#mainstories

I was working late one evening and I saw one of the owners in the office working.  It was about 10:00 PM.  I thought I would drop in to say, “Hi” and to see how things were going. It was a bit of a mistake because I had to listen to her rant for about 20 minutes about how ungrateful and backstabbing employees were.  Especially the ones she had done special things for.  While she didn’t mention…

Profit Sharing Will Overcome Gender Pay Gap

Utah is close to the bottom of the barrel in America for the Gender Pay Gap according to a Fortune article at the end of January. (Farber, 2017) It is embarrassing to live here.  I’ve known this for some time, and I’ve often felt helpless as to how to change this problem.  However, last week I had an epiphany.  There is a way to overcome the gap! I had been listening to a podcast from the Dave…

            Few losses sting like the one suffered by Wood-Ridge yesterday.  The entire Devil Dungeon came out to support the boys in blue.  It was the season opener and the principal, vice principal, superintendent, future athletic director, and some teachers all took the drive to Manchester to support the football team.  Wood-Ridge had playoff hopes, while Manchester was just trying to end the longest losing streak in New Jersey (a slump that had lasted four years).

            On an ugly Saturday afternoon, the weather matched the play on the field.  Wood-Ridge was embarrassed at the hands of Manchester, losing 34-19 to a team that has not been on the winning side of a football game since the New York Jets were in the playoffs.

             As much as the fans tried to remain excited, bad play after bad play slowly took them out of it.  It was a bad effort on both sides of the ball.  The defense let up over thirty points, with the secondary getting bullied around while the defensive line rarely imposed its brute force.  The offense had trouble establishing their game on the ground and through the air.  The offensive line looked shaky and the key players on this team struggled.

            The Blue Devils could not take advantage of key turnovers by Manchester and were not able to capitalize on what should have been costly penalties for the home team.  Instead, Wood-Ridge managed to cough the ball right back up and allow Manchester to convert countless times on third down.

            With the score getting out of hand and the rain pouring down, it was a dismal start to Wood-Ridge’s season.  With St. Mary’s coming up next week (a team ranked two hundred spots in the state rankings above Wood-Ridge by the Max Preps website), the playoffs are starting to look more and more like a distant dream.  Yesterday’s game was supposed to be a statement game.  The Blue Devils were supposed to prove that they are no longer the joke of Bergen County.  Yesterday’s game was as close to a must-win Week 1 game as I have ever seen.  Yet instead of destroying the lowly Manchester team, Wood-Ridge was humiliated in the pouring rain in front of its loyal fans.

            There are few positives to draw from Saturday’s performance.  Maybe it was just a bad outing.  Maybe it was a fluke.  Or maybe this team is not as good as we thought it was going into the season.  Playoff teams are supposed to crush teams like Manchester, not get crushed by them.

            The Saint Mary’s game will be the home opener for Wood-Ridge this Saturday.  If the Blue devils slip to 0-2, their playoff chances dip severely.  Our men in blue need to put yesterday’s game behind them and show that they are better than their latest performance this Saturday.

          The question of the summer has finally been answered.  One of my very first articles was about the ongoing debate over who should be the third captain.  The article was a favorite among both players and fans, with multiple people asking me weekly if a captain had been chosen.  I am happy to write that the third captain has been chosen, and it was chosen on a day when the Wood-Ridge team needed it more than ever.

            Multiple players had told me the locker room situation was beginning to get out of hand.  Ernest Day unceremoniously quit the team after just two days, forcing me to take down an article in which I applauded his recruitment.  His “retirement” was the talk of the town, and six separate fans texted me to ask what on earth could have brought this on.  I reached out to my inside sources, who told me that rumors of rule-breaking and defiance had led to Day’s end.  A lack of commitment to the game and disrespect for the captains had led to some serious issues in the locker room.

            But Day wasn’t the only one disrespecting team captains.  A few other unnamed players were caught breaking a key rule set in place by team captains Ethan Wilde and Justin Barat.  Those players were forced to take part in vigorous workouts to punish them for purposely breaking an important rule.  Wilde apparently lost his cool and exchanged words with some of the players.  Soon after, Day quit.

            Multiple players were deliberately breaking rules.  Leadership of the captains was being questioned by many.  The Blue Devils needed something or someone to regain control of this team.  They needed someone to reassure the players that he was on their side.  They needed someone to take the attention away from the controversies and focus the attention onto the accomplishments.  Who better of a person than the guy that I thought from the beginning should be the third captain?

            Yes, I’m talking about my friend Christian “Big A” Autino.

            Discord between the captains and players will abruptly end once Autino is captain.  His relationship with his fellow teammates is unparalleled.  He’s the type of player who fans love.  His can-do attitude and optimism can reassure even the most pessimistic fan that this season will be a good one.  Autino’s relentless work ethic has transformed him over the years from a small, chubby freshman to a strong, powerful, respectable, talented team captain.

            While Barat and Wilde are great team captains do to their presence in the locker room and respect among fans, Autino will be a great captain due to his jovial nature.  Players can laugh with Autino and relate to him.  Although he does not command respect the same way that Barat and Wilde do, players will listen to him because they genuinely like him.

