By Hal Levy, Shore Line Newspapers
Special to MaxPreps.com
The voice on the other end of the telephone belonged to the venerable Bob (Jiggs) Cecchini, director for the CIAC boys' basketball tournament.
"I'm looking for a site for our Class LL state championship game," he said. "Do you have any thoughts?"
When I stopped laughing he said, wryly, "I know what you're going to say and we still can't go there."
"There" is one of exactly four venues in Connecticut capable of hosting a really big high school basketball game - one with too many fans for Central Connecticut or the University of Hartford.
The Hartford Civic Center, Gampel Pavilion at UConn and Harbor Yard in Bridgeport would all do fine except they cost the proverbial arm-and-a-leg.
The fourth arena seats over 10,000, has plenty of locker room space, can accommodate all the media's needs, has ample parking and, best of all, would be available at no cost to the CIAC. Repeat at will, no cost.
By the way, there are those in the CIAC front office, including Executive Director Mike Savage, who would have no problem with championship games at the venue.
But some faction of the CIAC's Board of Control wants no part of such a place. Why? Because it is the Mohegan Sun Arena and sits smack dab in the middle of a den of iniquity called a casino.
We can't possibly expose someone (I'm not sure just whom) to such an evil place.
Hogwash.
Never mind that people under 21 can't gamble or even spend time in the casino gaming rooms. Never mind that there is a way for buses to get to the arena and discharge passengers (players and fans) without going through the casino. Never mind that Connecticut's superintendents conducted an annual meeting there or that the Arena has hosted professional basketball, college basketball and even high school coaching clinics. Never mind that plenty of school kids have visited the casino for a variety of educational purposes.
Never mind that the Connecticut Sun WNBA team selects a girls' team of the week, conducts a high school tour, hosts a tournament championship luncheon and recognizes the four state girls' class champs during one of its regular-season games.
All of this makes no difference to the sanctimonious sorts who purport to be educators. I'd be very interested to find out what such people really believe they are protecting us from. And at what cost? So we can have another incident like the Xavier-Crosby thing a couple of years ago where a state semifinal game between the two was played at Sheehan High which was badly over-sold. As a result, folks with tickets didn't get in and some vandalism occurred. When Crosby got into the state finals, fans were in line for tickets at Central Connecticut four and five hours early.
As educators, you are willing to accept casino money when it goes into state funds; you have no problem going to the casino for a convention - paid for, I'm sure, by public funding; you allow kids to learn about Native American culture there. So why not a basketball championship game?
The Connecticut Sun's girls' basketball teams of the week for the first two weeks of the season have been announced. The first-week winner was Hamden High, which opened its season with wins over Foran and Shelton behind the play of Chelsea Blake.
The week two winner was Fairfield Ludlowe, which beat Harding and Norwalk during the week and is off to a 4-0 start behind Sara Kinsley, who is averaging 1.67 points, 14.2 rebounds and 5.2 blocks per game.
Aaron Hernandez of Bristol Central was selected as the Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year in high school football.
The senior tight end, ranked as the best in the country at his positions by one high school service, caught 62 passes for 1346 yards and 18 touchdowns for Central, which went 8-1-1. He has committed to the University of Florida.
Ansonia High, which went 13-0, won the NVL championship, the CIAC Class S state title and finished atop all three high school polls, will be honored as the Joseph Kelly Award winner by the Walter Camp Football Foundation at its All-America weekend in January.
The Chargers won the award, which is presented by Varsity Gold and honors the best high school football team in Connecticut, in 1983 and 1989 as well. The presentation will be at the 40th All-America dinner Jan. 13 at Yale Commons.
Cheshire has won the award four times, Trumbull three times and several teams, including Hand, Fitch, New Britain and Bloomfield have two Kelly trophies.
The weekend also includes a FanFest at the New Haven Athletic Center, the dinner and various activities for the honored players.
Dinner tickets are $275 and can be purchased by calling (203) 288-2267.
He's bac-a-a-a-ck . Jack Cochran is back as the football coach at New London High School.
The controversial Cochran was relieved of his duties last year after an altercation with Fitch coach Jim Buonocore, Jr. during an Eastern Connecticut Conference weight-lifting competition. The New London Board of Education decided to give Cochran another chance although he has reportedly been warned it is his last.
On the good side, Cochran is a tremendous coach in terms of winning games. He also does a great deal for his kids in terms of keeping them out of trouble and helping them get into college.
On the other side are his resistance to all outside authority and his absolutely one-tracked mind with regard to his team. Connecticut's 50-point rule is popularly believed to have been instituted with him in mind.