TORRANCE TRIBUNE June 23, 2016 Page 5 Up and Adam Warriors Baseball Wins Pioneer League By Adam Serrao The West High Warriors baseball team and their starting pitcher, Matt Stearns, really hit their stride this year about midway through the season. A relatively average start to the year saw the Warriors turn things up to full-throttle after the team completed a two-game sweep over their inner-city and league rivals, the North High Saxons. That sweep not only led to many more wins just like them, but also led to a first place finish in the Pioneer League standings for West. “A relatively average start to the year saw the Warriors turn things up to full-throttle after the team completed a two-game sweep over their inner-city and league rivals, the North High Saxons.” Despite a highly successful season, however, the Warriors were unable to make it out of the first round of this year’s CIF Southern Section Division 4 playoffs, losing to El Rancho in the first round by a final score of 4-1. A relatively average start to the season is two losses to great baseball teams like Mira Costa and Redondo, for West. The Warriors started the year with a 7-2 record, those two losses being the only two that the team would experience before a four-game losing streak really set things astray. To put things in perspective, though, Mira Costa finished the year in second place in the Bay League standings last year, bested by only Redondo, who finished in first, winning the Division 3 championship and finishing the year as one of the best teams in the nation. So when you look at it, West’s first two losses of the season weren’t much to write home about. What was more concerning for the Warriors was a stretch in which the team lost four straight games just before league play began. Losses to Palos Verdes, Peninsula, Redondo, and Tustin sent head coach Juan Cueva and his team into a tizzy, searching to find what could possibly be wrong with the team. All of those questions were answered once league play began, though. A two-game matchup with Leuzinger soothed all of the panic as the Warriors swept their league rivals, outscoring them by a twogame total of 42-2 (16-0, 26-2). North was up next. After a 12-2 victory in the first game of a two-game sweep, West was able to take sole possession of first place in the Pioneer League standings and never looked back from there. Victories over Centennial, South High, and Torrance High were soon to follow. All-in-all, the Warriors would lose only one league game all season long. That loss was to the Torrance Tartars in the very last game of the season. Junior pitcher Zach Findlay had a rough outing for the Warriors, giving up five runs (three earned), and five hits in two innings of play. Adam Gonzalez gave up another two in what was one of very few unfortunate outings for the West High pitching staff this year. Cody Wissler had the only RBI of the day in the team’s first and only league loss, driving in Sean Whorley in the fifth inning. Entering the playoffs on the heels of a loss is never a thing that baseball teams want to do. It may have been what ultimately led to the Warriors shocking upset in the first round. As a No. 3 seed, West was slated to take on an El Rancho team that finished in third place in their division, barely sneaking into the playoffs as it was. The Warriors had lost their momentum, though. Despite their home field advantage, West was unable to come up with any offense. Wissler was, once again, all the firepower that the Warriors could muster, driving in Nathan Santiago for the team’s only run in the first inning of play. Stearns wasn’t his sharpest, either. Despite complete-game victories over South and Torrance to end the year, which also ultimately clinched the Pioneer League title for his team outright, Stearns was unable to get any momentum going in the playoffs. The senior starter gave up six hits and three runs (one earned) in 5.2 innings. He also struck out five batters. Unfortunately, three runs is all El Rancho would need on an afternoon in which West’s offense simply couldn’t get going. The Warriors took the 4-1 loss and made an early exit from this year’s Division 4 playoffs. Despite their unfortunate first round loss in this year’s playoffs, it was still an extremely successful season for the West High Warriors. A 19-11 record, going 9-1 in league play, was good enough to get the team their second league title in the last three years (one Bay League, one Pioneer League). Wissler had an exceptional season for West, batting .459 with 38 RBIs and 27 runs scored. Michael Timmerman also had a stand-out year, batting .388 with 16 RBIs and 22 runs scored for the Warriors. Stearns was the teams workhorse on the mound, notching eight victories in just over 70 innings pitched, with a 1.49 ERA and 56 strikeouts on the year. The Warriors will lose Wissler, Timmerman, Stearns, and Santiago to College next season, but coach Cueva always has a way of rallying his troops and competing in a traditionally tough Pioneer League. There is no doubting that he and the Warriors will be back to do the same next season. • What If It’s Fixed? By Adam Serrao As fans of professional sports, we are always looking to answer questions that we seemingly have no answer for. Who’s a better player, Kobe or LeBron? Who’s a better team, the Showtime Lakers or this year’s Golden State Warriors? Is Ichiro Suzuki as good of a hitter as Pete Rose? The debate can go on and on until even the most adamant fan runs out of breath and stats to back their argument. After all, that’s what being a fan is all about. You’re literally a “fanatic” for your team or the player that you root for. One question that is recently making headlines and tugging on the minds of every basketball fanatic lately involves the NBA playoffs and whether or not they are fixed. Just like all of the other questions, there is no clear-cut answer to help us all identify the unencumbered truth. When piecing together certain recent facts surrounding this year’s NBA Finals series between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, though, it may just be fair to think that the playoffs are, indeed, fixed. There are plenty of conspiracy theories that exist in the world today. September 11, the shooting of JFK, Area 51, even the moon landing, are all subjects that are heavily debated between conspiracy theorists and their opposites. Just as those theories exist, so does the yearly theory that the NBA playoffs are fixed. Most recently, the wife of NBA All-Star Steph Curry chimed in on her thoughts that the game is fixed after the Warriors lost Game 6 