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Don Odishoo Field was a muddy mess during last week's Sac-Joaquin Section playoff game between Merced and Johansen.
Both teams struggled just handling snaps during the game.
It will be interesting to see what condition the field will be in on Friday when St. Mary's comes to town.
If I'm Merced, I have a Plan B just in case the field hasn't dried up.
The relationship between the Merced Union High School District and Merced College is volatile to say the least.
Merced High feels Merced College watered the field too much.
The people in charge of field maintenance at Merced College claim the water has been shut off the past two weeks.

Multiple sources are reporting that Fresno State football coach Pat Hill interviewed with University of Washington officials on Saturday -- one day after the Bulldogs were bucked by Boise State, 61-10, in their Western Athletic Conference season finale.

The Huskies effectively fired coach Tyrone Willingham in October, but allowed Willingham to play out the string.

Here's a Seattle Times story from Saturday night:

"The candidacy of Fresno State's Pat Hill for the Washington coaching job may have taken a more serious turn Saturday. A Washington football source told The Times that Hill interviewed with UW officials on Saturday. The Fresno Bee reported on its Fresno State football blog that Hill boarded a flight to Seattle early Saturday morning, and his car was parked in the airport parking lot. The Bee cited two unidentified airport employees. ... Fresno State athletic director Thomas Boeh would neither confirm nor deny that UW had contacted him about talking with Hill. However, he told the Bee that Hill had "earned the right to look at other opportunities" because of his 12 years as coach of the Bulldogs."

Here's an interesting development that could delay the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV football playoffs.

Oakdale, the Valley Oak League champion and a 2007 mythical state champ, won't be playing tonight. It turns out Placer High supporters have obtained a temporary restraining order from a court in Oakland, forcing the first round playoff game to be postponed. Oakdale, which was scheduled to play Colfax tonight, would have played Placer had paperwork regarding a transfer player been filed properly.

Modesto Bee's Will DeBoard is all over the story. To read the complete article, follow this link: http://www.modbee.com/sports/story/507938.html.

In one of my favorite Kevin Smith movies -- Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back -- Ben Affleck's character jokes that the internet was created so people can anonymously bash one another.

It's a funny line in a movie, not so much when it's done in reality. In recent weeks the comment boxes under our sports stories online have been plastered with a number of hurtful and likely inaccurate things about local players and teams.

This is not acceptable, which is why several posters and comments have been banned or deleted. Putting high school kids on blast on the internet with libelous claims -- whether true or not -- is as classless as a person can get. Those who have participated in such activities are the equivalent of cyber-bullies and you should hang your heads in shame.

Found this on Will DeBoard's playoff football blog last night (Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008):

"Rio Linda (7-3) at Sierra (8-2): This game got a little more interesting after events that happened last Friday night. Rio Linda officials caught somebody affiliated with Sierra illegally filming their game against River City. Rio Linda filed a complaint with the section and section officials told Rio Linda they were convinced the film had been erased and there were no advantages gained. Judging from the e-mails I’ve received from Rio Linda parents, they’re plenty fired up. Rio Linda is winning games thanks to its defense (11 points allowed a game, seven games where they’ve held opponents to eight points or less)."

Everyone's got an opinion on how things will shake down this Friday in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs.

There are those that believe Merced has been exposed by the Turlock schools in the last two weeks, and won't come within shooting distance of the section final. Some even believe whole-heartedly that Tracy will score the upset and jolt the south off its axis.

Then there are those that think Los Banos, because it was just 6-4 and snuck into the playoffs on a tiebreaker, will be nothing more than speed bump for Stockton St. Mary's -- a sexy pick for CIF State Bowl game earlier in the season.