The Red Wings were a lot of fun yesterday to watch. I love the excitement of a Game 7 in the playoffs. Nothing has more adrenaline to me than play well or shut up and go home.
That is even more fun when you consider it builds up with each game and then explodes at the end for the winner.
I guess the Wings were not ready to go and play golf just yet. The Ducks will have to tell them what the weather is like on the golf courses.
I agree with what Mickey Redmond said on the radio this morning “the Ducks are Dirty.” I have no doubt in my mind the better and cleaner hockey team won the series.
Bring on the Chicago Black Hawks, baby! Two of the original six teams of the National Hockey League should make for an interesting battle. I can’t remember the last time these two teams played this late in the season.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The weather like the economy is a downer
Sure is a bummer about this weather. I would like to get out and see a track meet this spring.
So far I have seen some baseball and softball but there are so many sports in the spring. I wish this economy would get better and all these people wouldn’t keep getting laid off. Just when things look like they will get better or turn around something else happens. I guess all we can do is the best we can and hope that gets us through this tough economic times.
I hope all the teachers in Belleville that are being laid off can find work and don't have such a hard time in the future. Good luck to them and I hope all turns out well. It looks like several of them are coaches for varsity sports and I hope they can find jobs coaching in the future as well.
So far I have seen some baseball and softball but there are so many sports in the spring. I wish this economy would get better and all these people wouldn’t keep getting laid off. Just when things look like they will get better or turn around something else happens. I guess all we can do is the best we can and hope that gets us through this tough economic times.
I hope all the teachers in Belleville that are being laid off can find work and don't have such a hard time in the future. Good luck to them and I hope all turns out well. It looks like several of them are coaches for varsity sports and I hope they can find jobs coaching in the future as well.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Fast and furious
The best part of this time of year is waiting for the weather to break and watching sports on Saturday outside with shades on and pen and paper in hand.
Granted it didn’t seem like this last week in fact sometimes the cold weather in the spring is worse than football season at the end.
I guess that is because you get used to the cold before winter hits and in the spring you are trying to get use to the hot before summer hits. I am sure it makes sense to some people.
The track season for Belleville this year is strictly meets in the Mega Red, which may make it hard for them to advance outside of league play.
As of Tuesday Belleville varsity baseball was 0-9 and had yet to win a game. I hope they do well on Wednesday against the Allen Park Jags but they have five more games this week after that.
I know the baseball team at Ypsilanti High is quite young as well but who knows they might do well. Lincoln baseball has a lot of experience coming back and I expect good thing the rest of they way from them.
Let the spring sport seasons get hectic and let the fun begin. Give me a call sometime when summer hits and I won’t be so busy.
Dave Merchant is a staff writer for the View and Courier newspapers and can be contacted at 734-697-8255 or read online at www.ypislanticourier. com. My email is dmerchant@heritage.com.
Granted it didn’t seem like this last week in fact sometimes the cold weather in the spring is worse than football season at the end.
I guess that is because you get used to the cold before winter hits and in the spring you are trying to get use to the hot before summer hits. I am sure it makes sense to some people.
The track season for Belleville this year is strictly meets in the Mega Red, which may make it hard for them to advance outside of league play.
As of Tuesday Belleville varsity baseball was 0-9 and had yet to win a game. I hope they do well on Wednesday against the Allen Park Jags but they have five more games this week after that.
I know the baseball team at Ypsilanti High is quite young as well but who knows they might do well. Lincoln baseball has a lot of experience coming back and I expect good thing the rest of they way from them.
Let the spring sport seasons get hectic and let the fun begin. Give me a call sometime when summer hits and I won’t be so busy.
Dave Merchant is a staff writer for the View and Courier newspapers and can be contacted at 734-697-8255 or read online at www.ypislanticourier. com. My email is dmerchant@heritage.com.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Spring has sprung!
I can’t lie. Spring is not my favorite time of the year for high school sports. It is a crazy time with a ton of games and events and the weather playing such a big part of the season early on.
The only good part about the spring season is that after that comes summer and that means hot weather, swimming and vacations.
Enough about that the spring has always and will most certainly remain the hardest season for prep writers to cover. Instead of one football game a week to cover you could easily have six or more softball games in a week (all with the same pitcher).
Track season is always a challenge because you have both boys’ and girls’ teams with several events and points are given in the top three individual events and the first place in relays. The action is non-stop there is always something to write about.
It makes it very hard to write any features because there is so much going on with the actual teams.
There is baseball, softball, track, soccer, golf, lacrosse, tennis and maybe a sport or two that I am forgetting right now. The athletes that are seniors are just waiting to graduate and sometimes they are hit by a case of “senioritis” which can have no good effect on any of the teams they play sports on.
