{"id":138810,"date":"2021-01-04T22:10:36","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T03:10:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=138810"},"modified":"2021-01-04T22:10:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T03:10:40","slug":"random-thoughts-january-4-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/01\/04\/random-thoughts-january-4-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: January 4, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers around Lincolnview\u2019s latest victory, Van Wert on hold, the 1,000 point club, the first AP boys’ hoops rankings of the season, Ohio State, an NFL playoff streak that dates back to 1969, Urban Meyer and the University of Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lincolnview rally<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday\u2019s Lincolnview-Fort Recovery game was one of the most exciting regular season games that I\u2019ve seen in awhile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lancers were down by a dozen with just over five minutes left but rallied for a three-point win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019ll say it again \u2013 this is a fun team to watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was looking forward to this Friday\u2019s game against Columbus Grove, but that\u2019s gone by the wayside due to COVID-19. With all due respect to other teams, whenever it\u2019s played, it could be the NWC championship game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Wert<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An already congested regular season schedule is about to get even more congested for the Van Wert Cougars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monday night\u2019s game against Defiance was rescheduled for a second time, to Tuesday, December 12, and Friday\u2019s game against St. Marys Memorial is on hold as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday’s game at Marion Local is on, at least for now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A pair of Van Wert County basketball players surpassed the 1,000 point mark last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to Van Wert\u2019s Owen Treece, who did it last Monday against Columbus Grove, and congratulations to Crestview\u2019s Kalen Etzler, who did the same thing during Saturday\u2019s game against Tinora.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Northwest Ohio is well represented in the season’s first Associated Press boys’ high school basketball poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Shawnee is ranked No. 1 in Division II, Ottawa-Glandorf is No. 3 in Division III and Antwerp is No. 1 in Division IV. Kalida is ranked No. 2 in Division IV, Columbus Grove is No. 5, Ottoville is No. 8, Leipsic is tied for 10th, and Minster is No. 18. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my opionion, Lincolnview should be ranked, but perhaps that will happen in a future poll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio State<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many others, I’m still wowed by Ohio State’s Sugar Bowl win over Clemson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I think the Buckeyes will beat Alabama? I want to believe it, but I’m not so sure. If they play like they did against the Tigers, they at least have a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll find out Monday night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cleveland Browns<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all know the Cleveland Browns are back in the NFL playoffs for the first time since 2002. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s something you may not know – the Browns haven’t won a road playoff game since 1969. That’s not a typo. 1969, when they beat the Dallas Cowboys 38-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you don’t believe me, check out this link: https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/teams\/cle\/playoffs.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Urban Meyer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I just can\u2019t see Urban Meyer coaching an NFL team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The guy is a control freak and in this case, I mean that in a good way. It\u2019s hard to have that kind of control when many of your players are making more than you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s tough to see him being happy with a 10-6 or 11-5 season, even if he somehow gets the franchise back on the right track. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Here\u2019s the recent timeline from the University of Texas: apparently talked to Urban Meyer, who said thanks but no thanks; said Tom Herman would be back as head coach next season; fired Herman a few days later; hired Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian a few hours later; agreed to pay Herman a $15 million buyout and another $10 million for his staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk about a tough crowd down there.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at\u00a0sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor This week\u2019s edition of Random Thoughts centers around Lincolnview\u2019s latest victory, Van Wert on hold, the 1,000 point club, the first AP boys’ hoops rankings of the season, Ohio State, an NFL playoff streak that dates back to 1969, Urban Meyer and the University of Texas. Lincolnview rally Saturday\u2019s Lincolnview-Fort Recovery […]<\/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-138810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 11:53:22","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\/138810","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=138810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138810\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}