It’s refreshing to see some defense on the football field before the local season closes out.  The 2011 football season was riddled with spotty defensive efforts for a number of the local favorites but not Washington Union High School from Easton, CA.

The Panthers went to Southern California and came home with the first ever State Championship in Central Section football.  Washington Union lives the dream of many football programs in this part of the state going to Carson playing on the state championship turf and grabbing the trophy. It took a steady defensive effort to fulfill the football fantasy.

In fact both teams in the Division III title game showed impressive defensive efforts through-out the contest. Moraga Campolindo fell behind early to the “Union” then used impressive defensive efforts to make it a game.

Usually fans demand spectacular offense to make the game electrifying and acceptable but even on the high school level we have proof once again that defense wins championships.

The Panthers offense was virtually unstoppable for most of the season but in the end Washington Union relied on great defensive efforts to come back champs.  Refreshing to see indeed.

When you replace a culture, not a coach there are basically a couple of ways you can go reporting the story. There’s the high road (we’ll wait and see) or the deny road (why this guy or gal?).  It’s interesting to watch these approachs develop in the replacement of Pat Hill, former Fresno State football leader.

The person being reported as replacement, the “according to sources” guy is Tim De Ruyter, a defensive dude from the defunct leadership at Texas A and M.  In other words he was looking at the same time as Fresno State.

A lot in the Fresno State fan community are asking a simple question. Who? But those reporting the story are taking sides.  There are the ones saying “hey knock it off, give this guy a chance.” And the other side reporting that Fresno State football alums are furious and calling the university president with outrage.

Tim De Ruyter may be a great guy, great coach, great hope for the Bulldogs.  But it appears he’s one of two on a very dinky list of replacements. A list that was bought a paid for by Fresno State to the tune of 50-thousand dollars, if reports are correct.

The real problem with De Ruyter when he gets the job is…that some very qualified for Fresno State connections did not even get a shot at the Pat Hill post. No Kelly Skipper, no Jethro Franklin, no Dennis Erickson.  These are names that would have immediately prompted ticket sales for the program. They were previously connected, successful elsewhere and wanted to come back.

Remember where this college is based; “It’s who you know-Fresno”.  Not enough know Tim.

But then again-it is Fresno, a most hospitable place and outsiders are welcome here at first, especially if they can bring something real to the table-something like wins for instance.

But the winning needs to start now, there’s little time for “wait and see”.  If a former Fresno Stater didn’t jump out of the gate with “wins” there would be some forgiveness. But a total newcomer to the culture…well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Commentary:

The problem with ousted coach Pat Hill is he may have cared too much.  Sure not all his Fresno State players over 15 years loved him.  In fact some would even call his radio show on a rare occasion and rip Hill a new earhole. But for the most part players and people liked the guy.

But Pat Hill cared too much in a climate that doesn’t give a rip about caring, ebb and flow, ups and downs, good times and bad.  Sound familiar?  That’s right Pat Hill is a poster child for the new America.  The old America cared about a work ethic, cared about caring-cared about no excuses and building a dream.

Hill cared so much he did not see the train coming. He was not able to adjust to the new climate in time to restore on-field success.  In fact it was difficult to hear and see Hill scramble this year just to save his job. He put Fresno State high-up on the mountain and was brutally honest when his team started to slide down.

Hill took the blame for the terrible season, always seemed to put his players first, stood up for coaches who may have dropped the ball, did all the things a stand-up person used to do in this county.

But standing up and taking the heat doesn’t seem to work much these days. Hill was shown the door because the money fell apart in his program, dried up on the state level-and withered all over these great United States.  There was no time to give Pat another chance at Fresno State greatness, he had to go.

Now the university has hired an outside firm to help find a Pat Hill replacement. Really, another big bill? They may have been better off keeping Hill telling him to find high calibre coordinators and groom them to be the next guy in charge.

Because Fresno State did not fire a coach, it fired a culture. The newly hired search firm better be up-to-speed in culture replacement. Because that’s really what Fresno State is looking for now.

See it’s not the the wins and losses that made it impossible for Hill to remain. It’s the 60-thousand and 20 combo. 60-thousand empty seats at a discounted-average ticket price of twenty dollars.  Let’s multiple that: 60,000 x $20=1,200,000.  That’s right one-point-two million-dollars.

That’s the amount of money Fresno State missed out on this season with their five home games.  The stands were under flowing for every game this year which is intolerable for a competitive Division I football program in the California State system.  Intolerable because of California’s financial mess being passed on to the entire university system.  Intolerable for a university already under delivering in the basketball arena; the other big money sport.

