. . . . here's some floaties.

Swim season is starting again. It should be interesting to see what happens in the SGV. The Walnut Girls seem to have more intense coaching then the guys and the girls seem to really want to step it up.

FU

Punks ass papas you come off as you think you are some kind of Bobby knight or something...ME ME ME............DUDE GET A GRIP!...........You sound like nothing but a Monday Morning QB........"lets talk more about Amat"...geeze give it a rest....Everyone knows Amat dominates this blog for good or for bad. so pull your head out pal and take a good look in the mirror you are a wannabe coach that feeds his ego with IIIIIIIII......Good coaches give credit to their players not themselfs..........now go knock back a few more and get those stains off your wife beater shirt you low life.

Let's talk more about Bishop Amat...okay?

sorry Matty let's talk about u u u , lol

Pela Papas?...

Stop tuting your own horn......what is with all the I I I I in your blown out statement.

MATTY you too?
Based on the problems of the middle class two parent players at Bishop Amat and the over the top parents at Amat I find your comment disturbing at best.

Look at Magnolia High School. Lower middle class demographics at best. Coached by the great Mike Anderson. Three times league champions. Back to back undefeated seaons. Four Div I players on that team and they are loaded with underclassmen. They win because of fundamentals, hard work and team play. Before Mike Anderson got to Magnolia they were habitual bottom dwellers in league. Last year they lost to Dianomd Ranch in the Finals and this year they added a 6'1" freshmen who showed up at the first day of practice..unannouced. Players gravitate to great coaching.

You're on a slippery slope when you make the point of the barrio/ghetto single parent player that play blacktop basketball. Too many code words for me. Best players in the NBA, college and HS have great fundamentals and that MEANS great coaching. Plain and simple.

Aram are "upper/middle class kids easier to coach?"

Depends on the kids, the coaches and the administration. They have "access" to more and therefore benefit from those advantages..better schools, better facilities, better networking ect. but the politics is insane. Look at Damien for an example of politics and inbreeding run rampant. Just look at what Dorsey and Carson have to deal with (crime, gangs, poor facilities,ect)and yet they produce some of the most coachable kids around.

But, Aram, to answer your question directly. In my experience coaching upper middle class kids is different. Not easier or better just different. They tend to have a sense of entitlement and indifference that sometimes limits their coachability. Is it any wonder so many coaches get their early coaching experience in lower economic schools. As far as the single parent player...look at Lebron James and many many NFL. NBA, MLB palyers who make the bigs. I know when I have a single parent player, especially a single mother, that that player is usually driven harder by his mother than I ever could. In 20 years of coaching they have been my most coachable and toughest players..and usually very good leaders. hell they're already looked at as the "man of the house!"

Great coaching transcends ANY economic advantage or disadvantage. Great coaching makes good players great and great players legends. Bad coaching makes great players average and average players "bitch".

Ask yourself if Shaun Cody makes it to USC if he stayed at Damien? Better yet ask yourself if Justin Luetin and Brad Walsh sit their Junior years instead of making CIF 1st team this year like they should have. Same goes for Smitty...not even All League at his size? Those are college scholarships that were wasted. Ask yourself if former Damien QB Danny Alfaro goes 2-8 his senior season and doesn't get "benched" at any other school but Damien. He was aweful, predictable and pampered but had ALL the tools to be great but wasn't. Yet he's at UC Davis as a walk on? Connections got him there... bad coaching got him 2-8 and on the outside looking in.

Jeremy...I give you props. But don't believe the hype the upper middle class KIDS got nothing on "us" ...BELIEVE THAT!!!! I always give major ass props to single moms...witness my love for Mrs. Mc D and her son Mike. I've been one of those "scholarship" giving coaches, paid for team pictures, bought shoes, waived registration fees and coached "scrub" teams to off set fees for players who could not pay and it has always been my honor to do so.

