Post 263 – Bull Session 19-05

The proposed rule for limiting full contact in practice to 15 minutes per week in the regular season – down from 90 minutes – and 6 hours in the preseason is sharply divided among coaches. There is a good article on nj.com by JJ Conrad, quoting several coaches. I respect what the coaches said, but I have a concern when it comes to tackling in a game. Tackling is an art that needs to be constantly practiced and I hope we don’t see a rise in injuries because of it…..The Bergen Jamboree final is this Friday and once again, it’s Bergen Catholic against Don Bosco. Watching both semi-finals last week, the player who impressed me was Don Bosco’s Victor Konopka. I like the fact that there have been some good big men to watch in this tournament, with Konopka, Matt Zona and Zach Freemantle of Bergen Catholic, and Ramsey’s Sean Hansen…..BC-Bosco played last week and noticed they were being broadcast on Optimum Channel 61, so I stayed home and watched it. Unfortunately, there were three occasions when the picture went out for several minutes at a time. Somebody must have stepped on a cable or wire in the gym and the screen looked like a combination of modern art and psychedelia…..The wrestling regionals are this weekend. I am not hip on the way the districts and regions have been redrawn and it leads to some strange groupings. I think the topper was when Bergen Community College hosted the regions. They are located across the street from Paramus Catholic, yet PC goes 50-60 minutes away to Mount Olive for their region. Even funnier, Bergen Community borrowed PC’s wrestling mats. I can’t make this up!…..In girls basketball, Saddle River Day beat Immaculate Heart, 56-49 to win the Bergen County tournament. IHA played a good game and prevented SRD coach “Run It Up Danny” Brown from having his starters playing deep into the fourth quarter when the outcome is well past being in doubt. Oh, I forgot! Danny says the other team has to surrender first before he takes the starters out…..What’s this I hear about Don Bosco football parents not being happy with Chuck Granatell coming back to coach the line? They say he’s too hard on the kids! Come on, man! People get softer every year…..Uniform Front – The Good: I like the primary Miami Marlins new uniforms, a traditional look that even has a little bit of pink trim. That’s OK – it fits in with Miami, as long as they don’t decide on a pink alternative uniform. They do have a light blue alternate jersey that works for me. The Bad:  The alternate black jersey for the Marlins; it has that Mets black jersey look…..I regret shutting off St. John’s win over Villanova in basketball. The Johnnies came back from a large deficit to win and I thought they were done at the time…..According to an article in The Athletic, the Alliance of American Football is already experiencing financial problems…..It will be interesting to see who is traded before the NHL trade deadline this Monday, February 25. I know the Rangers are rumored to trade Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello, but I hope they stay…..It will be interesting to see where Kyler Murray gets drafted and where, now that he’s announced he will play football…..By the way, I will be doing a lot of NFL Draft coverage these next few months, so tune in here…..That’s it for this week; I will be back soon with some more bull!