            In all my years as his friend, I have never met a person who has disliked Christian Autino.  He is a great guy who deserved to be captain more than anyone else.  An anonymous player on told me that he did not necessarily agree with the team captain choice and instead told me that he thought there should only be two captains.  I could not disagree more.  Autino is a talented, well-like, hard-working individual who has climbed his way up the ranks and done so with a constant smile on his face.

On the last day of July, we realize that summer is quickly coming to a close.  That means back to school, back to homework, back to projects, back to teachers, back to stress…… but most importantly, it means back to Wood-Ridge High School football.  Knowing football waits for us when we get back somehow makes another year of school seem more bearable.

            But there is still a lot to sort out in the Blue Devil locker room.  Summer isn’t over, training camp hasn’t started, position battles have barely begun, and our promising fullback Joe Merlino has yet to even attend a practice.  7 on 7 scrimmages have finally ended and the games have proven little, if anything.  Wood-Ridge has 2-1, beating Rutherford and Dover while losing by one touchdown yesterday to Becton.  QB Ethan Wilde heaped the blame on himself for yesterday’s loss, while other players blamed it on the weak secondary.

            Ali Abnousi, a proud member and self-declared “leader” of the secondary, said that Becton is “a good team.  We have come a long way from last year, though.  We kept up with them and held our ground and are hoping for a very successful season.  Compared to when the summer started, we have gotten a lot better.  My quarterback and I have a lot of connection and his decision making is tremendous.  Young guys are stepping up and it shows how good practices have led to us getting better.”

            After dissension among Abnousi and Wilde was reported in the spring, it was a reassuring sign to hear him compliment his quarterback and boast about their connection.  Abnousi and Wilde both have to be instrumental parts of this team and they can only thrive together if they get along.

            When asked about the weak secondary and questionable receiving core, Abnousi said, “Our receivers are fine.  Our secondary includes a couple of new guys and I’m sure they’ll be ready by September 13th.  They’ll be a lot better and step their game up.  Remember, I have to lead the secondary, so if anything happens I will take the blame for not stepping my part up.”

            I was happy to see Abnousi take responsibility not only for himself but for others, but I told him that I would hold him to his comments.  If the secondary happens to struggle early on or lets up a game-winning touchdown, he will be the one I will point my finger at.  The praise will go to him if the secondary plays well, but the same goes for the blame if the secondary falters.

            One thing I can definitely take away from the 7 on 7s was the impact of Edwin Acosta on this team.  A few months ago, I published an article praising him and three other young guns that I think can make a difference (“Fantastic Four”).  So far, Acosta has played like an experienced veteran and has pleasantly surprised both players and fans alike.  Drew DeCarolis called Acosta “very good” and Wilde agreed, calling his new receiver “very, very good”.

            When I asked Wilde if Acosta could now be considered his new number one receiver, he responded, “No number one, to be honest.  Everyone’s developed into a number one.”

            Wilde answered in the most politically correct way possible, electing to dodge the question instead of answering truthfully and risking hurting one of his receivers’ feelings.  This was not the Ethan Wilde I knew but I could understand his reluctance to give his honest opinion, seeing as the interview controversy was still hot news around the county.

            When I asked Wilde about the weak secondary, he responded, “A lot of them are new guys.  It’s tough.  You can’t just lace up and be the best.  They definitely are getting 100% better every 7 on 7.”

            But with no 7 on 7s left, how much time does the secondary really have to improve?  They clearly are the weakness on this football team, as any spectator can tell.  Although they are improving, Wood-Ridge does not have time for a slow and steady growth of these young players.  This season hinges on young players and rookies stepping right in and immediately making a difference.  Ali Abnousi’s experience should definitely aid the young guys, but will his attitude be the downfall of this team?

            One player definitely thinks so.  Under the promise of anonymity, he said, “Ali’s attitude is going to ruin our whole season.  I can feel it.  He brings the whole team down with him.”

            Although Abnousi’s attitude has always been a cause for concern, I doubt one player’s bad sportsmanship could ruin one team’s entire season.  His attitude can come off as overbearing and sometimes does negatively impact the team.  Hopefully in his senior year Abnousi will mature and put his old antics to rest.  Abnousi told me specifically that he is the leader of the secondary, so this season I expect him to act like a leader.  Instead of trying to imitate Richard Sherman’s brash, smash-mouth style Abnousi should instead aspire to be more like quiet, tame future Hall of Famer Ed Reed.  There is no denying Abnousi’s talent, but his demeanor not only aggravates fans and players, but may end up costing the team big down the line.

            The Blue Devils have played exceptionally well this summer.  Their latest loss is disappointing, but the overall picture is a good one.  When commenting about the loss to Becton yesterday, team captain Justin Barat said, “I’m not trying to talk (explicit), I think it would be a different game in pads.  Everyone is good in shorts and a t-shirt.”

            I agree with Barat’s statement.  Everyone is good in shorts and a t-shirt.  Yet by that logic, every 7 on 7 meant nothing.  The two impressive wins and the loss all meant nothing.  So the backlash the Blue Devils are getting, along with the praise, should all be voided.  So at this point in the summer, we still know very little about how 2014 is going to play out for our men in blue.  When I confronted Barat about these facts, he only had this final statement: “I can promise you one thing.  Our team will be prepared for the season.  That’s all I have to say.”