palming call against Uni with 1.1 second to go was especially rich. He apparently didn't watch Uni's #5 much up until then whose palms were all over our guys when he wasn't palming the ball. I have great clip of Twinkle just about knocking #5 into the stands with a body block in the first quarter.

The horn section in the CC band was interesting, but even so, the music tonight made for a great atmosphere. Nothing like a high school basketball game. The rim shot when Calvary made a free throw was cool and, fortunately, not heard that often. When the band played "Tequila," everyone on the Calvary side yelled "Sarsaparilla." Bling's layup in the 2nd was a thing of beauty. Sorry to see Bobby hurt himself in warmups and I hope he gets better soon.

My neighbor's 11 year old son Grant is a huge CDM fan. He and and his friend went down on the court after the game to hang around with the CDM players. A couple of the guys said "Hey," which was plenty for them. Was it just yesterday that Ted and Scott were that age? Wow, unbelievable how fast it goes.

So what is the deal with high school sports? Why do they mean so much? Why does a kid tell Ted he will strip naked and streak the court if Ted can dunk the ball tomorrow against Northwood? Why do we hate Laguna Beach and why are we still celebrating the victory over Harbor? Why do coaches spend countless hours with our children for peanuts? Why do we get calls from people we haven't heard from in years asking the time of the next game? Why do parents volunteer to man the concession booth or produce the program or get the sweatshirts monogramed? Why would an otherwise normal person watch a tape and count the number of turnovers? Why is something that can be so exasperating so much fun? I won't bother you with my answer but I do know that I will miss it all terribly when it is gone. And there is not much left. The seniors have just 7 games to go in their high school basketball careers. Maybe a few more if things go well. So let's make the most of it. And let's beat Northwood tommorrow.

The girls varsity beat Laguna tonight handily. Allie Durenberger played great. Good for Coach Scott.

I spoke to the Laguna AD after the game and he said the Laguna-CDM Boy's Varsity game was moved to 3:15 because of the "20 fights" in the CDM parking lot last year, the car load of CDM kids following the Laguna bus, and the fact (I think he said) that the CDM football coach pulled his team off the field before the CDM-Laguna football game was over. I missed the last item but I was in the parking lot last year and didn't see anything but a couple of CDM jackasses yelling at some Laguna jackasses. And I have a hard time beliving the bus load of Laguna basketball players was frightened by the CDM car.

I think it is an overreaction to rather minor matters to penalize the basketball teams, the coaches, and the working parents of both teams for the actions of a group of idiots who have absolutely nothing to do with the basketball game. But that is school administration, with apologies to the coaches who are teachers. Don't they watch the OC?

I also told the AD that we were taking Laguna out tomorrow and he could "write that in his book." I think he thought I was the guy driving the car following the bus.

If the powers that be were looking for a real reason to change the time of the game, how about the antics 2 years ago at the CDM gym? The much traveled Kyle Hogan was playing for Laguna. If you will recall, Kyle had his first name tattooed on the back of one arm and his last name tattooed on the back of the other arm in some kind of biker script. His brother, who was sitting in the stands, objected to the fact that the CDM cheering section kept asking Kyle if he had tattooed his name on his arms so he could remember what his name was. When the "bro" charged the CDM stands, a group of kids ran out into the parking lot, ostensibly to get into a fight (which fizzled). The incredible thing was Kyle and another Laguna player left the court to follow the crowd out the door of the gym, leaving 8 players on the floor. Everyone left on the court was just standing around looking at each other. A very silly situation that was resolved quickly.

Who posted our stats on Max Preps? Good for them. Brett and Ted are among the league leaders in several categories. I hope the stats get updated regularly. I must say that some of the stats from the other teams seem a little hard to believe. The guy from Tesoro has 52 blocks? He didn't get one in our game. I will be watching the league blocks and rebound leader tomorrow night (sorry, afternoon) to see if his stats are on the up and up. Ours may not be 100% correct but they are at least 99.9% correct.

We don't make it easy, do we. That is the best 7-12 team in Orange County. I know that Northwood is glad to have escaped the CDM gym.

I had Ryan, Brett and Ted with 13 each, Scott with 10, Adam with 6, and Stephan with 3 for the total of 52. The papers are wrong. With his new "do", it is hard to tell Tyler from Ryan on the tape.

