They are still playing pro ball

I can't remember the last time I blogged anything about pro football, but the Eagles 44-6 drubbing of the Cowboys yesterday can't escape without comment. The Dallas Morning News writes about the agony of the Cowboys loss and elimination from the playoffs in this, their "Super Bowl or bust," season. Yes, it's true, the Cowboys suck. And they are done for the year. No matter what happens in Minnesota next weekend, at least the Cowboys had to watch it from the stands.

posted by Ed at 7:29 PM

SOL Continental Conference All-League Football Team
posted by Ed at 9:14 AM

All-State

Inquirer article on AP All-State team for AAAA football in Pennsylvania.

posted by Ed at 9:15 AM

Knights Can't Escape the Hurricane
posted by Ed at 1:53 PM

NP "Family" Says Farewell to Magical Season - I think this article sums it up nicely. Even though they came up short against Liberty, it was a great football season for the Knights.
posted by Ed at 1:52 PM

A couple quick links

Suburban One Sports had a nice write up on North Penn captains Sean Baldwin and Trey Farmer. I still occasionally hear questions about the Knights line, but they've shaped up very nicely this season. There is also a good District 1 PIAA AAAA football playoff Week 2 review.

Labels: District 1 AAAA playoffs, high school football, North Penn football, Pennsylvania High School Football

posted by Ed at 7:01 AM

The Mercury: Undefeated North Penn keeps rolling along - Nice write up about the first playoff game against Souderton with good notes about other games and teams in the PIAA playofs.
posted by Ed at 8:58 AM

Bring on the Ghosts!

Friday night was a study in contrasts. Both North Penn and Souderton were able to put 7 points on the board in the first half of the game. Souderton was jubilant when they left the field at half-time. The North Penn players were subdued. But a high school football game is 48 minutes long, and North Penn won the 2nd half 28-0, thanks to Ronnie Akins carrying the team to victory (with a little help from his friends). The North Penn Reporter provides coverage in Akins shuts down Indians' upset bid. Akins' performance also got him named athlete of the week by the Reporter.

Here is the current AAAA playoff bracket. North Penn will face Abington on Friday night after Abington's miraculous victory over Glen Mills. Some of the Glen Mills staff were scouting North Penn Friday night. Then the final score came in, so they stopped filming and taking notes. Then they just sat down to enjoy the rest of North Penn's victory over Souderton.

posted by Ed at 5:50 PM

Let's Go Knights!

Some random thoughts & links - the North Penn-Souderton game tonight is on the WPVI Channel 6 website. Christiaan DeFranco doesn't say anything new in his Point after: Looking ahead blog entry, but it's there to read. Kevin Cooney's Nov. 7 Blitz calls the Wood-Egan game tomorrow night the game of the week.

That's all for now.

Labels: North Penn football, North Penn Knights, Pennsylvania High School Football

posted by Ed at 5:39 PM

PLAY-OFFS!!!

The REAL season is finally here, and the North Penn Knights have the top seed in District 1. The Inquirer playoff preview features a picture of Ronnie Akins intercepting a pass against the Prep and a prediction that the Knights will win District 1. North Penn will play Souderton on Friday night in the first round. Sounderton picked up the 16th seed courtesy of Council Rock North's defeat of Council Rock South. This means that Pennridge doesn't have to face Crawford Stadium twice in two weeks. A point that Christiaan DeFranco missed by writing his Week 10 playoff implications blog entry too early on Saturday. I hope the Rams have a nice bus ride out to Garnet Valley. (It's very unlikely that the ride back will be much fun).

So Souderton gets to come to Lansdale instead in the Battle of Skippack Creek redux. The first time didn't go so well for the Indians, but they were able to beat Neshaminy back in the first week of the season. The North Penn JV team should get to play one more time, but Souderton could put a damper on it.

If you can't make it to the game, easternpafootball.com has a comprehensive listing of the games streaming on the Internet.

Labels: District 1 AAAA playoffs, high school football, North Penn football, North Penn Knights, Pennsylvania High School Football

posted by Ed at 8:51 PM

Ranking the region's top defensive linemen | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/02/2008. North Penn's Anthony Ortiz made the "Others to watch list."
posted by Ed at 9:19 AM

Pennsylvania District 1 AAAA Football Playoff Bracket

Thank you WNPV. Here is the District 1 AAAA bracket. It looks like Souderton again instead of Pennridge 2 weeks in a row. Quakertown has the unenviable task of hosting a Ridley team coming off their loss to Garnet Valley. And Neshaminy is in the other half of the bracket!

posted by Ed at 6:28 PM

Drew Markol had a nice write up on Buxmont Sports Now:
Friday football: Knights complete perfect regular season.
posted by Ed at 5:47 PM

In the huddle - Week 10 Drew Markol discusses Pennsbury-Neshaminy & Souderton-Quakertown, plus gets a special visit from Joe Pa.
posted by Ed at 6:48 AM

Some thoughts about Week 10 from October 29

Assume North Penn beats Pennridge – North Penn ends up with 1480 points + additional power points (which should work out to about 50) and the #1 seed. If North Penn loses, it’s too hard to analyze all of the implications.

