The Preseason Polls

The football Gold Ball 11-man Gold Ball games were, honestly, kind of a bust.

Thornton Academy capitalized on a bunch of Portland mistakes. Greely blew out Leavitt (when was the last time that happened in a state title game?). Winthrop blew out Winslow. And Westbrook picked off Parker Morin 4 times (after he only threw 2 picks all year) and Gio Staples had a huge second half to lead Westbrook to their first ever Gold Ball in football.

That's two seasons in a row the B champion has been a fantastic story. You already know the story of Falmouth last year. And now we can add Westbrook to it.

In a fun twist, none of the 6 champions are a repeat, although Greely did do the unprecedented move of winning 8-man and 11-man in consecutive years.

Thanks to all the basketball-only folks who stuck around through football and fall sports season. And thanks to all the football-only folks who welcomed me to the sidelines.

The football coverage, depending on the type (social media, newsletter, etc, etc.) was up anywhere from 20% to 82% year-over-year and I can't wait to see that growth applied to basketball season. Some of you were here when this was an anonymous tumblr page.

So we're on to basketball and oh man are we on to basketball.

We've got a ton of basketball contest cued up for you.

Up first is the preseason polls.

I opened up a preseason poll to the masses and got a couple of hundred responses. Naturally, I recruited Jay Baines to react to the polls.

The girls preseason poll is up now wherever you consume podcasts.

Part 2 is the boys and that'll be an instant premiere on YouTube tonight at 8pm. Make sure you subscribe to the YouTube page and come hang out at 8pm and get in the comments. I promise you that your team is ranked too low.

It's truly a travesty.

Up next will be the Wins Draft and I'll be at the SoPo Preseason tip-off for at least a couple of games. If you see me, come say hi.

That's it for this newsletter.

On to basketball. Here we go!