Changing places

Every spring I can't help but shake the feeling that a small - OK, MAJOR - change would be great for high school sports.

Instead of trying to play what are essentially are warm weather sports - baseball, softball and golf - in the spring, why don't we play them in the fall.

My rationale is this: You can play soccer in sloppy, wet, cold and miserable conditions. But baseball, softball and golf are sports where warm weather produces the best play. Therefore, why not move soccer to the spring and these other sports to the fall.

Another argument for the switch has to do with pitching. Many high school baseball players also play during the summer for Legion or Babe Ruth teams. They would come into a fall season fully prepared to play their best. Now, pitchers have been at it for two or three weeks before they hit the muddy mounds of spring. This not only increases the risk of injury - or at least sore arms - but it also can limit their effectiveness.

The same can be said for golf - most high school golfers hone their skills all summer long. Wouldn't the play in the fall be significantly better? It would stand to reason.

Critics might say that at the end of the fall the weather is roughly the same as the start of the spring. This is true, but it neglects the fact that the spring sports season is only six weeks long, not eight like in the fall. If we kept the season at the same length, then the finals would be in mid-to-late October. Given that fact and the fact that it is quite likely that after UVM buries its baseball team this summer that the state championships might be moved to another location, wouldn't make sense to have the state finals played south of Rutland - where it can be argued the chances for good weather in late October is greater?

Of course, the logistics of the switch probably make this a moot point to raise, but since when has that stopped me from giving my two cents.

What do you think about a switch?

If you would like to weigh in on a poll I have on the subject, click here.

Geddes, Jette take over at EFHS

Enosburg athletic director Chris Brigham confirmed today that Gary Geddes will supplant Jay Nichols as Enosburg varsity girls basketball coach and Steve Jette will take the reigns of the varsity boys basketball team from Robert Gervais.

Geddes has been a long-time coach in the successful Enosburg youth basketball program and is a former JV boys coach.

Nichols stepped down after leading the Hornets to one state title and a Final Four berth in two seasons. He's going to be a superintendent next school year and therefore unable to coach.

Jette, who was a star athlete at EFHS in the late 90s (I think - I know I covered his games back then, but the precise dates elude me). At any rate, he was one of Nichols' assistants the last two seasons and also helps coach other sports in the school. He takes over for Gervais, who ended his second stint as boys coach to concentrate on his new duties rebuilding the Johnson State College softball team, where his daughter Julie is a pitcher.

Both Jette and Geddes have large shoes to fill, but my personal experience with their successors leave me optimistic the future of the Hornet basketball program is in good hands.

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SHAWN CORROW, when he's not perhaps a little too pleased with himself for breaking his first bit of 'news' on his blog, is a freelance photojournalist based in Franklin, Vermont and the owner of Cold Hollow Photography.

Game off, game on

It's hard to believe considering Franklin County is the hotbed of Vermont softball, but at least two Vermont schools - Montpelier and Mount St. Joseph of Rutland - have cancelled their seasons due to lack of participants.

Here's a link to an article on the Barre Times Argus website explaining the Montpelier situation in detail.

http://timesargus.com/article/20090402/SPORTS/904020383/1004/SPORTS

MVU catcher Ashton Hubbard is one of the many outstanding softball players in Franklin County. Also pictured is umpire Pat Meunier.

If you read the article by Jamie Biggam you'll note he reports that participation in lacrosse and tennis has robbed the softball program of numbers. Not surprising, I'm sad to say. Patience isn't something most kids have and softball is a game where patience is at a premium. That said, it's my favorite sport to cover as a reporter. Of course, I was spoiled by the luxury of covering Franklin County softball for over a decade. Up north, the games are routinely under 90 minutes long - I think the fastest game I've covered was a 54-minute affair at The Pit at MVU between the T-Birds and Spaulding, I think.

That was back when Meggan Roberge was dominating the circle before moving on to see practically every pitching record at St. Michael's College.

UVM HOCKEY COVERAGE

While I handing out links, the Burlington Free Press is all over the UVM men's hockey team's quest for a national title.

Check out this link to see the coverage to date and their plans moving forward, including a blog by OTL fav John A. Fantino and voluminous insight and analysis from long-time Catamount hockey aficionado Ted Ryan.

Full disclosure: I work part time at the Freeps as a copy editor, but even if I didn't I would still recommend the Freeps as the premier source for information on the Catamounts' Frozen Four exploits.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com

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SHAWN CORROW, when he's not wishing every day could be like yesterday, i.e. warm and sunny, is a freelance photojournalist based in Franklin, Vermont and the owner of Cold Hollow Photography.

Foolin'

I love April Fool's jokes. Except when they are pulled on me.

This morning, I was surprised with a chicken in my bed - not a chick, mind you. A chicken.

My wife can be very funny. But this wasn't one of those times. Of course, had I done it ...

My most memorable April Fools' joke was back in 1986. I was working my first journalism job at the defunct Sports Express in Hardwick, Vt. (We were the first all-sports publication in Vermont. We covered 14 schools in four counties. We lasted about two years before running out of steam. Still, start-ups like Northeast Sports Network, MaxPreps, etc ... have followed in our footsteps. And to my knowledge, none of us have ever turned a profit.)

But I digress.

Yaz in 1975

Back in 1986, owner Pat Hussey and I cooked up a plan to publish that Carl Yazstremski, who had recently retired, was moving to Greensboro, Vermont. Why Yaz? Simple. He was the only plausible person we had a photo of kicking around (Pat, a former Rutland Herald sports writer had absconded with some AP photos upon his departure - hopefully, the statute of limitations on that theft has expired!).

At any rate, we wrote the story, went to press and mailed the paper around to the local media.

No one was fooled except Don Fillion, then sports editor at the Free Press.

Much to our delight, Fillion wrote about Yaz coming to Vermont in his weekly who's who column.

We set him straight and apologized. He was not amused.

Later, I saw him at the Spring Green at defunct Catamount Speedway and he proceeded to profanely (and appropriately) ream me out in front of the press corps. I deserved it.

I was 18 at the time. Nearly two decades later, Fillion retired, moved to Montgomery and began to work for me at the S-A Messenger as a stringer. One night I asked if he remembered the joke and bawling me out when I was a pup.

He said he didn't. Not surprising, I guess. It was a small story and I was a small-time hack. But still, ever April Fools Day I remember the story and smile.

As I was figuring out my response to my wife's chicken gag I went searching for ideas on the internet and found this diversion for the top 100 April Fools hoaxes of all time.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/

Enjoy!

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SHAWN CORROW, when he's not trying really hard to figure out a way to prank his wife and daughter, is a freelance photojournalist based in Franklin, Vermont and the owner of Cold Hollow Photography.