of the finals to LeBron and the Cavs. “I’ve lost all respect sorry this is absolutely rigged for money...or ratings in not sure which. I won’t be silent. Just saw it live. Sry.” Ayesha Curry posted on twitter shortly after her husband was ejected from the game for attaining his sixth personal foul and throwing his mouthpiece toward the crowd out of sheer frustration and anger. Does Ayesha have a point? Well, let’s look at some of the reasons why the NBA could, in fact, be fixed. For starters, the NBA and ABC were in line to make huge money from a Game 7 championship-deciding contest that took place between the two teams. Last year, ABC pulled in $223.9 million in advertising revenues over the course of the NBA Finals between the same two teams. That series only went six games. While that is still a huge amount of money off of only six games, this year’s ratings have drastically spiked and the prospect of a Game 7 brought along with it the prospect of an extreme boost in ratings and profit. A Game 7 last year would have likely drawn an estimated audience of approximately 32 million viewers, up from an average 20 million viewers from previous games in the 2015 Finals. The 32 million viewers was surpassed this year. A seventh game last year would have grossed $45 million in advertising revenues. Also, a number that was severely surpassed with this year’s Game 7. Based on the estimates from last year, if this year’s NBA Finals had ended in five games, like it looked like it would after the first four games of the series, ABC and the NBA would have missed out on at least $80 million in revenue. That’s not to mention the profits that the arenas are pulling, that the ticket sellers are making, and that players, sponsors, and the league all figure to make. Sure, there’s no distinct, indisputable evidence that the league is rigged, but if it were, there would certainly be a ton of people cashing in checks on its behalf. That begs the question, though, of just how would the NBA be able to rig the series? The NBA isn’t rigging who actually wins the title, but they are rigging how many games the series goes. Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy has come forth and said as much, as well. Donaghy was pushed out of the league after it was made public that he was gambling on games. When asked for comment on if the NBA is rigged, Donaghy stated, “It was always a situation where the team down in the series was going to benefit from those calls.” What the former referee was speaking of was the NBA’s tendency to give whichever team was down in the series the favorable calls in a game. Donaghy went on to state that the reason Draymond Green was suspended for Game 5 was to give the Cavaliers an advantage and hopefully get them back in the series. “It [Draymond’s suspension] gives Cleveland a better chance of prolonging the series,” Donaghy continued. While most people would tend to not believe what Donaghy has to say because of his former gambling scandal that wound him up in jail, what would the former referee have to lose by unearthing the dirty secrets of a National Basketball Association that he once worked for, but later turned its back on him once he was caught for gambling? Donaghy also explained how the NBA would send an overseer into a room with the referees before the game and instruct them on how they should call the game on that specific day. “Definitely indirectly with the tape sessions that took place and how they would show you plays that they wanted you to concentrate on in the game.” What he says makes sense. At the beginning of the series between the Warriors and the Cavs, the Cavs looked completely and utterly overmatched. The Warriors were running through them like a hot knife through butter and even a five game series seemed like it would be too long. Suddenly, the referees began to shift the way that they called the games. Cleveland was allowed to be more physical while Golden State and Steph Curry were called for “tickytack” foul calls. Cleveland suddenly reemerged in the series and before you knew it, we were all watching Game 7 when it previously seemed like Cleveland would have no business at all making it that far in the first place. It would make sense that the NBA would want their Western Conference face (Curry) to face off against their Eastern Conference face (LeBron). This is the second year in a row that it has been so. This year, commissioner Adam Silver and the NBA clearly sees the benefit in prolonging a rivalry that began last year as many games as possible. Whether it be for ratings, money or both, the NBA gets what they want. LeBron has been in the league longer and has had hype surrounding him since High School. That’s why the NBA has labeled the Eastern Conference as his and he runs through the rest of the weaker field every year as the NBA makes sure he winds up in the Finals. It’s what gets the most ratings. He’s been there six years in a row now. Also, by prolonging the Finals to seven games, the NBA owns the month of June and most of July before football gets started. The NBA Finals will lead right into the NBA draft which will then lead into NBA free agency. Silver knows what he’s doing. Even all of this talk about how the league is fixed gives his league press. A commissioner would never shy away from press for his league. If you were the NBA commissioner like Adam Silver is, wouldn’t you rig everything, too? With all of the ratings and money on the line and a chance to be on the center stage with the entire world watching, why wouldn’t you try to create the most entertainment value that you possibly could. After all, doesn’t it raise at least the smallest question in your mind when you realize that the only game in the seven game series between the Cavs and Warriors that was close was Game 7? There will always be those who think that the theory that NBA is rigged is preposterous. They’ll say that there is absolutely no way. No one wanted to believe that certain priests who worked for the Catholic Church were corrupt either. Those who follow each institution believe that they are sacred. There is no way that the NBA could be involved in fixing games. The NBA is too sacred. But when it comes down to it, sports exist because of the pure entertainment value they bring into all of our lives. What could possibly be better entertainment than a Game 7 where the winner takes all between Curry and James? Next week we’ll take a more in depth look at how the Cleveland Cavaliers became this year’s NBA champs. It’s not looking good for Curry. •
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