Geez, are you serious?! Hey, check this out. First off I'm not sitting in my tri-level house in Covina Hills, or atop Turnbull Canyon Road looking down on the "commoners." I'll give you a hint as to where I grew up. Are you ready? Guess where I played my Junior All-American 'ball? I was a La Puente Warrior. And I was NOT brought up Upper-Middle class, or anything exceeding that bracket. I was raised in a single parent home for a majority of my child-hood, from age 2. I did anything I could do to help raise money to pay for my registration. I used to save whatever Christmas money that I recieved, and mow lawns in the spring to raise money for my camps. I recieved "scholarships" from two different coaches so I could continue playing. There is more, but I am not here to bore you with my life-story, I just wanted to state the obvious, which is my previous post was just sheer honesty through observation, black-and-white observation through experience.
Carson, Dominguez Hills, Dorsey, Jordan, etc. A majority of those are City Section, exception being Dominguez. City section is terrible compared to the Southern Section in a vast majority of sports.
Don't forget I am one of those lower-middle class kids, and I give all the props in the world to them, especially those who play competitively BEFORE entering the arena of H.S. sports, but don't forget that many of those same kids attend the local upper-middle class school be it, public or private, you know the one with the kick-a** program, better coaching staff, more booster support, etc.
Many kids from B.P. have opted to go to Los Altos. Many Azusa kids have opted to go to South Hills,etc.

Did I say anything untrue, or wrong???

Upper Middle class are more coachable without a doubt because they are brought up in two parent households and they are brought up with Discipline. Not to take anything away from the upbringing a single parent from the Barrio does as far as discipline but the Barrio kid / Ghetto kids bring a more intense hunger for the game and can get the W on pure determination....The Upper MC does it thru fundamentals and teachings...thats why when you pair off a Mater Dei vs a Fairfax in Basketball you see two differnet types of styles....Fudamental vs Freelance playground blacktop ball..........

Are middle/upper class kids more coachable?

Jeremy you crack me up. First you show you know very little about football and now you show you know very little about competition and sports in general.

What a stupid comment. It baseless and ignorant on so many levels. I coach a travel ball club and can tell you I'd rather get a couple of hungry "ghetto/barrio" kids that KNOW how to compete rather than the "middle class indifferent" kid that "positions" for playing time. Some parents even go as far as donating gym time, buying jerseys and writing "pretty please" letters.

As a matter of fact my son's 13U AAU travel team (coached by a Varsty Coach) is built around "lower middle" class kids that "pick up the slack" if you know what I mean for the high dollar shoe wearing ghetto talking "sufer/skateboarder" that just wants to play on a travel team to brag.

Are middle class kids better coached..depends. Coaching cost money. But where the difference is in the facilities (gym time, travel time) that middle class kids get. Ever hear of Carson, Dorsey, Dominguez Hills, Jordon, Ect.

You last comment was baffoonary!

Is that why the NBA is made up of kids that were born and raised it the Ghetto....also applies to Football and Baseball......not just black and Mex. but also dominicans and Cubans.....sure you have your fair share of upper middle class players who play organize from day one but the under priviledge ghetto kids just have more drive than the average american white kid...this is not a racial slam at all it is just proven fact.

What?! No football threads???

Oh and another thing, what's with all this apples to oranges comparison in here? You all know to specifically what I am referring to. Get real. Makes me glad I am a football fan, I don't have to deal with the Apples vs. Oranges thing. Except I am an avid professional Soccer fan, which leads me to the perfect question to settle this(yeah right):
U.S. Women vs. U.S. Men (Soccer).
Now despite all the championships, and accolades one of them may have, be REALISTIC! Who would win?
I'll tell you right now, this is a classic apples to oranges example. One may have some well deserved championships, but that same high-caliber "apple" team would be physically and tactically dominated.

Must be a stang,
Upper-middle class is where the better sports programs are. First let's start with the private schools, the parents who pay the tuition and thier kids who have to keep up grades are middle/upper-middle/upper, etc.
Public- Let's start in our own area SOUTH HILLS(West Covina)aka Covina Hills or the 91791 portion of West Co. LOS ALTOS(Hacienda Heights)with little corners of ghetto, but overall Middle/Upper-middle.
Non-local powers- HART(Newhall), Edison(Anaheim), Esperanza(Yoba Linda?) Mission Viejo, Los Alamitos, Canyon Country, Valencia, Centennial(Corona)Norco(North Corona).
Good athletic programs are usually from areas where these kids typically were brought up playing these sports in organized leagues, and going to camps, positional camps, etc. That takes a lttle extra money.

Hey SGV Tribune,
Check out local boys soccer headline:
ARROYO ADVANCES! Knights enjoy trip to Pasadena Poly, return to North El Monte victorious, 3-1. Advance to Qtr. Finals on Friday Feb. 23rd.
Hey, if Mountain View did it... ARROYO CAN TOO! Devoted head soccer coach Jorge Ramirez is a FAITHFUL and DEVOTED KNIGHT and an excellent spanish teacher. You deserve it Senor Ramirez and ARROYO BOYS VARSITY SOCCER! GO KNIGHTS GO!

