Ground Rule: Be kind and polite while holiday shopping.

Top Ten: Top Ten Heisman Hopefuls

10.) Golden Tate, WR, Notre Dame
STATS: 93 receptions, 1496 yards, 15 TD, 2 rush TD
9.) Kellen Moore, QB, Boise State
STATS: 3325 pass yards, 39 TD 3 INT 64.8% completion rating
8.) Dion Lewis, RB, Pitt
STATS: 1640 rush yards, 16 TD
7.) Tony Pike, QB, Cincinnati
STATS: 2350 pass yards, 26 TD, 62.8% completion
6.) C.J. Spiller, RB, Clemson
STATS: 1590 total yards, 15 total TD, 1 pass TD
5.) Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford
STATS: 1736 rush yards, 26 TD
4.) Tim Tebow, QB, Florida
STATS: 3272 total yards, 31 total TD, 65.2% completions
3.) Colt McCoy, QB, Texas
STATS: 3512 pass yards, 30 total TD, 70.5%completion
2.) Ndamukong Suh, DT, Nebraska
STATS: 52 solo tackles, 11.5 sacks
1.) Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama
STATS: 1542 rush yards, 322 receiving yards, 18 total TD

-DZ

If you haven’t seen it, here it is as promised.

Ground Rule: You can’t wear a jersey of a player that now plays for a rival team.

Top Ten: Top Ten NFL MVP Candidates

10.) Cedric Benson

9.) Vince Young

8.) Elvis Dumervil

7.) Darren Sharper

6.) Tom Brady

5.) Aaron Rogers

4.) Chris Johnson

3.) Brett Favre

2.) Drew Brees

1.) Peyton Manning

Honorable mentions…Adrian Peterson, Charles Woodson, Jared Allen

It has been a while since the last time I posted, so buckle up…here we go. A lot of people ask me why we cover high school sports. “No one cares,” they say. What those people don’t realize, is that people care…boy do they ever. At Z889 sports we have certainly found our niche covering high school football and after covering the hs football scene for over a year, I understand why.

High school sports are just that, sports. There are no contracts to get in the way, no scholarships or endorsement deals to ruin things. There are just the athletes playing for pride and for the love of the game. I know what you’re thinking, “C’mon that pretty clichéd.” And you’re right, it is. But it’s also true.

I had the pleasure of traveling up to Highland Park, NJ a few weeks back to cover a Florence-Highland Park playoff game. It was a game that could have gone either way. In the end the Flashes from Florence came up short. They actually lost because of a two-point conversion that the Highland Park Owls converted on a broken play.

I was on the field after the game to interview the players and coaches. I know Highland Park won, but I cared about Florence, they were, after all, the Burlington County team involved. First I talked to Florence head coach Joe Frappoli, he was pretty reserved, but also disappointed. I had to talk with Highland Park’s head coach, but he had walked off the field and into the locker room, so I had to run in and grab him.

On my way off the field, I passed the Florence team. A Florence team that I had covered a few time throughout the season. They were a good team, but that Saturday things didn’t go their way. I looked into the faces of some players. Some seemed stunned, others angry and some even wept. I wanted to talk to Marcus Rawls, he had been there best player for the entire season and I thought a story about their playoff season ending needed to involve him. I talked with Marcus for only about a minute; it was all that I could bear. Marcus like most of his teammates took the loss extremely hard and also took it personally. I slapped him on the shoulder and congratulated him on a great season. I don’t think he responded, he just kept looking at the yellow busses that the Flashes arrived on, he just wanted to go home. I didn’t blame him.

The next encounter took place on Thanksgiving Day. I traveled to Tabernackle to watch Cherokee-Seneca. Seneca had lost a heart-breaker just a week prior to Hammonton 3-0. It was a devastating loss. Coach Fisher said that his team didn’t even practice Monday or Tuesday, they just couldn’t. Cherokee on the other hand had won their matchup against Williamstown and will play Egg Harbor in the Group IV Championship on Dec. 5.

Most would think that Cherokee wouldn’t play their starters, that they would just concede the game because it didn’t mean anything to them. Most were wrong. While this game didn’t have any playoff implications, coach PJ Mehigan played his starters; they wanted to win…for pride. The winner would be dubbed the “king of the reservation,” and would be the only team to beat all three Lenape Regional High School District schools. It was a sloppy game, but it was amazing.

