Volleyball State Championship Game

Ludlowe and Greenwich set for the for the state championship 

The high school fall CT state championships (excluding football, which is in December) were this weekend. 

The Ludlowe girls volleyball team was playing in the Class LL championship against the FCIAC foe, the Greenwich Cardinals on Saturday evening at East Haven High School. 

Ludlowe got to the state championship game by finishing 14-5 in the regular season. In the state playoffs, they defeated New Britain, Naugatuck, Conard and Cheshire to get to the final game. Unfortunately for the Falcons, they got swept by Greenwich in three sets. The Cardinals won by scores of 25-15, 25-12 and 25-17.  

Congrats to Greenwich on winning the state championship. The Cardinals add a state championship to their resume after already taking home the FCIAC Championship, as they defeated Darien on November 6. 

In terms of Ludlowe, the volleyball team had a terrific season, making it to the FCIAC semifinals and then making this state tournament run. Shoutout to Coach Tina Rembish on a job well done in her first year at the helm of the Falcons. 

The Nest, the Ludlowe student section, had a great showing with fan buses set up. Student sections are a huge part of the atmosphere of what gives extra energy to these games to it's always great to see a good turnout. 

Congrats to all the state champions who were named today across all sports. 

Swim and Dive concluded with opens tomorrow before football is the lone sport remaining for the Fall season. The regular season concludes for football on Thanksgiving and then the playoffs begin before the Fall season completely concludes the middle of December. 

After Thanksgiving, we turn our attention to winter sports. Obviously, I am looking forward to basketball around Ludlowe and Warde, but hopefully it's an exciting winter for many teams around here. 

5, 2525-15, 25-12, 25-17-12, 25-17

High School Football Weekend

GHS Senior Day Ceremonies

 It was a good weekend of high school football. 

On Friday, I went to Kennedy Stadium in Bridgeport, where Ludlowe took on the Central Hilltoppers. 

The Falcons won 45-0 and got contributions across the board on both offense and defense. The one highlight that I will throw out there was Charlie Began with a 90+ yard INT return for a touchdown. 

Ludlowe will look to finish with a .500 record when they take on Warde on Thanksgiving (10:30am at Warde). 

Then today, I went down to Greenwich for the Cardinals game with Stamford and joined Rob Adams for the broadcast* on Local Live and Robcasting Radio. It was a good chance to see Rob, and I also got to see the new Cardinal Stadium. I used to go to a bunch of games with Rob a few years ago, and then, well, life got in the way. 

When I say I "joined Rob Adams for the broadcast" that really means I sat with a headset on and threw in thoughts every once in a while while Rob did 95% of the talking. That's just how I am on broadcasts. I know the sports, but don't say a whole lot on air. I also think this was the first time I was his only color guy for football. Other football games I've either been a third or fourth voice, or off-air. Rob knows I don't consider myself a broadcaster, but have fun with him. Baseball has been the sport I've done with him the most. 

Back to the game, Greenwich took the lead on the first drive and never looked back, cruising to a 64-12 victory. There was a lightning delay of about 50 minutes that began during halftime and delayed the start of the second half. Lots of lightning, some thunder and heavy rain at times. 

Greenwich will finish the regular season on Thanskgiving as they host Staples at 10am. The Cardinals will likely need to beat the Wreckers and get help in order to make the state playoffs. You can tune in to that Thanksgiving matchup with Rob and Chris Erway on Robcasting and Local Live. 

It was also the official grand opening of the new stadium and senior day at Cardinal stadium, so there were a lot of festivities going on. 

The renovations to the stadium are awesome, even if everything is not fully functional yet and there are still some items to be finished. The press box is glorious with six different rooms for PA/scoreboard, broadcasters, camera operators, writers, coaches and more! There is a ticket booth, a concession stand, real bathrooms, and more. I always felt like there was something special about going to Cardinal Stadium in the past, now it's REALLY nice. It should definitely be a spot to consider to host big games.

It was a fun day and always thankful Rob allows me to join him for anything. He's a true pro, who is just tremendous at doing play-by-play and calling a game. He knows broadcasting and should be on anyone's list when you are looking for a broadcaster (No, he didn't pay me to say this). 

Good two days of games.  

Some photos from the day. 

Thinking Back

We all know what happened on this awful day 20 year ago. So many lives lost, so many people lost loved ones. So many more lives impacted. 

We all have memories of that day. 

I was in first grade in Ms. Kozokowski's (Ms. K) class at Riverfield School. What I remember was Mrs. Breisler, one of the secretaries (who is now a colleague), coming into the classroom and telling Ms. K something in regards to what had happened just a little while earlier. 

