The Observation Deck

The Lakewood boys hoops team beat Normandy 69-54 down in Parma tonight to win the sectional championship.
It was a very nice win for Lakewood, which has had an uneven season.

St. Eds beat Nordonia at home tonight, which sets up a rare "Battle of Lakewood" game on Wednesday night.
(Ironically, the "Battle of Lakewood" will happen in Brecksville)

I'll be at the game Wednesday to file a full report.

Wow-- Two good teams and what's a good Lakewoodite to do? Hope for a really good, hard fought and contested game.

I also attended the LHS Boy's B-Ball game.. Congratulations to the men and coaches Argento and Cammock on a well played and well coached game!!! It is great to comment on such a positive happening for Lakewood amid the recent negativity posted on this forum.

Michael Deneen wrote:I'll be at the game Wednesday to file a full report.

Thanks, Mike!

I love your LO sports coverage!

Matthew John Markling wrote:

Michael Deneen wrote:I'll be at the game Wednesday to file a full report.

Thanks, Mike!

I love your LO sports coverage!

mike, can you spin plates or ride a unicycle? It would be great to have a local halftime show to go with the local game!

Corey
Go Rangers!

Let's not forget the great LO sports coverage from Ryan Salo in breaking the LeBron James story:

Will Ryan be giving us the play-by-play as well?

Matthew John Markling wrote:Let's not forget the great LO sports coverage from Ryan Salo in breaking the LeBron James story:

Will Ryan be giving us the play-by-play as well?

Ryan should only be allowed in the gate if he has his purple, green, and gold plaid shirt on.

Corey

Corey Rossen wrote:Ryan should only be allowed in the gate if he has his purple, green, and gold plaid shirt on.

Corey,

Agreed.

And, while ESPN paid Ryan much more than Jim O'Bryan did, Ryan also really needs an LO microphone flag.

Matt

Matthew John Markling wrote:

Corey Rossen wrote:Ryan should only be allowed in the gate if he has his purple, green, and gold plaid shirt on.

Corey,

Agreed.

And, while ESPN paid Ryan much more than Jim O'Bryan did, Ryan also really needs an LO microphone flag.

Matt

Would it be considered wrong for me to ask crazy Uncle Earl to stand in the background while Ryan reports? He could be the person in the background obnoxiously trying to get on TV. Best case scenario - Ryan turns to interview him and he goes off on one of his typical crazy Uncle Earl tangents.

I think we can make this happen.

Ryan!

Here's a fun bit of news just for Deck readers:
Sources indicate that the annual "Battle of Lakewood" football game is expected to return, albeit not until 2017 at the earliest.

Michael Deneen wrote:Here's a fun bit of news just for Deck readers:
Sources indicate that the annual "Battle of Lakewood" football game is expected to return, albeit not until 2017 at the earliest.

Let's hope so! The fact that the powers that be eliminated the game in the first place was freaking ridiculous.

Sandra Donnelly wrote:

Michael Deneen wrote:Here's a fun bit of news just for Deck readers:
Sources indicate that the annual "Battle of Lakewood" football game is expected to return, albeit not until 2017 at the earliest.

Let's hope so! The fact that the powers that be eliminated the game in the first place was freaking ridiculous.

I am a lifelong Ranger and hold the St. Ed's vs Lakewood rivalry games as some of my greatest memories. That being said...it made sense in the business of high school football for St. Ed's to drop Lakewood from their schedule. Lakewood was simply not providing St. Ed's with enough computer points in the state's point-system playoff contention format.

I was sad to see the rivalry go, but at the time it made sense for St. Ed's to make the change. I am more than excited to hear that it may be coming back and look forward to the local match up.

Corey

Corey Rossen wrote:

Sandra Donnelly wrote:

Michael Deneen wrote:Here's a fun bit of news just for Deck readers:
Sources indicate that the annual "Battle of Lakewood" football game is expected to return, albeit not until 2017 at the earliest.

Let's hope so! The fact that the powers that be eliminated the game in the first place was freaking ridiculous.

I am a lifelong Ranger and hold the St. Ed's vs Lakewood rivalry games as some of my greatest memories. That being said...it made sense in the business of high school football for St. Ed's to drop Lakewood from their schedule. Lakewood was simply not providing St. Ed's with enough computer points in the state's point-system playoff contention format.

I was sad to see the rivalry go, but at the time it made sense for St. Ed's to make the change. I am more than excited to hear that it may be coming back and look forward to the local match up.

Corey

I will disagree with this....I am EXTREMELY skeptical that St. Ed's ended the series.
They will enthusiastically embrace a return for scheduling, logistical, and marketing reasons.
They have had an extremely difficult time scheduling games over the past 10-15 years.
The only remaining opponents they play of local interest are against Iggy and Glenville. (when I was an Ed's student in the 80s, we generally played 7 or 8 games against local opponents like Strongsville, Benny, and "non-VA" St. Joes).

Most Ed's home games are played against faraway schools in front of modest crowds. These games happen on Saturday, when most fans are focused on college football.
Road games involve lots of long bus rides for games that get minimal media coverage.
Many of these games involve schools that provide minimal computer points.

The Lakewood game was Ed's annual chance to be part of "Friday Night Lights", and was always the second biggest game of the year.
A return would be good box office and boost interest in both programs.

That said, Lakewood is going to have to improve....which Coach Ribar is expecting.

Michael Deneen wrote:
I will disagree with this....I am EXTREMELY skeptical that St. Ed's ended the series.
They will enthusiastically embrace a return for scheduling, logistical, and marketing reasons.
They have had an extremely difficult time scheduling games over the past 10-15 years.

You are absolutely correct, Mike; St. Ed's did NOT want to end the series and their administration at the time was very disappointed with the decision.