Major construction on the FCIAC Football Blog has finished, so your commute to posts, videos and whatnot is complete. I’ve also imported archives that go back to the blog’s humble beginnings as an expiriment in social media on the blogger.com platform. Most of the old posts are up, there are some from the year or so the blog was on the GoDoddy.com QuickBlog platform that I think are gone forever, but maybe not.

There will still be some tweaks here and there, like with fonts, colors, font sizes and the sidebar (Like with all the imported uncategorized posts, that tag is gynormous in the tag cloud) and hopefully more connectivity with Facebook and Twitter.

If there’s any tweaks you’d like to see, let me know. I won’t push a survey out and clog up your inboxes, but I will listen to what the people say.

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Signing Day is here, and now it’s official: King receiver-running back-defensive back Eric Joyner has signed a Letter of Intent to play football at University of New Hampshire. Rich DePreta has the story on StamfordAdvocate.com.

So who else signed where? Well we already know Silas Redd and Khairi Fortt are at Penn State, and Kevin Pierre-Louis has signed with Boston College (along with Don Bosco Prep star Steele DeVito, who played as a freshman at Ridgefield).

Additional information on signees can be found on the New Haven Register’s blog.

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I just wanted to take a moment to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the Haitian community. Many readers of the FCIAC Football Blog have loved ones who may be missing in Port Au Prince, and I want them to know that I stand beside them, hoping and praying their friends and family members are not in harms way.

Here’s what you can do to help with relief in Haiti.

Some of the high schools in the area are working on raising funds for various charities that will provide relief. We are working on something, too. Details hopefully to come.

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The CIAC has signed into a three-year partnership with MaxPreps that will make MaxPreps “The Official Statistician and Media Partner” of the CIAC beginning with the 2009-10 school year. That was in a press release delivered today to several media outlets. The release itself is dated Sept. 8. Both parties must have been so excited that they waited four months to let anyone know.

According to the release, the CIAC has made it a requirement that all teams participating in state tournament play have their stats entered with MaxPreps.com. The MaxPreps.com data system will automatically generate league and conference standings in Connecticut, while compiling state statistical leaderboards in a wide variety of categories. Connecticut leaders, in turn, will populate on MaxPreps.com’s national leaderboards.

Well, teams still aren’t entering stats, and I know from conversations with a few athletic directors that they really don’t want stats flying around. I had one coach tell me he won;t submit his team’s basketball stats because it helps the opponent with its scouting report (I don’t agree). I had an AD tell me he doesn’t his team’s stats submitted because it leads to parents adding to complaints about their kids’ playing time (this would give them a stats-based reason to say their kid is better than the starter, etc.).

I think the downside is getting coaches to find someone to add the stats to the site and keep track of all this stuff. Some schools have nine photographers on the sidelines and strong booster clubs, other schools have small coaching staffs and no statisticians.

But it’s a plus if you’re a reporter. It’s tough to do previews – whether for a game or a season – without numbers. For a preseason preview, you can write that John Smith is the returner at tailback, but without stats, that’s all you have. And if you’re in-season and trying to get John Smith’s rushing yards over the last three games, it will suddenly be available at 2 a.m. without having to wake a coach up.

Let’s see if this all happens.

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The fall debut of MSG Varsity has been great for high school sports fans (unless, like me, they don’t have Cablevision, and then they are just S.O.L.), but it hasn’t made life easier of Fairfield County sports journalists. Or for that matter, high school sports fans who attend live games.

Pretty much, when MSG comes to do a game, it’s all about them, and everyone else covering the same game for their respective media outlets has to sit back and wait their turn. By the way, it’s not the on-air personalities that are bullying the rest of the world (I’ve never had a problem with the broadcasters and sideline reporters), it’s the production crew.

Thank you, Rob Adams, for finally telling your MSG story to the masses. This I can tell you, MSG’s production crew is continuing its us-first junk into the basketball season. As Adams, the sports director at WGCH-AM in Greenwich, points out, MSG pretty much make teams alter its pregame rituals (yes, an angry crew member demanded warm-up music during the Staples-Trinity Catholic girls hoops game be turned down).

They also disrupt postgame for the teams and the other media outlets: Case number-one: The Staples-Ridgefield football game. The Wreckers could not celebrate the win until the production crew said it was okay. Case number-two:  The above-mentioned girls hoops games. MSG conducted simultaneous post-game interviews with both Staples captains for at least 15 minutes, while reporters like me and The Hour’s Matt Doran, who was also on deadline, were forced to wait our turn.

Also, if you’re going to attend a hoops game that will be covered by MSG, you better get their early to find a seat. They literally rope off half the bleachers so no one can be in front of their camera. So when you go to a gym that only opens its bleachers on one side of the gym, there’s going to be some trouble.