Bulldog Stadium has a capacity of 41,031.  The Bulldogs, even with Ole Miss in town, did not come close to selling out one time this season. That lack of fan support calculated into a 1.2 million dollar loss which ironically is the amount of the Pat Hill contract with the school.  A contract that Fresno State is forced to honor with the decision of his early release.

While sports fans follow the bouncing ball, school administrators are forced more than ever to follow the money. Which makes a decision like Hill’s nothing more than a mathematic calculation.  The next coach better bring a calculator.

Pat Hill worked sidelines at Fresno State for 15 years

Commentary:

What choice did Fresno State have, really?  Pat Hill is no longer the coach of the Bulldogs.  No shock, the Bulldogs finished one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory.  But the flop at the finish of the Hill era is not entirely to blame for the coach’s departure, it’s so much deeper than that.  Blame California’s pathetic economic environment for a lot of what happened.  Pat Hill won’t use the excuse, he didn’t want to quit or be forced to quit, but the economy crushed his hard work and good intentions.  California is a mess financially and it’s being systematically passed down to the citizens of the state.  Hill is just the latest victim.

Hill could not conduct his business on a top level and it finally caught up to the hardest working coach in the state system.  Sorry to any other hard workers out there in the California “State” Division I system.  Hill was, IS a dedicated soul. But when Fresno State took away Hill’s ability to find recruits all over the West or his ability to even have his team practice at the same time because of complicated financial cutbacks…it was only a matter of time.

But Pat Hill is no quitter they had to quit him.  Fire Pat Hill if you have to and you can’t really blame the cover your assests decision makers for what they did because the fans support (translated-the money) is just not there.

And Heaven help the new guy–there’s a once successful program, dormant on the California State University level but it will take a lot of creativity and donations of time and effort to make it stir again.

There’s no doubt the money will not be there, unless a billionaire Fresno State graduate steps up with cash to bring Division I calibre back to Fresno. And that billionaire alum club is elusive for Fresno State.  It had to be a business decision to get rid of Pat Hill, and probably a good one, because without a packed house for football Fresno State athletics will not survive. Basketball are you listening?

It’s likely Pat Hill will be around the Fresno State campus for awhile, there are two years and nearly half a million dollars on his contracts.  The best thing the CYA administrators can do is put Pat Hill to work marketing Fresno State athletics to big money fans and big time recruits.  The coach is brilliant in that arena. Don’t waste the salary; put the fiercely dedicated Bulldog strategically back-to-work building what fell apart from the inside out.

By the way it is odd that Pat Hill’s Fresno State football program was never quite the same after nearly toppling number one USC back in 2005.  Real Local TV.com was there for loss that in some ways was treated like a win. The problem is after nearly grabbing the brass ring the Bulldogs started a six year sputter that ended with their biggest fan being asked to leave the stadium. Click here to see the SC moment.

The ultra popular play-opera is well executed and mind boggling at times. Once again the production leaves people wondering how high school actors, musicians and crew can do such a polished job.

It’s the first time The Phantom of the Opera has been released for local productions and Clovis West does it justice.

The play continues through February 19, 2011.  Fans of the Phantom should not be disappointed by this one.

A team none of the experts expected to be there is suddenly on the brink of a city’s first world series championship. With upset after upset, dramatic win after dramatic win, an eclectic collection of ballplayers ranging from the oddball to the straight-laced, the wide-eyed rookie to the title-starved veteran, revels in the pure fun of the game.

Seemingly immune to the inherent pressure of the ultimate stage, these fan favorites continue to uncover unlikely heroes as they ride the crescendoing wave toward baseball immortality.  Radio talk shows are bursting at the seams with callers who swear they’ve never been this excited about anything.

It’s truly a phenomenon that transcends sports and lifts the spirits of an entire region.

The funny thing is, we’ve seen it all before, or in the words of the inimitable baseball oracle Yogi Berra, “It’s deja vu all over again.”The parallels between the San Francisco Giants’ improbable run to the World Series and Fresno State’s Underdogs to Wonderdogs of 2008 are impossible to miss. Isn’t the best kind of sequel the one that packs just as much punch as the original?

Through every “torturous” twist and turn, the Giants are giving us as exhilarating a ride as those Bulldogs did.

Don’t just take it from me, ask Mark Gardner, the Giants’ bullpen coach who had the San Francisco clubhouse monitoring his alma mater’s magic moments in Omaha. Ask him to consider the role of the hard-throwing but erratic left-hander who morphs into the epitome of command and control when the season’s on the line.

Would Gardner see any difference between Jonathan Sanchez playing that part as opposed to Justin Wilson? Track down baseball’s strikeout king, now owner of the American League champions, Nolan Ryan.

