• Where did the school year go? It doesn't seem possible, but today marks the end of the official high school sports season. There is still time to watch some of your favorite athletes or teams compete for the final time. Locally, the 4A baseball championship is at Peccole Park in Reno while the 3A title is up for grabs at Western Nevada College. Track is being held at Damonte Ranch, while 3A and 4A softball is being held at Bishop Manogue High School.
• I read with interest a past blog in an area newspaper that listed the five best recruits in Nevada history. The blogger, whom I have a great deal of respect for, listed JaVale McGee, Luke Babbitt, Mark McLaughlin, Kirk Snyder and Edgar Jones as his top five all-time. I was stunned. How can you have a list like that and not have Nick Fazekas on it? Fazekas was an absolute steal. The guy, along with Snyder, put Nevada basketball on the national map. Fazekas wasn't even a top 100 recruit yet he is the school's all-time scoring leader, and I'm betting that record won't be broken for quite a while. I know it took the hard work of players around him to produce those type of numbers, but I shudder to think where Nevada basketball would have been without him. I think Babbitt and McLaughlin will be good college players, but I don't see how they can be on a list like this until they have played a couple of seasons and you have something to measure them on. In McGee's case, he didn't play long enough here to make that kind of list.
• The new Triple-A franchise needs a name. I immediately thought of the Reno Blackjacks, but told that name has been used in the past. What about the Reno 21s? What about the High Sierra Diamondbacks? I know most people would be more excited about this team if it were an A's or Giants farm team, but that won't happen at least for a few years. I think Sacramento is firmly entrenched as an A's farm team. Here's my idea. Take the Giants out of Fresno and put them in Reno. Make the Las Vegas 51s a Diamondbacks farm team and have Fresno represent the Dodgers. Geographically, I think that makes a lot of sense. Minor league agreements come up for renewal every three or so years. You never know what might happen in the next go-around. I just hope that people get off their butts and support this franchise. This is the closest Reno will ever get to the Majors, and it would be a shame to see a team come here and leave three or four years later because it didn't draw well enough. I also hope that the team has reasonably priced tickets. It has to be affordable or it won't work.
• When will all of this Barry Bonds stuff end for crying out loud? The new indictments are just a better version of the old ones which were poorly written. There is no extra penalty or jail time if Bonds is found guilty. It's actually a double-edged sword. There is more for the government to prove, but there is also more counts for Bonds to defend. One thing is certain, I'll be glad when it's all over.
• When I saw the 3A and 4A brackets for baseball, I just shook my head. Why on earth would the NIAA alternate sites like they did? What's wrong with playing the 3A at Western Nevada and the 4A at Peccole?
• The Reno Silver Sox will start what is anticpated to be their final season in Northern Nevada in a little more than a week. It's unlikely that the franchise will remain once the Triple-A team starts next spring at the new downtown stadium. Former Giants outfielder Jeffrey Leonard will be at the helm this year, taking over for Les Lancaster. One of last year's stars, Scott Schneider, will be the team's pitching coach as well as closer.
• Contact Darrell Moody at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com, or by calling (775) 881-1281