CCS D-II Water Polo: Soquel Knights downs Aptos Mariners

Caleb Conray of Soquel pressures Scott Hoenisch of Aptos in CCS play (Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel)

NOTE: this is an article I wrote for the November 15 edition of the Santa Cruz Sentinel, and can be found online here.

By Zach Stoloff

APTOS -- The Soquel High boys water polo team survived a massive second-half comeback attempt by Aptos and beat the Mariners 13-10 in the Central Coast Section Division II quarterfinals Saturday.

The No. 3-seeded Knights will move into the CCS semifinals after defeating No. 6 Aptos for the fourth time in 2009, including their 16-9 victory in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League tournament title match.

"It's hard to beat a team four times," Soquel coach Marcelo Adas said. "Each time they play, they learn something about us. ... It's an easy game when you play hard, but we gave them a chance and it became a close game."

Max Schell paced Soquel with six goals, while Daniel Salyer added four of his own. Cody Gilbert led Aptos with five goals.

The match was a tale of two halves. The Knights dominated the first 14 minutes, building up a 10-1 halftime lead. After that, they mostly weathered Aptos' storm of a comeback.

The Mariners outscored Soquel 4-1 in the third quarter, bringing the game to 11-5 after Gilbert's goal with 30 seconds left in the period. In the fourth quarter, Aptos again dictated the pace of play -- and score at 5-2 -- but ultimately could not overcome a six-goal deficit.

"The intensity came up in the second half," Aptos coach Doug DeMuth said. "We focused on shutting down their counterattack, but were outplayed in the first half on the offensive end."

Gilbert led the charge after the Mariners fell into an early hole, including making a no-look, backwards goal in the third quarter.

Aptos came within four goals at 11-7 with 4:21 remaining in the game, but a goal by Soquel's Dillon Foster 50 seconds later sealed the win.

"We had a winning season, had some successes," DeMuth said. "We even took a trip and won a tournament in Ventura."

As Aptos' season ends, Soquel's is just heating up. Next up is No. 2 Menlo School [21-6] of Atherton at either 5:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. Tuesday at Monta Vista High in Cupertino. The teams, who share the Knights mascot, haven't met this season.

"It feels good to get to this point," said Salyer, Soquel's co-captain. "We played Menlo in last year's semis when they had a really stacked team, so we're looking forward to a rematch. Same pool, same teams."

Menlo won that matchup, 17-5, and went on to lose to Sacred Heart Prep in the D-II final.

Vindication Season

(Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

By Zach Stoloff -Angelswin.com Columnist

October is vindication season in Los Angeles (of Anaheim).

With one swing of the bat, Vladimir Guerrero made all the Halo faithful forget his postseason struggles.

With one, simple, 1-2-3 inning, Brian Fuentes made all of those still pining for Frankie Rodriguez forget his shaky September.

With one base hit by Bobby Abreu, Jonathan Papelbon’s 27 inning postseason scoreless streak and impenetrable aura became a distant memory.

With one improbable comeback, the Angels showed why they ranked second in MLB in come-from-behind victories, and conjured memories of the magic of 2002.

With one series-sweeping series victory, the Angels dispelled the nation-wide notion that they’re incapable of beating the Red Sox when it really matters, and booked themselves a ticket to their third American League Championship Series this decade.

Sorry, ESPN, you won’t be getting that Sox/Yanks series we all know you really wanted. You’ll have to settle for a West Coast club. Albeit one who won more games than the ‘Sox each of the past two seasons.

While standard logic says you’d rather have your team celebrate in front of the home town fans, seeing the Angels dogpile on the Fenway mound while stunned-silent Chowderheads slowly trickled out in palpable disbelief—could there have been a prettier picture?

In many ways, this series was an exorcism of sorts. Not necessarily for the very real ghosts of Nick Adenhart and Donnie Moore, but for Angels fans and players who bore witness to the soul-crushing defeats of 2004, 2007, and 2008.

It’s safe to say that talk of hexes has been resoundingly put to rest.

Chone Figgins may have gone 0 for 13 entering his final at bat Sunday—recalling images of his spotty play in postseasons past—but ultimately he got on base when it mattered, scoring the tying run in the ninth.

Abreu had done his best work thus far in the series in the pitches he didn’t swing at, but his bat did all the talking it needed to with its ninth inning RBI double.

Guerrero, oft maligned by fans unable to stomach his free-swinging ways in the wake of declined production, thoroughly proved his value in the cleanup role Sunday, vindicating himself as well as Mike Scioscia, who has stuck with him in that spot all season.

