Recently in Sports Category
Lately, this blog has been focusing on more serious issues, like the
town election and Rebel controversy, so I think it's time I leave those
issues to rest, and discuss something more fun. This weekend, more
than 800 Wrentham Little League, Softball, and T-Ball players will be
playing in what is supposed to be the longest baseball game ever.
The game will be 36 hours long, and began promptly at 8 AM on Saturday, and will end on Sunday at 8 PM. Learn more at http://www.longestbaseballgame.org. My radio station, WDIS, will be airing the entire game (all 36 hours of it) on WDISAM.com, and will be breaking a record for the longest broadcast of a baseball game ever. The event itself has been coordinated by one of my good friends at WDIS, Jim Lucas, our sports director.
What is so incredibly fantastic about this event is that it was designed less to break a record and more to raise money for local charities. Curt's Pitch for ALS, the Wrentham Food Pantry, and other charitable organizations are all benefiting from funds raised from the players participating in the game.
Good luck to all players involved. It sounds like fun!
The game will be 36 hours long, and began promptly at 8 AM on Saturday, and will end on Sunday at 8 PM. Learn more at http://www.longestbaseballgame.org. My radio station, WDIS, will be airing the entire game (all 36 hours of it) on WDISAM.com, and will be breaking a record for the longest broadcast of a baseball game ever. The event itself has been coordinated by one of my good friends at WDIS, Jim Lucas, our sports director.
What is so incredibly fantastic about this event is that it was designed less to break a record and more to raise money for local charities. Curt's Pitch for ALS, the Wrentham Food Pantry, and other charitable organizations are all benefiting from funds raised from the players participating in the game.
Good luck to all players involved. It sounds like fun!
Update 1/25/09: On
January 24, 2009, the King Philip Boys Basketball team ended their
losing streak with a victory against Hanover High School 73-59.
WDIS, the radio station that produces and airs my radio show, has, for a few years now, had a very solid connection to local high school sports. This past fall, for example, I, as a Walpole resident, was glad to learn that they were airing all 2008 Walpole Rebel football games. Interestingly, the Rebels went on to complete an undefeated season, winning the Division 2 Superbowl at Gillette Stadium in December.
So, it was no surprise when I learned a few months ago that WDIS was planning to air King Philip High School Boys Basketball games during the 2008-2009 season. Plus, WDIS was planning to partner with the Wrentham, Plainville and Norfolk community television stations to broadcast game video and audio on television in the towns King Philip High School serves. Obviously, I didn't think there was anything particularly odd about any of this, considering WDIS' passion for sports.
That was until I learned, courtesy of this press release, that the KP Boys Basketball team hasn't won even one game for over two years now, and they were starting this season with their third head coach in four years, Sean McInnis. This season was supposed to be a change - with a new coach, and a renewed sense of optimism, KP fans were hoping 2009 would mean glory - finally - for the KP Basketball program. WDIS, along with the Wrentham, Plainville, and Norfolk community TV stations, was hoping to carry the season to people who otherwise would not be able to go to the games. In other words, WDIS wanted to generate as much support and excitement as possible to get the KP basketball team as pumped up as possible in order to start winning some games.
Alas, it turned out that not even the combination of a new head coach, game broadcasts over TV and radio, or increased optimism before the season caused the KP boys to start winning. They lost the first game, then the second game, and then they kept losing over and over again. There were a few close games - once, they lost a game in overtime, for example - but yesterday, on January 9th, their losing streak, started three seasons ago, was extended to 57 after a loss to Canton, a team that KP was actually supposed to have at least a small chance of beating. Even the KP Girls Basketball team hasn't done so well this season, with an 0-6 record in their league so far this season. Although I'm pretty sure there are some very bad other teams out there in the world with worse records and longer losing streaks, KP definitely takes the cake in terms of having not only a bad record but a downright horrible record for a high school that is comprised of students from three different towns.
The community seems to have mixed feelings about the team. The KP Basketball Blog (not affiliated with the school or the basketball program) has become a mini discussion forum for discussing the team's bad seasons these past few years. In December 2007, one "parent of a student on the Varsity basketball team" wrote "I am thoroughly disappointed with the lack of progress in the boys basketball program [...] the head coach has not created a team that cares or has any sense of cohesion [...] the best athletes in the school don't want to play because the coach is useless. Can't something be done?" Two days after this was posted, the "captain of the KP baksetball [sic] team" responded by writing, "It obviously sucks, seeing as we haven't won a game in two years, but do not tell me we don't try. We show up to practice everyday and work our asses off. We play hard every game even though everybody says we don't have a chance. It's nobody's fault that we don't have a whole lot of basketball talent at school." He admitted that the team has "sort of been made into a joke", but he went on to say "I'll stick by the twelve guys on my team any day, even if I never win another game, because I see how hard we work everyday, and how badly everyone wants that one win."
Another blog user posted later "Having witnessed a number of KP games over the years, I never walked away feeling that your team gav [sic] up or was not trying [...] You are blessed with a number of very athletic and quick kids and have been in some very competitive games in the first half. Unfortunately, basketball is a game where height matters and you have not been blessed with much in that area."
While the parent's rant that the coach has not "created a team that cares or has any sense of cohesion" is no longer relevant because KP now has a new coach, it is very evident, based on the testimony of the team captain that the team certainly holds a deep motivation for winning, but they are simply not good enough or tall enough to be able to win anything. You'd think, though, that a school with athletes from three towns would at least have some halfway decent tall basketball players.
