B
S PORTS
Section B
How-to
(maybe)
win your
bracket
pool
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
South Lane County Sports and Recreation
Contact Sports, 942-3325 or e-mail zsilva@cgsentinel.com
Springing into action: spring sports return
How knowing
less about college
basketball is the
key to bracket
success
By Zach Silva
I have a love-hate relation-
ship with March Madness
brackets.
In the days between Se-
lection Sunday and the fi rst
NCAA tournament game,
there has always been a bub-
bling hope inside me believ-
ing this will be the year my
bracket does well. The world
is a glowing place until this
pure joy quickly turns sour
when one of my Final Four
teams inexplicably loses on
the fi rst day of the tourna-
ment.
But not this year.
This year is different be-
cause this year I have fi gured
out the secret to success:
know less.
In year’s past, I naively
believed my knowledge of
college basketball was on
my side. This year I am done
with knowledge. I have quit
knowledge. (Or maybe not
quit knowledge but now am
no longer in college and have
a job that focuses on high
school sports [thx Sentinel]
and so I have not been able to
focus on the college games.)
I have been an avid student
of the college game. From
the start of the season to the
conference tournaments, I
was plugged in to the intri-
cacies of college basketball.
Not just Pac-12 teams but
across the nation. I fell in
love with a rag-tag St. John’s
team, I was confounded by
how Kansas’ Perry Ellis was
still in college and through
it all, my bracket always
fl opped.
Every year my sister Abe,
who can stare at basketball
game on TV and not know
what is happening, beats me.
Her knowledge, which stems
from jersey colors and the
fact that Kansas has a cute
mascot, has overpowered me
every time.
I once had a goldfi sh (RIP
Collin 2010-2017) who I had
fi ll out a bracket. I put a piece
of tape down the middle of
his bowl and then counted to
10. If he was on the left side,
I wrote down the team on the
top line and if he was on the
right side, the bottom. I re-
peated this until he crowned
a champion.
After the Elite Eight, sweet
Collin was in the 99th per-
centile on ESPN’s brackets
while my bracket that I fi lled
out – me, a human being who
had been paying attention
closely all season – was in
the bottom .7 percentile.
Brackets are clearly not
my expertise. Until this year.
With all thought suspend-
ed and the knowing brack-
ets are arbitrary exercise in
randomness and luck, I fi lled
mine out on Sunday night
with a wide-eyed ignorance.
Teams I knew next-to-noth-
ing about were suddenly
popping up in my Sweet 16
and beyond. I was nearly
swayed by NBA-talent of
Oklahoma’s Trae Young and
Alabama’s Collin Sexton to
pull off upsets, but thought
better of it.
As I sat back and admired
my work, I am proud to say
that I am now a true believer
in Villanova basketball. And
maybe, just maybe, these
picks will let me be better
than my old goldfi sh.
A member of the Elkton/Yoncalla softball team fi elds a grounder last week in preperation for the upcoming season. Area teams began playing yesterday.
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
With spring sports,
comes spring weather
Coaches make sure they are
prepared for the rain, sun and
everything in between
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
No matter the classifi cation or the sport be-
ing played, the spring sports teams across Or-
egon are brought together by a single common
thread: the (often rainy) weather.
“You’re watching weather reports constant-
ly,” said Cottage Grove boys golf coach Kent
Russo.
“I probably check the weather 10 times a
day at a minimum. You get to know where it’s
coming from, what it looks like, how long you
have,” said Cottage Grove baseball coach Dan
Geiszler.
Living in an environment where the weather
can fl ip from 71 and sunny to 48 and rainy in
a day (see: earlier this week), coaches who are
dependent on dry conditions have become am-
ateur meteorologists as they fi nd out when they
can practice. Last season’s constant rain still
looms in the coach’s minds as they prepare for
the upcoming season.
“It was a huge issue; it was the big issue. It
was by far the worst spring that I’ve been a
part of; it was awful. It really has changed how
I am going to go about things practice-wise be-
cause we were on the fi eld fi ve times through
April,” said Geiszler. “That’s two months we
were on the fi eld fi ve times. That’s not includ-
ing games.”
Geiszler was not the only one who remem-
bers the rain that came in last season.
“Last year may be the worst weather we’ve
had in a baseball season in my time. In 30 years
or something. We were swamped all year. We
ended up games backed up,” said Elkton base-
ball coach Bill Shaw.
“But if you’re going to play baseball in Ore-
gon, you’re going to have to get used to getting
wet. That’s just how it goes.”
Take a look at this week's special Sports Preview
insert in this paper for an inside look at the local
spring sports teams.
WEATHER continued on B3
Football champions celebrate with ring ceremony
Team, fans and community
celebrate Cottage Grove
football team
By Zach Silva
zsilva@cgsentinel.com
A group of football players admire their championship rings on Tuesday night in
the Cottage Grove cafeteria.
While some of the Cottage Grove football
championship rings will be put on display,
some are destined for a less prominent place-
ment.
“I have this Nike shoebox and it has all my
awards in it from high school and I believe it
will go in the ring holder in the box in my clos-
et,” said senior Nate Farrell.
Regardless of where the rings will end up, it
was a celebration on Tuesday night as the 2017
4A football champions received their cham-
pionship rings – that they purchased – in the
Cottage Grove High School cafeteria in front
of over 150 family, friends and community
members cheering in the audience.
“There are a lot of great people in this town.
It’s one of the reasons why this thing has been
so special is because of the support – the peo-
ple that have supported us,” said head coach
PHOTO BY ZACH SILVA/CG SENTINEL
Athletes of the
Week
This week’s athletes of the
week are Cottage Bowl’s Butch
Cardoza and Natalie Clark. The
owners of the Cottage Bowl, the
pair was recently recognized
as proprietors of the year and
were honored at city council on
Monday night.
Gary Roberts. “And hopefully it will contin-
ue and hopefully we’ll get groups of kids that
want to emulate the kids that are here now. It’s
been fun.”
Roberts led the ceremony on Tuesday night
with an introduction. A championship game
highlight video was played and he then handed
out rings to each member of the team. Bohe-
mia Mining Days festival coordinator Cindy
Weeldreyer also came to the podium where she
announced that after the team did not receive
a parade, that the championship team will be
the grand marshals of this year’s Grand Miners
Parade on July 21.
“The whole community is very proud of
what y’all have accomplished. The fi rst foot-
ball championship in school history, I mean
that is so amazing. And at Bohemia Mining
Days, we’re all about history, that’s what we
do,” she said before making the announcement.
The rings themselves – that were $175 and
paid for by the families – were designed by the
seniors of the team and were inspired by past
championship rings from Sheldon and Marist.
“They gave us ideas because we had no
idea,” said Farrell.
RINGS continued on B3
CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
zsilva@cgsentinel.com