Online audio schedule

Just wanted to update everyone on our audio plans for this week, so you can make sure and check out all we have to offer. I have to say I was positively surprised (somewhat shocked actually) by the number of times some of our audio has been downloaded, especially the two updates over the weekend about Bad Axe's win.
Hoping to keep that momentum going, here is a tentative schedule of what we will be doing audio-wise...
Tuesday night-early Wednesday...volleyball and soccer update
Wednesday...Pigskin Preview
Thursday night-early Friday...volleyball and soccer update
Friday night-early Saturday...comments from coaches from the games we attended...
Saturday or Sunday (depending on time I have)...a wrap-up of Friday night's football action...

Week 5 standings

Thinks are starting to get interesting here, well they would be more interesting if Rick ever got one wrong!!!!
Rick Glaza 47-8 .855
Andrew Selich 45-10 .818
Twocentsworth 45-10
Coaches Take 45-10
Garrett Jurges 44-11 .800
Christian Selich 44-11
Me 43-12 .782
Chiuk Czlek 43-12
Jon Sicotte 34-10 .773
Jill 42-13 .764
Eddie Fury 42-13
Robert Rockefeller 39-16 .709

Pick six

Here are this week's games to pick...I know I didn't get the weekend recap, but we will have daily or every other daily audio from here on out and I'm already working on a special guest for this week's show Pigskin Preview show:

Bad Axe vs. Mayville
Harbor Beach vs. Sandusky
Brown City vs. Ubly
Deckerville vs. Marlette
BCAS vs. Cass City
USA vs. Vassar
Reese vs. Lakers
CPS vs. North Huron
Akron Fairgrove vs. Owen-gage
Dryden vs. Memphis
Kingston vs. Peck

Coach Rowland speaks out about Bad Axe's win

Like most technology, it takes a little time to figure it out. Having overcome a little computer hurdle, we have figured out how to provide comments taped during out post-game interviews. With that in mind, here are coach Rowland's thoughts abotu his team's win. It is edited down to just include his thoughts and not the questions. It is only about 2 1/2 minutes long and is worth listening to. Perhaps the Bad Axe student body is final ready to embrace this team. Find out what I am talking about and click on this link:
http://www.box.net/shared/ngh7mvyzdh
Having trouble fitting in time yet for the weekend audio update, but there will be one SOMETIME before tomorrow morning.
Thanks to all the readers for supporting this venture.

The week in photos

Here are a few odds and ends pictures fromn throughout the week that I thought you might all enjoy. Remember, later today I'll have an audio update with some talk about the games and some stats, as well as a little recap on some volleyball and soccer action.

We'll also have some photos later this weekend from the Laker Invitational and the Harbor Beach Invite.

Report from Bad Axe

Here is a short audio report from Steve Jias on Bad Axe's win:
http://www.box.net/shared/es5t6m07o3

Let's Talk Football

Good Friday everyone!
Last Friday was a blast because so many of you posted your comments, scores and thoughts from the games around the area. Let's keep that enthusiasm up.
Steve Jias will be sending in a report tonight from BCAS-EPBP and I'll have some observations from the Ubly/Vassar game (actually going to the game as a fan for a change...haven't done that in seven years).
Also we'll post scores as they come in throughout the night and if it works will have some audio from the Laker games, our first forray into producing sound clips from live interviews.
I'll also put together an audio segment tonight or tomorrow morning wrapping up tonight's football, along with some highlights from soccer and volleyball this week.
This will jump start our effort next week, where we will have daily or every other daily audio updates, as whether daily pictures from the games we attend.
Also, at least one of the readers out there said there should be a section for some you bloggers to write about things.
Feel free to send me submissions by e-mail @ ogryski@avci.net and as there isn't anything insane or unprintable in it, I'll post them on the blog.
Remember this your blog and we are writing the rules as we go along, so we can go in whatever direction you want to make this the most fun and interactive blog possible.

Week 2 of Pigskin Preview is up

This week's audio took longer than expected...with new technology the editing stuff took longer than I thought...however it is finally done.
We broke it down into several segments this week, so here is the order you should listen to them in:
PP Week 5 Intro
PP Week 5 GTW
PP Week 5 GTE
PP Week 5 NCTL

Here is the link to access them:
http://www.box.net/shared/9n7yxu63bf

Please feel free tos share your feedback. I hope you enjoy it!

