{"id":161686,"date":"2023-01-03T04:38:55","date_gmt":"2023-01-03T09:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=161686"},"modified":"2023-01-03T04:38:56","modified_gmt":"2023-01-03T09:38:56","slug":"random-thoughts-hoops-and-football-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/01\/03\/random-thoughts-hoops-and-football-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: hoops and football"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The latest installment of Random Thoughts centers around prayers for an NFL player, a key NWC basketball game, Van Wert hoops, college football and targeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prayers <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continued thoughts and prayers to Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills. As of now, he’s in critical condition after suffering cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game in Cincinnati. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big game<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without a doubt the biggest NWC boys basketball game this week will be played at Bluffton as the Pirates host Crestview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After an 0-3 start which included losses to Ottawa-Glandorf and Liberty-Benton, the Pirates have strung together five straight wins, with three of them coming by at least 16 points. Bluffton is currently tied for first (2-0) with Spencerville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Crestview enters the game 7-1 (1-1 NWC) with the only loss coming to Spencerville (58-56). The Knights need a win to stay in the NWC title race. A loss would probably leave it a two team race between the Pirates and Bearcats. Crestview looked very impressive in a 20-point win over Ottoville on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

11 games in 29 days \u2013 that\u2019s how many games Van Wert will play this month. When you take out five Sundays, it\u2019s actually 11 games in 24 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list of opponents goes like this \u2013 Columbus Grove, Wapakoneta, Marion Local, Lima Central Catholic, St. Marys Memorial, Bryan, Ottawa-Glandorf, Coldwater, Parkway, Shawnee and Delphos St. John\u2019s. Six of those games will be at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all starts with tonight\u2019s game at Columbus Grove, one of four Tuesday games for the Cougars this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

College football<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s usually the case each year but it seems even more so this year \u2013 many of the so-called \u201cminor\u201d bowl games have been wildly entertaining. 21 of them have been won by a touchdown or less and outside of the Fiesta Bowl and the Peach Bowl, the most exciting one was the Liberty Bowl, which featured three overtimes and a 55-53 Arkansas win over Kansas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, there are probably too many bowl games yet we watch them and that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about \u2013 television ratings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

College football II<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re a college football fan, mid-December through early January is a great time, with bowl games on nearly every day. It\u2019s also a little sad when we get to New Year\u2019s Day because that means we\u2019re getting close to the end of the college football season for eight months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Targeting <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear college football powers-that-be…please fix and define the targeting rule or get rid of it. A blow to the head is a blow to the head, period. Does it really matter if it’s with the crown of the helmet? It’s not that difficult. Simplify the rule, which will make it easier for all involved. If you can’t do that, then remove it from the rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor The latest installment of Random Thoughts centers around prayers for an NFL player, a key NWC basketball game, Van Wert hoops, college football and targeting. Prayers Continued thoughts and prayers to Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills. As of now, he’s in critical condition after suffering cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game […]<\/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-161686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 03:16:08","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\/161686","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=161686"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161690,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161686\/revisions\/161690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}