Watching Juan Uribe rob his Rangers at third base may give Ryan a little indigestion as he sits in the front row at AT&T, but it was no more impressive than what he witnessed from Warren Buffett’s box at Rosenblatt, when Tom Mendonca’s glove work had Ryan excitedly applauding.

Nolan’s Rangers ended up drafting Mendonca, so he probably wouldn’t even argue if you took the two-headed hot corner act of Uribe and Pablo Sandoval to match Mendonca’s Most Outstanding Player performance at the CWS.

The consensus NCAA Player of the Year in 2008 was none other than Buster Posey, whose Florida State Seminoles went “two and BBQ” in Omaha.

To Posey, pose this query: is the ebony-bearded closer he’s catching now, Brian Wilson, any quirkier, any more unfazed by occasional failure, or any more clutch when it counts than Brandon Burke, the right-hander who pointed his pistols at the Omaha sky and then got dog-piled behind the mound?

Posey himself is a bit like Danny Muno, a rookie who doesn’t play like one, an offensive spark with plate discipline beyond his years. Matt Cain’s Tennessee drawl has diminished through his years by the Bay.

The slight twang in Clayton Allison’s speech adds to his engaging personality, but always seemed a little out of the ordinary for a guy from Visalia. Both of them let their arm do the talking, and for that pair of tall, broad-shouldered, unassuming right-handers, the results are strikingly similar.

Take your pick for the dependable second baseman who might be the toughest out on the team: Freddy Sanchez or Erik Wetzel? The veteran outfielder whose teammates feel he deserves the title more than anyone: Steve Susdorf or Aubrey Huff?

Huff’s infamous red rally thong may be the Bay Area equivalent to the self-described “goofballs” and their games of invisible “death rays.” Have you seen a looser, more unaffected team than the Giants?

I know, I know, not since the Bulldogs in 2008. Fresno State coach Mike Batesole characterized that “sixth-graders at recess” mentality as a reflection of the trust the players had in each other.

With no superstar, no pressure to try to be the hero, just a determination to do one’s job and depend on teammates to do theirs, those Wonderdogs discovered the freedom to just go out on the field and have fun.

Tell me you don’t see that in Bruce Bochy’s Giants. That’s where the magic is. Get beyond all the uncanny similarities, which seem endless. Facing a do or die game against San Diego (Toreros/Padres). Having to outlast a motivated squad from the Peach State (Georgia/Braves).

Needing to win on the road against a dynasty nobody thought they could defeat (Arizona State/Phillies). I could keep going down the line with the cast of characters, but why don’t we wrap up that discussion with the ultimate rise-to-the-occasion role.

By now you’ve probably figured out that Cody Ross is the obvious choice for the part of Omaha hero Steve Detwiler, the only thing left is for Ross to catch the final out and then stick the ball in his back pocket.

The most powerful parallel is that the team is so much more potent than the sum of its parts. Turn these Giants into your fantasy league entry, and you’ll fall to dead last. It’s not about the eye-popping stats, it’s about the power of we over me.

The days where names like Victor Conte, Greg Anderson, and Barry Bonds dominated the headlines have gone the way of Fresno State’s Stacy Johnson-Klein, Ray Lopes, Terry Pettis era.

Nothing fires up a fan base like a team of genuine, selfless soldiers who make us believe we can achieve the impossible dream too.

Sink down and soak in it, Giants fans. And maybe when Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner make like the Bulldogs and see a season that started for them in Fresno conclude at the White House, they can take a slight liberty with the quote President Bush attributed to Detwiler.

Would any of us argue with “torture is temporary, pride is forever?

“Paul Loeffler is the radio voice of Fresno State sports on KMJ, author of Underdogs to Wonderdogs, and a lifelong Giants’ fan.

A whole street gets involved to sell off its stuff. Terrace Avenue residents, in the historic old Fresno High neighborhood, put out their things, and bargain hunters flock to seize the opportunity. It’s quite an effective spring cleaning.

It is another impressive song and dance sensation put on by Clovis West High School. Chances are you will walk away from this production muttering “plays sure weren’t like that when I was in high school.”

The performances are polished, the set changes smooth and creative, and you will even see water fall on stage. In some ways, it is better than the Broadway play because you actually know these stars on stage…and they put on a very credible show.

And hey, what about that music from the pit? The talent on stage is accompanied by an accomplished orchestra from start to finish. No karaoke musical here.

This production definitely falls in the “time well spent” category.

Buy Tickets Here

Here’s a sample as seen on the popular KSEE TV 24 morning show, an NBC affiliate.