The early part of the season can be exciting as teams adjust to the bitter cold outside weather in the spring in Michigan. There has been many a time I have watched my first baseball or softball game of the season with my winter coat on and my gloves.
I remember one game watching it and freezing so much that after the game the coach saw I was blue and said he would keep his comments quick and to the point. I appreciated that but it was colder and windier than a football game in October.
I have run track and can remember practicing or actually have a meet in a snowstorm. That isn’t the funniest experience I have ever had especially when you consider I ran the hurdles.
Ok, maybe running them was not the best reference but I did do them. I was not very quick and not very good but I had fun.
I really want to do the best job I can of covering all the spring sports. It is going to be hard to put them all in the paper each week but please keep with me and help me get as much stuff in the paper as possible.
These kids work hard in this are and I want to recognize them as much as I can in the paper. They deserve it. Some of them may got to college and play sports and high school will not be that big of a deal to them.
There are always those who are done after this season and can only look back at their scrapbooks or remember the good times they had with their friends.
Who knows maybe they will show their children or grandchildren articles I have written about them several years from now.
A journalist is an historian. We write in active tenses but it is a record for people to keep and remember. We may write about the things as they happen but believe it or not it is a record for the past as well.
So help me capture the magic so all can read and enjoy it for generations to come.
Dave Merchant is a staff writer for the View and Courier newspapers and can be reached at dmerchant@heritage.com or 734-697-8255.
The only good part about the spring season is that after that comes summer and that means hot weather, swimming and vacations.
Enough about that the spring has always and will most certainly remain the hardest season for prep writers to cover. Instead of one football game a week to cover you could easily have six or more softball games in a week (all with the same pitcher).
Track season is always a challenge because you have both boys’ and girls’ teams with several events and points are given in the top three individual events and the first place in relays. The action is non-stop there is always something to write about.
It makes it very hard to write any features because there is so much going on with the actual teams.
There is baseball, softball, track, soccer, golf, lacrosse, tennis and maybe a sport or two that I am forgetting right now. The athletes that are seniors are just waiting to graduate and sometimes they are hit by a case of “senioritis” which can have no good effect on any of the teams they play sports on.
The early part of the season can be exciting as teams adjust to the bitter cold outside weather in the spring in Michigan. There has been many a time I have watched my first baseball or softball game of the season with my winter coat on and my gloves.
I remember one game watching it and freezing so much that after the game the coach saw I was blue and said he would keep his comments quick and to the point. I appreciated that but it was colder and windier than a football game in October.
I have run track and can remember practicing or actually have a meet in a snowstorm. That isn’t the funniest experience I have ever had especially when you consider I ran the hurdles.
Ok, maybe running them was not the best reference but I did do them. I was not very quick and not very good but I had fun.
I really want to do the best job I can of covering all the spring sports. It is going to be hard to put them all in the paper each week but please keep with me and help me get as much stuff in the paper as possible.
These kids work hard in this are and I want to recognize them as much as I can in the paper. They deserve it. Some of them may got to college and play sports and high school will not be that big of a deal to them.
There are always those who are done after this season and can only look back at their scrapbooks or remember the good times they had with their friends.
Who knows maybe they will show their children or grandchildren articles I have written about them several years from now.
A journalist is an historian. We write in active tenses but it is a record for people to keep and remember. We may write about the things as they happen but believe it or not it is a record for the past as well.
So help me capture the magic so all can read and enjoy it for generations to come.
Dave Merchant is a staff writer for the View and Courier newspapers and can be reached at dmerchant@heritage.com or 734-697-8255.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Big game Friday night at Romulus High
There is going to be a big Mega Red hoops game on Friday night. The Belleville Tigers will be on the road at Romulus against the Eagles.
This will be the game that will either make the Tigers the number one team in the final year of the Mega Red or it will make it possible for Romulus to be Co-champs.
I saw the first time these teams faced off against each other earlier this season and I must admit I was surprised that is was so lop-sided in score. I really thought the game would be much tighter but Coach Don Hickman’s Tigers proved they were better and they wanted to win more.
Nate Oats and the Eagles will be gunning for them at home and I guarantee about 2,000 or so fans will be filling the stands. It will be exciting and I hope that it is not a blowout either way.
It will be interesting because in just a few weeks these two teams will most certainly meet in the district finals.
Time will tell but look for some good basketball.
This will be the game that will either make the Tigers the number one team in the final year of the Mega Red or it will make it possible for Romulus to be Co-champs.
I saw the first time these teams faced off against each other earlier this season and I must admit I was surprised that is was so lop-sided in score. I really thought the game would be much tighter but Coach Don Hickman’s Tigers proved they were better and they wanted to win more.