Nevertheless, while they may not have the tallest and best basketball players in their league, KP does have a few things other teams in their league don't have: confidence, desire, and drive. As Jim Lucas, WDIS Sports Director told me: "The fact is that there is no team in this league that puts in a better effort then King Philip, both players and coaches." Indeed, Jim is right: the overwhelming determination of each player on the team to win is extremely evident in every one of KP's games, whether they win or lose.
In any case, KP has my support. They deserve to win just one game, to, for once, feel some glory and pride. Best of luck to them.
For more information about KP Boys Basketball, go to http://www.kpboysbasketball.com. For more information about KP Boys Basketball on WDIS, go to http://www.wdisam.com/kpbasketball/index.html.
WDIS, the radio station that produces and airs my radio show, has, for a few years now, had a very solid connection to local high school sports. This past fall, for example, I, as a Walpole resident, was glad to learn that they were airing all 2008 Walpole Rebel football games. Interestingly, the Rebels went on to complete an undefeated season, winning the Division 2 Superbowl at Gillette Stadium in December.
So, it was no surprise when I learned a few months ago that WDIS was planning to air King Philip High School Boys Basketball games during the 2008-2009 season. Plus, WDIS was planning to partner with the Wrentham, Plainville and Norfolk community television stations to broadcast game video and audio on television in the towns King Philip High School serves. Obviously, I didn't think there was anything particularly odd about any of this, considering WDIS' passion for sports.
That was until I learned, courtesy of this press release, that the KP Boys Basketball team hasn't won even one game for over two years now, and they were starting this season with their third head coach in four years, Sean McInnis. This season was supposed to be a change - with a new coach, and a renewed sense of optimism, KP fans were hoping 2009 would mean glory - finally - for the KP Basketball program. WDIS, along with the Wrentham, Plainville, and Norfolk community TV stations, was hoping to carry the season to people who otherwise would not be able to go to the games. In other words, WDIS wanted to generate as much support and excitement as possible to get the KP basketball team as pumped up as possible in order to start winning some games.
Alas, it turned out that not even the combination of a new head coach, game broadcasts over TV and radio, or increased optimism before the season caused the KP boys to start winning. They lost the first game, then the second game, and then they kept losing over and over again. There were a few close games - once, they lost a game in overtime, for example - but yesterday, on January 9th, their losing streak, started three seasons ago, was extended to 57 after a loss to Canton, a team that KP was actually supposed to have at least a small chance of beating. Even the KP Girls Basketball team hasn't done so well this season, with an 0-6 record in their league so far this season. Although I'm pretty sure there are some very bad other teams out there in the world with worse records and longer losing streaks, KP definitely takes the cake in terms of having not only a bad record but a downright horrible record for a high school that is comprised of students from three different towns.
The community seems to have mixed feelings about the team. The KP Basketball Blog (not affiliated with the school or the basketball program) has become a mini discussion forum for discussing the team's bad seasons these past few years. In December 2007, one "parent of a student on the Varsity basketball team" wrote "I am thoroughly disappointed with the lack of progress in the boys basketball program [...] the head coach has not created a team that cares or has any sense of cohesion [...] the best athletes in the school don't want to play because the coach is useless. Can't something be done?" Two days after this was posted, the "captain of the KP baksetball [sic] team" responded by writing, "It obviously sucks, seeing as we haven't won a game in two years, but do not tell me we don't try. We show up to practice everyday and work our asses off. We play hard every game even though everybody says we don't have a chance. It's nobody's fault that we don't have a whole lot of basketball talent at school." He admitted that the team has "sort of been made into a joke", but he went on to say "I'll stick by the twelve guys on my team any day, even if I never win another game, because I see how hard we work everyday, and how badly everyone wants that one win."
Another blog user posted later "Having witnessed a number of KP games over the years, I never walked away feeling that your team gav [sic] up or was not trying [...] You are blessed with a number of very athletic and quick kids and have been in some very competitive games in the first half. Unfortunately, basketball is a game where height matters and you have not been blessed with much in that area."
While the parent's rant that the coach has not "created a team that cares or has any sense of cohesion" is no longer relevant because KP now has a new coach, it is very evident, based on the testimony of the team captain that the team certainly holds a deep motivation for winning, but they are simply not good enough or tall enough to be able to win anything. You'd think, though, that a school with athletes from three towns would at least have some halfway decent tall basketball players.
Nevertheless, while they may not have the tallest and best basketball players in their league, KP does have a few things other teams in their league don't have: confidence, desire, and drive. As Jim Lucas, WDIS Sports Director told me: "The fact is that there is no team in this league that puts in a better effort then King Philip, both players and coaches." Indeed, Jim is right: the overwhelming determination of each player on the team to win is extremely evident in every one of KP's games, whether they win or lose.
In any case, KP has my support. They deserve to win just one game, to, for once, feel some glory and pride. Best of luck to them.
For more information about KP Boys Basketball, go to http://www.kpboysbasketball.com. For more information about KP Boys Basketball on WDIS, go to http://www.wdisam.com/kpbasketball/index.html.
Sam Obar
- Journalist
- Historical Commissioner
- Radio & TV Commentator
- WHS Student
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- Journalist
- Historical Commissioner
- Radio & TV Commentator
- WHS Student
SamObar.com Home
About Sam
Email Sam
The Sam Obar Show (radio)
