Today, I took a day off from the high school beat and spent the day at Pac-10 Media Day, which was held at the Rose Bowl.
I will again be covering college football in addition to my high school and area college duties. Our coverage will include a weekly column during the season and blog updates leading up to the 97th Rose Bowl, which I previously picked to be a matchup between Oregon and Boise State.
You can find my predictions for the the Pac-10 here

SGVN Staff Photo by Miguel A. Melendez

... I have posted the preseason SGVN All-Area Team. This combines the top talents from the SGV Tribune, Pasadena Star-News and Whittier Daily News coverage zones. You can see it here.

Well folks, tomorrow I'm on vacation until Aug. 9, hopefully surviving another week in Cabo before another wonderful football season. Steve Ramirez will be here to monitor and post on the blog in my absence, and hopefully you get a few posts from Aram too. It has been a busy month working on "Prep Extra," our first football preview magazine, which debuts the first week of September.(To continue, click thread).

With all the discussion about top programs, top teams, I thought it would be interesting to post CalPreps' final state rankings computer poll from the 2009 football season. Calpreps' state poll obviously factored league, division, strength of schedule, quality wins, opponents' record, etc, etc. Bishop Amat wins the computer poll easily because in comparison to other valley schools, they crush everyone locally in terms of schedule strength and quality wins, though the CIF titles went to Charter Oak and San Dimas. I ranked Charter Oak No. 1 in our final poll, but this goes to show if you had to compare our locals using a BCS type formula, this is how our top ten would have ended in 2009.

state ranking, team, record
17. Bishop Amat, 10-2
42. Charter Oak. 13-1
114. San Dimas, 13-1
150. Diamond Ranch, 7-7
157. Glendora, 7-4
163. South Hills, 10-3
166. Damien, 5-6
187. West Covina, 7-5
331. Rowland, 8-2
337 Azusa, 11-2

The fabulous inside sources at the Tribune are telling us to mark your calendars for Friday, Oct. 6, when Crespi rolls into Kiefer to take on Bishop Amat. The sources say Fox Sports is looking at the Serra League opener for their live high school game of the week and why not, no better place than Kiefer to show the Southland where the greatest fans in the Valley reside.

For the 2010 week-by-week Tribune Prep Football Schedule, click the thread. After a casual glance, here are the top games each week as I see it ...

Week 0 - Charter Oak vs. Glendora at Citrus College, 7 p.m.
Week 1 - Diamond Ranch vs. Damien at Ganesha, 7 p.m.
Week 2 - West Covina vs. South Hills at CDF, 7 p.m.
Week 3 - Monrovia at San Dimas, 7 p.m.
Week 4 - Diamond Bar vs. Diamond Ranch at Ganesha, 7 p.m.
Week 5 - Venice at Bishop Amat, 7:30 p.m.
Week 6 - South Hills vs. Damien at CDF, 7 p.m.
Week 7 - Rosemead at Arroyo, 7 p.m.
Week 8 - Notre Dame at Bishop Amat, 7:30 p.m.
Week 9 - Glendora at Upland, 7 p.m.
Week 10 - South Hills at Charter Oak, 7 p.m.

French star Thierry Henry was a good sport show with New York hosts Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly, but if you remember, France left the World Cup in disgrace, which made the question ever more hilarious. He just signed with the MLS' New York Red Bulls, and got a taste of the average American non-soccer fan.

Nogales high school is losing one of the best young high school boys basketball coaches in the San Gabriel Valley. Nobles coach Ricky Roper is leaving to Southern Section powerhouse Cerritos Gahr, who won the San Gabriel Valley League title last season while competing against the likes of Lynwood and Paramount. (to continue click thread).

There is no league tougher to predict than the new Hacienda League, which includes Diamond Bar, Diamond Ranch, West Covina, Rowland, Bonita, Los Altos and Walnut. Looking at Aram's recent All-Encompassing San Gabriel Valley Top 25 poll, he has four teams from the Hacienda ranked, with West Covina No. 9, Diamond Ranch No. 10, Rowland No. 13 and Bonita No. 22, but seriously, there is no telling how this is going to shake out. Won't Diamond Bar be reborn again after leaving the Sierra, especially with its sights set on a mammoth Oct. 1 encounter with its soon to be hated rival, Diamond Ranch, when the two meet for the first time? Can't you picture Los Altos bouncing back and recharged under new coach Jim Arellanes? Walnut might be the one team in over its head this season, but I wouldn't be surprised if this race comes down to the final weeks with as many as six teams within a game of each other. It's going to be that tight. I too think West Covina has a slight edge, but I like Rowland to finish second, Diamond Ranch third and Bonita fourth. Diamond Bar, for me, is a sleeper. This is just what the doctor ordered for the purple, and looking at their preseason lineup of Nogales, Wilson, Don Lugo and Brea Olinda, the purple could and should be 4-0 when they meet DRanch, a game that will take bragging rights to another level.

Above: West Covina coach Mike Maggiore and staff will have their hands full this fall.

I told ya I will keep posting questions from random high school football players, local players or in this case an assistant football coach that I found on google that wants to know if his requirements for a quarterback are too harsh. Well, are they?

