{"id":163262,"date":"2023-02-21T04:36:40","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T09:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=163262"},"modified":"2023-02-21T04:36:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T09:36:41","slug":"random-thoughts-congrats-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2023\/02\/21\/random-thoughts-congrats-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: congrats and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

The latest installment of Random Thoughts includes congratulations to the newest member of the 1,000 point club, plus thoughts on a tournament style atmosphere, bye or no bye, sectional sites, the NBA All-Star Game and the newest football league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Congratulations to Van Wert\u2019s Aidan Pratt, who joined the 1,000 point club late in Saturday\u2019s regular season finale against Crestview. He\u2019s the second Cougar to hit the mark this season \u2013 Sofi Houg scored her 1,000th point against St. Marys Memorial just over a month ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even better \u2013 both were able to accomplish the feat at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atmosphere<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a fun atmosphere it was during Saturday\u2019s Van Wert-Crestview game. It was supposed to be the season opener but became the finale due to Van Wert\u2019s extended football playoff run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A large crowd showed up to watch the game and it definitely had a tournament feel to it. It truly was a good tournament prep game for both teams and given the fact that sectionals start this week, the timing couldn\u2019t have been better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bye or no bye?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Basketball tournament time brings with it the age old question \u2013 to take the bye or go ahead and play?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are pros and cons to both. If a team is going to be subjected to a long break between the end of the regular season and the sectional championship game, some coaches prefer to get back on the court in the semifinals. Many of those coaches believe the players want to play as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other coaches like the idea of taking the extra time to rest or heal up the players. There are other reasons for both, but those appear to be the main one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom line is, each coach knows what\u2019s best for his or her team and makes the right decision. Of course as fans, it\u2019s fun to debate what to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How in the world did teams like Paulding and Wayne Trace get shifted to a district that includes sectional games in the Toledo area? That\u2019s quite a haul for opening round and sectional title games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NBA All-Star Game<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

I know it\u2019s all about marketing and marketing to a younger audience but what has happened to the NBA All-Star Game?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It won\u2019t happen but NBA \u2013 please return to the format that was so successful for many years. It\u2019s always been an exhibition game and a fun one at that, but this just seems\u2026wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

XFL<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was football on television this past weekend, as the XFL made it\u2019s second debut. It\u2019s obviously not the same as the NFL but hey, it\u2019s football. The USFL will be back in the spring and Arena Football returns next year.<\/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 editor The latest installment of Random Thoughts includes congratulations to the newest member of the 1,000 point club, plus thoughts on a tournament style atmosphere, bye or no bye, sectional sites, the NBA All-Star Game and the newest football league. Congratulations Congratulations to Van Wert\u2019s Aidan Pratt, who joined the 1,000 point club […]<\/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-163262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 19:47:49","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\/163262","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=163262"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163282,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163262\/revisions\/163282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}