Random Thoughts: a gift, football, more

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

The latest installment of Random Thoughts centers around the Sod Poddles, Bath football, statewide rankings, USC and the Big 10, a long day and the DeShaun Watson debacle.

Sod Poodles

A few months ago I mentioned some unusual minor league baseball team names. I had come across a list online and said my favorites were the Amarillo Sod Poddles, the Burlington Sock Puppets and the Carolina Disco Turkeys.

Fast forward to last week and I received a package in the mail from Jerry and Ann Helm. Their grandson, Caleb Roberts, plays for the Sod Poodles. He blasted 20 home runs and drove in 65 runs for AA Amarillo during the regular season. I received a very nice note from Jerry, plus a Sod Poddles penant and program. A little later in the day, Jerry and I had a very nice phone conversation. Earlier in the summer, Ann emailed and noted they get to watch all of Caleb’s game via a stream and they invited me to watch a game although unfortunately that didn’t come to fruition on my end.

The penant and program now have a permanent place of honor and it makes me smile every time I see them. Thank you Jerry and Ann!

Bath

Bath’s specialty appears to be winning close, high scoring football games this season.

The Wildcats (4-1, 4-0 WBL) have beaten Van Wert 43-37, Kenton 42-35 and Elida 62-56. It could be interesting this Friday against Ottawa-Glandorf. By the way, according to fantastic50.net, Bath has the toughest schedule in the state in Division V.

Marion Local No. 10?

Fantastic50.net, which I consider to be a top notch Ohio high school football site, has Marion Local ranked No. 10 in Ohio. Not No. 10 in Division VII, No. 10 in all divisions. Here are the top 10 teams: Massillon Washington D-II), Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller (D-I), Akron Archbishop Hoban (D-II), Lakewood St. Edward (D-I), Cincinnati Anderson (D-II), Columbus Bishop Watterson (D-III), Lakota West (D-I), Toledo Central Catholic (D-III), Cincinnati St. Xavier (D-I) and Marion Local (D-VII).

Fellow MAC member Coldwater (D-VI) is ranked 24^th and Wapakoneta (D-III) is ranked 41^st.

Obviously, the rankings are made up mainly of bigger schools so to be mentioned is impressive.

USC/Big Ten

It pains me to say this but Michigan was clearly better up front against USC on Saturday. It was evident very early on and it allowed the Wolverines to jump out to a 14-10 lead. Yes, they had to rally to win the game but still, they were able to outmuscle the Trojans.

I understand Michigan has struggled this year but it made no sense to me why USC was a favorite. It’s a different style of football out west, not nearly as physical as midwest football. Plus, going into the Ann Arbor was never going to be easy.

I’m not saying Michigan is going to win the Big 10 or anything like that, but like it or not, the Wolverines delivered kind of a rude eye-opener to USC.

Ouch

Final numbers from Saturday’s Kent St. at Penn St. game. In addition to a 56-0 victory, PSU outgained the Golden Flashes 718-67. Also, Kent St. had to run 43 plays to get those 67 yards.

Elementary my dear Watson

It becomes more obvious with each game – Cleveland’s trade for DeShaun Watson will go down as the worst in team history.

As always, if you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com.