Coach asks: I am a Quarterbacks coach and Assistant Offensive Coordinator for a local 5a High School. I am 20 years old and have not been able to continue my playing carrier (but I have had 2 walk-on tryouts with a team who WILL start in the top 5 in the nation next season) My question is, I have expectations for my players (Quarterbacks) above that of the rest of the team. To be on the team you must have a GPA of a 2.0, For my Quarterbacks I want to say you must have a minimum of a 3.0 (but for some kids that may be hard to get so I lower it to 2.5) If you have lower than a 2.5 you can still be on the team, but you may not be a Quarterback. I also will give my Quarterbacks the Wonderlic test for the evaluation process. Along with this I ask them to write a 1-2 Page paper over why they want to be a Quarterback, what makes a good Quarterback, as well as what their personal goals are. The last thing I do is send a contract home with the player to have signed by the player and his parents to explain what I expect on and off the field, so that we have an understanding of the rules. If they were to be broken then I would have NO problem benching that player and playing the Back-up. Now with this said.... What do you think of this? Is this too harsh? Is it okay? As a parent how would you feel? Is it getting them ready for College and the professional working life? Or is this ridiculous and not needed? I really wanted to hear some thoughts on this.

Richie Cantero's three-run homer punctuated an 11-0 victory for La Puente National in Tuesday's Section 3 All-Star tournament win over previously undefeated San Dimas. San Dimas would have won the title with a victory, but La Puente forced a decisive game tonight at 7 p.m. San Dimas had been dominating to this point, but La Puente has been on a role since losing earlier in the tournament. "My team came in with momentum from the night before," La Puente manager Juan Cuevas said. "We're hoping to bring the momentum back for tonight's game." The winner will advance to the Southern California Divisional Tournament's North Sub-Divisional, which starts Saturday at Perry Park in Redondo Beach. Go root them on, these two are our last chance for a local in the Little League World Series.

Above: La Puente starting pitcher Richard Magana

The L.A. Times reporting that Bishop Amat graduate Pat Haden is set to take over as USC's athletic director beginning Aug. 3. Mike Garrett is retiring.

If anyone has Haden in an Amat uniform, email it to me, would love to post it ..

Steve's take can be found here

"We don't have the best workout facilities, but I want to work out and take this seriously. What type of workouts and workout schedule should I take for the summer? And is there some kinda protein I should take?"

C'mon bloggers and ex-coaches, help him out, or help me out, I got a week to whip this 40 something :) body into shape for Cabo ... Good luck with that happening. BTW, this isn't the kid below, just a Chino Hills lineman in competition ..

The Scouting Guru has been all over the San Gabriel Valley and beyond, and like always, he's offered to share his thoughts, free of charge. Don't hate, enjoy it for what it's worth, which is one man's opinion on the talent in the San Gabriel Valley.

The Scouting Guru answers bloggers questions in his own T.J. Simers-type way ....To read the Q&A, click thread.

I enjoyed Bryant Gumbel's thoughts on the Lebron James to Miami discussion. This is what he said at the conclusion of this week's HBO Real Sports segment ...This is a transcript provided by the network..

Gumbel: Finally tonight, a few words about championship rings. Just when did they become the all-important barometer of who does or doesn't count in sports? When did they supersede personal excellence or exemplary character as a standard of greatness? (to continue, click thread).

Hi all: I just wanted to let you know of the first post of the season for my college football blog. I take a look at the upcoming season with my top pre-camp Top 5. You can see who I like as the favorite in the BCS.

You can find anything from google searches, so I thought I would give you random questions from high school football players around the country. I don't know where or when this kid wrote this, but I'm sure it applies to HS football players everywhere. If you're a player in the Valley and have a question that you would like our bloggers to discuss, you can email me anonymously and I will post it for you. Send to fred.robledo@sgvn.com....Anyway, here's today's question/dilema

HS player writes: I'm an incoming sophomore getting ready for summer ball, season, etc. This is my 2nd year of football, and i didn't start as a freshmen. Coach is already favoring his starters in spring ball. When we do 7 on 7 he gets the linebackers (my position) that don't know what to do mentally. I know everything I must do mentally, and physically, I'm real fast and pretty strong. Football isn't fun to me at all. It's all just hard hard work just to...well.. be someones backup. I'm not content with being a backup. (to continue click thread).

If you haven't been to an APU football game you're missing out. It's the closest thing we have to a small town college atmosphere. They draw more fans locally than anyone other than Bishop Amat. Not just in football, but in all sports. It's by far the area's best sports school in terms of fan support.

With Cal Baptist leaving the NAIA to Division II, Azusa Pacific is expected to follow next year and would likely join the CCAA with Cal Poly, Pomona, an intriguing possibility that could create a much needed area rivalry among the valley college athletic powers. In football, APU already has a huge fan base competing in the NAIA, where it won a national title in 1997, but the bump to Division II would be even more appealing to area players -- and area coaches such as South Hills' Steve Bogan, who would likely be interested if the job ever became available. Read Michelle Gardner's story in today's Tribune, she examines the possibilities: Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball coach Greg Kamansky can't help but be a bit concerned these days. He has been successful with limited resources in leading the Broncos to an NCAA national championship four months ago and an appearance in the title came the previous year, but Division II is changing and it's likely to make his job even tougher. California Baptist, an NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) power, is among eight schools whose application to move into the NCAA Division II was accepted earlier this week.