Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

With football season almost at a close, a couple other sports get to surface.

Basketball and Soccer. Not only will you’ll be seeing coverage of soccer on a weekly basis by one our newly hired stringers but you will also see weekly coverage of Baker, Crestview, Laurel Hill, Richbourg and Davidson basketball.

I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you in the community.

Not only will you see what’s going on during the season but on in a couple weeks we’ll be releasing our basketball tab which will consist of team photos, rosters, schedules and a look at some of the players going for the basket this year.

I’m looking forward to expanding the sports section with putting aside the NASCAR page that you usually will see on page two in our Wednesday’s issue. But from now until the slow season, we will be putting that aside to give more room for local sports.

But it doesn’t stop there. If you have any pictures, information or ideas for our newspaper, don’t hesitate to e-mail, fax, call or bring them to the office in person.

My e-mail is  roberty at crestviewbulletin.com, our fax is (850) 682-2246 and our phone number is (850) 682-6524.

I will not hesitate to put that information into the newspaper the very next issue available.

Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

I think the World Series was pretty boring after a sweep by the Boston Red Sox. ESPN had a poll for a while during the World Series on how they thought the World Series was and how entertaining it was. The results? People were bored and they didn’t really care. Why? Well, unless you were a Sox fan or a Rockies fan, viewers didn’t really stay on the channel.

From what I believe the biggest problem with this and with sports in general is the loyalty to a team. Just 10 years ago, you could look at the Dallas Cowboys, the Atlanta Braves and the Chicago Bulls and know who they were, who was on the team and the die hard fans that follow them.

Now, players follow the money and they really couldn’t care less.

The lack of loyalty to a team is why the NFL, MLB and starting to jump in, the NBA, is being replaced on the television by college football and basketball. Those are the players that want to be in the game, for the game.

Maybe the “big shots” will get back on the band wagon.

Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

I don’t know if you’ve seen the “Football Fanatics” section of our paper every Saturday, but it’s getting pretty interesting.
Myself and the rest of some of the community leaders are pit against each other in a college football pick-off.
Right now I can say that I’m pretty confident that I’ll stay in the top five, but David Cadle (Mayor of Crestview) and Don Turner (Director of City Maintenance) are giving me a run for my money.
So far this season we’ve seen some the panel go with their favorite team from start to finish and others abandon their loyalty for a step up over the others. It results in great a decision or a horrible let down.
What’s on the line?
The winner mainly will get bragging rights in the community, but also a nice sized trophy with their name on the plate as well as their picture on the front page of the sports section.
Maybe even holding me in a headlock, ha-ha.
But seriously I think everyone on the expert panel has been having a lot of fun with this. Not only is this bringing me closer to the community, but also having a laugh at the same time.
Competitive spirit is something that I love to be a part of.
I’m just looking forward as to who takes the cake and walks away with the trophy.

Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

I love it when parents stand on the sidelines and ream the officials at the game. There’s nothing like good sportsmanship when you hear a parent yell

“You’re a disgrace to the organization. You don’t know how to call plays. I think you’re in the wrong sport,” over and over.

Parents belong as much on the sidelines as cats in a dog pound do. THEY DON’T. I don’t want to go into the specifics of what game I was at and what out of county team’s parents I witnessed this from. But I think it was a petty way to psyche out officials that need to be worrying about doing their job instead of quieting parents.

That’s great that you or your friend(s) was once an official for the high school scene but now the only people on those sidelines should be the coaches, the players, the media and the officiating staff. That’s it. No excuses. The officials need to make sure if they don’t see anyone with a pass or credentials to be told to go to the stands with the rest of the parents.

It’s just something I feel I needed to share with you all. There’s nothing I’ve seen for our own county teams that’s made me concerned, but we all need to weary of the words we speak.

The coaching staff’s job has the right to yell out if they want in speculation that the call was bad, but that’s it.

Parents can boo and cry out and cheer in the stands, but to be on the sidelines and yell right at the officials is quite elementary, so please withhold your view of pride and save it for after the game. It looks bad for the team and overall for your son(s).

With hundreds of universities in the nation with hundreds of mascots there’s always that one mascot that stands out from the rest. The University of California-Santa Cruz.
Why? Well maybe because of their odd name for their school mascot.
It’s probably the best name out there in terms of originality.
The fighting banana slugs. Once a banana slug always a banana slug.
There’s nothing like going to a school thats screams motivation and inspiration.
If you ever stop by the school be sure to pick up a rubbery, slippery banana slug toy as a souvenir.
Thanks to Brian here in the office, my day is inspired.
(Below is the picture of the actual mascot. He’s fighting mad…inside)

The Mets seemingly took a historic plunge into the bottom of the food change after the Phillies took the NL East title away from them in a heartbeat. Delgado broke his hand, the pitching staff wasn’t up to par at all and the Mets batting box looked like they weren’t even in the game. What happened? Typical Mets, but I still love them.

Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

Most of my days I’m spending my hours writing stories, getting interviews and counting numbers and statistics. But when I do have
time to myself I usually go onto my nymets.com and click on the game day icon to watch the game via charts on my computer.

I think it’s something that should be known to everyone, that while you’re working you can have a PiP screen in your corner with play by play stats and numbers to let you know what’s going on with your favorite MLB team.

Most of people kick themselves for paying the $130 dollars to get the MLB Extra Innings and never have the time to watch hardly any games since most of them happen around 1 or 2 in the afternoon.

Now don’t get me wrong the Extra Innings is excellent if you have the time. But the time had to spent to watch all those games gets almost impossible for a full time jobber.

Game day is easy an program that will stream automatically on your PC or MAC and let you know in text, by images and by charts what is going on in the game. It includes individual play-by-play, total SO, ERA changes batting average meters, everything.

I think it’s so underrated that people still don’t know about this little gem.

Want to know how to get on it step by step?

All you have to do is keep up with your favorite MLB team’s schedule. Know if there is a day game going on that wouldn’t normally be on television that you would be interested in watching.

Go on your team’s Web site, mine being www.nymets.com and look to the main page.

Under the inning by inning scoreboard there is a little link called “Watch this on Game day.” Simply click the link and you can close the initial MLB site screen and leave your Game day screen up.

Game day will refresh itself every 30 seconds so you know what is going on with the game as closely as possible, for FREE!
If you do have the money there is a payable audio addition that you can purchase. The audio addition simply radios the announcer into your Game day screen so you hear the game while it’s happening.

ENJOY!

Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

Let’s talk about some high school football from my perspective.

Want to start with Baker?

BAKER

From the numbers I received from last game, Baker definitely has a quarterback that they can mold into a star. Cameron Domangue rushed for 391 yards with a 77-yard burst and four touchdowns to boot last game. I’d say that head coach Bob Kellogg has a player that can be trained to be one of the best all around quarterbacks in the county.

We’re talking about a triple threat of a player. With Domangue being the a previous running back for the Gators, Kellogg knew all too well that Cameron had the agility and the mindset to get the ball where he wants it to be if the opportunity presents itself.

Did you read my prep story today on Domangue?

I don’t mean to harp on him but it excites me that such a young player with minimal experience as a quarterback is utilizing his roots and doing his best to gradually improve his position.

I did say he has to work on his throwing game, but he does. I don’t want to give him all the limelight. Don’t get me wrong he has the talent to get out of a bad situation and run the ball, but he was only 2 for 7 with 22 yards with his passing game.
It’s something that Baker needs to work on, especially when they’re running a spread.

Who else am I looking at?

Kevin Edge and Kellan Meeks.

They both combined rushing for 85 yards last game against Franklin County and they both are two players that Domangue can look to push the ball down the field.

Every time I talk to Kellogg he reminds me that these boys are rookies to the game and have minimal experience when it comes to the new changes and positions each is playing.
I completely understand where he’s coming from, but I also am a little happy for that. Even if Baker doesn’t make it as far as they want to this year, I think next year they’re going to blow up. Coach Kellogg and his staff are smart and they know exactly what they’re doing with those boys. But what’s the biggest thing on the field that he pointed out they wanted to improve?
Communication.

It foiled their plans during their first game against Bozeman and he explained that to me during an after game interview that night.
I think Baker fans should be looking forward to a strong second half this year with Baker and a big year next fall (2008).

CRESTVIEW

Crestview, Crestview, Crestview. I think that Bulldog football has taken a huge step in defense, even in the game against Niceville.
Sure head coach Matt Brunson had to work with replacing, training and communicating to more than a dozen new starters this year, but I think that they may be in the same boat as Baker is.

With also having three cycling quarterbacks, Jonathan Peacock, Jason Parker and Cory Wenrich Crestview has plenty of room to improve with all three of those arms.

Who are some heavy starters for Brunson?

Well of course we have Matt Sanders, but how about Bobby English, Austin Moser, D.D. Johnson, Brett Moore, Jordan Glover and Amond Robinson.