Follow the leader...

There's a new tool from blogger where people can sign-up and follow the blog. For those with myspace, it is the equivalent of your friends list. I just added this feature last night an already I've gotten one person to sign-up, so hopefully the rest of you will follow suit (you'll have to scroll down a little ways and look on the right side to see it).
I'd love to get at least 20 of your bloggerites to sign-up so we can have a nice representation and I don't look like a loser with only one friend!

Pics from today's soccer action.

Here are some photos from tonights Harbor Beach/Caseville soccer game. The score was 2-0 when I left, I'll post an update when I get a final score.
Also, I'm working on the audio tonight and hopefully we'll have something up tomorrow. And look for more audio updates through the week as this project really starts to take off.

Week four standings

This contest is really starting to heat up! While Glaza is a little ahead of the pack, most everyone is within a game or two of each other. I've made a couple of good picks recently and the Mendoza line slowly but surely rises.
Hopefully I can finish amongst the top few this season, but not much time to make the move up...so we'll see.
Rick Glaza 37-7
Andrew Selich 36-8
Christian Selich 35-9
Twocentsworth 35-9
Coaches Take 35-9
Mumbles 34-10
Garrett Jurges 34-10
Jill 34-10
Chiuk Czlek 34-10
Chris Ogryski 33-11
David Bossick 33-11
Eddie Fury 33-11
Robert Rockefeller 31-13
Jon Sicotte 25-8

Week 5 pics

Look for an update early this week with the up to date standings:

Ubly vs. Vassar
Harbor Beach vs. Marlette
Deckerville vs. Mayville
Brown City vs. Sandusky
Bad Axe vs. USA
BCAS vs. EPBP
Cass City vs. Reese
CPS vs. Peck
Akron-Fairgrove vs. Dryden
North Huron vs. Kingston
Memphs vs. Owen-Gage

Coaches comments delayed...

I was hoping to have an audio update by this point with a few comments from each coach in Friday's Harbor Beach-Ubly game, but...I've had some computer issues all weekend.
Let's just say my laptop has crapped out late yesterday/early this morninbg and finally I'm working with a new one and trying to get caught up on work.
So the audio update my not come until late tonight or tomorrow if you still care. However it is somehting we will be looking at for the upcoming weeks.
This week we will have another edition of Pigskin Preview, with the segments broken out so that it is more listener friendly. Since this week's schedule is somewhat less thrilling than most weeks, we'll probably be doing more team evaluations, looking at where the teams are at and where they are going.
Look for more pics and blog updates during the week, as well as some audio updates with results throughout the week.
And most importantly, thank you to everyone who has helped this blog become a hotbed of conversation lately. It was exciting to see all the e-mails I got, notifying me of each post as they came in. Let's keep it up, because it was a heckuva lkot of fun.

North Huron update

Sorry this update from Steve is so late, but I conked out around 1 a.m. and wasn't able to get it posted before then.

So here's his info from the game:

North Huron was looking to make sure they could play a meaningful game late in the season to get a playoff berth. To accomplish that goal, they would first have to get out of Owendale with a win. Many thought this would be an easy win for the Warriors, but instead they found themselves in a four quarter battle.
Still, North Huron walked away with the 28-7 victory.
The game was a lot closer than the score reflects as the defenses on both sides of the ball played very well. The offense ground out every yard they gained. The only scoring in the first quarter was an Anthony Irvine run for an 18 yard TD.
Owen-Gage caught a couple breaks in the second quarter when two near scores were called back on block in the back calls. The first penalty came during the runback on an interception from Irvine. The second came on a 59 yard run that was brought back.
Both teams traded scores when Irvine ran for nine yards to go up 14-0. The Bulldogs answered with a score of their own when Brent Reil hooked up with Nick Zaleski for a 37 yard TD strike to pull within seven with under two minutes to go in the half.
The Warrior got one more score before the half on a 24 yard pass from Kevin Rice to John Iseler to make the score at half 21-7.
Both D’s continued to play well. The Bulldogs were knocking on the door on a 4th and one that would have pulled them within seven, midway through the fourth quarter, but were denied by the Warrior defense on fourth and one at the 1 yard line.
The Bulldogs had traveled 90 yards and came up empty. “It was there’s for the taking,” one of he OG coaches said.
That was the decisive moment in the game. Owendale missed a huge scoring opportunity and the Warriors capitalized on a 34 yard run by Irvine to complete the scoring and get out of Owen-Gage with a hard fought win over their NCTL rivals.

