Still buffering?

Here is the promised footage from the Schuylkill Valley vs. Minersville scrimmage held last Saturday in Minersville. I remember covering SV's head coach, Cory Mabry, when he was just getting started as a coach at Nativity BVM in Pottsville. His teams overachieved as Nativity was not much of a football power as it is in girls' basketball. The Item will be at Leesport on Saturday afternoon for some more scrimmage coverage, and beginning next week we'll be hitting all the other fall sports. Again, click the link below to begin viewing the video ...

Scrimmage: Schuylkill Valley at Minersville

Item Sports; Hamburg vs. Tamaqua football scrimmage

Hamburg's got one more tune-up before starting its 2008 football season next weekend at ELCO. This week the team travels to Williams Valley High School stadium for its last scrimmage of the season. Hamburg is doing a good job of keeping its preseason secrets exactly that, playing Tamaqua last week and Williams Valley Friday night. Lots of Hamburgers would be hard-pressed to find Williams Valley, even on GoogleEarth. I have to double-check my directions before heading out there on Friday evening.

Last Saturday morning, before heading to South Williamsport for some Little League World Series action, new Item sports freelancer Harry Folino and I checked out Hamburg and Schuylkill Valley in separate scrimmage action.

Click the link below to get some true HD action from the Hamburg scrimmage. Schuylkill Valley highlights are on the way, probably later today. A word: It may take some time to buffer the video.

Scrimmage: Tamaqua at Hamburg

PIAA football begins today, already.

I haven't had a summer vacation in a long time and it still feels way too short.

This morning, in just a few sleepless hours for me, the high school football season kicks off with a full sheet of regional scrimmages and a few reportorial homecomings for me. The two local gridiron teams, Schuylkill Valley and Hamburg, each have Saturday morning exhibitions with Schuylkill County schools.

At 10 a.m. in Hamburg, Tamaqua Blue Raiders visit for a scrimmage. Then, at 11, Schuylkill Valley will be in Minersville, just two miles from my hometown.

My first steady job in newspapers came via sports, and I've always missed covering games, and essentially getting paid to watch sports. This fall I hope to implement some more initiatives with the Sports section of The Item, and by next week's edition those changes will become more and more evident to readers of both the print and online versions of the paper.

Bashore scores, USA wins; Medal hopes alive

Reports out of Beijing have the U.S. Womens' Field Hockey team scoring its first victory of the Olympics and Shoemakersville native Kayla Bashore has scored her first goal of the tournament.

The U.S. disposed of New Zealand, 4-1, early Saturday (Beijing time). Team USA's Keli Smith scored just 39 seconds into the match and Angie Loy scored a goal in the 12th minute to give the U.S. a 2-0 halftime edge.

The Kiwis opened the second half with a goal in the 37th minute, but Smith scored again in the 42d minute and Bashore added her goal in the 47th. The Hamburg Area graduate's goal is important to her team's chase for a spot in the medal rounds next week.

OLYMPIC TOURNAMENT STANDINGS

Germany	3	0	0	9	11	4
Argentina	1	0	2	5	6	5
Great Britain	1	1	1	4	5	8
Japan	1	1	1	4	4	4
United States of America	1	1	2	5	9	8
New Zealand	0	4	0	0	4	10

To get into second place, and a spot in the medal rounds, the U.S. will need some help from the team that thumped it two days ago, the Germans. At 6 p.m. (Beijing), the Germans will face Argentina in another Pool B match. Great Britain and Japan play at 8:30 p.m. (Beijing). Team USA's goal differential is now at +1, the same as Argentina before its match to undefeated Germany. Any sort of Argentine loss will put the USA in second place, but only temporarily. If Japan and Great Britain battle to a tie, Team USA will hold second place after play concludes Saturday, and control its destiny in the tournament. A win Monday against Great Britain, should the previous scenario hold, would put USA in the medal round.

New Zealand is still winless in the tournament, but we're all very excited about the upcoming season of Flight of the Conchords ...

Another U.S. draw

The U.S. Womens' Field Hockey team finished tied with Japan today, 1-1, in its second match of the Beijing Games.
Shoemakersville native Kayla Bashore did not figure in the lone U.S. goal.

The team is now at 0-0-2 in Pool B play. The U.S. will need to start accumulating victories if it has hopes of reaching the Medal Rounds of the Olympics tournament. Upcoming matches are against Germany (Thurs.), New Zealand (Sat.) and Great Britain (Mon.).

Olympics begin and you can see it all LIVE

In the latest edition of The Item I told you there would be little, if any, television coverage of Shoemakersville's Kayla Bashore and the U.S. Womens Field Hockey team. That still may be true, but thanks to Al Gore and this series of tubes, you'll be able to watch as much field hockey as you'd like.

The same could be said for judo, fencing, dressage, team handball ... NBCOlympics.com is hosting live video from every event at this year's Beijing Games. So on game days for the U.S. hockey team simply click on Video at that site and select the sport. One note, it's best to use Internet Explorer to access all the videos. There is a Firefox plug-in but it's from Microsoft so it's not going to jive too well.

I will have more on this topic in next week's Item. I love the Olympics, absolutely, and last night's Opening Ceremonies was truly a sight. But as I said, I love the Olympics and Russia v. South Korea women's team handball is on, and Saturday is supposed to resemble a day off.