Wednesday, July 28, 2010

MID SUMMER DAY AND NIGHT DUSTING: THE WHERE ARE THEY REPORT

Notes and quotes have been piling up in the Dust Bin so sit back, don’t complain about quantity versus quality, and enjoy, in no certain order, these updates on some of our favorite people and places.

First of the “where are theys” is CIF associate commissioner Rob Wigod who worked the Century Club dais Tuesday night with a bunch of gems…his slide show featured a lot of former CIF southern stars including of course C Club member Misty May….quip, “I guess we have added Misty and took out Tiger!”…Misty is actually one of his student’s in that sports management masters program at Concordia…”I would have thought that she would be constantly asking for favors or to miss class but she is one of the most dependable students I have”…most of his chat was about winning with ethics and the proper mix of athletics and academics…he said that athletics is just a different way to learn, a “platform” that just can’t happen in a history class…

Another drop-in icon was hall of Famer Skip Rowland who had a huge grin seeing his old student Wigod who himself had a 14 year run as a coach at Lakewood…anyhow it was a night for Wilson who had just won the state title and are on to the American Legion Western Regional, after beating defending champs San Bernardino in the State Final last night by an 11-5 score…insiders say the win is even more impressive since the Legion rules allow teams to use recent high school grads and college kids…Wilson played with all high schoolers…Regional winners will play in the World Series Aug. 13-17 in Spokane, Wash.

Present and past Dirtbags Dept….Cape Cod in the summer is the home for college wood bat baseball and the Brewster Whitecaps are enjoying Andrew Gagnon of Long Beach State who has five wins and a impressive 1.69 ERA got the start in the leagues all-star game…the Billings Mustangs of the Pioneer League is home for Devin Lohman where his skipper with the Mustangs is Delino DeShields, who played 13 seasons in the big leagues

Insiders say the next Karina Figueroa for the Beach ladies could be Sendy Valles a three player that can play minutes at the four with an “unbelievable scorer's mentality. She never takes any play off. When it comes to a hustle player and someone who can make an impact on both ends of the floor…”
Ex Dirtbag Jeff Baumback, beat out 30 candidates for the vacant head baseball coaching position for the Redondo High Seahawks…Jeff lived in the shadow of Jered Weaver but was a very solid pitcher.

As you know Long Beach State led the way with three former players on MLB All-Star rosters, while Arizona State was close behind with two representatives. Evan Longoria (Tampa Bay), Jered Weaver (LA Angels) and Troy Tulowitzki (Colorado) were the Dirtbags, and Dustin Pedroia (Boston) and Andre Either (Los Angeles Dodgers) lead the way for the Sun Devils.

That fund raiser for wheel chair racer Jim Knaub at Tatalum did very well, something like $20,000 for the local man with the international rep…
Newest LBSU baseball face is Jesse Zepeda, who played under Larry Lee at
Cuesta College before seven years at Cal Poly…he and the Buckley bunch are busy sifting the unsigned guys to complete their year one squad…his other stops were at Righetti High School, Fresno State (1993), Cuesta College
(1994) the University of Oklahoma (1995-96), 23rd rounder with
the Detroit Tigers then the Toronto Blue and finally the Solano Steelheads who played in the same league as the late and great Armada…

Where is Kelly Field, the popular LB SAR ticket manager…gone from LB along with a bunch of other staffers who have turned in keys since the end of last semester Kelly, a hit with the big buck boosters is now in Irvine with the Paciolan ticketing system…but the twist is that LBSU will go into the fall with new software, this from, cough, cough, the Titan ticketing system which is a product of Jump TV…

Back inside look for the basketball contest in the Wooden tourney between LB and St. Mary's game to be in front of a large crowd by the 2nd half as UCLA and BYU fans arrive for the night cap…popular Niner administrator has moved up the food chain when Arkansas named Brian Pracht as its associate athletic director for marketing earlier this week….Pracht joins the Razorbacks after a seven-year stint at Wichita State and previous stops at Long Beach State and the Southland Conference….Pracht will have oversight of marketing, promotions, ticket sales, licensing and working as the staff liaison for International Sports Properties/Razorback Sports Properties…These are very similar to Pracht's duties as senior associate athletic director for external operations at Wichita State. He also oversaw media relations and ticket sales in addition to marketing duties and worked with the Shockers' broadcast rights holder…while at WSU, marketing programs helped the Shockers sell out 47 consecutive men's basketball games in a 10,502-seat facility, helped the men's basketball team record a streak of 90 consecutive regular season home games with an attendance of 10,000 or more, increased the average attendance of baseball to more than 4,000 per game and increased the average attendance of volleyball to more than 3,000 per match…He helped direct a $4.7 million fundraising campaign for an indoor baseball practice facility, increased corporate sponsorship revenue by 90 percent since 2003 and negotiated television contracts with cable partners.