If Garnet Valley wins, they get 180 points + 40 or 50 power points and finish up with 1340. If D-town West wins, they get 140 points + say 40 power points and finish up with 1290.

If Neshaminy defeats Pennsbury, there is no way they overcome the 50 point deficit behind D-town West, they end up somewhere between 1250 and 1280. Whoever wins Pennsbury-Neshaminy ends up as at least the 4 seed (with 2 home games), the other team drops to between 7 and 9 and could be on the road for the whole playoff season.

If Quakertown beats Souderton, they should end up ahead of the Neshaminy-Pennsbury loser, I doubt they will get as high as 5, but they could be the 6 or 7 seed.

I would expect Penncrest to beat Conestoga, but Conestoga could give Penncrest a run for their money. A win will give Penncrest a home game in the 1st round, a loss puts them on the road. Of course, in the District 1 AAAA football play-offs, you should never count your home games before they hatch. There have been too many upsets over the years. If you are the #5 seed, you could be at home, away and back at home if the #1 gets upset (which is a pretty regular occurrence in D1).

I would say the best result for North Penn would be a Ridley win over Garnet Valley and Neshaminy over Pennsbury. This should put Neshaminy in the #3 seed, and although it might send Pennsbury to Lansdale for week 2, I think that would be preferable to seeing Neshaminy in week 2.

Links:
http://www.district-one.net/general/footballinfo.htm
http://www.district-one.net/brackets/footballAAAA.htm
http://philly.12dt.com/index.php?conf=pa_pub&action=1044

Labels: North Penn football

posted by Ed at 10:00 PM

North Penn 9-0

North Penn defeated Hatboro to go 9-0 and lock up the SOL Continental Div. crown, as described in North Penn Football wins 41-13 Bucks Mont Sports NOW. A win against Pennridge tonight would wrap up a perfect 10-0 regular season and give the Knights the top seed in the District 1 bracket. You should be able to see the updated 2008 AAAA Bracket with the link.

posted by Ed at 9:50 PM

Playoff Predictions

I made some playoff predictions in my Hurricane Blog post last week. Kyle Berger made his predictions in his video:



It looks like we were both wrong about Abington-Pennsbury. Since Pennsbury beat Abington 21-14 last Friday, it's likely they will drop a bit in the playoff bracket.

posted by Ed at 8:32 PM

A little late - Overtime with Kyle Berger after the North Penn 33 - Souderton 10 game.


posted by Ed at 8:28 PM

Catching up

Week 7: North Penn 49 - Quakertown 13; Week 8: North Penn 33 - Souderton 10. The Souderton touchdown was late enough that the JV got in:

The JV was also able to pull out a 26-20 win over the Souderton JV on the last play of the game. TJ Gill completed a 25 yard touchdown pass to Jason Wrigley.

posted by Ed at 11:04 PM

Football Web Links - good high school football links.
posted by Ed at 9:41 AM

The Times Herald: Norristown, PA and Montgomery County (timesherald.com): "Knights paying no mind to all the hype" -- Nice article about North Penn football.
posted by Ed at 9:01 AM

EasternPAFootball - 2008 football championship brackets
posted by Ed at 1:05 PM

5 Days 2 Friday: Gateway Focused on McDowell - Other than the fubar MaxPreps ranking that has Malvern Prep ahead of Gateway, this is a pretty good preview for the Gateway-McDowell game.
posted by Ed at 8:24 AM

Week 7 Preview

North Penn beats Quakertown. Need I say more? Chris DeFranco pretty much says it for me.

posted by Ed at 5:44 PM

CoachCarey's blog - CoachCarey? What the heck is a CoachCarey? Is it what pops out of Mike Carey's chest after he gets infused by the alien face sucker?
posted by Ed at 11:23 PM

Two down, One to Go

North Penn has defeated 2 of the 3 Central Bucks teams, and they will face the third, CB West, this Friday back at War Memorial Stadium in Doylestown. The Bucks had a huge win over Souderton 2 weeks ago, but were unable to overcome CB South last Friday. I hate to take anything for granted, but this should be another "W" for the North Penn Knights.

Ed Thomas' Week 6 Rankings have North Penn at #1 in SE PA and #2 in the state. He gives North Penn a nice write up, including Ed's' comment that "With a roster full of talented players that can put points on the board, it’s easy to overlook the Knights’ strong defense. While the offense is productive, averaging 29 points per game, the oft forgotten defense allowed only 58 points in 5 games for a 12 ppg average." He also notes that the last CB West game was in 2003, and the Knights won 41-7. Perhaps this Friday could provide a comparison between the 2008 team and 2003's PA AAAA State Champions.
posted by Ed at 2:45 PM

High School Football Scores, Ratings and Rankings - FootballPower.tv - Another state ranking.
posted by Ed at 9:28 AM

www.bucksmontsportsnow.com - Like the url says, BucksMont Sports - from the phillyburbs papers.
posted by Ed at 5:06 PM

North Penn Knights Justin Davey and Ronnie Akins are listed as the #6 passing duo in the Inquirer's review of the area's top pass-catch combinations. It's nice to see a little recognition for the team.