Adam had two 3's in 10 minutes in the first half and almost made a miracle shot at the end. Ted had a double double, 13 points and 11 rebounds.

On Matt Lloyd's foul in the 4th, we were down by 2 with 4.1 seconds to go. Chris O'Brien, #5, threw the ball in for Northwood. Matt fouled Dan Selway, #10, before the ball was thrown and the whistle sounded just as Zack Zaragosa caught the ball. For some reason, the clock was started and we lost 1.2 seconds. The ref wouldn't put any time back on the clock and I heard he said he was making up for some "extra time" he had given us earlier. Matt fouled #10, who shoots 60% from the line. #10 was standing at the line waiting for the ball when the ref pulled him off the line and told #5, who shoots 75% from the line, to shoot the free throws. He made both and we were down by 4.

I know our team does not sit during full time outs like other teams but when 5 kids play 76 out of the 80 minutes of total playing time in the 2nd half, I'll bet those chairs looked pretty inviting to them.

Could anyone tell me where the CDM fans were tonight? Ted said it was like playing on the road. Based on some of the calls, I think the refs got confused and called the game as if Northwood was the home team.

Coach Tim O'Brien might be a good coach but it is embarrassing to watch him berate his kids. I sat behind him last year and listened to a tirade aimed at his own son. Awful.

Uni lost to Laguna by 3 and Tesoro clobbered Calvary. So Laguna and Uni are tied at 3-1, CDM, Northwood, and Tesoro are tied at 2-2, and Calvary is 0-4.

Coach Curry, you get all credit for that W. Great strategy to get us back in the game with the press team in the 4th.

Steve Hinton came up HUGE and Brett was fantastic in the clutch. His jumper in the key as the shot clock ran out was critical. And, of course, Scott's shot from 5 feet behind the 3pt line is one that anyone in the gym will not forget. But most of all, you boys played GREAT defense this afternoon. No cheapies, no uncontested lane drives, and one broken Laguna nose.

Steve H: Coach Curry told you guys 2 years ago that he wants everyone to be ready to play when he needs you. It may be only a minute, but be ready. When your number was called in the 4th quarter of the biggest game of your senior year, no, the biggest game of your basketball career, you were absolutely, no questions asked, READY in a big, big way. And you can remember that the rest of your life.

Brett H: That is what I have been telling you for 4 years. You won that game in a bunch of different ways. This is your team.

And at the risk of saying "I told you so," may I say in the most humble way I can ......"I TOLD YOU SO!!"

That was one ugly game that we had to win, and we did win it even though it was not the prettiest win in CDM history. Ivan the Terrible has been rampaging through the Pacific Coast League but he met his match in Tyler and Ted today. And that Serbian dude ran into an American dude named Smith.

Tesoro beat Uni and Northwood manhandled Calvary. So we are tied for first in league. But before your start celebrating, everyone but Calvary is also tied for first. So we have 5 teams in first at 3-2 and one team in sixth at 0-5.

As was predicted, this is a dog fight. But don't forget, we have Pepper the Popular Pug on our side. And that funny little Smith dog too. And the Lance pooches, Randino and Randina. By the way, I thought I sensed a little tension from the Great Randino tonight. It is tough being the curmudgeon at large when you actually believe these boys have a chance to beat anyone.

Think back on the first game of the season at Edison. This is not the same team you saw that night. And they are going to get better in the next 5 games. Run them into the ground, coach, to get them in shape for the next level. And bring on Arcadia one more time. We have the size this year.

As we head into the second half of league, the players know we can beat anyone, including ourselves. But I am going to predict right here that we are finally on our way. OK, we shot 16% in the first quarter and 14% in the third quarter. Details, details. I am looking at the heart, not the stats, and I see all heart.

Brett, you can lead us to the promised land. No, not Barona, the CIF. Let's get going.

Steve Fryer from the Register (who has said nothing good about our team up to now) mentioned in today's paper that there is a 5 way tie in the Pacific Coast League. He said it was incredible. He also noted our game with Tesoro tomorrow as one of the top games of the week.