These names are the ons you need to keep an eye. From the numbers I looked at their first game, all of these boys stepped up and went home big hitters.
On top of that all of these boys are kids that are hopeful to surface among the rest toward the second half of the season.

Let’s look at last game to see where coach Brunson might push hard to improve on:

Passing game — Peacock and Parker combined for only 99 yards against the Eagles compared to Niceville’s McDorman who was 14 out of 24 for 274 yards.
I think that Crestview just had their backs against a wall on a lot of those play due to two interceptions, six fumbles (two of them losses) and six penalties for 60 yards.

But a team has to have one of these games in a season to learn.

For those of you that were there, the score really didn’t reflect the work from both teams.

It really was a battle for the ball and a battle to score.

I think the Bulldogs did an excellent job on holding the Eagle’s down as best they could.

Niceville has a great team this year. They’re on the top of the their game and Coach Hicks has his hands full with a lot of experienced players, so you can’t look at Crestview as letting you down.

They really did give Niceville a run for their money.

Like Kellogg, Coach Brunson and his staff are also chalk full of great minds, they know what to work on and what to let go, what to yell about and what to encourage.

I think the game against West Gadsden this Friday should be a morale booster for the Bulldogs. Look for Coach Brunson to pull some tricks out of his sleeve and push those boys to do their best.

They have the potential to be a strong and competitive team and I believe this Friday night like their first regular season game will be proof.

Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

If you haven’t already seen me walking around at various games and events I tend to wear my Mets occasionally.

I’ve been a Mets fan ever since my pop-pop turned on the television back when I was around four years old and said, “If a Mets game isn’t on, then we don’t watch anymore television till the next game.”

So, I got used to the game after a couple of years. Mind you I was four, five and six years old so my grandfather tried to explain as much about the game to me as possible. Did I understand half of it? To a certain extent, but as for the details I knew nothing about it up until I was around ten years old.

I went to my first Mets game when I was 10 years old at Shea Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Ever since then I fell in love with the game and the Mets.
I think it’s somewhat of a passion to keep up with the New York team, and hope they take home the World Series.

Are you keeping up with the Mets?

Right now they’re 82-62 (.569 pct) siding with Arizona as they both pull away from the National League.

Who are some teams that are going to give us some trouble?

Boston is a powerhouse this, routing the entire MLB with an 88-58 record.
Cleveland and the Angels are also big names this year, but one has to consider that the American League is pretty weak this year with losing so many players all around. It makes one think how much stronger the AL is compared to the NL.
Everyone knows teams from the American League have always had more of an upper hand on talent and play then those in National League, but that’s been proven wrong plenty of times.

Right now I’m looking forward to the Mets in the playoffs. Not only are they a shoe in but I think they have the makeup to not only take the pennant but be a huge competitor in the Series.
David Wright is my pick for a Golden Glove this year, Feliciano and Glavine need to stay consistent with their pitching game, the Bullpen need to put Orlando Hernandez in more so he can shake off the rust and I really don’t think Pedro Martinez will ever be the pitcher he used to be (Boston, pre-Mets).

It’s a sad thing but when a pitcher has that kind of injury, it’s a sure fire that you’ll lose at least 25 percent of your full potential.

Look for the Mets to take on the Smoltz and the Braves and try and get back the game lost last night. I’m hoping Maine will throw over 10 K’s so the Met’s can start getting their pitching game back on track.

There’s always something with the Mets that seem to falter, but I still love them just as much.

Robert Young
Crestview News Bulletin

So, Barry Bonds out hit Hank Aaron, taking the new position as Major League Baseball’s homerun king.
Were people happy?

Sure, they were happy in San Francisco when it happened, but was the nation happy about it?
I don’t think so.

With the strong allegations about Barry Bonds taking steroids and muscle enhancing drugs over a long period of time the baseball
world frowned a little on the entire record breaking.

Is there evidence?

Well, not only did Bonds’ stats and scores between 1999 and 2000 almost double, but his upper body blew up, his shoe size increase by two and a handful of other side effects apparent of someone who takes steroids.

What does this mean for the baseball world?

It means we let a cheater beat the game. It means we let someone who obviously took steroids for more than three years out hit Aaron.

It means we’ve strayed away from our traditions, regulations and goals.
I feel bad for Hank Aaron, he single handedly set the homerun record because he was the best. He didn’t have the equipment, techniques or skill training they do today.

I take my hat off to the real homerun king and turn my back to the fake one.

Long live the king, Hank Aaron.