Not much press about Friday's drubbing of CB East. The Davey to Akins connection was in full force with Ronnie getting 6 receptions for 127 yards & a TD. Ronnie Akins & Tyler Smith also each ran in 2 TD's. The final score was 42-10, but East didn't score their TD until less than a minute left in the game - by that time most of the defenders were sophomores. The North Penn Reporter article is the only one I've found about the game.

The JV game was on Saturday, and the Patriots were able to beat the Knights 18-16. It was a good game, and I have some pix and video I will post later.
posted by Ed at 2:05 PM

Christiaan DeFranco's Sports Notebook: The rise of CB West - quick link to Chris's NP Reporter blog.
posted by Ed at 1:18 PM

Varsity & JV wins over CB South

After 4 weeks, I don’t know what to think. It was nice to get the 31-14 win over CB South (and the JV pulled off a 22-15 victory on Monday), but I have the same feeling about Knights football as I do about the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies. They all have great teams and I’ll root for them like crazy, but I feel like it will take as much luck as skill to get to a championship.

Both the Knights and the Eagles are starting to get the inevitable nicks that take their toll in such a physical sport as football. North Penn football doesn’t require as much travel as NFL football, however. The next 2 weeks the Knights face the other 2 Central Bucks teams. East is this Friday and West is on 10/3 – both at War Memorial Stadium in Doylestown.

PFN's Week 4 D1 rankings:

tot pts school wins losses ties avgpts_scored avgpts_given avgpts
470North Penn (1) 4 0 0 25.5 12 117
450 Quakertown 4 0 0 25.25 14 112
440 Downingt'n Wst 4 0 0 40.25 11.5 110
410 Ridley 4 0 0 27.75 4 102
410 Upper Dublin 4 0 0 35.5 20.5 102
400 Upper Darby 4 0 0 24 9.25 100
370 Garnet Valley 4 0 0 36.75 11.75 92
360 Pennsbury 3 1 0 18.25 17.5 90
350 Neshaminy 3 1 0 21.5 7 87
340 CR South 3 1 0 26.5 20.5 85
330 Abington 3 1 0 22.25 10 82
330 Glen Mills 3 1 0 29.5 12.75 82
330 Pennridge 3 1 0 26.5 25.75 82
330 Wissahickon 3 1 0 26.25 23 82
320 Coatesville 3 1 0 22 11.25 80
320 Penncrest 3 1 0 22.75 22.25 80

posted by Ed at 12:59 PM

Friday Morning - Week 4

After beating Liberty, LC & the Prep, North Penn has moved up in the polls - to 2nd in the state in most of the polls. There have been a bunch of news stories this week, too. Anthony Ortiz was named Times Herald Defensive Player of the Week. The article credits Ortiz with five solo tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. RoxReview has a great summary of the win over St. Joe's Prep, including the frequently quoted line from Coach Beck, "do you guys know any landscapers?" Peter DiGiovanni in the Chester Daily Local is complaining about some "big schools" being to small to compete with the "big big schools." I've read that the issue of expanded size classifications has come up before PIAA, but it doesn't have legs, yet.

Tonight's contest between North Penn & Central Bucks South is North Penn's first regular season game against a Suburban One opponent since the loss that closed last season. As Ed Kracz points out, South doesn't have Eric Reynolds anymore. He heaps praise on the South QB/WR combo of Tom Johns & Mike Doty, but doesn't get into much discussion of the North Penn db's. Dennis Way writes a fine column about South's program in the Times Herald, but I think he's got a bit of revisionist history in his facts. When he states about the North Penn-South game, "Few expected the result, a South victory, the league title and a berth in the District One playoff quarterfinals," I don't think he is reflecting the sentiment I recall going into the game. The North Penn fans were optimistically hoping for a victory, but South had come back to beat Neshaminy, and Neshaminy had trounced North Penn. It was a tall order to keep Eric Reynolds in check, and North Penn wasn't up to the task.

Tonight's game will show whether CB South's program can continue to show results in the W column in Suburban One play or if the North Penn Knights really deserve to be ranked as the best team in Eastern PA. Unless Mike Doty can beat Ronnie Akins, South is going to have to win (or lose) the Suburban One way - pounding it out on the ground and in the trenches. Hopefully, Coach Beck found his landscaper and the field will be in good shape.

Labels: high school football, North Penn football, Pennsylvania High School Football

posted by Ed at 1:02 PM

Some quick links - if I don't post them now, I never will...

Varsity 365 has Prep/North Penn highlights. Not sure how long this front page link will work, though.

District 1 rankings from PFN - I know that this one is ephemeral. The top of the list:

AAAA 330 North Penn (1) 1 3 0 0 23.66667 11.33333 110
AAAA 330 Quakertown 1 3 0 0 24 16.33333 110
AAAA 320 Abington 1 3 0 0 29.66667 11 106
AAAA 320 Council Rock South 1 3 0 0 28.66667 18.33333 106
AAAA 310 Coatesville 1 3 0 0 24.66667 8.66667 103
AAAA 310 Wissahickon 1 3 0 0 32.66667 18.66667 103
AAAA 300 Downingtown West 1 3 0 0 42 15.33333 100
AAAA 300 Glen Mills 1 3 0 0 34.66667 8 100
AAAA 300 Pennridge 1 3 0 0 30.66667 25 100
AAAA 300 Upper Dublin 1 3 0 0 41 22.66667 100
AAAA 280 Ridley 1 3 0 0 30.66667 5.33333 93
AAAA 280 Upper Darby 1 3 0 0 25.66667 10 93
AAAA 260 Garnet Valley 1 3 0 0 40 13.33333 86
AAAA 220 Central Bucks South 1 2 1 0 25.33333 20.33333 73
AAAA 220 Penncrest 1 2 1 0 23 23.33333 73
AAAA 220 Pennsbury 1 2 1 0 15.33333 16.66667 73
AAAA 220 Souderton 1 2 1 0 24.66667 19.66667 73

