|
Thursday, November 13, 2008 7:11 PM EST
MELARO: Let’s hope the Bonnies help us through winter
It must be time for the the St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team to warm the hearts of hundreds of area college basketball fans.
You can just tell.
On Saturday afternoon, while I was busy getting ready for area high school coaches to phone in their playoff results for football and socceer, I took an interesting phone call.
The caller, who shall remain unidentified, was wondering what the Bona starting lineup was - are you ready for this? - in December of 1968!
I’m not sure what the friendly wager was, but I didn’t have an answer for him.
However, I’m sure there are countless fans reading this who can fill us in.
Ah yes, the Bonnies.
The one reason for living in the Twin Tiers during these long cold months of snow and ice.
When they are good, they can make the harshest storm feel like a warm summer breeze.
When they’re bad, it sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.
All too often in recent memory, the Bonnies have been a disappointment.
But this is a new regime.
Coach Mark Schmidt heads into his second season on the Bona bench with a sense of optimism, and for good reason.
While the wins didn’t add up as quickly as most would have hoped for last season - the Bonnies finished the year 8-22 overall and 2-14 in the tough Atlantic 10 Conference - there seemed to be one thing special about the team.
Make that two.
Hustle and attitude - two traits that former coach Jim Baron got out of his players during his tenure.
And if Schmidt can continue to get his players, eight of whom are new to the squad, to display those two traits, folks won’t mind driving home from the Reilly Center this year, even if the roads are snow-covered.
TURNING to high school basketball and other winter sports, area athletic directors are reminded that the Times Herald needs copies of their winter schedules, preferably on hard copy, as soon as possible.
Also, Big 30 basketball (boys and girls) and wrestling coaches can look for preview sheets soon.
When the fall season began, we listed 26 volleyball teams, 26 football teams, 25 girls’ soccer teams and 25 boys’ soccer squads.
Heading into this weekend, only five are still playing.
Kudos go out to the volleyball teams from Portville and Salamanca who will compete in the New York State Final Four this weekend - Portville in Class D and Salamanca in Class C.
Also active are the football teams from Cameron County, Coudersport and Elk County Catholic.
And only one of them will survive this weekend for sure as Cameron and Coudy meet in a District 9 Class A semifinal clash Friday night at Bradford High’s Parkway Field.
(Jim Melaro, a Times Herald sports writer, can be reached at sports@oleantimesherald.com)
 printer friendly version
 e-mail this story
Reader Comments
There are No comments posted. comments to this story.
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of bradfordera.com.
Submit a Comment
We encourage your feedback and dialog, all comments will be reviewed by our Web staff before appearing on the Web site.
|
