{"id":204624,"date":"2026-04-06T21:59:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=204624"},"modified":"2026-04-06T21:59:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T02:59:58","slug":"random-thoughts-very-random-edition-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/04\/06\/random-thoughts-very-random-edition-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: very random edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around Mother Nature, more shot clock news, the NCAA Women\u2019s Final Four, an open note to the NCAA, and paying big bucks to park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother Nature<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother Nature just wasn\u2019t having it last week \u2013 very few spring sports games and events happened as planned. I\u2019m guessing 90 percent or more of local games were postponed due to seemingly non-stop rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s hoping this week is better \u2013 a lot better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More shot clock<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you read last week\u2019s Sports page, no doubt you saw that someone jumped the gun with news of a high school shot clock in Ohio. No formal proposal was submitted to the OHSAA. Make no mistake though, it\u2019s coming \u2013 the proposal and in all probability, the shot clock itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the proposal is submitted by the Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association, it\u2019ll be the OHSAA\u2019s nine member Board of Directors that makes the decision \u2013 yes or no. Either way, it\u2019s not expected to be a unanimous decision. Five yes votes are needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, I\u2019ll be shocked if it doesn\u2019t pass. I will find it extremely interesting if, when the time comes, the vote is close, like 5-4. I do expect at least 1-2 no votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If all goes as planned, the shot clock will be used as the girls and boys varsity level during the regular season only, not the tournament, during the 2027-2028 season. That seems a little odd, but apparently that\u2019s going to be in the proposal. The 2028-2029 season is when it would be fully implemented, regular season and tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women\u2019s Final Four<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did anyone really see UConn losing in the national semifinals? I didn\u2019t. Did anyone see UCLA winning the national championship by 28 points? I sure didn\u2019t. It was an interesting Final Four to say the least.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

To the NCAA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear NCAA,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please stop playing any and all NCAA Final Four games at football stadiums or other similar-size multi-use facilities. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signed,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All fans<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pay to park<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It happens during big sporting events in big cities \u2013 hefty parking fees. For example, parking for last week\u2019s Cleveland Guardians home opener against the Chicago Cubs was as much as $70 or $80. That was for lots or parking garages closer to Progressive Field. If you didn\u2019t mind walking a bit, it was cheaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did get me thinking \u2013 how much are you willing to pay or how much have you coughed up to park for a few hours? Personally, the most I\u2019ve ever paid is $50 and that has an asterick \u2013 I was reimbursed. It was also during the 2015 NBA Finals and it was the cheapest price around. I wound up walking 4-5 blocks in a not so great area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it\u2019s just me, but I seem to have a problem being willing to pay top dollar for parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports This week\u2019s installment of Random Thoughts centers around Mother Nature, more shot clock news, the NCAA Women\u2019s Final Four, an open note to the NCAA, and paying big bucks to park. Mother Nature Mother Nature just wasn\u2019t having it last week \u2013 very few spring sports games and events happened as planned. […]<\/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-204624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 02:44:32","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\/204624","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=204624"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204624\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204625,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204624\/revisions\/204625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}