Nate Oats and the Eagles will be gunning for them at home and I guarantee about 2,000 or so fans will be filling the stands. It will be exciting and I hope that it is not a blowout either way.
It will be interesting because in just a few weeks these two teams will most certainly meet in the district finals.
Time will tell but look for some good basketball.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
High school sports are fun!
Watching a high school sport is something everyone should try at least once in his or her life. I am not saying people have to go and watch everything just pick an event and go watch your team compete.
Some sports are much more watched than others. I have been to some games that didn’t have any fans and I have seen the gymnasium full at a boys’ basketball game between Belleville and Ypsilanti High.
A lot of the people go to the games to watch the sport but there are just as many there for the social aspect of the game. People like to come out and socialize. The games give them a chance, or I should say a reason to do just that.
I like high school sports which is good because if I didn’t it would make it awfully difficult to report on them. I don’t always look for the best players or the person who scores the most points. There are many good stories out there that haven’t been told about the person who just made the team or maybe the player who comes out for the first time and doesn’t see much game action but is as important to the team as any of the starters.
This area has a lot of talent and the student athletes all have a lot of potential. I know everyone wants to make the pros or would love to get the scholarship to college. But realistically it isn’t possible for that to happen for too many players.
The chance that there is a possibility to make it to the next level is what I think drives a lot of these athletes on. It makes them work harder and better to become that person who stands out in a crowd. I have watched thousands of kids play high school sports and seen only a few make to college on a full-ride.
Those I have seen have been pretty special and they have worked very hard. There is always someone out there that will take your spot if you don’t make it academically or don’t work as hard as you can on and off the field.
Just because a college coach or recruiter is looking at you doesn’t mean you can ease up or give it any less. Think about it. If you give less someone else will be more than happy to take your place. Wrestling is one of those sports that you really have to have a passion for to enjoy. It is a tough, grueling sport that puts you one-on-one with an opponent of equal or very close to equal weight. You battle and in the end the other person to blame for a win or loss is you. I want to thank Vera Cigan for soem recent wrestling photos as well as anyone who wants to submit things for me to put in the paper.
I will be doing a story in the very near future about the Gold family from Belleville High School fame. I talked to all four boys in the family and their mother. What a great group of people. I trully loved talking with them and would love to meet them in person some day. Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts and ideas for the future. Email me at dmerchant@heritage.com.
Some sports are much more watched than others. I have been to some games that didn’t have any fans and I have seen the gymnasium full at a boys’ basketball game between Belleville and Ypsilanti High.
A lot of the people go to the games to watch the sport but there are just as many there for the social aspect of the game. People like to come out and socialize. The games give them a chance, or I should say a reason to do just that.
I like high school sports which is good because if I didn’t it would make it awfully difficult to report on them. I don’t always look for the best players or the person who scores the most points. There are many good stories out there that haven’t been told about the person who just made the team or maybe the player who comes out for the first time and doesn’t see much game action but is as important to the team as any of the starters.
This area has a lot of talent and the student athletes all have a lot of potential. I know everyone wants to make the pros or would love to get the scholarship to college. But realistically it isn’t possible for that to happen for too many players.
The chance that there is a possibility to make it to the next level is what I think drives a lot of these athletes on. It makes them work harder and better to become that person who stands out in a crowd. I have watched thousands of kids play high school sports and seen only a few make to college on a full-ride.
Those I have seen have been pretty special and they have worked very hard. There is always someone out there that will take your spot if you don’t make it academically or don’t work as hard as you can on and off the field.
Just because a college coach or recruiter is looking at you doesn’t mean you can ease up or give it any less. Think about it. If you give less someone else will be more than happy to take your place. Wrestling is one of those sports that you really have to have a passion for to enjoy. It is a tough, grueling sport that puts you one-on-one with an opponent of equal or very close to equal weight. You battle and in the end the other person to blame for a win or loss is you. I want to thank Vera Cigan for soem recent wrestling photos as well as anyone who wants to submit things for me to put in the paper.
I will be doing a story in the very near future about the Gold family from Belleville High School fame. I talked to all four boys in the family and their mother. What a great group of people. I trully loved talking with them and would love to meet them in person some day. Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts and ideas for the future. Email me at dmerchant@heritage.com.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Today's journalism is tomorrow's history
The hardest thing about covering high school sports is not having as many eyes and ears, as I would like. What I mean by this is that if I could I would love to get everything in the paper.
I want pictures, articles, features and anything that I think readers would enjoy seeing in the paper. I know from experience how much kids, parents, grandparents and coaches love seeing things in the paper.