With Walnut being predominantly Asian at least they play with what they have and are not out recruiting like other HS...No one expects a city like Walnut to produce a boys powerhouse team year in and year out but I do agree they can at least make it competitive. They are not geographically situated to produce winners in boys competition. It will be awhile before that city decays and people move out that it becomes ghetto and then the talent shows up to make it a competitive sports program but until now it is a upper middle class area with not sports on its mind but studies...not a bad trade off if you ask me...

A.T.

Is Lori Huckler the same Lori Huckler that played for Bob Bria at San Gabriel High School when they had a run of about six or sevens years of dominance?

Suprise is right...just like right out of a cracker jack box Crazy Mom. There is no sight of even the slightest chance we can bring our boys spots program back up to snuff. check our last 2-3 years in boys sports the truth does not lie.....all I see in football is WC / SH / now Rowland?...Nogales is always there in baseball so is The Farm SH..but where is Walnut? well we are being considered those above mentioned schools beat up dummy and it seems like we are getting used to it. We need to step it up and get the best players available to come out for our boys sports....Football is so huge at all the other area schools where attendance is up...Who the heck wants to go see a walnut on a friday nite BORING........But as a alum I keep going to see us get our Asses handed to us..I guess I am not a good loser but we need to turn things around because the above blogger was right our kids will start leaving for other places to shine their talents....

I find it rather amusing that such a general stereotype applies - I would certainly hope that an area newsperson (Aram) would be open to approaching each sport and each season with a new eye - if not, perhaps he and other followers will be surprised

Opening Trib Top 10/preview comes out on March 1 (I believe). Maybe it's the 2nd. There isn't much going on in hoops/soccer, so we should be able to get right into it.

Aram, baseball starts in less than 2 weeks, when will your coverage start??????? Soon we hope...

Old Fan

Want to see great basketball?

See Magnolia high school girls basketball team. They'd beat Damien boys by 2. To many ball handling studs and great defense to deal with. Damien clearly has the height but all things being equal...Sentinels by 6.

Well that might be a stretch but Damien would learn more about basketball from that experience than Magnolia would. Check THEM out.

Hey, it ain't me..it's Coach John Wooden's opinion so go and hate on him.

What is wrong with the Walnut program is their coaching for boys stinks!....Pearson steps down from Varsity football.....well it does not take a genius to find out that he did this not to blemish his record. He knew the talent level is not there anymore. If I am a talented football player or baseball player I am taking my game out of Walnut and going elsewhere to showcase my talents. There are plenty of schools out there that are winners and can make some of these kids into Tribune sports studs but they are not going to get that playing on a Walnut Loser. Schools like So. Hills and Los Altos would love to take those star players in...There is also Bishop Amat that is private and is always looking for talent. Walnut get with it because that Mustang is starting to look like jackass.

It is demographics and dedication. John Wooden has said that girls play a more technically sound game of basketball than guys. they can' jump as high, run as fast or out muscle their opponents. They compensate by learning to pass, shoot from outside and, the guys should pay attention, make layups.
In the current demographic cylce there are a lot of asians and hispanics living in the valley. Physically they tend to be smaller so they have to play smarter. The demographics will change again in 15-20 years so we'll see how that plays out. Right now the girls are just smarter.

I just don't get how the boys and girls are so completely different. The girls sports programs across the board are among the best in the area. The boys have slid badly in the past two years to being at the bottom of the league. Walnut is a great area. I just don't get it.

The girls are what is keeping this school athletic program from falling off the face of HS competitive sports. The boys...geeze what was left after Al Gattis and that championship run.and a little of Sean Sheller..they cannot hang in football they look too small and they have no gameplan and D'Bar is beating them down........Baseball they will always get beat by the So. Hills farm and WC plus you throw in the ledgend coach over at Nogales and they really get run. Basketball fugettaboutit!........They will take a pounding again in football and they will be crushed in baseball this season...there is no looking up with this schools boys team..maybe that team of boys is in 4th grade right now....it all comes in cycles......Rachel Grant is the stud of the school.....Boys need to sack up it is getting pathetic over there in Nutland........