Sunday, Sep. 06, 2009

Weekend stuff

Ever had one of those nights you just couldn't get to sleep?

That was me last night. Just kept watching Law & Order repeats until my wife finally gave me a sleeping pill and I zonked out about ... oh ... 8 a.m.

So now it's 3 p.m., and I can get to a couple of things that were on my mind last night.

First, Pasco senior Danielle Walter texted me to report that she is planning to take official visits to Gonzaga, Villanova and New Mexico. What an eclectic mix, eh? One in her backyard, one all the way across the country, and one in between.

If she does end up signing with Gonzaga, it will be the latest in the Zags women's program's effort to IMO emulate how the men's program built itself -- first, by becoming a serious player for top NW talent, especially players on the eastside; then once you've established yourself, you can become a national recruiter.

Not sure the women can ever become a serious threat to the Tennessees and UConns of the world on the national stage, but judging by their recent success in the WCC and getting to the NCAAs, their plan is working.

Second, was over at Art Dawald on Saturday to watch the tail end of the annual volleyball jamboree and to talk to coaches for our upcoming season preview.

Note: We'll run our fall sports previews next week, starting with girls swimming on Tuesday.

My last coach was the host school's Bob Raidl, and the conversation finally turned to one of his pet peeves -- scheduling. He doesn't like how volleyball goes Tuesday-Thursday and invariably has some long road trips on these weeknights that impact upon the girls' school time.

Poor Mike Edwards, the Richland AD, happened to wander by, and so I asked him, "How feasible would it be to move some of the long road trips to Saturdays?"

About 20 minutes later, we decided the answer was, not too feasible.

The biggest reason is that there are eight schools on one end of those long bus rides to Wenatchee, and only two at the other end -- Wenatchee and Eastmont. And there are probably only three or four Saturdays to make it work.

Walla Walla, realistically, would get two of its matches moved, because its trip to the Wenatchee area is definitely the longest. So each of the TC schools might get one of its trips moved to a Saturday, but the Yakima schools might complain that it's no picnic for them to drive to the Apple Valley, either.

This is a problem that is unique to the CBBN among the big-school leagues around the state. Most are geographically close together -- think the GSL or KingCo.

I'm curious to hear what suggestions y'all have. With reclassification and realignment around the corner, a good idea might just pique the ADs' ears.

Til next time ...