{"id":131333,"date":"2020-05-19T03:50:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-19T08:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=131333"},"modified":"2020-05-19T03:50:35","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T08:50:35","slug":"random-thoughts-running-the-gaumet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2020\/05\/19\/random-thoughts-running-the-gaumet\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: running the gaumet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s Random Thoughts center around the NWC, possible conference realignment, border conferences, budget cuts, NASCAR, baseball and Terry Pluto. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parkway and the NWC<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I had $1 for each person who wonders why Parkway isn\u2019t joining the Northwest Conference, I\u2019d probably have a fairly sizable down payment on a new car right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said in the Monday Mailbag, I\u2019m guessing one or both sides \u2013 Parkway and\/or the NWC decided it wouldn\u2019t be a good fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t force a conference or league to invite a school and you can\u2019t force a school to join. It\u2019s as simple as that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I received a Twitter direct message from a reader who came up with an intriguing scenario that would involve some conference changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It included Parkway and Delphos St. John\u2019s leaving the Midwest Athletic Conference, Wayne Trace leaving the Green Meadows Conference and Perry leaving the Northwest Central Conference, with all four joining the NWC to create a 13-team conference (12 for football).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it would leave holes in the MAC, GMC and NWCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again, it looks intriguing on paper, but it\u2019s probably not going to happen anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Border conferences\/leagues<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another reader wondered why schools along the Ohio-Indiana border don\u2019t get together to form a conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s a need for that, but it\u2019s an interesting idea, and there is a border conference along the Ohio-West Virginia border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s called the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference and it has 48 (yes, 48) teams, the largest of any conference or league in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

30 schools are in Ohio and the remaining 18 are in West Virginia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the schools have other conference affiliations as well, but OVAC membership makes scheduling incredibly easy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuts<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bowling Green State University made the stunning announcement last week that baseball is being cut, effective immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Akron also announced the elimination of men\u2019s golf and cross country and women\u2019s tennis and several weeks ago the University of Cincinnati announced plans to drop the men\u2019s soccer program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Mid-American Conference is also making changes to certain postseason tournaments and eliminating others altogether. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of these cuts are tied to budget shortfalls caused by COVID-19 and sadly, these almost certainly won\u2019t be the only programs that get the axe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports coming back<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the bright side, it was nice to see some live sports this past weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not exactly what you\u2019d call a big NASCAR fan, although I do appreciate the strategy, nerve and precision of the drivers and their crews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, it was nice to hear the engines roar and see the cars race around the track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To me, it\u2019s a big step in the right direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major League Baseball \u2013 the ball is in your court \u2013 or glove.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope the owners and players can come to an agreement and come to it very soon to get the season underway by early July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both sides are looking out for their own interests, which is understandable, but prolonged negotiations aren\u2019t what fans want to see right now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019d be nice if the two sides agreed to a deal by the holiday weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terry Pluto<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terry Pluto is a sportswriter for cleveland.com and does an excellent job. He writes various features on the Cleveland Browns, Indians and Cavaliers, including a popular column called \u201cTerry\u2019s Talkin\u2019\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to chuckle went I saw the column\u2019s latest headline on Sunday \u201cWhat can we expect from the Cleveland Browns this season? How about less dumb football?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the headline is funny, the story itself become depressing when you read about how undisciplined the team was last season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point is, the Browns should be much more disciplined this season. <\/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 the NWC, possible conference realignment, border conferences, budget cuts, NASCAR, baseball and Terry Pluto.  Parkway and the NWC If I had $1 for each person who wonders why Parkway isn\u2019t joining the Northwest Conference, I\u2019d probably have a fairly sizable down payment on a new […]<\/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-131333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 22:25:38","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\/131333","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=131333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}