By Cyote Williams | Times Vedette
Homecoming vs. senior night
With Panorama wrapping up its homecoming festivities last week, and ACGC celebrating its own homecoming tonight, it got me thinking back to my high school days.
As I’ve stated before, I was a basketball and soccer player. I did play a year of football my sophomore year when I was the kicker and punter, but I try to forget those days. Despite routinely hitting 40-plus yard field goals in practice, my head coach only let me kick one field goal all season. Guess what happened? It was blocked. It was hardly a field goal kick at all, really. The defense was in the backfield quickly. I basically kicked the ball into some kid’s legs. My seventh-grade civics teacher was on the chain gang that game and was laughing hysterically when I got back to the sideline. Thanks, Mr. Tarin.
That’s not really the point of this column, but it is funny. What it made me think of was that I never participated in a true homecoming game. For basketball and soccer, the big deal for us was senior night. Win for the seniors and make sure their last home game is one to remember. I’m curious — which ones did you value more during your playing days. Homecoming, or senior night? Send me a message and let me know at cyote@dmcityview.com.
Baseball in October
The MLB playoffs kicked off this week, and boy has it been filled with drama. The season is certainly long — 162 games. But, for a season that seems to go on forever, America’s pastime has a way of cranking up the entertainment when the do-or-die games come around in October.
The Detroit Tigers nearly collapsed out of the playoffs after leading their division for most of the season and had a 16-game lead over the Guardians as recent as a month ago. Yesterday, however, the Tigers pulled out the win and advance to face the No. 2 seed Seattle Mariners. The Mariners are fresh off their first division title since 2001, the year Ichiro Suzuki won the MVP.
My personal favorite team, the No. 5 seed Boston Red Sox, has had one of the wonkiest seasons I can remember. This team floundered early in the season and traded one of the best players in baseball, Rafael Devers, to the Giants, for a minimal return. This enraged me and most every other Red Sox fan. Fast forward to October — the Red Sox made the playoffs, and the Giants missed out. This led up to the most iconic rivalry in baseball, Red Sox vs. Yankees, coming to a head in the playoffs. The No. 4 seed Yankees had a magnificent collapse in the World Series last season, and the Red Sox are back in the post season for the first time since 2021. Boston’s ace, Garrett Crochet, threw an eight-inning, 117 pitch, 11 Ks gem to win game one. The Yankees took game two. And, sadly, last night, the Yankees got the best of my Sox. They will face the No. 1 seed Blue Jays.
Many of you reading this are likely Chicago Cubs fans (or White Sox, Twins or Royals fans, ouch) and have been enjoying a majority of the season. Pete Crow-Armstrong showcased his baserunning and defensive abilities as an Iowa Cub for most of last season and played like an MVP for a good chunk of this year. The Cubs won yesterday to advance to face the No. 1 seed, and overall best team in baseball, Milwaukee Brewers. It was not done without controversy, though. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts (former Red Sox, tough day for me all around) was on the receiving end of an awful strike call in the ninth inning. What the video does not show is Bogaerts arguing with the umpire over another call on the pitch before. Anyway you shake it, it’s a tough way for your season to close out. The Padres certainly made their feelings known to the officiating crew.
Oh, and the No. 3 Dodgers made quick work of the No. 6 seed Reds. But none of that was too exciting. They will face the No. 2 seed Phillies.
With all that said, I’m excited to see the rest of the MLB playoffs pan out. Reach out with comments, complaints or story ideas to cyote@dmcityview.com.