I don't remember much else from that day, other than that we got out of school early and I remember my dad coming home from work early and meeting my mom, brother and I at school before we went home. 

We think about those lives lost, we think about all the first responders, those we lost, and those who survived. We also think about those who continue to protect our country today. 

I think of my family who lost a member of their family in the Towers that day. I think of others who have passed since then due to effects of what happened. 

While I didn't know Bobby, I have heard stories as the years have past, from both family and through reading things online. 

I think of my cousin, who is currently a Port Authority Police Officer, who protects us everyday. Also, my uncle, who is a retired Port Authority cop, who was at Ground Zero helping with the recovery. 

So many people lost so much that day and in the days, weeks, months and years to follow. It will be a day that forever changed our country, in so many ways. 

So many thoughts. We always remember. Not just on the anniversary. We never forget. 

Summer's Over

Time to begin the "Road Trip" of another school year

Well, officially, summer is not over, but summer break for me is over as I go back to work tomorrow*. 

*Let's be honest though, I've done work over the summer. 

This summer was good. To go along with the photo I used above, now we begin navigate school year. 

 As a wrote about, I had a blast writing about Fairfield Legion Baseball. 

I did miss the fact that there was no broadcasting of Little League baseball with Rob Adams this summer. That had been a staple the past three years (summer of '18 and "19 and early fall of "20). 

Rob did do a Babe Ruth New England Regional baseball tournament in Trumbull late July and I enjoyed joining him for the one day of that. I couldn't join him for more, as we went on a family vacation to Las Vegas and California to visit family and friends. You can listen to all of the games of the tournament that Rob broadcasted here. 

The vacation was good. We visited my mom's friend in Vegas and did a few Vegas things, including walking the Las Vegas Strip and seeing a show. Then we went to California to visit, my Dad's brother and his family. I took a lot of photos from the trip. 

Taking photos on a trip or at any event is something I wish I was better at and hope to do more of. It's just a way to document life. People did it years ago but it should be so much easier with smartphones now.

 I wish I wrote more this summer, personally. I wrote for Legion, but not on this blog. I wish I would be like Rob and write all the time about many different topics, items, and thoughts. I feel like when I write, it's only about major topics. I keep saying it, but hopefully I will write more going forward. I just don't have that much interesting stuff to write about. 

Year number four begins tomorrow. I would say it will be an interesting year, especially the start, but every year has been interesting, for one reason or another. None of the previous three years I've been in the job have been so called "regular" years. 

Excited for sports to get going. Football and boys golf (boys golf is now a Fall sport as of this year) are already underway in Connecticut and the rest of the Fall sports get underway on the 26th.

It will be busy and likely crazy but it should be exciting no matter what. We will see what happens. 

Fun Summer With Fairfield Legion Baseball

Both photos are 19U team. Players were missing from each (My photo (left), Sars Ford photo (right)) 

The Fairfield American Legion Post 143 Militia summer baseball program finished their season this past weekend. I had the pleasure of serving in a communications role for the program this summer. I know this is going to come off as being too much about me (It's bad I have to put this disclaimer), but I just enjoyed being able to help promote the Fairfield Legion program and the players. 

Basically, I was covering the games. I wrote game recaps, and handled social media (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram). I also did a lot of their Game Changer*, a scorekeeping app. In an effort to better promote the program, we submitted the recaps I wrote on another blog I created to the Fairfield Patch and the Fairfield Citizen in order to get the team and the players and team noticed by a wider audience than our sites.  In addition, I linked the blog where the game recaps were written to the Fairfield Legion website. 

*Game Changer was something I had seen but never really used before. It is nice to learn a new program. There is a lot of good in Game Changer. I am still a paper scorebook person at heart, but for certain situations, Game Changer is definitely better. 

I hope the coverage I provided them was helpful. Thank you to Sars Ford, the Fairfield GM for bringing me on board and for all his help. Thanks also to 19U head coach Chris Bugyi, his assistants Jim Chaves and Mark Keeney. In addition, thank you to 17U coaches Eddie Klukojc and Seamus McGovern. 

To all the players, it was fun to watch and write about you guys this season. Some players I knew very well, others I knew, but not well, and then there were some I didn't know at all but it was nice to get to know. There are players from Ludlowe, Warde, Prep and other schools where the players live in Fairfield. Some of the players are currently in high school, while others are in college, so it's somewhat of a wide mix age wise. You guys are all great players and young men and have great baseball ahead of you, whether that still is in high school, or in college. 

The 19U team finished 24-7 and made a run to the championship game of the Regional Qualifying Tournament. The 17U team finished the season at 11-14. 