Yes, MSG provider a wonderful service for its audience. But so do the rest of the media outlets in Fairfield County. So why does “live TV,” as they love to yell when they try to grab a stronghold on the rest of the media? Who knows? I can tell you, based on my experience covering college and pro sports, it doesn’t happen that way in the rest of the world.

And “live TV” also doesn’t disrupt the pattern of the game (okay, save for some television time-outs), tell stadium crew they aren’t allowed to play their music, block off parts of the stands, or turn sports into something that is all about them.

Here’s to hoping MSG’s production crew will someday learn that it’s not all about them. Yes, they may want to get someone on the air immediately, but they’re a part of the media mix and not the sole entity. Here’s to hoping MSG’s production crew understands that high school sports has been around much longer than television itself, and that the players and the fans shouldn’t have their experience stripped from them because of “live TV.”

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No, the focus will still be high school football. I’m just renovations a remodeling the place a bit. Call it the annual facelift. And you may get caught in the middle of it all at times, so if you see something bizarre, feel free to e-mail me at tim@fciacfootballblog.com (and send a screen shot of the problem if at all possible).

If the whole blog falls apart, I apologize. You can check twitter.com/fciac or the Facebook fan page for outage updates. It could be I did a poor job going to a more modern version of WordPress, or I horrifically screwed up a template. I am not a genius.

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I got a few e-mails from people over the past 36 hours or so, suggesting I just go ahead and hold comments for moderation. I’m not a huge fan of that because sometimes it can disrupt the flow of the conversation, but I’m willing to give it a shot.

The ultimate for when I give the FCIAC Football Blog its annual face lift is to add Facebook Connect, which means you would need to have a Facebook account in order to leave a comment. Does it mean people won’t screw around on other people’s computers and get their friends kicked off? No, but it will hopefully remind people to log off of Facebook or at the least have a hack-proof password.

So, Merry Christmas.

This will appear at the bottom of all posts, as a reminder to all, just above the comments box:

Commenting is BACK on a limited basis. ALL comments will be moderated. Here are the ZERO TOLERANCE rules if you want to leave a comment:

• No hating: Constructive criticism is fine (example: “I think the team should have punted on fourth down.”). Being mean-spirited is not acceptable. If a player wins an award, don’t disrespect the accomplishment. If a team wins, be gracious about the win and humble in defeat.
• No homophobic slurs: If you don’t know what a homophobic slur is, then Google it.
• No racial slurs
• No derogatory slurs
• Nothing libelous or slanderous (example: “The coach stole money from the booster club.” or “The player is moving back to Texas after the game.” or “The poll is rigged.”) If you have no proof, don’t jeopardize the integrity of the blog.

If you break the rules, you will be banned from leaving comments. If you are not sure you’re going to post a comment that may break the rules, e-mail Tim Parry before you write: tim@fciacfootballblog.com.

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Listen, I’m sorry to do this to the faithful fans of high school football and the players who deserve additional coverage and exposure. But the rotten apples out there have ruined it for me. Commenting on this blog is being closed indefinitely.

The last straw: The first comment about Tommy Jordan winning the Player of the Year award, by some middle school kid says Tommy Jordan getting the player of the year award is a “joke.” How dare you, or anyone else, treat people with this kind of disrespect.

For the most part, I’ve loved doing this Website over the past five seasons. I’ve put my heart and soul into this, done the best job I could to add to the high school football experience. I sink my hard-earned cash into this site, and get nothing financially in return. The sponsors you see here either have barter deals with me, and I don’t make any income from this (not even from Merchandise on Cafe Press, etc.).

I do it for the love of the game. And the small percentage of rotten people who come here to maliciously hate on people and teams have stripped me of that love.

And it’s not like this is the first time. My integrity was challenged when the final Bill Gonillo 5 poll was released, implying that we rigged the poll to give New Canaan the top seed. Un-freakin’-believable.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the same group of kids had a hand in downgrading Bassick’s video and causing them to lose out on the grand prize of $15,000. Yes, there was a comment that I’d marked as spam saying that Bassick didn’t deserve to win. For shame. What have the kids from Bassick ever done to anyone?

I won’t even go into some of the other stuff I had to deal with this year, but let’s just say there has been a lot.

Whether it’s a fan of a 2009 state champion who harassed me on this site and on my Facebook page because I didn’t think his school would win, or a coach who mocked me during a speech at its team’s banquet, or a player whose “best piece of advice” published in your team’s Thanksgiving program was “don’t threaten Tim Parry,” you found a way to take away my spirit and ruin it for everyone else.