Pour it on, boys. We can go 5-0 in the second half of league if you play defense like you played in the second half of the Laguna game.

Tyler, I doubt many of the fans think you are particularly fast on the court. But I am going to post a video that puts that lie to bed. I told somebody earlier this year that I thought you were a good fast break player because you were fast, can catch, and can lay it up. He mumbled something or another in a curmudgeonly way. I didn't pay any attention to him. But now, the cat is out of the bag. Let's see more of that, Twinkle.

The stats in the Register are wrong but we have the following players as leaders in the county (I don't feel bad because I am sure everyone else's stats are wrong too - and they need a policeman over at Max Preps):

1. Erase 2 minutes from yesterday and give everyone involved a chance to rethink their decisions leading up to, during, and about, those 2 minutes. But my two minutes would be different than yours.

2. Find out why the "wrong way ref" has been assigned to our last two league games. He was one of the refs at the Lynwood debacle freshman year.

3. Banish the ref with the comb-over to the Boys and Girls Club leagues. There were a couple of times this year when we had a player in foul trouble in the first half. Last night we had Brett, Adam, and Ted all in trouble right away, with Ryan not far behind. Tyler is usually the guy with the target on his back but the refs left him alone last night. Tesoro was shooting on fouls almost the entire 2nd and 4th quarters.

The game against Tesoro on tape was not quite as bad as I remembered in person, but that isn't saying much since I remembered it as one of the worst basketball games I have ever seen. We stank, especially in the first quarter and at the end of the fourth quarter.

We may be playing Tesoro again in a playoff if the league goes as projected. The tiny titans are not going to win out. They are not good enough. So let's remember how they beat us this time and get a better plan for next time, especially for the last three minutes if their big guy fouls out.

University tomorrow. We have played them twice so what they are going to do is absolutely no mystery. And they are not going to change what they do. We have to break the press (and if a big guy is guarded by a 5'6" guard at half court, maybe throw it to him?), pound it inside, and if that is not open, kick it out. And make our layups and FT attempts. We are way bigger that the Trojans, should have a big rebounding edge, and will have the CDM crowd on our side.

This doesn't matter, but I would like to beat University the most of all the teams in our league (even more than Laguna) mainly for the way their coach likes to run up the score. And I would like to beat them by 20, or 30, or even 40. And step on their necks on their way out the door.

One other thing. If you are driving to the basket and draw two or three guys, don't forget that someone else is open and they will probably be standing right under the basket. Oh, and one other thing, could we please make better passes? Virtually all of our turnovers against Tesoro in the first half were on bad passes.

1. Erase 2 minutes from yesterday and give everyone involved a chance to rethink their decisions leading up to, during, and about, those 2 minutes. But my two minutes would be different than yours.

2. Find out why the "wrong way ref" has been assigned to our last two league games. He was one of the refs at the Lynwood debacle freshman year.

The game against Tesoro on tape was not quite as bad as I remembered in person, but that isn't saying much since I remembered it as the worst game we have played. We stank, especially in the first quarter and at the end of the fourth quarter. 15 turnovers in the first half. Killer. But we kept coming back which is the trademark of this team.

Congratulations to Ryan Lance who, according to the paper, had a career high of 25 points. He was 9 of 10 from the FT line and had 4 three point shots. He also had 6 rebounds, a steal, and an assist. Ryan must like the Tesoro gym as I remember him hitting 2 big baskets in the 4th quarter there last year.

University tomorrow. We have played them twice so what they are going to do is absolutely no mystery. And they are not going to change what they do. We have to break the press (and if a big guy is guarded by a 5'6" guard at half court, maybe throw it to him?), pound it inside, and if that is not open, kick it out. And make our lay ups and FT attempts. They shoot a lot of 3's so we need to get out on the shooters. We are way bigger that the Trojans, should have a big rebounding edge, and will have the CDM crowd on our side. It will be a great game.

John Joyce dunked in the JV game according to the boys. I missed it but if Steve Root or anyone else got it on tape, send it over and I will post it.

I am not sure how Max Preps got our stats but they need to be updated for the last 3 games.

I have posted the stats but with a caveat. I only got through the tape once and I usually check it twice to be sure. The camera departed for Tablerock early this morning so I won't be able to finalize the stats until later today. So there may be some minor changes.

