Seeing as everyone else in the world of sports, especially all the relevant sports media folks in the valley, are partaking in this new internet fad of blogging. I figured it was about time that I joined this fraternity of the blog. Afterall I am ADB and I have felt the need to be involved with just about every professional sports franchsie in the Valley. Furthermore since I am the radio play-by-play voice of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the newest team in the RGV and I travel with the guys I feel I can give the Viper fans all the inside info they would enjoy to read about, and get to read about all the trials and tribulations of being on the road. I have to say I was inspired by Mr. Todd Mavreles who also coined the name of the blog. He has his own Viper blog so make sure you peek in.
Well I would like to say things have been going well in Viper land, but they haven't. The team has dropped nine in a row and it seems likes the hurdle is getting harder and harder to climb over. We have been snakebitten this year (no pun intended). Twenty different players have worn Vipers uniforms. Lets re-cap and count like this guy. The Vipers have had two season ending injuries (Kevin Bookout, Chris Taft), three players leave for greener pastures overseas (Jarred Merrill, Gabe Muoneke, Kenny Taylor), one Gatorade Call-Up (CJ Watson), and four players assigned by NBA teams that have come and gone, (Steve Novak, Aaron Brooks, Cedric Simmons, Shannon Brown). AH AH AH. Sorry I was a big fan of The Count.
Anyways back to the basketball. Anytime you go through roster changes like this it is going to hurt. I was talking to Killer Bees broadcaster Rich Bocchini (here is his blog)about this and he was reminded when the Boston Red Sox had virtually depleted their farm system through trades to help the big league roster throughout the 90's thus rendering the Triple-A PawSox with an overabbundance of players who either weren't ready for Triple-A or had to take time to get acclimated to their surroundings. Thus the team suffered in the win-loss column while several of the top Red Sox farm hands were blossoming elsewhere. Not the same situation exaclty here but when you lose leading scorer after leading scorer your record is going to suffer. The Vipers have done what is asked of the D-League. DEVELOP. The Vipers have the first Gatorade Call-Up to sign a contract for the remainder of the season in Watson, while sending three players to bigger and better deals elsewhere. I have no doubt that if even one of those scorers was still here the Vipers would not be at the bottom of the SW Division.
Tonight is a big one versus Colorado. The Vipers trail the 14ers by 7 games for the final playoff spot. If the team is going to drive towards the post-season it has to happen tonight. By the way I know what you are thinking.."ADB, What the heck is a 14er?" Great you should ask luckily wikipedia has that answer for us. I think this is a winable game for the guys. It is at home and we played the 14ers tough the last few times out. This is the night... I can feel it. I wont guarnetee it, but I will say we are due for a good game and a win.
Stay tuned to the blog. It should be fun.
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