By Eric Berry
There are only 4 more days and 3 sleeps before high school football gets under way in Vermont! It’s by far my favorite sport to broadcast and, as is well documented in my blogs, my absolute favorite time of the year by a landslide. HS Football, NFL, fantasy football, and hunting. Count me in-as always. Here’s some thoughts on all of them and a few other life tidbits:
Lyndon Institute runs the gauntlet the first 3 weeks of the season and it starts in week 1 vs. Woodstock. Ramsey Worrell’s club always has a blocking scheme that makes defensive coordinator’s go sleepless in the night’s that lead up to matching up with the Wasp’s. After game 1, Lyndon will host Bellows Falls and Fair Haven! Gulp. Then they will have a shot at 4 winnable games, albeit with some travel involved. Health will be the key. Crossing my fingers for the Vikings.
One more thought on the Vikes. They are getting closer to turning the ship around and headed in the right direction. Lots of youngsters on the roster this year. They will learn and be joined by another strong class a year from now.
St. Johnsbury Academy played Mount Mansfield this past weekend and rumor has it looked very good. I heard this through very reliable sources. I also heard the Cougars were big and physical and also looked good. I like it.
I also heard that Jake Cady got to be a part of the pregame ceremonies this past weekend at UMASS. The whole thing was part of a recruitment effort put on by the Minutemen coaching staff. I say kudos. And what an unreal experience that must have been. I’ve covered football and I’ve seen a lot of great quarterbacks. The Jake Eaton’s. The Brennan Carney’s. The Colin Temple’s. Guys who could really throw it. I wish I would have seen Tom Leavitt play at Burlington High School way back in the day. My colleague, George Commo, always tells me how good Tom was.
All the aforementioned being said, I think Jake throws the ball as good as ANYONE I have EVER seen in Vermont. I’m hoping for a healthy year for Jake because you could see something as special as you’ve ever seen on the gridiron. A pure passer. A great athlete to go along with it. I CANNOT WAIT to call those games. To add more, he’s also a great young man. Love rooting for players like him.
NSN will cover over 50 games this fall. I ask you to solicit the sponsors we have that are making these games happen. Community minded people and business leaders.
My fantasy draft was this weekend. I drafted Antonio Brown and two days later traded him. What it comes down to is I basically traded out of the 1st round, or, having a pick in the first round. Unsure if I’m making the right move, but I think I have improved my roster. We shall see.
I tried to trade Brown to everyone in the league(there are 12 teams). The 11th team I reached out to agreed to do it. Crazy. I was offering the #1 receiver in fantasy football by EVERYONE’S account worldwide. And everyone seemed to think I was trying to put the screws to them. Give me a break. Got a deal done. Hopefully I didn’t end my fantasy season before it started.
One last thought on a simple life thing.
Why is it that driver’s pull out to pass someone on the interstate and then slow down next to them, normally slowing everyone down behind them(like me, who has my truck on cruise control) and stopping the flow of traffic? Drives me freakin’ crazy. Makes me nuts. You see it big time when they pull out next to a tractor trailer. They’ll ride next to a tractor trailer for a mile. What the hell are you doing? It’s gone on for as long as I can remember and isn’t going to change. I wish I could make it change!
Have a good day-listen to John Cougar-it will make you feel better.