We lost that game in the first quarter. The rest of the way was pretty even. The funny thing is all we needed was one good run and we would have been right back in it. We were within 10 at one point in the second half.

Before anyone else throws in the towel, we still have our fate in our hands. The goal is, was, and always will be to get to CIF. We need to finish 3rd in league order to do so. We have Calvary, Northwood, and Laguna left. Win them all and we are at 6-4 and, unless one of you math geniuses corrects me, we are in 3rd place under any reasonably plausible scenario.

I hope you guys win both games, but if you don't, I am still going to the grave with the belief that this is a good basketball team. I don't care what your record is. Most of the teams that beat us were extremely glad to see us leave the gym and thankful for a bounce, a call, or some other weird occurrence. We have had some ups and downs that defy explanation. They had to be experienced to be believed. But whatever happens from here on out, Gail and I want to go on record to tell ALL of you that we are proud to have been associated in a small way over the past 4 years with this group of young men. Win or lose, you are a great bunch of kids and we look forward to success for all of you in the future.

I didn't hear from any math geniuses this week so I am sticking to my story that we go to CIF if we win the next two games.

We are 4-4 in league. Uni beat Northwood at Uni by 1 tonight, 79-78 to go to 6-2. Northwood is 3-5. Tesoro beat Laguna 44-31 at Laguna. So Northwood and Uni are tied at 6-2, Laguna is at 5-3, we are at 4-4, Northwood is 3-5, and Calvary is 0-8. Laguna plays Uni at Uni tomorrow and Tesoro plays Calvary. So if we win at Northwood, I would guess the standing on Saturday morning will be the following:

And that will set up the final game at Laguna for 3rd place. But we HAVE to get by Northwood.

By the by, our win total is equal to the highest league wins of any of Coach Curry's teams at CDM (his second year team won 5 games but the last win was in a playoff). So let's win 2 more and give Coach his best record ever in the Pacific Coast League.

I thought the refs did a pretty good job tonight. We even got a call in the first half. That was shocking.

Since when does CDM have a mascot? I loved the dancing Sea King. I guess his contract only allowed one appearance at a basketball game...in fact, that was the only appearance I have seen in the last 4 years. The word is that the mascot was actually Travis D. No confirmation of that rumor. I don't buy it because when I shook the paw of the Sea King in the 3rd quarter, he didn't utter a word. That would have been completely impossible for the Travis I know. My money is on Taylor Wessling, the Sphinx.

And, by the way, it is great that Taylor, Neal R, Chad W, Tom W, Kevin W, the Ali's, Alex A, and Shaun M all support the team the way they do. Good for you guys. Jim Ferguson, where were you tonight?

I am nominating as fans of the year Matt (Ephus) Loeb and the euphonious Taylor Storm. Both of them are electric in the stands. Blake Allred gets honorable mention for his incredible jumping around at the Laguna game.

I give Dan Hirata the sharpest dressed parent award this evening and he also takes home the the best ear to ear smile award. And I thought he was a curmudgeon from UCLA. Shelly Lance was very pretty in pink. What is she doing with that loser? Scott Smith gets the award as the "Best Pseudo Announcer in a Blue Suit With Tie Parsing the Handwriting of Kids Who Can't Spell." I am even going to forgive him (maybe) for calling me "Dan." It is DONDINO! And I am giving to Gail the award as best looking wife with porky old man husband.

I was surprised how tough Senior Night is on the parents, especially the moms. And, maybe without admitting anything, on sentimental Irish fathers. I dropped my tiny basketball when Ted gave it to me so you know where the boys get that. I'm burning the tape - if I don't drop it first.

I would also like to add a completely personal note, something that I have assiduously avoided this year. When Ted didn't make the varsity last year, and he was probably the only 6'6" kid in Orange County on a JV team, assistant coach Terry Sullivan was the one and only person in the CDM basketball program who came to him and told him not to give up. Looking at the tape tonight, Coach Sullivan was right beside Ted when he exited his last varsity home game. However, instead of telling Ted not to give up, Terry was patting Ted on the back and congratulating him on the fact that in just 22 minutes of playing time, Ted scored 20 points, shot 90% from the floor, and had 11 rebounds, 3 blocks, and the first CDM varsity dunk in recent memory. Thanks so very much, Terry, for supporting, helping, and believing in my son. If I owned Lowes, I would make you president.