Comments on the blog will be closed indefinitely. If people want to apologize for their actions, they know where to find me (tim@fciacfootballblog.com… and for the record, I did receive an apology from the person who left the nasty comment about Jordan. Now the rest of you can step up to the plate).

Merry Christmas, and thanks for turning me into The Grinch.

Sincerely,
Tim Parry

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Voting has begun for the Fairfield County Player of the Year Award. You can meet the candidates and read all the rules here.

You can vote for multiple candidates, but you can only vote for one candidate per IP Address. So that means you can’t sit at a computer all day and vote for your favorite player.

BlueStreak Sports Training is the sponsor of the Fairfield County Player of the Year Award, and we hope you also choose to support the American Diabetes Association by making a donation on your candidate’s behalf (please note, a donation is not required if you want to cast a vote).

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I know, I know, this is a high school football blog. But we also try to do good things for the community. One of the things we’re doing is selling tickets to the Bill Gonillo Memorial Basketball Double-Header to Promote Diabetes Awareness. We hope to see you in Sec. 103: It would be a great place to also talk live about the 2009 season.

The life of late News12 sports anchor Bill Gonillo will be celebrated during a NCAA Division I basketball double-header between the Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University basketball teams on Sunday, Dec. 13 at The Arena at Harbor Yard.

The event will also support the American Diabetes Association’s mission to find a cure for and raise awareness of the disease, which affects 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8% of the population. Bill Gonillo died of complications of the disease in September 2007.

For a $10 donation to the American Diabetes Association, you will receive one general admission ticket, which is good for both games. The women will tip off at 1:30 p.m., and the men will play at 4 p.m.

But in order for the American Diabetes Association to receive the donation, you must buy your tickets through the FCIAC Football Blog or another seller approved by the organization.

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The Day of New London Top 10 state coaches’ football poll. First-place votes in parentheses, final record, points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis and last week’s ranking:

1. Notre Dame-W.H. (10) 11-1 384 T4
2. Cheshire (3) 11-1 370 10
3. Staples-Westport 12-1 308 1
4. New Canaan 11-1 290 9
5. Pomperaug-Southbury 12-1 249 3
6. Bridgeport Central 9-2 241 6
7. St. Joseph-Trumbull 10-2 240 NR
8. Xavier-Middletown 9-2 230 2
9. Hyde-New Haven 11-1 172 NR
10. Berlin 10-2 142 NR

Dropped out: New London (T4), Conard-West Hartford (7) and Simsbury (8).

Also receiving votes: Greenwich (7-3), 113 points; Glastonbury (9-2), 104; Simsbury (9-2), 102; New London (10-1), 84; Conard (10-1), 75; Montville (10-2), 51; East Lyme (10-2), 38; Masuk-Monroe (9-2), 30; Bethel (9-3), 26; Northwest Catholic-West Hartford (10-2), 25; Avon (10-1), 14; Holy Cross-Waterbury (9-2), 10; Bloomfield (9-2), 9; Ridgefield (9-1), 8.

The following coaches voted: Scott Benoit, Hamden; Tom Brockett, Ansonia; Jim Buonocore, Ledyard; Dave Cadelina, Bridgeport Central; Chuck Drury, Pomperaug-Southbury; Steve Filippone, Hand-Madison; Tanner Grove, Montville; Jude Kelly, St. Paul-Bristol; Tim King, Valley Regional-Deep River; Bill Mella, Southington; John Murphy, Masuk-Monroe; Marce Petroccio, Staples-Westport; Bob Zito, Maloney-Meriden.

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Here’s something I love about high school preview time. You get a lot of head coaches who tell the media a lot of nothing about their teams so when the reporters go back through their notes, they realize they have nothing really great to write about. And that’s fine, coaches know other coaches read the newspapers, blogs, etc., even though you can’t build your scouting report around an article.

Staples head coach Marce Petroccio was ready to talk about his team when I ran into him in early August, even though I didn’t have a notebook or recorder on me. A few weeks later I swung by a camp his team was in, and Petroccio was ready to speak. At the scrimmage in Shelton, he was ready to talk. Finally on Sept. 2, we talked on the phone for the official interview that would run in The Advocate.

Here’s the skinny on what he said: Staples would be back in 2009 because the team had its chemistry back. The team from top to bottom did some soul searching to remember what it was like to play winning football and not just think a silver helmet with a blue “S” meant instant victory.

Say what you will about the Wreckers’ schedule. They still had to win games. Even if the schedule was light at the start of the season (minus the Ridgefield game, in which the Wreckers took any Tiger spark away early), it did help build the confidence it needed for the later part of the schedule.

Just thought you’d want to read that post, even if Petroccio told me a lot more that day than I posted on this blog.

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