However, no player was more clutch when it mattered than rising star Erick Aybar, who hit the go-ahead triple on Friday, then, with the Angels down to their final strike and no one on base Sunday, singled to extend the inning and start the Angels’ incredible rally.

LA’s supposedly shaky bullpen mostly got the job done, keeping the game close enough to give the offense a chance after Scott Kazmir’s worst start in an Angels uniform made matters look bleak.

And then, of course, two runs behind and down to their final strike against perhaps the game’s best closer, the ultimate vindication occurred.

There would be no smug fist-shaking from Papelbon Sunday afternoon.

After all the mentions how the Red Sox were in the Angels’ heads, that was a storyline which never had a chance to play out. Rather, it seems that these ‘head games’ were entirely in the heads of the sportswriters.

The Angels, right from the get-go, seemed completely unfazed by their rivals in the opposite dugout, even as the first two games went scoreless into the middle innings and tension rose.

No, hexes and head games were always just a mythical invention of us sportswriters to attract readers, and ultimately they probably have nothing to do with how these games play out on the field.

So would it be contradictory to start looking ahead to (likely) the Yankees, and the Angels’ impressive record against them over the last decade plus?

Well, if you’re going to claim that the Red Sox supposed mental advantage over the Angels was overblown, it’s probably not good practice to refer to the Angels’ psychological edge over the Yankees.

It was Mike Scioscia’s one-game-at-a-time approach which enabled LA to get the monkey off their back with Boston, and it’s going to be that same approach which prevents them from a letdown against New York, so there’s no need to cite head games.

However, for the rest of Sunday and until the ALCS begins on Friday, Angels fans can take much satisfaction in downing the ‘Sox. There is still much work to be done and eight more wins to be earned, but make no mistake, this was an enormously important moral victory for this team.

Oh, yes indeed… how sweep it is.

Unfortunately, no ghost sightings

Last night I went to the (supposedly haunted) Brookdale Lodge--about a 20-minute drive up windy, redwood-laden Highway 9 from Santa Cruz--to see Dr. Dog perform some songs.

It's been a while since I first discovered this band when MTV2's Subterranean played their video for "Fool's Life" while I was probably stoned late when evening, but, honestly, I can't say I'm that big a fan of the band.

It's actually pretty impressive, nearly every review I've read covering one of their albums starts off with a diatribe about how music critics aren't supposed to compare contemporary bands to The Beatles, but that Dr. Dog sound so alike they just can't resist making that link.

So, suffice to say I found it pretty ironic that some Beatles greatest hits record was playing in between sets.

ANYWAY, Jeffrey Lewis was on stage when I arrived, and unfortunately I didn't realize that he was as big in the indie (anti-folk, specifically) scene as I later read. However, it's hard to say that his time on stage was really anything more than a novelty act. I mean, when you can't even tune your own guitar it's hard to take you seriously as a musician.

However, just to say a nice word, the guy was clearly a clever lyricist, and apparently a pretty talented cartoonist, as well.

Despite my lukewarm feelings towards Dr. Dog, I had decided to go to this show because I had heard many times that they were a great live act. And as it turned out, that is completely true. Their set did drag a bit given that I didn't really know their song too well, and many of them have a similar tempo, but you've got to love well-executed three-part harmonies.

However, though I probably shouldn't judge bands for their fashion sense, it always bothers me when bands wear sunglasses indoors. I don't know why, but it does... particularly when you're dressed like Bob Dylan circa 1974.

ANYWAY, here is some Dr. Dog media: the video for "Fool's Life" and a live performance of "My Own Ways" on the show of some guy who committed sexual harassment:

Still the best album of the year (so far)...

Before I stopped updating this blog regularly I gave my endorsement to Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest as the front-runner for best album of the year--at least in my eyes.

Months later, that predilection still holds true, as there just hasn't been anything in 2009 that can stand up to GB's psychedelic vocal harmonies when they're executed over a pop format such as they are in this album.

Moreover, "While You Wait for the Others" is probably the best individual track of 2009, too, with Veckatimest claiming the rare feat of having its best tracks be its lead singles.

I could gush all day over this album, but this isn't the time or place to do so at length. So, instead, here's a Grizzly Bear video dump:

The Santa Cruz smoking ban: an opinion

--Zach Stoloff (me)

Like most intelligent people, I believe that “South Park” can provide most of the answers to life’s most difficult conundrums.

In fact, one of the great talents of the show over the years has been its ability to not only satirize events in pop culture as they happen, but to actually predict the future. The best example of “South Park’s” foresight is the full-length movie, whose entire plot satirizes the controversy that the movie itself created upon release.