And that will set up the final game at Laguna for 3rd place. But we HAVE to get by Northwood. Tesoro and Uni play the last game of the season so one of them is going to have at least 3 losses and one of them might have 4. Northwood has to beat us to have any chance and then Laguna has to lose twice, which would put Northwood, Laguna, and CDM all at 5-5. But we control our fate so let's beat Northwood.

By the way, our win total is equal to the highest league wins of any of Coach Curry's teams at CDM (his second year team won 5 games but the last win was in a playoff). So let's win 2 more and give Coach his best record ever in the Pacific Coast League.

Good job, boys. They kept coming back and you kept pushing them back. That's one. Now get two more.

I would like to personally thank Steve Root for the stats (and I know that coach Long is very appreciative as well). Mr. Root films each game and then watches it again, recording on a spreadsheet for each quarter who does what. It is fantastic that he would take the time to help out in this fashion. Thanks very much, Steve.

As disappointing as that loss may be right now, there is no absolutely no reason for anyone to hang their head. I am so very proud that my two boys have been able to play with this team. You never, ever quit. And that is the mark of winners, not losers. That last couple of seconds didn't produce a basket but I never saw a bunch of kids trying any harder to score one. For my money, you guys gave it all you had and that is all anyone can ask of you. Good for you.

The Register just posted the Uni-Laguna score. Uni beat Laguna 67-62 in overtime and Tesoro beat Calvary by 20. So here are the standings.

Uni plays Tesoro so they will finish first and second at 8-2 and 7-3, take your pick. Northwood plays Calvary so they will finish 5-5. And we play Laguna. If we win, we are 5-5, Laguna is 5-5, and Northwood is 5-5. I am not sure what happens then but it is better than what will happen if we lose. So we are not finished yet. As the recently returned to greatness Randino has always told me, "THE FAT LADY HASN'T SUNG YET!!" And as Scott said last night, it always has come down to Laguna.

This has been a very strange season. And tonight was par for the course. Where do they dig up these refs? Last week it was the ref who screened out Matt Doran and this week it was the ref that couldn't see or count. Scott was fouled out with just 3 fouls, and one of those was Brett's. They gave him two more that actually were called on Ted.

Gail is the normal away scorer but she was at Kate's volleyball league tournament (which the CDM 7th graders won, by the way) and didn't make it to the game until half time. She wanted me to tell everyone sorry. But congrats to Kate and Madie Smith who is also on the team. They were as excited as we are going to be after the Laguna game on Wednesday.

Boys, this is a team of destiny. Pat Conroy wrote a great book entitled "My Losing Season." I would call your book "Our Strange Season." And it is not over yet.

And one other thing. Randy Lance (aka the Great Randino) has been my foil this entire season. He is a great sport and I love the fact that he can't reply to what I write. If I was brave enough to say to him in person half the things I have written, I would be typing this from Room 222 at Hoag. I tip my turban to the Great Randino.

These stats are up to date as of the last game, the team is 9-0 in league and 22-2 overall.

Here is a report fresh off the presses from our secret correspondent as updated by another secret correspondent:

The Freshman team is currently 19-2, 8-0 in league with recent wins this past week over Tesoro and Uni. In the win over Uni, the team outscored the Trojans 29-1 in the 3rd quarter. Omeed Alemi had so many steals in the quarter (6) that rumor has it that a call was placed to the Irvine PD with reports of grand larceny on the campus of University High. The second unit played controlled basketball during the entire 4th quarter and the team ended with a 39 point margin of victory.

I watched the Laguna video tonight. The ref with the hair is the same one Pancho tossed the ball at the end of last year's Laguna game. Sour grapes but Laguna made ONE basket in the 4th quarter and scored the rest of their points from the line. Some of the fouls called against us were ridiculous. So I will go out whining as usual.

Northwood won tonight so it actually didn't matter what happened this afternoon. But it was still a great game.

