Once again, it’s time for me to take a deep breath and set the
record straight on a few different things which have taken place
over the course of the past couple weeks.
Once again, it’s time for me to take a deep breath and set the record straight on a few different things which have taken place over the course of the past couple weeks. Had I not been out of the office last week, I would have addressed them sooner.
One topic involves a boxer who has never shied away from representing his hometown of Gilroy with pride and integrity, the second involves a football coach whose value won’t be truly appreciated until a few seasons from now, and the third is an admission of ignorance on a sports writer’s part.
1. The Ghost is no quitter
I’ll be the first to admit the March 7 Boxing After Dark broadcast by HBO at HP Pavilion, which featured Gilroy’s Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero, a two-time former IBF featherweight champ, as one of the co-main events, was absolutely terrible. I mean unbelievably dull from start to finish, and also incredibly disappointing in the way that it ended for The Ghost, who was headbutted early in the second round. The collisions of domes caused Guerrero to develop a nasty, spiraling gash over his right eye. The fight was stopped after he repeatedly had to clear his vision by wiping away blood with his right glove.
Some comments on the Dispatch’s Web site as well those made by others in the blogosphere in the last week have labeled Guerrero a quitter, or that he has no heart, or that the no contest result reflects poorly on his hometown and family. There is nothing wrong with these people voicing their opinions, but they couldn’t be further from the truth.
I’ll go out on a limb and say no reporter has interviewed Guerrero more over the past two years than me, and I have never once had reason to doubt how much heart he has for the sport of boxing and all of the things critics said he supposedly let down. He’s only 25 years old, he will be back, and he will still be hungry.
Anyone that believes Guerrero quit unnecessarily, when it was a doctor who stopped the fight, underestimates how much The Ghost and his family have gone through to get to this point.
Be proud of your fighter, Gilroy. He is the kind of role model this town desperately needs.
2. Rich Hammond isn’t a good coach, he’s a great coach
I’ve developed a lot of good relationships with coaches around the area in my time here in Gilroy, but none has impressed me more than Rich Hammond, whose passion for the game of football and inventive ideas on how to accomplish the highest of team goals is unmatched. (I realize that’s saying a lot because there are some truly extraordinary coaches in Gilroy, recently retired GHS wrestling coach Armando Gonzalez being the most successful.)
A Class of 1997 graduate of San Benito High School, Hammond traded red for blue when he came to Gilroy for his first teaching job. He later became an assistant under Darren Yafai before leaving for Santa Clara High School, only to return as head coach in 2006. Twenty minutes from the place he grew up, wanting nothing more as a kid than to beat Gilroy into the ground in the annual Prune Bowl, Hammond converted.
“It’s always had a special place in my heart,” Hammond said of Gilroy. “I always kind of felt like being back home, even though I wasn’t exactly at home.”
A 23-11 record in three seasons is impressive, but more so is the 19-5 record the past two seasons, which included back-to-back league titles and an appearance in the Central Coast Section Open Division championship. Gilroy’s last league title before Hammond was 1981. The defense was solid if not spectacular during his time here, but most of the credit has to point to when Hammond installed his spread, no-huddle attack on offense.
Every coach I’ve asked on his GHS staff said the offense was almost exclusively his brainchild, and every one of those GHS coaches also agreed that Hammond has the kind of coaching smarts and passion (yes, he’s animated as all hell) that could work on the collegiate level. Resigning from GHS to coach at Clovis in the fall should be just a step below college ball, as the area is considered a goldmine for athletic talent.
Gilroy, with all due respect, overachieved the past two seasons considering some of the schools it was up against. Yes, the Mustangs had excellent players on both sides of the ball, but there is no doubt GHS would have gotten trounced more often than not if it ran the Wing-T, or other more run-oriented offenses like other teams in the Tri-County Athletic League.
Whoever takes over for Hammond, and I think assistant Greg Garcia seems like a good fit, will have big, big shoes to fill.
3. How could I be so foolish about hockey?
It was confirmed before it even started: I love hockey after attending my first-ever Sharks game on Saturday.
Some people can’t stand soccer, others don’t appreciate NASCAR, hockey has always been the one game I couldn’t sit through. I still don’t know if I’m going to be watching many games on TV, but attending a game live put things in perspective.
There is no denying that a natural rhythm to hockey goes unnoticed on a cropped screen. Line changes are fluid motions. Skaters look far faster in open space. And it has to be said that Saturday’s game had everything a local fan could want. San Jose scored first, the visiting Los Angeles Kings answered back by sending the game to overtime, there was a fight – which deserves it’s own story in regards to how happy this made me – and the Sharks won a thrilling shootout.
That’s got to be the best part about this Sharks team right now. No other professional Bay Area sports team can call itself a winner in the last year.
I can’t believe it took me this long to take in a game.