So upon hearing about the Santa Cruz smoking ban which will go into effect on October 20, I couldn’t help but go back and watch the season 7 episode entitled “Butt Out,” which originally aired on December 3, 2003. The entire plot of the episode revolves around director Rob Reiner’s attempts to have smoking banned, and the methods and motivations of the anti-smoking crowd.

The general thesis of the episode is that smoking is a personal choice, and that it is overly-stigmatized compared with other vices. As a ‘tobacco executive’ explains it: “In 1965… Congress passed an act forcing all tobacco companies to put the Surgeon General’s warning on all their packages. So now, everyone knows the dangers of smoking, and some people still choose to do it, and we believe that’s what being an American is all about.”

This view, of course, does not encapsulate all of the issues regarding the smoking ban. However, it is clear that the ban is part of a larger government-sanctioned stigmatizing of a certain lifestyle. There is obviously a large contingent of the Santa Cruz population that supports this ban (as the ban passed unanimously through the city council), which means there are a large number of people in Santa Cruz who just plain don’t like smoking.

The two talking points on this issue seem to be a) second hand smoke, and b) litter (cigarette butts) as a byproduct of smoking on Pacific Avenue and other prominent Santa Cruz spots. However, neither one of these reasons seems to hold much weight, and it’s probably more true that the ban is a) another attempt by Santa Cruz to seem more ‘progressive,’ and b) an excuse to clear ‘riff-raff’ from downtown streets.

I do not smoke cigarettes, yet I don’t believe I am going to get cancer from occasionally walking past a smoker outdoors. If I did believe that I would be insane. Moreover, I am willing to put up with the slight annoyance of a small amount of cigarette smoke downtown. Pacific Avenue is not a children’s playground. There are probably near 20 bars lining the streets, so there ought to be some sort of reasonable expectation that perhaps this isn’t Pleasantville.

And come on, is Santa Cruz really worried about the negative impact that smoking has on its aesthetic value? With all due respect to the less fortunate, this is a city which allows the homeless to wander with complete impunity, so precisely what is the message? The thought of a child picking up a cigarette butt off the street is tragic, but exposing them to a large population of the mentally ill is just dandy?

No, this is not an issue of cancer, nor is it of litter. Make no mistake, Santa Cruz is on a blind march to serve its name as a progressive haven at all cost.

In the aforementioned “South Park” episode’s closing moments, Kyle’s typical monologue, speaking to the anti-smoking crusader Rob Reiner, features the words “You just hate smoking, so you use all your money and power to force others to think like you, and that’s called fascism.” So while I am not claiming that there is a great conspiracy against tobacco, what I do believe is that there is a strong anti-smoking sentiment snowballed out of control.

I’ve always believed that Santa Cruz is one of the most tolerant cities in the nation. With its large LGBT community, aforementioned acquiescence to the homeless, and generally socially liberal views, I do think that in many cases Santa Cruz is, in fact, one of the most socially progressive cities anywhere.

However, this smoking band is not tolerant. In fact, it is quite the opposite insofar as the city government is essentially saying that it will not tolerate smoking, as it attempts to push the activity towards social fringes. But to invoke “South Park” one last time, tolerance doesn’t mean that you have to like something, it only means that you agree to put up with an inconvenience.

The Santa Cruz government ought to ask itself if they plain just don’t like smoking, or if it is something that could be tolerated.

Welcome back to Default Skin

So, I assume that no one reads this, anyway, but seeing as maintaining a daily blog might actually make me look like a motivated journalist to perspective employers, I figured it'd be a good idea to re-start this thing.

Once again, this blog has no specific parameters; it's just a collection of my writings and links and references to things I find interesting.

The topics are (probably mostly) going to hover around topics like baseball, music, and South Park (because, well, those are things I find interesting), but really please don't expect there to be even that much continuity.

ANYWAY, who am I? I am Zach Stoloff. I am:
- an aspiring journalist / writer
- an intern for Good Times Santa Cruz writing music reviews / concert previews.
- a columnist for Angelswin.com, the only run-by-the-fans blogging site on the 'net to have a press credential with a Major League Baseball franchise
- the Editor in Chief of the Cabrillo Voice, a bi-weekly student publication of Cabrillo College in Aptos (near Santa Cruz)

Happy reading!

Remember the Swine Flu?

This past week, Texas Rangers starting pitcher Vicente Padilla tested positive for Swine Flu. However, this was far from a death sentence and, in fact, the righty is on track to make his next start.

Nothing terribly remarkable about this story, it just serves as another example of how the entire Swine Flu 'epidemic' was completely blown out of proportion, and entirely a media creation. Well, that is if you actually ask the scientists who study this kind of thing.

God bless 24 hour cable news.