It could be a picture, it could be a short article or it could be a full-length story. People love to make scrap- books and they love to have these things to look at 10-15 years from now. Showing their children what they did as student athletes or just for memories is what we are all about. Newspapers are printing history in the present.
What is today’s news are tomorrow’s history lessons. People like to read about what they accomplished and the good things they have done. The beauty of my job is people want to see it no matter what. If Ypsilanti High defeats Dexter in football they want to know how and why. If they lose to Highland Park people still want to see who led the team in rushing or who scored a touchdown.
I want people to send me as much news and sports information as they can so I have the problem of putting it in the paper each week. I would like to have so much information that I have to hold it from one week to the next. Give me articles, pictures and all the information that is worth printing and I will get it in the paper.
I want stories on kids who play soccer, people who swim in the summer or maybe someone that runs a marathon. Give me the information and let me put it in print. I love game stories and I love writing stories about high school sports but I know for a fact this area has more to offer than just high school varsity sports.
I recently started running feature stories on Eastern Michigan University athletes. These are interesting and good for the paper but there is so much more that this area has to offer. I want to write stories on athletes who went on to college and are playing at any university. Give me some stories on area students playing basketball. I know we have a lot of that.
We have some very good athletes in all sports. I would love to do stories on “Where are they now.” Give me some ideas of who to track down and write about and let me do the rest of the work. Let me know what you want to read about and I will do my very best to hunt it down and put it on the pages of the sports section so you can read it.
Any interesting coaches, teachers or people who have been important to student athletes let me know and we can do a story on them. Any new sports programs or any news sports we haven’t covered let me know. I want to work for you and your reading entertainment.
I know most of you have seen my name in print by now. Call me let me know you thoughts and what you think. I am here and would love to hear from you.
So I do cover a few schools. There is Willow Run, Ypsilanti High and Lincoln in the Ypsilanti Courier and I do cover Belleville High in the View. Maybe you want another school covered just let me know.
I would love to hear from anyone on suggestions for coverage ideas. I would like to get as many names and events in the paper as I can.
Dave Merchant is a staff writer for the View and Courier newspapers and can be reached at 734-697-8255 or dmerchant@heritage.com. His blog Dave’s Sport Gems can be read on www.ypsilanticourier.com.
I want pictures, articles, features and anything that I think readers would enjoy seeing in the paper. I know from experience how much kids, parents, grandparents and coaches love seeing things in the paper.
It could be a picture, it could be a short article or it could be a full-length story. People love to make scrap- books and they love to have these things to look at 10-15 years from now. Showing their children what they did as student athletes or just for memories is what we are all about. Newspapers are printing history in the present.
What is today’s news are tomorrow’s history lessons. People like to read about what they accomplished and the good things they have done. The beauty of my job is people want to see it no matter what. If Ypsilanti High defeats Dexter in football they want to know how and why. If they lose to Highland Park people still want to see who led the team in rushing or who scored a touchdown.
I want people to send me as much news and sports information as they can so I have the problem of putting it in the paper each week. I would like to have so much information that I have to hold it from one week to the next. Give me articles, pictures and all the information that is worth printing and I will get it in the paper.
I want stories on kids who play soccer, people who swim in the summer or maybe someone that runs a marathon. Give me the information and let me put it in print. I love game stories and I love writing stories about high school sports but I know for a fact this area has more to offer than just high school varsity sports.
I recently started running feature stories on Eastern Michigan University athletes. These are interesting and good for the paper but there is so much more that this area has to offer. I want to write stories on athletes who went on to college and are playing at any university. Give me some stories on area students playing basketball. I know we have a lot of that.
We have some very good athletes in all sports. I would love to do stories on “Where are they now.” Give me some ideas of who to track down and write about and let me do the rest of the work. Let me know what you want to read about and I will do my very best to hunt it down and put it on the pages of the sports section so you can read it.
Any interesting coaches, teachers or people who have been important to student athletes let me know and we can do a story on them. Any new sports programs or any news sports we haven’t covered let me know. I want to work for you and your reading entertainment.
I know most of you have seen my name in print by now. Call me let me know you thoughts and what you think. I am here and would love to hear from you.
So I do cover a few schools. There is Willow Run, Ypsilanti High and Lincoln in the Ypsilanti Courier and I do cover Belleville High in the View. Maybe you want another school covered just let me know.
I would love to hear from anyone on suggestions for coverage ideas. I would like to get as many names and events in the paper as I can.
Dave Merchant is a staff writer for the View and Courier newspapers and can be reached at 734-697-8255 or dmerchant@heritage.com. His blog Dave’s Sport Gems can be read on www.ypsilanticourier.com.
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