(Top 16 make D1-AAAA playoffs)
posted by Ed at 11:35 AM

NORTH PENN 14 - ST. JOE'S PREP 7

15 days ago, I wondered if this team was any good. On August 29th, they showed that they could play with anyone. On September 5, they showed that they could recover from some sloppy play and put away a decent opponent. Last night, the North Penn Knights showed that they are the best team in Eastern Pennsylvania. Now I wonder, how good is this team? I'm not reserving a room in Hershey, yet, but this is a team that definitely has what it takes to get there.

As you can see from the picture, most of this game was a slog through the mud and rain. It was punctuated by three impressive plays by the speedsters - a 70 yard punt return touchdown by Ronnie Akins, a 96 yard touchdown run by Tyler Smith and a 60 yard touchdown run by Michael Yeager. After Yeager's touchdown, neither team was able to get anything going. McManus tried a 30 some odd yard field goal in the 4th quarter, but the footing was too poor to let him get any elevation on the ball. A series of bad decisions and mistakes at the end, kept the Prep from making a final bid to tie the game.

Next week - the eagerly awaited visit by CB South to Crawford Stadium.

Labels: high school football, North Penn football, Pennsylvania High School Football

posted by Ed at 8:42 AM

North Penn 2-0

I guess I should post something about the first 2 games. It's been 2 great wins in 2 great football games. The Knights beat Bethlehem Liberty 23-15, showing the value of having a great kicker.

The North Penn JV beat Liberty's JV by 28-0 the next day. On Friday, in a medeival contest, the North Penn Knights beat the Lansdale Catholic Crusaders 34-12. I would write more, but I want to cut the grass before the Eagles game.

posted by Ed at 11:41 AM

WEEK 1 THURSDAY WRAP-UP

24 hours from now, most of the Week 1 PA football games will be history. Christian DeFranco's blog entry gives a summary of the local teams around Lansdale. Lakeland, FL is playing Central Catholic on Monday in the Friends of Coal Prep Classic. This Pennlive article gives a nice summary of the recent Lakeland success. The Pennlive HS Football forum has this write up of North Penn's key players:

NP plays more of a team game than most, so you don't often hear of a lot of big time players. That's a little surprising for a school the size of NP, but the head coach demands a "no stars" attitude with his team, and it's proved a winning formula. A lot of D1AA and D2 prospects, with the occasional D1 prospect popping up.
Top Returners for '08:

Tyler Smith (Sr) - RB/LB Strong rusher. Good Speed. Good hands out of the backfield. I anyone has real star potential, it's Mr. Smith

Ronnie Akins (Sr) - WR/DB Multi-purpose player. Very versatile. Strong receiver, and potentially a shut down corner.

Justin Davey (Sr) - QB Runs the offense well. More of a running threat than passer, but can get the ball into playmakers hands when he needs to.

Brandon McManus (Sr) - K/P Strong leg. Made a 55 yd FG last season. Consistently into the EZ on Kick offs. Booming punts with a lot of distance and hang time. A strong D1 recruit as either a place kicker or punter.

Anthony Taggart (Sr) - HB/LB Smart, instinctive player, with many talents. Played QB some last year when Justin Davey was injured. Tenaceous defender.

Sean Baldwin (Sr) - OL/DL Strong fundamental blocker. Can play anywhere on the O-line. He is the leader of the front line.

A bunch or other returning Senior starters, a few first time Sr. starters and a couple of underclassmen make up the rest of the Offense & Defense. A good mix of experience and new blood. They will need to gel quickly, with Liberty in week 1 and The Prep in week 3. I would expect that they will hit their full stride as the Suburban One Continental season starts in week 4. A solid playoff team with a lot of upside. Weeks 1-3 will give some indication of their potential.www.wnpv1440.com has a good preview of the team, as well as coverage of many of the upper Buxmont teams. Check them out. Kyle Berger & crew do a fine job down there.

Here are some more PennLive thoughts on North Penn-Liberty:
First off, as I sat down and thought about what I witnessed this pre-season...I have a couple things to say. I used to post predictions and scores before I actually gathered myself and thought about it.
North Penn has a very very large pickings in their school (I believe 3,850 students 9-12)...they have a pretty nice sized OL, and their skill position players are very good (Ronnie Akins being one)...his older brother was Kevin Akins...the starting RB on the state championship NP team (now a safety at Boston College). Among others...they will be a TALL order for the 'Canes. They didn't look GREAT against Hazleton. I heard it was a lot of early season problems...missed blocking assignments...penalties...no discipline. I'm sure Dick Beck being the solid coach he is...and former lineman at CB WEST and then a starting center at Temple...will have them READY.