The Real Deal Part 2

For those who discounted my claims that Ubly would be the team to whom we would be hitching onto that we would following on an extended playoff run...well this week's 42-6 dominating victory over Harbor Beach should convince you.
The Bearcats scored quickly and often in the first half, scoring on a one yard TD run from Jordan Kaufman and then just over three minutes later, Ubly scored again when Mitch Cleary reached paydirt on a nine yard dash.
Six seconds into the second, Cleary scored again on a 15 yard run.
Later in the second with three minutes left, Adam Glaza scored on a three yard run. The two point conversion to Eric Booms gave Ubly a 28-0 advantage.
Ubly had what seemed to be a final scoring chance with two minutes remaining the in the half, but a Kaufman had his pass picked off by Shane Ginther. Kaufman returned the favor several plays later, when he picked off a pass from Ginther with 30 seconds left.
After an illegal block in the back penalty, the Bearcats were backed up to their own 30, but Kaufman connected with Jordan Terrasi on a 60 yard strike, giving them a chance to score with five seconds left. Their first attemot resulted in an incomplete pass and coach Troy Schelke was livid that there was still a second left on the clock. Ubly took adavntage of their final chance when #28 (don't have a roster in front of me right now) scored a 10 yard run. Cleary scored on the two point conversion and Ubly was ahead 36-0.
In the third quarter, Keith Kramer addded a seven yard score to give the Bearcats the 42-0 edge.
Ubly is one of the best teams I have seen and it is interesting to see them dismnatle oppponents. This week's game with Vassar, who lost 21-13 to an injury ravished Reese team, should be more competitive...at least for a half.
Kudos to coach Bill Sweeney for getting Kaufman out early in the second half and then doing the same for several other key players. The only thing that can derail Ubly from an extended post-season run would be injuries; good to see coach Sweeney protecting against that.

It has finally happened

After a year or two of trying to get this gong, it finally seems we have a cast of regulars who want to sit around and talk sports. AWESOME!
So let's come back on Friday, I'll post some pictures and thoughts after tonight's HB vs. Ubly game. Please leave score updates and leave your thoughts and opinions on any games you see, listen to on the radio, etc.
Let's keep this rolling in the right direction.

Listen to the first addition Pigskin Preview

For those of you who don't know, when you listen to the Thumb Tailgaters Show this week, it will be a little different, because none of the original Tailgaters will be there.
But I love what I do and think you readers/bloggers deserve the best coverage of area games possible, including pre-game coverage.
So with that in mind and my shabby little equipment, I have created my own weekly Internet show called Pigskin Preview. To listen to my thoughts on this week's game just click on the links below:
http://www.box.net/shared/pha6qv3ltg
It will take you directly to the site where these audios are and when you click on them, they will download and then automatically start playing.
Now a few things on this:
1) This was the first week I've done this, so there might be a few glitches (at one point, I took a fake commercial break to give myself a breather), but overall you should be able to see what I am working towards.
2) I'm not working with radio quality equipment, but I think it turned out pretty well qaulity wise.
3) And most importantly after talking for so long (I did a combined 1:20+ of audio), my throat started to kill me, so it sounds a little different and in the final segment there are a few extra pauses while I swallowed hard and kept going on.
Please feel free to give me your feedback on this, both good and bad, I've put in about 8 hours, including prep time to produce the show. I want it to get better, so let me know how you think I can achieve that.
And please, if you like it...tell your friends about it. My point in doing this is to get as many people as possible to listen to this.

Standings after Week 3

Rick Glaza 30-5
Andrew Selich 28-7
Christian Selich 28-7
Twocentsworth 28-7
Coaches Take 28-7
Garrett Jurges 27-8
Jill 27-8
Chiuk Czlek 26-9
David Bossick 26-9
Eddie Fury 26-9
Robert Rockefeller 26-9
Mumbles 26-9
Chris Ogryski 25-10
Jon Sicotte 17-7
Mrlmichael 8-3

Week 4 picks

EPBP at Deckerville
Brown City at Mayville
Ubly at Harbor Beach
Marlette at Sandusky
A-Fairgrove at CPS
Kingston at Memphis
North Huron at Owen-Gage
Vassar at Reese
Dryden at Peck

The REAL Deal

Ubly's Jordan Kaufman makes a long run.
Ubly's Mitch Cleary

Ubly's John Walker makes the tackle.

