Million dollar babies create sham show sports reporting

Million Dollar Baby - Alabama football coach Nick Saban makes $7 million a year plus incentives, and he’s under contract until 2022, so why the grouchy attitude, coach? It’s pretty clear that Saban doesn’t like to be questioned by the media in press conferences, and the more people in the room the less Nick likes it. Press conferences in sports and politics have become a bit of a “sham show,” but with no media coverage, there are no fat contracts for coaches. And without the “crooked media,” there is no Donald Trump, and yet he apparently loathes the carpet they walk on. That’s why I like to do exclusive interviews with 11-year-old duck callers and middle school and high school athletes; nobody gets big-timed. The interaction remains genuine, the experience is enjoyable. Nowhere is there an implicit message, “If you move on and get better known you will have all kinds of opportunities to blow people off who have the arrogance to ask you a pertinent question.”

Two big games - Woodbridge versus Wilmington Friends at 5:30 p.m., followed by Smyrna colliding with Middletown at 7:30 p.m. at Delaware Stadium on Tubby Raymond Field Saturday, Dec. 3, for the DIAA Division I and II state championships will be worth the price of admission. Woodbridge is 11-0, rolling nine opponents, but Laurel and Caravel kept it close. Back on Sept. 23, the Raiders rolled the Quakers 35-7 at Woodbridge. Don’t look for a repeat of that score. Smyrna (11-0) beat William Penn 48-0 in the semifinals, while Middletown (11-0) bested Salesianum 25-7. Middletown is blue-collar tough, they play great on the big stage, but Smyrna looms the favorite. Middletown will stay in this game. I’m guessing the winner has to score more than 40 points to have a chance. Amazingly, these two schools are only an exit apart on the Route 1 bypass.

College championships - Penn State (10-2) vs Wisconsin (10-2) for the Big 10 title is set for Saturday at 8 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind. Chris Goodwin out of Middletown is the leading receiver for the Nittany Lions. Jonathan Holland, 6-foot-4, 245-pound redshirt freshman tight end on the Penn State roster, is out of the Bullis School, where he played for head coach Pat Cilento, son of Cape Athletic Director Bob Cilento. Wisconsin comes into the game having lost to Michigan 14-7 and Ohio State 30-23. Temple (9-3) will play at Navy (9-2) for the championship of the American Conference. The game begins at noon. Both Temple and Navy will be going to bowl games when the selections are announced Sunday night. Cole Boozer, 6-foot-5, 275 pounds, is a redshirt junior lineman on the Temple squad. He is the oldest of three sons of Chris Boozer, former Salisbury player and member of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol.

Snippets - Thomas Ott is a sophomore heavyweight for the Naval Academy wrestling team. The Midshipmen are 4-0 this early season. They wrestle at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Dec. 2-3. I picked the Eagles to finish 9-7, so now sitting at 5-6, they just have to complete the season 4-1. The Cape wrestling team opens the season this weekend at the Bishop Ireton Tournament in Virginia. Cape returns state champions Anthony Caruso and Cory Lawson as well as most of last year’s squad that finished 9-3 and qualified for the DIAA Dual Meet Championship. Guidance Counselor Chris Mattioni is head wrestling coach; I think all employees including administrators should not only be allowed but encouraged to coach a team or run a club, just something that has to do with interaction with students. Toney Floyd (Cape) is a sophomore on the Harford Community College Fighting Owls basketball roster. Lackawanna College football will play Mesa Community College in Mesa, Ariz., Saturday, Dec. 3, in the Valley of the Sun Bowl. Lackawanna, a junior college in Scranton, Pa., finished the regular season 10-0 and is ranked seventh in the NJCAA final poll. Kani “Night Train” Kane, a 6-foot, 228-pounder out of Sussex Tech, is a sophomore running back with more than 500 yards on the season, averaging 6 yards a carry with 2 touchdowns. Jiare Hicks, a 6-foot-2, 197-pounder out of St. Georges Tech, is a freshman linebacker for the Falcons. The Falcons program is recruited heavily by four-year Division I programs. Bryant McKinnie out of Woodbury, N.J., played for Lackawanna in 1997-98, then for Miami, won the Outland Trophy, was on the 2001 National Championship team, and later was a first-round pick (No. 7) of the Minnesota Vikings in 2002. He was later traded to the Baltimore Ravens and was on their 2013 Super Bowl team. Good luck, Kani, see you at the next level, perhaps Delaware, maybe Temple? Go on now, git!