Now Liberty, I watched them scrimmage State College over at BASD. I also heard they looked pretty good against Berwick. Anyways, State College moved the football 1/2 decently against the 'Canes. Looking at the offense SC runs it's a tough offense to defend...especially early and in a scrimmage. North Penn doesn't trick you...so if the 'Canes front lines...on both sides of the ball come to play...Liberty's LB's and secondary are good enough to help. North Penn again doesn't have the greatest passing attack...so stuffing their run is vital (like always). They have good speed at WR so they will throw a few fades to keep you honest...not a lot of tough routes!

Now Liberty has looked very disciplined which wasn't always the case. I believe this Liberty team has come together from what I've seen very well. Brader is so underrated at Rb, Gonzalez is Gonzalez (I just hope we don't burn him out), Street, West, & Olivo are very very athletic WR's. The offensive line seemed to do ENOUGH to give our athletes time to run and some lanes...

THIS WILL BE A SHOCK TO EVERYONE...and as everyone knows...I'm not here to gain brownie points. I think highly of Beck as a coach...but the decisions Liberty made at the end of last year...and this year...(in scrimmages) Moncman and staff have looked GOOD. I now feel if he continues on the path he is...that I'd be confident as him being our HC against anyone! He really has these kids acting the part of winners (in results). Kids and other coaches I've talked too have said nothing bad about the guy. I've realized the error of my ways, I've been wrong the past couple of years and he's been right. Reasons Liberty runs a shotgun offense has been explained to me...by someone 10 times more knowledgeable about the game of football than me!

Do I think Liberty has what it takes to beat North Penn? Yes I feel confident we can....

Here are some more thoughts on the game from Pennlive:
I spent the afternoon. having lunch, at South Side Bethlehem's Tally-Ho where some area prognoticators seem to give North Penn the edge. They look big up front, so a definite size advantage. However I would give the Canes the nod with speed. Anyway, the lunch crowd seems to have the Canes as a underdog. Either way this has to be one of the best opening day match-ups in recent memory. NPenn 28-Liberty 17.
*On a side note, did NPenn lose a projected starter in a pre-season scrimmage? If so, who was the player?
Redwolf's answer, "Why would I tell you?"

Here are the Patriot News PA state high school football rankings. WNPV 1440 in Lansdale has their 2008 HS football schedule online. You can check the archives for mp3's after the games.

posted by Ed at 10:11 PM

It's almost here

This was posted somewhere else on August 26. For real high school football games start on Friday. The Ed Thomas Preseason Report has a lot of good info about the best high school football teams in Pennsylvania. You can scroll to the bottom to see Ed's top 10 in the state and SE PA, but it's more interesting to read the entire article.

If you can't make it to a game and you want to listen on-line, the 2008 Streams list on Eastern PA Football will tell you where. After the game, you can go to Prep Nation Radio to get updates on everything that is happening in high school football.

The photo at the top is from the Council Rock North scrimmage on Friday, August 22. You can see all of the photos on the North Penn Football web site.

posted by Ed at 8:00 PM

National Rankings

Rivalshigh has posted their top 100 rankings. They also have their top 20 Atlantic East rankings. This one lists St. Joe's Prep at 12 and Parkland at 17, so somebody is off the list on Labor Day.

BTW, Alien Family is going to get all of my non-football posts for now (well, that's the idea, anyway).

posted by Ed at 8:26 PM

Football is coming!

and here are some links. The PCN Game of the Week has some good games scheduled, but no love for District 1. Tedsilary.com has a horrid design, but seems to have a lot of info about Philadelphia schools. The PAsportspage.com has a poll for the most intriguing game 1. Vote for North Penn-Liberty.

posted by Ed at 11:08 PM

How to Describe a Smell - wikiHow... Smells Like Teen Spirit!
posted by Ed at 2:19 PM

Early Rankings

I found some rankings, so the debate is on -- at least until the games start on August 29. SOLN on Pennlive's Eastern PA Football forum lists the following rankings: 1) Gateway / 2) Cardinal O'Hara / 3) Bethlehem Liberty / 4) Woodland Hills / 5) Saint Joseph's Prep / 6) Neshaminy / 7) Bishop McDevitt / 8) Penn Hills / 9) Pittsburgh Central Catholic / 10) Northeast Philadelphia / 11) Erie Cathedral Prep / 12) Central Dauphin / 13) Parkland / 14) State College / 15) Brashear / 16) Erie Strong Vincent / 17) North Allegheny / 18) Pennsbury / 19) McKeesport / 20) Roman Catholic / 21) Wyoming Valley West / 22) North Penn / 23) York William Penn / 24) Manheim Twp. / 25) Souderton

The Massey Ratings on highschoolsports.net list 1) Pittsburgh Central Catholic 2) North Allegheny 3) McKeesport 4) Gateway 5) Upper St. Clair 6) St. Joseph's Preparatory 7) Penn Hills 8) Bethel Park 9) Harrisburg 10) Parkland 11) Norwin 12) North Hills 13) Liberty 14) Woodland Hills 15) Ridley 16) Governor Mifflin 17) Mt. Lebanon 18) Shaler 19) North Penn (D1) 20) Penn Trafford 21) Seneca Valley 22) Baldwin 23) Bishop McDevitt 24) Cannon McMillan 25) Neshaminy

There are some questions one can raise about either list. I can't figure out why SOLN would think that Northeast High would rank #10, yet completely ignore Ridley. Highschoolsports.net, along with Massey, don't seem to even realize that Cardinal O'Hara even exists, Tom Savage notwithstanding.

