I try to compartmentalize many of my thoughts, but this time of year can be a little overwhelming. Today is the final day of the MLB regular season, we’re getting into the meat of the NFL schedule, college football is
I try to compartmentalize many of my thoughts, but this time of year can be a little overwhelming. Today is the final day of the MLB regular season, we’re getting into the meat of the NFL schedule, college football is into conference play, the NBA season opens in three weeks, the WSL is approaching its season finales and moving towards the Triple Crown, all while Kapaa football continues its dominant run to the state tournament.
If your attention span, like mine, finds itself in short order this time of year, today’s column is right up your alley. Let’s bounce around and shine a light upon a bit of everything.
WITH THEIR PLACE in next month’s HHSAA Division II state tournament no longer an “if” statement, the Kapaa Warriors will be facing a difficult balancing act over their final two games. How much should first-stringers be playing if games get out of hand? Do they work on some new looks during games or keep those wrinkles off the film before the playoffs? Where does going after the top seed fit into both of those decisions?
SATURDAY FEATURED one of, if not the best pitching performance of the 2015 MLB season as Washington’s Max Scherzer fired his second no-hitter of the year. He put a major damper in the Mets’ hopes at home-field advantage in the Division Series, striking out 17 and walking none in the Nats’ 2-0 win at Citi Field. It’s been a rough few months for Washington, but Scherzer has been phenomenal for stretches. He won’t win the Cy Young, but he has had the most dominant outings of any Major League starter this season.
THOUGH THEY escaped with the victory, Ohio State continued its underwhelming start to the 2015 season in a 34-27 win Saturday at Indiana. The defending national champs, who were held somewhat in check for much of the game by Hawaii a month ago, are reminding me of last season’s Florida State Seminoles. Both were coming off an NCAA title, but neither has looked like a second is likely. If the Buckeyes had this much trouble closing out the Hoosiers, they’re bound to get tripped up at some point during conference play, though their schedule is fairly soft until late November.
THE LAKERS were on hand to see the opening of practice for Eran Ganot’s Hawaii Rainbow Warriors last week at the Stan Sheriff Center. Los Angeles will begin its preseason slate Tuesday night on Oahu against the Utah Jazz. There’s not much to expect from LA this year as it tries to integrate one actual rookie (D’Angelo Russell) and one virtual one (Julius Randle) into the fold under Kobe Bryant’s tutelage(?). They’ll definitely be better than last year and that pair has a chance to become a terrific duo for many years, but the West is so loaded that their development is far more important than victories in the short term.
ON A SIMILAR note, Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans enter today’s bye week sporting just a 1-2 record, but Mariota has been as good or better than advertised. I’d grade Mariota at about a B+ through three games and he looks more like an NFL quarterback than a decent number of veterans currently starting around the league. Jimmy Clausen and Josh McCown look nervously around room
NONE OF HAWAII’S hopefuls made a deep run at the Pro Cascais in Portugal. Sebastian Zietz was the only one to even reach round three, but Seabass will have a chance to pick up a result at the Championship Tour’s Quiksilver Pro France, which begins Tuesday. Only three events remain on both the men’s and women’s world tours and Zietz is currently tied for 22nd place. He reached round three in France last year and he’ll need to keep making heats to guarantee himself a spot on the 2016 CT.
