{"id":121215,"date":"2019-08-12T03:36:27","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T08:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=121215"},"modified":"2019-08-12T03:36:34","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T08:36:34","slug":"monday-mailbag-august-12-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2019\/08\/12\/monday-mailbag-august-12-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mailbag: August 12, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag includes questions about the Cincinnati Reds, area high school conferences, Van Wert volleyball and the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Can the Reds realistically make the playoffs? Name withheld upon my request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: Can they? Yes. Will they? I\u2019m not so sure. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no doubt the team is playing better now than early in the season, but I can\u2019t help but think the slow start will probably be too much to overcome.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d love to see them get in and I\u2019d love to see their American League and Ohio counterparts, the Cleveland Indians get into the postseason as well.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: What are your thoughts on schools changing conference affiliations? For example, it seems that some schools are not very competitive in their conference but would be a better fit in another conference.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m also thinking of, as a totally different past situation, Lima Central Catholic in the NWC for a few years, then opting to become independent \u2014 why?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NWCC has also had several changes in recent years \u2014 and will have a couple more dropouts in the next year or two. Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A: When you look at the conferences around the area, there\u2019s no doubt that some changes would make better geographical sense. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parkway is a good example \u2013 many people wonder why the Panthers haven’t joined the NWC, but it\u2019s not that simple. First, a conference has to be ready to expand\/accept new members. Second, I would imagine Parkway is able to enjoy nice gate receipts from the ultra competitive Midwest Athletic Conference. I\u2019m not so sure they\u2019d see that kind of cash in the Northwest Conference, but that\u2019s just my line of thinking.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, there are other schools that seemingly could make a move, but you get the idea. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Lima Central Catholic, it\u2019s my understanding that they withdrew from the NWC over competitive concerns expressed by other conference members. In other words, the Thunderbirds were winning too much.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most schools don\u2019t want to become an independent with no conference or league affiliation. Simply put, it\u2019s really no fun being an independent.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I\u2019m correct, Riverside and Sidney Lehman Catholic are leaving the Northwest Central Conference to join a new conference that will also include Covington, Bethel, Miami East, Milton-Union, Northridge and Troy Christian. The move will take effect after the 2020-2021 school year and I suspect that has something to do with travel. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That will leave Elgin, Hardin Northern, Perry, Ridgemont, Temple Christian, USV and Waynsfield-Goshen. They may have to tough it out that way for a while.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Will you be doing a preview of Van Wert volleyball, like you did for the tennis team? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: Yes indeed, along with previews of Crestview and Lincolnview volleyball. Look for those in the coming days. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be a very fun volleyball season in Van Wert County.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q: Many people think this is the year that Michigan finally wins the Big 10 football title. What do you think? Name withheld upon request<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A: If they don\u2019t win it this year, I\u2019m not quite sure when they will.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wolverines have Iowa, Michigan State and Ohio State at home. There is an early season matchup (the Big 10 opener actually), but I think they\u2019ll be okay there, and they do have a late season game at Penn State. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they don\u2019t win the conference title this year, things could get ugly in Ann Arbor.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a question for the next Monday Mailbag, simply email it to sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s Monday Mailbag includes questions about the Cincinnati Reds, area high school conferences, Van Wert volleyball and the University of Michigan. Q: Can the Reds realistically make the playoffs? Name withheld upon my request A: Can they? Yes. Will they? I\u2019m not so sure. There\u2019s no doubt the team is […]<\/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-121215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 06:14:30","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\/121215","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=121215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}