Obviously, some of this will work itself out early in the season, particularly in the east, where Parkland plays the Prep & Liberty in the 1st 2 weeks and North Penn plays Liberty week 1 and the Prep week 3. Gateway plays Penn Hills on August 29. Unless Hatboro or Souderton play way over their heads, I can see Neshaminy going 10-0 for the top seed in District 1. They should hold in the top 10 until the playoffs. On the whole, it looks like a lot of good warm weather football coming up.

posted by Ed at 10:19 AM

Things that make you go hmmmm...

Chock full o' links for your reading enjoyment. As much as it sometimes annoys me that John Dvorak is trying to become a poor man's fark, the post about Jonathan Darman's conversation with Rielle Hunter is pretty interesting. I gotta e-mail this to Rage Boy.

Veronica & Taylor Index - about as useful as a poopy flavored lollipop, but somehow, I find it interesting. Maybe it's the google motif.

posted by Ed at 8:40 AM

Dying eight-year-old 'marries' his school sweetheart - Telegraph If there is a single sentimental bone in your body, this article will bring a tear to your eye.
posted by Ed at 5:45 PM

Paul Westerberg - Man Without Ties
posted by Ed at 5:42 PM

High school athletes easily cross line on transfers -- Is this what we have to look forward to in Districts 1 & 12?
posted by Ed at 8:38 AM

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run > The Inequality That Matters - Interesting.
posted by Ed at 3:34 PM

South's Reynolds now headed to Temple (phillyBurbs.com) | College Sports Hmmmm... I heard a nasty rumor that Reynolds' switch to Temple was for other reasons. I wonder how Peter's Dad feels about this.
posted by Ed at 10:58 AM

Retro Rewind: Best Nintendo 64 Games of All Time Gallery and Images - GameDaily
posted by Ed at 12:16 PM

This is a post to round up a bunch of links. It may not make any sense, but here goes...

I don't know if Windows Live Messenger Translator works or not, but it's a pretty cool idea. Audacity Portable is also a nice idea. I just wish I had the time to practice with Audacity to get good at using it. I've messed around, but I still can't take the ideas in my head and come up with the sound files. Chris Pirillo asked the question, "Is There a Free Alternative to Lightroom or Aperture?" The answer is "yes," it's a program called blueMarine (that I can't seem to link to right now).

Football season is fast approaching. Here are directions to the Liberty High School football fields, site of North Penn's first football game of the year. I think that "the OFFICIAL website of 2007 Liberty Hurricane Football" needs an update. I was looking for Pennsylvania District 1 Football Schedules and found them on EasternPA Football.com.

Finally, here is ZDNet's take on how to secure your laptop for holiday travel.
posted by Ed at 2:18 PM

Courson's letter assailed "myth" of drug-free players -- baltimoresun.com Interesting commentary on the NFL. Is the steroid use really in the past?
posted by Ed at 9:20 AM

This is my response to the Youtube guy who thinks it would be cool to spend a ton of money on global warming. The Low-carbon energy will save the planet editorial from the Inquirer points out the futility of much of our efforts to "solve" global warming. Wired mag asks the question, "Can a Million Tons of Sulfur Dioxide Combat Climate Change?" The answer is yes, but I still wonder if a controlled (Ha!) nuclear winter could do the same thing. I mean, who really needs the Gobi Desert anyway?

I should flesh out this post later, but that's just not my style, now, is it?

Plus, I'm starting to think that Chris Locke is an ass-hat.
posted by Ed at 1:22 PM

Tim Russert

Partly because I don't have time to read it carefully right now, but mostly due to my great respect for the man, here is Russert in 2002: Understand what's real in life

posted by Ed at 10:20 PM

Echoes of Spinal Tap

Toyboize is a faux British boy band from the 80's. They are trying to resurrect their career.

The adventure begins:

Spinal Tap is getting back together, too:

posted by Ed at 1:04 PM

Microsoft patent brings Miss Manners into the digital age Privacy issues? Maybe, but certainly a lot of promise in reducing the annoyance factor for ignoramuses in public places.
posted by Ed at 12:12 PM

indexed
posted by Ed at 1:00 PM

Battle of the Hogs Video (from The Reporter)
My Battle of the Hogs photos

The Tire Flip Video:

posted by Ed at 11:50 PM

Real Guitar Heros

I came across a couple of lists of the "best guitar riffs" today. Rob O'Connor at Yahoo! lists The 25 Most Rockin' Guitar Riffs. He also references Rolling Stone's (the music mag/website) 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. Lots of Hendrix, Clapton (in his various incarnations), Zeppelin, Stones. How Carlos Santana isn't in the top 25 on both lists escapes me.

posted by Ed at 9:36 AM

Is there any hope for race relations in the USA?