Eric Booms attempts to make a catch on a two-point conversion attempt.

I have had the privelege of seeing Ubly twice this season alredy and there is only one word to describe them...impressive.

I caught the first half of Ubly's 57-0 route of Mayville (a privelege of being the "back-up" guy in sports this year), but what I did see was one of the most exciting offenses I have ever seen.

(I quaify that by saying that in 2005 "Big" Bubba Smith was still the head honcho of our sports department at the time, so I only saw two USA football games that season, one against Inkster and the loss in the finals to Traverse City St. Francis, so I don't have much means of comparison to that great team).

But back to the Bearcats, they scored 40 of their points in the first half and had they had another 5-6 seconds left on the clock they owuld have scored once more.

Ubly opened the game with a nice drive down the field, but Jordan Kaufman coughed one up in the red zone and Mayville got the ball back. The Bearcats held on defense and eventually scored on a 18 yard run from Kaufman with 5:54 left in the first to take a 6-0 lead.

On their next possession a 43 yard pass from Kaufman to Steven Weber set up a four yard TD run from Mitch Cleary with 1:38 to go in the quarter. After a successful two-point conversion, Ubly led 14-0.

With 11:37 left in the half, Kaufman and Cleary teamed up on a 55 yard TD strike to take a 20-0 lead.

Adam Glaza scored on a one yard TD run with 9:23 left to take a 26-0 edge.

Kaufman scored on a 29 yard TD run with 3:51 left and as Ubly left the field, Eric LaBuhn told his teammates they had time for two more scores.

They nearly did as Kaufman connected on a 12 yd Td strike to take a 40-0 lead with 2:34 remaining. They got the ball back with about 45 seconds left and drove down the field in a two minute offense. They did use a pir of timeouts, but never threw. On their final play, they made it to about the 12 yard line, which was just shy of a first down and the clock expired before they could spike the ball.

Four TD's at least for Kaufman brings his season total to at least nine, maybe more pending what happened in the final three scores in the game.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what this team can do aganst Harbor Beach next week, however, on paper the game is somewhat less appealing after the Pirate's 13-6 loss to Brown City last night.

Hopefully coach Troy Schelke can get his team to forget about that loss and move on, because Harbor Beach needs a split with Ubly and Deckerville and then needs to run the table in the remaining four games to make the playoffs.

Outpick Ogryski standings

As the season gets going, we'll try to get some more updates and discussions going. Look for some kind of post along those lines in the upcoming days.
But back to business, here is a look at where we are at with the picks contest:
1. Rick Glaza 22-2 .917
T2. Andrew Selich, Christian Selich & Twocentsworth 21-3 .875
T5. Coaches Take, Garrett Jurges & Jill (not my wife) 20-4 .833
T8. Chiuk Czlek, David Bossick, Eddy Fury and Robert Rockefeller 19-5 .792
T12. Me & Mumbles 18-6 .750
14. mrlmichael 8-3 .727
15. Jon Sicotte 17-7 .708

Week three games

Well folks its been pretty interesting so far. We'll find out how interesting later in the week when I post the standings through week two.
For now, here is a look at the upcoming schedule for this week. Let's just say, from a fan's perspective, not a lot to get excited about...
Marlette vs. Reese
Mayville vs. Ubly
Deckerville vs. Sandusky
Brown City vs. Harbor Beach
Bad Axe vs. Cass City
BCAS vs. Vassar
EPBP vs. USA
CPS vs. Kingston
Akron-Fairgrove vs. Peck
Dryden vs. Owen-Gage
Kinde-North Huron vs. Memphis

Outpick Ogryski standings

Here is that update I know you were all waiting for:
12-1, .923
Andrew Selich

11-2, .846
Christian Selich
Coaches Take
Rick Glaza
Two Cents Worth

10-3, .769
Chiuk Czlek
David Bossick
Garret Jurges
Jill (but not Jill my wife)

9-4, .692...the Mendoza Line
Me
Jon Sicotte
Eddie Fury
Mumbles
Robert Rockefeller