If you want to read about their season, you can go here for all of the game recaps. Some highlights of their season (in my opinion), include the Coopers Cave Tournament in Saratoga Springs (and Sean McAdams' home run during that tournament), Phil Hogan's perfect game against Milford on July 13, and the postseason run they made. I'm sure there are other moments I'm forgetting. Especially considering the few I just mentioned were all games I was not at in person. I was mostly at the home games. 

I look forward to continuing working with them in the future. 

Competitiveness

A large part of sports is competition. I am a very competitive person. It doesn't matter what sport, game, level. I want to win. My competitiveness also shows my passion. In a lot of ways, competitiveness and passion go hand-and-hand. If you want to read about passion, read this. 

Sometimes, this is a bad thing as I look like a fool. Before anyone says anything, yes, I can look like a fool for a number of other reasons also. 

When I'm coaching, I am very competitive, whether that's as an assistant coach for the Ludlowe baseball team or coaching the Ludlowe basketball JV summer league, for example. I know the results in summer league basketball don't matter, it's about getting the players better and getting them opportunity to play together, but I still hate to lose. In baseball, I often show way too much emotion as a coach. There are many examples but a good one is the 2019 FCIAC quarterfinal game against Warde. 

I get too excited again! https://t.co/F8KAG5tman

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) May 18, 2019

Then there's also a game earlier that season (we had a lot of walk-off wins that year. 

 

Spotted myself. I get a little to excited as a coach. Oops. https://t.co/WUQMZACrgW

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) April 6, 2019

When I am watching high school sports, I am also highly competitive. This is especially true when watching Ludlowe basketball. My fist pumps and foot stomps on the bleachers are two ways I show my emotion as the games are going on. According to Aiden Blanc, I usually bring energy that equates to 100 student fans. This is probably true! Once again, I look like a fool but it's my competitiveness and passion. 

When watching professional games, I am also extremely competitive and animated. Between fist pumps and slamming the couch (for good or bad moments) or throwing my hat, it's pretty clear that I show emotion when watching games. I do this watching all the teams I foot for but I think it's especially profound when watching the Packers. Likely because they've played so many nail-biting frustrating games over the years. I've definitely done it for the Yankees, and other teams I root for too. I do it both when at games in person, and when at home watching games on TV. I think I actually show more passion or emotion when I am watching a game on TV. Not sure why. 

I was like this when when playing sports too, whether it be little league and Jr Babe Ruth Baseball or Wakeman Boys & Girls Club or Rec basketball. I always wanted to win, often far more than anyone else on my team cared about winning. That's just the competitive nature of me. 

My competitiveness goes beyond sports (I know, you didn't know I knew anything other than sports. I basically don't). An example of this is when there are game shows on TV. One, I try to figure out the answer and get frustrated when it's something stupid. Also, it annoys me when the person who loses is happy. I'd be so frustrated and annoyed. 

I'm sure there are other examples. Overall, I am a very competitive person, sometimes too much. I love winning and hate losing. That's not to say I'm a sore loser, just passionate. But I also think it just shows my passion and how much I care....and how crazy I am. 

State Championship Saturday

This weekend was state championship weekend for Connecticut High School spring sports. There were a few championships on Friday night and a plethora more on Saturday. 

First off, congrats to all those teams around the state who won championships in all sports, especially those in the FCIAC. 

Ludlowe had two teams playing in state championship games, the girls lacrosse team and the softball team. Unfortunately, both teams came up on the short end. Girls lacrosse fell to Darien 14-6. Softball was walked-off by Southington 4-3. 

Both teams had amazing seasons. For softball, they won the first FCIAC softball championship in school history, before making a strong run to the state championship game and coming up a run short.  It was the first appearance in a state title game in school history. 

For the girls lacrosse team, they made their first state championship game appearance since 2010, when they defeated Staples for the title.  

Congrats to both teams on tremendous seasons, despite the losses today. 

In some ways for me, it was weird not being at the baseball finals, but I am also going to support Ludlowe teams, rather than non-Fairfield teams. 

There were broadcasts of these games and plenty of reporters out coving all of the sports, from baseball to softball to girls lacrosse and boys lacrosse. GameTime CT does a great job at covering the action and you can go there to read more about today and this weekend. 

The crowds at the games I was at, and from what I heard and saw from others, were large and loud. This is great to see because hopefully we are getting back to normal. There's something special about packed stands for a championship game. It's great when student sections come out and are loud as they cheer for their teams (respectfully, for the most part). 

Della Jackson with a go-ahead RBI triple to give Ludlowe a 3-2 lead on Southington top 7 #ctsb @LudloweSB pic.twitter.com/tfna6m6yIr

— Shawn Sailer (@ShawnSailer) June 12, 2021