Wikipedia's main page asked the question, "Did you know... that in his book A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights, U.S. Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. proposed eight constitutional amendments?" I didn't know this, so I clicked on A More Perfect Union: Advancing New American Rights and saw that JJ, Jr. wants
the right to public education of equal high quality;
the right to health care of equal high quality;
equal rights for women;
the right to decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing;
the right to a clean, safe and sustainable environment;
the right . . . to full employment and balanced economic growth;
the explicit fundamental right of citizens to vote; and
an amendment regarding taxing the people of the United States progressively.

Can anyone say "Nanny State." One of the references was for an article titled U.S. URGED TO DISCUSS SLAVERY AT WAR SITES in which JJ, Jr. basically mandates to the Dept. of the Interior that the focus of all Civil War sites should be on slavery rather than the military or political facts of what occurred at the site.

It is just astounding to me the insanity that this man's lust for power has driven him to. The implications of his proposals would be staggeringly bad for the people of the United States and would be of benefit only to a select few politicians and their cronies. Of course, all of his programs need to be run by individuals who "think correctly." God forbid that anyone should have to take personal responsibility for their life and actions.

posted by Ed at 1:04 PM

The Washington Times Getting down to the roots - I don't get it.
posted by Ed at 11:46 AM

Some Inky linkies

Philly.com High School Sports - Pennsylvania & New Jersey High School Sports
Ask Keith Pompey - I just wish he would answer some more questions
North Penn reaches District 1 finals for baseball.

posted by Ed at 5:05 PM

Weezer Video on YouTube

Thanks to Underwire

posted by Ed at 5:01 PM

Recruiting craze driving early decisions | Philadelphia Inquirer | 05/28/2008 Interesting article about high school recruiting. What happens if one of these 9th/10th grade recruits gets totally incorrigible and the coach sits him down? In Pennsylvania, at least, you have a tough way to go if you are transferring for athletic reasons. I guess you can always move out of state.
posted by Ed at 9:36 AM

Musopen puts classical recordings, scores in public domain
posted by Ed at 3:51 PM

Some RealAge links:
Vitamin K benefits & recipes
How to deal with weekend indulgence
Hunger squashing smoothie
K is for Kole Slaw
posted by Ed at 11:28 AM

RIP, Robert Asprin - Boing Boing If parenthood can be described a tour of every public restroom in the known world, then middle age is watching parents, friends and influences pass from this mortal coil. I truly enjoyed reading Asprin's writing and anthologies. Robert Asprin's Wikipedia entry gives a good summary of his life and work. There is nothing yet on his ex-wife's, Lynn Abbey, site.

No Phule He is the only article that popped up on google news this morning.
posted by Ed at 10:00 AM

PC World - 5 Groovy Sites for Free Music Downloads - Free music! Woot!
posted by Ed at 9:36 AM

Diet Deception - The Menu Test - Baltimore News, Weather, Channel 2 - WMAR-TV Apparently, restaurants lie about the nutritional value of their food. I am shocked!
posted by Ed at 9:37 PM

Brevard Zoo gets new wolf pups | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY Red wolf!
posted by Ed at 9:40 AM

Computer Troubleshooting

google search for PC troubleshooting. Some other things I found: Diagnostic Software at download.com; Description of Dr. Watson for Windows; Computer freezes on the internet from cnet forums. Electronic resources at mclinc.

posted by Ed at 2:41 PM

ESPN.com - E-ticket: Who is this guy? Ernie Adams - football genius.
posted by Ed at 9:41 AM

Das Binky: Taco Wallace along with the Wikipedia Taco Wallace entry
posted by Ed at 11:04 AM

Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence | The Onion - America's Finest News Source - too darn funny not link.
posted by Ed at 11:02 AM

The Cranky Flier
posted by Ed at 9:20 AM

» Free Will? Ha! My Brain Knew I Was Going To Post This Before I Did! Dvorak Uncensored: General interest observations and true web-log. In support of my assertion that if there is no God, all free will and meaning in life is an illusion. Nothing you think or do matters, and that you were going to think or do it was inevitable since the "Big Bang."
posted by Ed at 8:39 PM

German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA's asteroid figures: paper - Yahoo! News
posted by Ed at 8:59 AM

Always time for football (phillyBurbs.com) | Dom Cosentino
posted by Ed at 2:12 PM

The 10 things you may complain about (and five you may not) caught my eye when I saw the subject line on the Anchordesk e-mail.

Blogosphere sacred cows

Apple: Ooh, so pretty. And innovative, and Steve Jobs is a god. You do not say something bad about Apple, especially not about Apple's closed ecosystem, and most especially not in front of the open-source wonks who love Apple anyway.

Google: Possibly the most useful resource on the Web. Also the scariest company there is. Do not criticize or the Google bot (or its PR machine) will stomp you. They know where you live.

Linux: Cheap, open, and everywhere. And too damn hard to use for anyone with a life. But never, ever point this out. Linux = great. Microsoft = bad. No need for details.

TechCrunch: The Engadget of Web 2.0. While I'm at it, might as well add that you should avoid criticizing Engadget. Both sites have rabid followings, are edited by inexplicably angry men, and will cease linking to you if look at them funny.