Without doubt, 9-16 is a loser record. I know this as an objective matter. However, and I might be daffy, I don't feel like I have been watching a bunch of losers this year. I love these kids. The word "quit" is not in their vocabulary. Good job, boys. I am proud of you and what you have achieved. It was an "if only" season for so many, many reasons. But I have it all on tape and there are a lot more highlights than lowlights. And when you see the video of our plane ride and our visit to Mt. Rushmore, ask yourself if you are proud to be part of this particular group of young men. I already know the answer.

Is it just me or have the administrators of Laguna and CDM lost their minds? Exactly why did we schedule a varsity basketball game at 3:15 pm? If there are 20 problem kids between the two schools, I would say that is front page news. Assuming there are that many, we inconvenienced everybody else for them? If a kid misbehaves at a game, throw him out! Has detention gone the way of PC? I got punched in the face through the window of my car at a Loyola-Cathedral football game when I was in high school. I don't remember any thoughts of rescheduling our next game with the Phantoms. Jeepers Creepers!

Ted and Scott wrote Ivan off the presumptive good guy list when he belted both of them in their stomachs today and then mouthed off to Ted. And exactly what was that halftime show?

Laguna, Northwood, Tesoro, and Uni are all going to the CIF. Totally lame. Who designed our pre-league schedule? Is Duke is available next year? Lowly Calvary Chapel had won 8 by the time they got into league and if they had somehow won 3 more, we would be the only PCL team sitting at home. Where was East Cupcake?

My highlights of the year were the Newport game (awesome and the first NH win for many years), the first Tesoro game, the first Laguna game (the Shot), the whole Wyoming trip, Ryan making all tournament in the Energy Classic, Steve Hinton's shot in the Laguna game, Matt Loyd's single second of play against Cheyenne, Brett's fake at the Northwood crowd and his turnaround 2 against Laguna in the key as the shot clock ran out, Edison game #3 (and why did we play the 10th ranked team in Orange County 3 times?), Adam's broken nose and his defense against Laguna, Josh's lay ups against Calvary and his senior walk speech, Matt Doran playing football in the Gillette airport, The Clarion Plaza (The Place to Meet), Brandon's shooting percentage and unselfish play, Bobby breaking Scott's teeth and then his own foot, coach Sullivan's Boston wit, the debut of the dancing Sea King, Ted's dunk, baby Curry (who is going to be in the video), and Twinkle running down the Laguna fast break at warp speed.

I told my boys tonight that the Newport Harbor volleyball game last year, the Newport Harbor basketball game this year, and the two Laguna basketball games this year exceeded any expectation that I could have ever had for their high school sports careers. Just being on the teams for those games was fantastic. Big, exciting, energetic games. What an experience and lifetime memories! And if you will pardon me a personal comment, I remember looking at Ted when he was on the court at Ensign playing a 7th grade NJB game for Chuck Reilly. I turned to Gail and told her that I had just had a premonition that Ted would one day play varsity basketball for CDM. Incredibly, and you will think I am lying, Gail told me that she had just been thinking the exact same thing. And most remarkably, it came true. Coach Conti told the volleyball players last year that earning a varsity letter is a big thing. It represents talent, effort and perseverance. I honor each and everyone of you boys and the effort you have shown this year. It is easy to love a winner (witness the clownish "CIF-CIF" chant at Laguna today). For my money, it is far more important to honor those who don't give up.

I would also like to mention here the guys who didn't make it to the final year but were so much a part of the CDM program these past 4 years. Neal R, Alex A, Big and Little Ali, Taylor W, Tom W, Kevin W, Shaun M, Eric B, and Chad W.

And thanks to Coach Curry and Coach Sullivan for all of their time and effort this year. In many ways it is a thankless job and there are people like me harping all the time to boot. But I will bet the feelings they experienced after the Harbor and Laguna games this year will keep them coming back. Also, thanks to the coaches in prior years for the help they gave to my boys; Coach Sullivan (freshman year), Coach Long and Coach Hopkins (freshman and sophomore year), and Coach K (sophomore and junior year).

Congratulations to Karen Hinton, Randy Lance, Shelly Lance, and Vivian Hirata for a FANTASTIC Basketball Banquet last night at the Balboa Pavilion Harborside Restaurant. There is no doubt that Karen Hinton knows how to throw a banquet. Thanks to all of you and especially Karen.

