{"id":112223,"date":"2019-01-21T23:41:39","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T04:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=112223"},"modified":"2019-01-21T23:42:03","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T04:42:03","slug":"random-thoughts-hoops-and-the-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/01\/21\/random-thoughts-hoops-and-the-nfl\/","title":{"rendered":"Random thoughts: hoops and the NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around a key Western Buckeye League basketball game, girls\u2019 hoops, NFL overtime, the Saints, the Pro Bowl and a snow night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A huge game in the WBL<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t imagine there will be any empty seats at Ottawa-Glandorf High School this Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Titans (10-2, 4-0 WBL, No. 8 in Division III) will host Shawnee (12-1, 4-0 WBL, No. 12 in Division II). The winner will have sole possession of first place in the Western Buckeye League and could very well wind up as the league champ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be an absolutely electric atmosphere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time flies<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that for many teams, the 2018-2019 girls\u2019 high school basketball regular season is roughly three quarters complete. It seems like the season tipped off a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tournament draws will be held on Super Bowl Sunday, with boys tournament draws held the following Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NFL overtime rules<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As expected, after Sunday night\u2019s New England Patriots win over Kansas City, there\u2019s a big outcry to change the NFL\u2019s overtime rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not totally against adopting rules that are similar to high school or college overtime (you\u2019d have to start at the 40 for it to really make sense), but here\u2019s a thought \u2013 play some defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Chiefs had Tom Brady and the Pats in third and long three times in overtime, but couldn\u2019t get a key stop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the overtime format, a defensive play would have been necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Saints<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a Browns fan, I fully sympathize what Saints fans (WKSD\u2019s Kenny Stabler is a big Saints fan) are going through right now \u2013 two years, two heartbreaking losses in conference championship games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still remember the 1986 and 1987 AFC conference championship games like they were last week. Gut-wrenching. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the officiating was questionable at best, but the Saints had a chance to put more points on the board. Regardless, it\u2019s not easy to lose back to back conference championship games like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pro Bowl<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does anyone watch the NFL\u2019s Pro Bowl anymore?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stopped years ago, simply because it\u2019s become a shell of what it used to be. Some say it\u2019s a mockery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s be clear \u2013 it\u2019s nothing more than an exhibition game. When big money contracts came into play, participation started to dwindle because there was no sense risking a career threatening injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replacements would be named but often times they didn\u2019t want to play either. In many cases, the fourth or fifth choice would wind up playing and a team could claim it had an All-Pro player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the game is played the Sunday before Super Bowl, which means no AFC or NFC championship players will participate in the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s almost become a game made up of rosters of anyone willing and able to play, rather than the NFL\u2019s best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A night off <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think everyone knew on Friday that literally all of Saturday\u2019s area high school athletic events would be postponed. Crestview left earlier than planning for the Flyin\u2019 to the Hoop Invitational, which was a smart idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do on a rare Saturday night off in January? My wife and I finally got around to watching the John Travolta movie Gotti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We knew it didn\u2019t exactly get sterling reviews, but we decided to watch it anyway. Our take \u2013 it wasn\u2019t a cinematic masterpiece, but we thought it was okay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have thoughts on any of the above topics, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around a key Western Buckeye League basketball game, girls\u2019 hoops, NFL overtime, the Saints, the Pro Bowl and a snow night. A huge game in the WBL I can\u2019t imagine there will be any empty seats at Ottawa-Glandorf High School this Friday night. The Titans (10-2, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 23:38:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}