Firefox: All hail the open-source browser! Those crashes and general slowness? That's the price of progress, son.

My take? I am not an apple fan. I have to admit I love google. Linux? So what? TechCrunch? What is it? Firefox? I can live without it.

Of course, since nobody reads this blog and since the google bot won't index it (believe me, I've tried) this post is the proverbial tree falling in the forest.

posted by Ed at 5:00 PM

Rice University Philharmonics - mixed voice a capella from Rice University.
posted by Ed at 9:46 AM

When I was young, my mother used to tell me that an imbalance in the number of young men to young women was a predicter of war. I have searched quite a bit, but can't find anything about this. However, it is apparent that China faces a significant surplus of men. China's youth also seem to form a Chinese "me generation". How does this relate? If I find the answer, maybe I will post.
posted by Ed at 5:30 PM

Blogging For Dollars: Time.com's Top 25 Blogs -- the one-page-version
posted by Ed at 11:15 AM

Value Propositions

Part of the national sales meeting this year is coming up with a "value proposition." I vaguely had some idea of a "why we are better than the other guys" statement, but wasn't too sure about the details. So the first thing I did was a google search. I came across something interesting info. First, there was the obligatory Wikipedia entry for Value Proposition. It didn't really do anything for me. (Of course, the article still needs to be Wikified, so I shouldn't have expected too much.)

I liked In Search of a Value Proposition from Marketing Experiments Journal. There is a lot of good information, but not the "how-to" that I needed. How to write a Value Proposition provided me with a good methodology. Finally, one of the links led me to the YouBlog, a site that describes itself as providing "practical ideas on presentations, persuasion, selling, and communications." Hopefully, this information will help us to get it together and produce a stellar value proposition.

posted by Ed at 4:49 PM

How the subprime mortgage market works - Google Docs
posted by Ed at 10:52 AM

This Yahoo! Answers question led to:

posted by Ed at 7:35 AM

Hard Drive Clean-up and Maintenance

Advice from uncluttere via lifehacker. VisDir Directory Finder - Not sure if it's any good.
Free Up Disk Space Software at PC Win.

I bet I've blogged Freemind before.

posted by Ed at 9:52 PM

Aviary - Creation on the fly
posted by Ed at 6:10 PM

This South Park video was linked from Operation Clamback. "Tom Cruise won't come out of the closet."
posted by Ed at 1:41 PM

It's not in the library, but you can watch it here. Classic Joe Walsh.

posted by Ed at 3:00 PM

Top 10 Free Online File Storage/Transfer Services (Sorted by File Size) : Technical Lists : eConsultant - I need file transfer services like this on a semi-regular basis. Hopefully, I will be able to find this post when the need arises again.
Techworld published a Foldermail file transfer service review back in 2006. about.com seems fixated on SendThisFile, but I'm not linking because, well, it's about.com and, you know, they are teh suck. Redferret's review of PipeBytes makes the service sound kind of weird.

Here is a list of file transfer services from Send Large Files - a blog about sending large files.

posted by Ed at 10:38 AM

Sheridan: Con-Law: NON-LINEAR THINKING; CATCH-22, STATE FARM V. CAMPBELL (UTAH) (2003)
posted by Ed at 8:25 PM

NON Linear Thinking
posted by Ed at 8:20 PM

This post probably started in my mind with The Unauthorized Guide to Sex and Church by Carmen Renee Berry. The seeds may have been planted when I read C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe way back when.

The thought process has continued with The Question of God: C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life which I still reading. (And I have the video tape of the PBS documentary on hold at the library). And finally, the publicity surrounding The Relevant Church's 30 Day Sex Challenge has pushed me into writing this entry.

Finally, I have to add this link to More in U.S. jump to new faiths, poll finds from the LA Times, which itself links to The Pew Forum's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey

posted by Ed at 9:40 AM

What a dilemna for Christian amateur drinkers. Go with the 15th. Unless you're taking the week off anyway. St. Patrick's Day and Holy Week overlap
posted by Ed at 9:07 PM

The song in this video is from the musical "Avenue Q." This came up at work today; it's an oldy but a goodie. (Not a plenty, though).

Labels: internet is for porn

posted by Ed at 8:07 PM

Here is a relatively kewl discussion of one of my fave websites: Technical Revenue: The Architecture of Mailinator
posted by Ed at 2:57 PM

Hand-wringing About American Culture - Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge? - New York Times
posted by Ed at 3:39 PM

Make Coffee Using a Cloth Bag Filter - wikiHow
posted by Ed at 9:13 AM

Discovery News : Druid Grave Unearthed in UK? They DO exist. Maybe.
posted by Ed at 1:02 PM

Contextures -- Microsoft Office Consulting See Excel tips
posted by Ed at 4:38 PM

2007 Rankings — Slate 60 — Slate
posted by Ed at 2:20 PM

BBC NEWS | Magazine | How to make better decisions
posted by Ed at 2:20 PM

Death of a President Movie (2006), Download in DVD, DivX, iPod quality from "ZML" - Hmmm...Sounds a lot like my Ronnie the Robot theory.
posted by Ed at 11:42 AM

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters
posted by Ed at 12:25 PM