Seneca won 14-7, and it seemed as though they never lost in the playoffs. I got to see a mirror opposite of my Highland Park trip on the faces of the Golden Eagles that Thanksgiving afternoon. These kids were jubilant, they had knocked off the mighty Cherokee and they did so with pride.

I understand why people love high school sports. It’s because a team like Florence and Seneca can take a win so hard, but when they win it makes all the pain go away. Just something to think about the next time someone puts up their nose at lower level sports. Because in my mind, the lower level is tops.

-DZ

Ground Rule: If as a fan, your sports team loses, you can’t go to the opposing team’s parade.

Top Ten: Top Ten HS Football Playoff Teams in Burlington County

10.) Palmyra

9.) Florence

8.) Moorestown

7.) Shawnee

6.) Burlington Township

5.) Willingboro

4.) Pemberton

3.) Seneca

2.) Cinnaminson

1.) Cherokee

Yes…I really did do this myself.

-DZ

Sorry…I’ve been slacking.

Ground Rule: Cheerleaders should know what is happening in the football game they are cheering for.

Top Ten: Top Ten College Football Teams

10.) LSU

9.) Miami, FL

8.) Penn St.

7.) Iowa

6.) USC

5.) Cincinatti  

4.) Boise St.

3.) Texas

2.) Alabama

1.) Florida

Honorable mentions… TCU, Oregon and Temple (on a winning streak)

Shocker!  I wonder who Major League Baseball wants to win this series!

You know you’re doomed when you have the league pulling for you and you still can’t win!

This is something new that I am going to start posting every Wednesday morning simply just to run down what the local professional (and some college) sports teams are up to.  With Z88.9 Sports being so consumed with local sports at the college and high school level, especially high school football, we don’t want to leave out the teams that our listeners probably care about the most.

First…it’s not exaclty news anymore, but the Phillies have advanced to the National League Championship Series for the second year in a row, and will renew their cross-country rivalry with the Los Angeles Dodgers tomorrow night.  This will be the fifth meeting between the two teams in the NLCS, who have split the previous four at two wins apiece.  Game 1 starters look to be Cole Hamels going up against the Phillies’ former ace, Randy Wolf.  The series schedule looks like this:

Game 1 – Thursday, Oct. 15 @ L.A. – 8:07 p.m.

Game 2 – Friday, Oct. 16 @ L.A. – 4:07 p.m.

Game 3 – Sunday, Oct. 18 in Philly – 8:07 p.m.

Game 4 – Monday, Oct. 19 in Philly – 8:07 p.m.

*Game 5 – Wednesday, Oct. 21 in Philly – 8:07 p.m.

*Game 6 – Friday, Oct. 23 @ L.A. – 8:07 p.m.

*Game 7 – Saturday, Oct. 24 @ L.A. – 8:07 p.m.

*If Necessary

As far as the other teams go, the Flyers are in the midst of their annual team bonding week as they have just one game over a stretch of 11 days.  The Orange and Black will resume play on Friday night in Sunrise, FL when they faceoff against the Panthers.

The Sixers continue to have a good preseason, and if their record is any indication of what they’ll be bringing to the table in the regular season, perhaps it will be a good year.

The Eagles beat the Bucs on Sunday, and now look to improve to 4-1 with another win this weekend against the Oakland Raiders.  Not to take anything away from the birds, but aside from that game against New Orleans, they haven’t played a legit contender yet, and they were blown out in that game with the Saints.  Despite that, McNabb came out with an excellent performance in his return to the field, and helped the team do exactly what they need to do against these weaker teams – WIN!  With the Saints being among the early favorites to hoist the Lombardi in February, I guess you can’t complain too much about the loss; especially given the fact that Kevin Kolb was also the starter for the birds that day.  The 3-1 record looks good for the Eagles, RIGHT NOW…but keep in mind that they still have all six NFC East games, as well as meetings with the currently unbeaten Denver Broncos, along with the Atlanta Falcons and Chicago Bears…all of which seem to be legit contenders for the top prize this season.  I’m not saying the Eagles won’t make the playoffs, or that they can’t beat these “good” teams, but they do still need to prove themselves (to me at least) before I’m ready to pick them to pass the NY Giants for the top spot in the division.  As far as this week goes…unless they’re trying to mimic the Dallas Cowboys’ win over Kansas City, the Eagles should have no problem with the Raiders…35-17.