{"id":120102,"date":"2019-07-09T05:06:12","date_gmt":"2019-07-09T10:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=120102"},"modified":"2019-07-09T05:10:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-09T10:10:53","slug":"random-thoughts-baseball-nba-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/07\/09\/random-thoughts-baseball-nba-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: baseball, NBA & more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around OHSAA Commissioner Jerry Snodgrass and his family, Major League Baseball, ACME baseball, the NBA and a non sports question. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerry Snodgrass<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deepest condolences to Ohio High School Athletic Association Commissioner Jerry Snodgrass and his wife Barbara on the loss of their son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Snodgrass, 32, passed away suddenly last Wednesday in Columbus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Services will be held tomorrow in Carey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MLB All-Star Game<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleveland is ramped up for tonight\u2019s Major League Baseball All Star Game. Admittedly, I\u2019m not a huge fan of all star games but because this one\u2019s in Cleveland, I may actually watch it from start to finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halfway point of the MLB season<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MLB All Star Game marks the unofficial halfway point of the season and there aren\u2019t too many surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there was a big surprise, I\u2019d have to say it would be the Minnesota Twins leading the American League Central Division with a record of 56-33 and a 5.5 game lead over the Indians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I didn\u2019t expect them to win a division title, I thought the Tigers might fare a bit better. I saw a stat on Sunday that said the team is 3-24 over the last 27 games. Yikes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

ACME baseball<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to the Van Wert Cougars for winning Sunday\u2019s ACME sectional championship. The Cougars will play again later this week against a team to be determined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Griffen Waltmire<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Local resident Griffen Waltmire will showcase his talents before Friday night\u2019s NASCAR Xfinity race at Kentucky Speedway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check Wednesday\u2019s News page for more details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBA parity<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first time in several seasons, more than two or three teams have a shot to win the NBA championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can thank free agency for that, and I mean that in a good way. Some people think the Lakers are true contenders, other people think it\u2019s the Clippers and there are a handful of other teams that at least stand a chance now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For once, there doesn\u2019t appear to be a super team and in my opinion, that\u2019s good for the game, at least right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A non sports question<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I almost always stick to sports here, but can anyone tell me how a double lane drive-thru at certain fast food restaurants is a benefit to anyone? It\u2019s become one of life\u2019s great mysteries, at least to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, 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 OHSAA Commissioner Jerry Snodgrass and his family, Major League Baseball, ACME baseball, the NBA and a non sports question. Jerry Snodgrass Deepest condolences to Ohio High School Athletic Association Commissioner Jerry Snodgrass and his wife Barbara on the loss of their son. Mark Snodgrass, 32, […]<\/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-120102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 04:48:06","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\/120102","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=120102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120102\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}