Random thoughts while wondering if Ford and Roush Racing will continue to make underachievers out of
NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle:
QUITTING TIME: Cal Smith was elected to the Perrysburg school board just 107 days ago.
Today should be his final day in that position.
Smith should resign immediately and go away quietly after leading an unsuccessful movement not to renew
the contract of varsity baseball coach Dave Hall.
The school board is no place for a member to carry out a personal vendetta against an employee of the
district.
But Smith badly misjudged the support Hall enjoyed in the Perrysburg community, the Perrysburg youth
baseball community and the high school baseball community.
Hall’s contract eventually was renewed by a 5-0 vote at Tuesday night’s board of education meeting.
Smith’s crusade to end Hall’s 29-year tenure as the team’s head coach is believed to have started when
Hall cut Smith’s son from the varsity in the spring of 2010. Perrysburg advanced to a regional final
that season.
One now can only wonder why Smith ran for the board last fall – was he truly interested in helping
improve the district or was it solely to get rid of Hall?
If I’m an employee of the school district, I’m wondering if I’m next on Smith’s hit list.
In a time when schools are having serious trouble with financing, it’s hard to believe a district’s No. 1
problem is its baseball coach – especially a coach the quality of Hall.
Hall is a member of the Ohio Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame and has won more than 500 games in
building the Yellow Jackets into one of the Northern Lakes League’s best programs through
fundamentally-sound play.
Perrysburg has played in two Final Fours, most recently in 2011, and is starting to turn the regional
tournament into its home away from home.
Now, district administrators and the other board members are left to repair the hard feelings and reunite
the district created by Smith’s self-serving interests.
NO RIVALS: Although the Western Collegiate Hockey Association is a good league with good schools, good
people and good competition, Bowling Green doesn’t have an arch-rival in its new home.
The Falcons don’t have any built-in geographic rivals – like Lake Superior, Michigan Tech and Northern
Michigan are in the Upper Peninsula; the two Alaska schools; or the two Minnesota schools.
The three UP schools and Ferris State also are rivals in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic
Conference. Ferris is the closest school to BG and it’s a four-hour drive.
BG’s biggest rivals in the WCHA will be the best teams in the league each season.
But BG’s biggest rivals will always be fellow Mid-American Conference members Miami and Western Michigan;
and Michigan, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
HEADSHAKER: The Ohio High School Athletic Association wants us to believe two officials are better than
three in its district high school hockey playoffs.
Under OHSAA and National Federation of High School Sports rules, leagues are allowed to use either two or
three officials during the regular season.
The Northwest Hockey Conference uses two referees and one linesman during the regular season and the
OHSAA goes back to the three-officials system for its state semifinals and finals.
Yet, only two are used in the district playoffs and the decision is frustrating for players, coaches and
fans.
The game is too fast and physical for two officials, who have to call penalties, and icing and offsides.

With just two officials, the line calls in the district playoffs often border on atrocious.
Having a third person on the ice to help handle any problems isn’t a bad idea, either.
And why is the OHSAA asking its officials to work in a three-man crew all season and then suddenly change
to a two-man crew in the district playoffs?
Unfortunately, it’s all to save a few dollars.