If your worry about hypocrisy of the MLB kind think about young Wes Mugarian who said his life has been pointed toward playing pro baseball but signed to play college baseball at Alabama…after the HS star signed a contract with the Cincinnati Reds (fifth-round selection, No. 157 overall) in the June amateur entry draft he got a $198,000 bonus with several interesting perks…if he does go to college he gets $20,000 per semester from Cincinnati through the College Scholarship program. The Reds also agreed to fly Mugarian and his parents, John and Caroline, to Cincinnati on Sept. 10 during the Reds’ series against Pittsburgh at Great American Ballpark and later to the team’s spring training home in Goodyear, Ariz., next year.
And from the Golf Channel, Paul Goydos gave the quote of his lifetime in his self effacing way after his second place finish last month, helped by a record 59…"Most people try to 'shoot their age'.... I shot my height."…checks or cash will be welcomed by Ryan Ressa (ex-UCLA) who was named the new LB men's golf coach Served as an assistant last year for the Bruins and spent time at Duke, San Diego and Washington…

Another home town item was that Long Beach State has appointed Sei Furutani as Assistant Director of Marketing, joining Long Beach State after spending the previous two years at UCLA in the Bruins' marketing department….Furutani will be responsible for overseeing the primary marketing of the baseball, women's volleyball, women's basketball, and cross country/track and field programs. He will also manage the Junior 49er Kids Club and all efforts associated with online social mediums…Furutani also has prior experience with Long Beach State, receiving his M.A. in sport management …oh yes his dad is the longtime political figure Warren F…

The Tampa Tribune did a nice feature on Downey the town where Evan Longoria was raised, and who is now one of the most recognizable and marketable players in the game…”he has made so much money and is so famous, but he hasn't changed," longtime friend Adam Lands said. "There's not a day goes by when I don't either speak to him on the phone or share text messages.”…Longoria's father, Mike, a regular still at Blair, has worked in the Long Beach Unified School System maintenance department for 17 years. His mother, Ellie, keeps him grounded - at least that's what Mike says.
"Even now she's like, 'Why do people get so excited?'" he said. "I tell her, 'Well, he's a star.' But when I say that, it still amazes me. He's still my son. And when he comes home he's not Evan Longoria, the baseball superstar." The Trib picked up proof, You want proof? When Mike said, "OK, boys, its trash night," Evan and his two younger brothers knew the drill and lugged the cans to the curb.

Jeff McNeil, who originally signed with Cal State Northridge before the Matadors purged their old coaching staff (including former Niner pitching coach Steve Rousey), is coming to work in the wide open, pitcher-friendly, spaces of Blair…Jeff got his release from CSUN and has verbally committed to play for the 49ers. “They’re a great baseball school,” said McNeil, a first-team all-county shortstop who hit .446 with 13 doubles, seven home runs and 30 RBI last year. “I definitely feel like I upgraded. They’ve made the College World Series a few times, and some great players have come out of there.” He is part of a large Dirtbag class of 21 recruits…

The don’t call it the Buckley rule but slow work by college pitching staffs came to the attention of a NCAA committee who ruled to speed up the game. Now, there will be a 20-second limit between pitches when no runners are on and a 90-second limit between innings during non-televised games. On of my readers likes the idea because it might save on the butane that heats their night time baseball seats…

Closing our theme column on where are theys is Paul Goydos, the 1988 LBSU finance major, who has over a million in PGA winnings this year for the fourth straight season… still figuring the game out is 2002 marketing major John Mallinger who had three big years 1.6.1.2 and 1.7 mill, struggling with a mere $318,000 this year.

A close friend of his had this comment on how he went from the lead at Reno to a final round of five bogeys, one of them a quad, that is a nine, on number nine…”John tried to win it on #9; IMO that was a huge mistake, as I think you plod along until the last 2-3-4 holes and then make your gambling decisions. I really think he should have tried to hook a 5 or 6 iron down the right side on #9 and if he gets up and down for par, great, if not, he is 1 back and playing well. But he brought potential disaster into play with the wood over the trees shot, and he was then done. Oh, he made a mini charge on 10 thru 12, but a hole like that 9 is just going to catch up to you, and it did for him on 14-15-16-17 and that stretch cost him well over $100K.”

Last of the links notes is our where is former LBSU women golf all Big Wester Lee Lopez who was stolen by UCLA last year. Still not forgiven by the home town folks, Lee is cuddling the second place trophy from the prestigious 89th annual L.A. City Women's Championship. The winner, oh yes, is LBSU junior Monica Villarreal…sweet revenge

My closing quote is from a school reunion date…"I don't want to brag or make anybody jealous or anything, but I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school."—DR. DAN

2 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

your blog is amazing & good information!

August 9, 2011 at 6:13 AM  
Blogger Soumya Darshan said...

I like your writing. these are realy good

November 28, 2011 at 7:42 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home