The OSAA baseball and softball playoffs are nearly upon us.

In addition to the exciting races for league titles, dozens more teams are fighting to make the postseason.

One thing that makes this part of the season so much fun is when a mediocre team develops into a state contender right before your eyes.

History is punctuated with teams that had to scramble to make the playoffs only to find themselves in a dog pile after winning it all.

Something about baseball and softball lends itself to late season runs.

I love the psychology behind those miraculous, mysterious, glorious streaks.

“One is good, but I’ll take two” Those were the words of Rasheed Wallace after the Detroit Pistons won the NBA championship back in 2004 against the Los Angeles Lakers. The same sentiment resonates with the West Linn Lions at this time. They finally were able to knock off the ferocious Lake Oswego Lakers in the semifinals on their way to victory over Central Catholic. Better late then never right?

Nobody in Oregon, or anywhere for that matter, really seems to be talking about Kyle Singler anymore. Everyone seems to forget just how good Singler was at South Medford back in his high school playing days. Perhaps it is because his high school rival, Kevin Love, has hogged all of the media attention. Not to say he doesn’t deserve it; I am not sure anyone in Oregon could have predicted that Kevin Love would eventually become one of the premiere power forwards in the NBA. Regardless, the media should show more love to Kyle Singler, especially the local media. It’s not very often that a talent such as Singler comes out of Oregon.

Two of Thurman Bell’s most loyal assistant football coaches have announced their retirements.

Ron Goodell and Bruce Walker are stepping down from the Roseburg High School football coaching staff.

Goodell, who has also been the head baseball coach in his time at Roseburg High School, has been on Bell’s staff for 36 years. He was the inside linebacker and wide receiver coach last season.

Walker has been on the staff for 29 years. He coached linebackers and running backs and was the defensive coordinator for Bell.

Roseburg Superintendent Larry Parsons has announced that he has recently received two legal opinions advising the district not to spend precious funds fighting the mandate that all Oregon schools eliminate the use of Native American mascots.

The legal opinions Parsons received warn the district the committee was probably within its jurisdiction and a legal challenge to the order will probably fail.

In a city that waved goodbye to a professional lacrosse franchise, the Portland Lumberjax, in 2009, high school lacrosse has come to be the defining showcase for the sport statewide. Recently, that showcase has been filled by one matchup in particular: Lincoln versus Sunset.

In each of the past three seasons, Lincoln and Sunset have faced one another in the men’s Oregon High School Lacrosse Association State Championship, with Lincoln claiming victory each year, spectacularly at times. Two of the games were decided by a single goal. Lincoln lacrosse head coach Will Harris described the rivalry as, “heart stopping.”

In the landscape of high-powered college and professional sports littered by absurdly lucrative salaries, massive television contracts and million dollar endorsements, it’s refreshing to strip sports of its glitz and celebrity and tap into the authenticity of young athleticism and unpolluted passion. High school sports, often overlooked, bring a lot of passion and vigor to the landscape. High school athletes, not yet jaded, display their heart as if it were literally located right on their sleeve; when they win the tough one – they cry; when they lose the tough one – they cry. And these young athletes are impressive in the way they juggle academic work, volunteer commitments and even part-time jobs all while making practice at 6AM before they face a long day at school.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which means it’s finally the end of the term. It’s time for me to pack my bags and head back north from Eugene for a month of mom’s cooking, cable TV, and clean laundry. No, I swear I’m not living in a third world country; I’m a student at University of Oregon, still navigating the complexities of feeding myself and keeping house. Besides stuffing my face when I get home, however, one thing I’ll be prepared to do this Saturday is hop on the I-5 to Jeld-Wen Field for the class 6A football state championship.

LOCAL DOMINATION STARTS WITH GEOMETRY

Draw a triangle between Tigard, Lake Oswego, and Jesuit.

Then draw a line down the valley to Sheldon and turn the triangle into a little kite flying over those soft Portland suburbs.

Before stereotyping them as hot beds of fast food and video games, remember these sleepy bedroom strip malls are also home to the big thumpers who rule the 6A turf.

Call it the Oregon SEC plus 1.

It’s almost that time of year again. As November approaches, the chase for a championship begins at all levels. On the high school stage, the spotlight lands on the OSAA – an organization that has spent the last two years giving the rankings and playoff format a makeover. This year marks the third postseason in which teams will participate in “play-ins” to help determine who will go onto join the first round of playoffs. While the intentions were perhaps good when this format was enacted, the usefulness of an extra round of postseason play has become questionable.