I have been to all four banquets during Coach Curry's tenure at CDM and I personally liked last night the best of all. It didn't have anything to do with the venue as Santa Ana Country Club leaves the "Joint by the Bay" in the dust. But I loved the feeling in the room.

It started with Randy "Shecky" Lance. A great job even though I thought he was going to stroke out as the minutes ticked by, ticked by, and ticked by.

Coach Sturgeon gets a time limit next year but she had better not leave out any of the emotion she showed in her talk and the strength of character she demonstrated this year. And where else could you get an English quiz in the middle of a basketball program? In my day, American Bandstand would say a song on its way up the chart had "a bullet." Coach Sturgeon has a bullet.

I don't know what Coach Holt is studying in school but he sounded like a future teacher to me. His quote of "a man meets himself through adversity" was right on the button.

And, in my humble opinion, Coach Curry gave the absolute best talk of his CDM career.

And so the 2004-2005 season comes to an end. I remember arguing at the beginning of the year with the Formerly Great Randino (who is now known as Shecky) about what our varsity record would be. He was right on that, of course, but I will bet my house that he, like the rest of us, had no idea this season would play out like it did. What a ride! And long after the details of what happened this year have faded into the ether, each and every player on this year's team will remember that we beat the mighty Newport Harbor Varsity Basketball Team in 2004. And what else do you want?

To the Varsity players, don't ever forget that winning a varsity letter for high school basketball is a BIG thing. It is not a little thing. It is a BIG thing. Think about all the guys you have played with over the years. For one reason or another, most of them have not made it this far. You guys stuck with it and by dint of talent, effort, and perseverance, you won the prize, a CDM letter with a basketball on it. People who don't play sports won't understand what that means or how hard it is to get that funny little thing. But you know and your parents know. Take care of it and congratulations to all of you.

#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Position
0	Randan Horton	6'3"		12	G
3	Aaron Davis	6'3"		12	F, C
11	Jared Kaplan	5'10"		12	G
12	Josh Honore	6'3"		12	F, C
13	Mark Logue	6'1"		11	G, F
14	Jon Waber	6'8"		11	C
23	Kyle Edwards	5'10"		11	G
24	Elijah Pearson	5'10"		12	G
31	Scotty Buck	6'3"		12	G, F
32	Sean Rivera	6'5"		12	C
33	Keith Lewis	6'3"		12	F
35	Andrew St Yves	6'2"		12	F
44	Cody Crippen	6'2"		12	F, C

Kashif Watson

Welch takes all-Pacific Coast POY honors

Kaluz, Eberhard, Caldwell earn honor in basketball

DIV. III-A
1. Renaissance Academy
2. Cathedral City
3. Perris
4. West Valley
5. Corona del Mar
6. Serrano
7. Nogales
8. Laguna Beach
9. Notre Dame (Riverside)
10. Palm Springs
11. Santa Fe
12. Rowland
13. West Covina
14. Paloma Valley
15. California
16. La Quinta (La Quinta)

"Surprises and stars: Pacific Coast

Finding the players and teams who stand out at the midway point in league play.

3/6/07

TOP STORY

A winning move

Kashif Watson

Welch takes all-Pacific Coast POY honors

Kaluz, Eberhard, Caldwell earn honor in basketball

DIV. III-A 1. Renaissance Academy 2. Cathedral City 3. Perris 4. West Valley 5. Corona del Mar 6. Serrano 7. Nogales 8. Laguna Beach 9. Notre Dame (Riverside) 10. Palm Springs 11. Santa Fe 12. Rowland 13. West Covina 14. Paloma Valley 15. California 16. La Quinta (La Quinta)

"Surprises and stars: Pacific Coast

Finding the players and teams who stand out at the midway point in league play.

3/6/07

TOP STORY

A winning move

DIV. III-A
1. Renaissance Academy
2. Cathedral City
3. Perris
4. West Valley
5. Corona del Mar
6. Serrano
7. Nogales
8. Laguna Beach
9. Notre Dame (Riverside)
10. Palm Springs
11. Santa Fe
12. Rowland
13. West Covina
14. Paloma Valley
15. California
16. La Quinta (La Quinta)