Todd's Tales

There has been a situation brewing at College Park that I have been trying to avoid talking about for quite some time now.

But it keeps rearing its ugly head so often that something needs to be said.

So, this week’s version of Todd’s Tales will focus on the College Park football program for the final time this season, then venture off into the sport that Wilt Chamberlain made famous.

Sorry, Michael Jordan fans. Wilt was the best basketball player ever to play the game.

As always, enjoy or destroy. But if you have something to say, have the guts to sign your name to it.

College Park football...

A few weeks ago, while College Park was battling through a rash of injuries, there was a person who claimed to be an ex-college coach who wrote an e-mail to a website blasting the College Park football program.

He called out everything from College Park’s predictable play calling, to the Cavaliers’ horrible body language. He claimed College Park had lost 11 games in the past five years due to coaching.

But this person, who claimed to watch practice all the time, didn’t have the guts to put his name or e-mail address to the post. It never should have run. But that is a different matter altogether.

The ex-coach and current buffoon made a lot of valid points, but it was really uncalled for at that time of the season.

The Cavs needed one win to clinch a playoff spot. What they got was a lot of internal and external strife to go along with a team that was playing without its best offensive (Taylor Parsons) and defensive (Keenan Cook) players.

I have taken Richard Carson to task about his leather-helmet offense and will continue to do so. College Park’s veer-option attack is supposed to be a big-play offense. The Cavs, however, do not have the athletes to turn the corner on the option or make big running plays in this offense.

Carson, who learned the veer-option from legendary head coach Bill Smith when he was an assistant coach at Aldine, had those athletes at Eisenhower and was able to lead the Eagles to the state-title game in 1999.

The one year the Cavs have won big (finishing 9-1 in the regular season in 2007), they had the best player in the district in Trey Diller. Even then, I disagreed with how they used him. He was the best athlete in the conference, yet he touched the ball maybe five times per game.

In Carson’s offense, the quarterback has to be a spectacular athlete, and the tailback has to be able to take it to the house on any pitch. It also helps to have a 220-pound fullback.

But, on the flip side, after having a sub-par defense in 2008, the Cavs came out and played excellent defense until injuries took their toll in 2009. That also must be attributed to Carson.

My father was a football coach for 30 years. He ran three different offenses. He also changed defenses. I am not bragging on my dad, though he was one heck of a coach. The point I am trying to make is that the best coaches adapt to the personnel they have. You can’t make a bunch of two-mile runners run the 100-meter dash.

Richard Carson is a great man. He cares so much about his players and his program that he was literally crying after the season-ending loss to Conroe. I would want any of my three sons to play for him.

Will he be back next season? I believe so. Should he change up his offense? Probably so. Does he deserve to be chastised by someone who doesn’t have the guts to sign his name to the e-mail? No way.

I will continue to take coaches and programs to task if it is warranted and the public keeps asking the same questions. But I will always have my name and face on the article.

Odds and ends on the hardwood...

The Woodlands Highlanders could be the team to beat in the District 14-5A girls’ basketball race.

Why?

Three reasons.

The first is Sarah Seefeldt and Anna Strickland. The dynamic duo combined for 36 points and 24 rebounds in the Highlanders’ season-opening 65-47 win over Humble.

The second is College Park’s Nicole Morgan has elected not to play basketball this season to focus on softball. Morgan recently signed a letter-of-intent to play softball at Texas A&M.

The third?

College Park’s Priyanka Duvvuru, who was a third-team All-Greater Houston preseason selection, is out for the year with an injury.

Ooops...

In last week’s blog, I listed College Park guard James Allen as 6-9. If he were, he would be the best guard in the country.

Allen is only 5-9. But he is still pretty darn good. He should be the Cavs’ MVP this season.

We will find out how good College Park is when it opens the season at home against Cy Woods on Tuesday. Cy Woods has one of the best young coaches in the Houston area in Chris Draudt.

Upset special?

This week, I went out on a limb and picked Klein Forest to beat The Woodlands 31-30 in a Region II-5A bi-district playoff game.

I don’t like it when coaches think their teams are so good they agree to flip for home field instead of trying harder to find a neutral site. That is why this game is being played at Klein Memorial Stadium at 6 p.m. Saturday.

College Park, after winning District 14-5A, did that last year in the boys’ basketball playoffs and promptly went down to Klein Collins, who finished fourth in 13-5A, and got thumped by 20.

The Woodlands won’t get beat by 20. But there is a real chance they could get beat. Klein Forest is loaded with athletes.

In any case, get there early. This one will be a barnburner.