Notes, quotes & amp; anecdotes

A few weeks ago, I was standing outside a Barberton High School locker room, interviewing a teary-eyed Brittney Taylor after Rayen's loss to Canal Fulton Northwest in the regional semifinals.
I asked a few quick questions, thanked Taylor and walked back toward the court. Just before I got there, one of the Barberton volunteers shook her head and said, "I wouldn't want your job."
I smiled and thought, "Good. The job market's bad enough."
Truth is, I have a really fun job. Maybe it wasn't fun at that moment (and it's not too fun when you're getting accused of bias or getting yelled at by Boardman girls coach Ron Moschella, both of which happen with astounding frequency) but it beats working.
As Damon Runyan once said, "The best way to be a bum and make a living is to become a sportswriter."
Over the past 31/2 months, I've been to 39 high school basketball games, watched 49 teams, traveled hundreds of miles and heard "Eye of the Tiger" and "YMCA" a combined 56,732 times. And it was fun.
(By the way, what is it with "Eye of the Tiger"? It came out 25 years ago! Stop playing it!)
(And "YMCA"? Did anyone ever like this song?)
Because it's tradition, because I don't have original ideas and because I look for any opportunity to use parantheses, I give you the top notes, quotes and anecdotes of the winter season.
As always, choices are limited to teams I've seen, which is why I don't mention Liberty senior Mychal Doblanski anywhere. But I wish I could. He was pretty good when I saw him last year.
Favorite playersto watch this year
Favorite boys players to watch: Ursuline senior D'Aundray Brown (who is my choice for area MVP; his performance against Campbell in the district final was nothing short of spectacular), Campbell senior Jermaine Richardson (who matched Brown shot-for-shot in that game), Poland junior Ben Umbel (a very talented, very heady player), McDonald senior Bradley Hinton (an absolute monster inside), Boardman T.J. Hosa (a terrific hustle player), Canfield senior Sean Baker (who seems to play his best in the biggest games), Mooney junior L.J. Sutton (who was overlooked because the Cardinals had an average year), Warren JFK sophomore Desmar Jackson (jaw-dropping athleticism) and Harding junior Damian Eargle (an unselfish player on the area's best team).
Favorite girls players to watch: Rayen junior Brittney Taylor (my choice for girls MVP; she could probably play on quite a few area boys teams), Boardman junior Courtney Schiffauer (who I think is better than North Canton's heralded junior, Brittany Orban), Howland senior Melissa Airhart (most underrated player in the area), Hubbard senior Tressa Scahill (approximately 50 times better than you expect her to be), Lowellville senior Kaitlin McCarthy (who sees plays before they develop, a rarity at this level), Liberty senior Michelle Dykes (terrific quickness), Canfield junior Bryanne Halfhill (does a little bit of everything) and Hoover senior Stephanie Gibson (whose performance lifted Hoover past Boardman in the teams' first meeting).
(My first question after that game was about Gibson, prompting Moschella to offer some not-so-subtle advice regarding my postgame interviewing techniques. Being a true professional, I never mentioned it, nor did I ever try to get revenge by writing something like "Ron Moschella once waited in line for six hours to get his picture taken with Barry Manilow.")
Best interviewsand other stuff
Favorite players to interview: Brookfield junior Morgan Bonekovic, Canfield junior swimmer Eric Davis, Poland senior Lou Coppola, Lowellville senior Jacque Schrader and Lakeview senior Dustin Opalka.
Favorite coaches to interview: Lowellville girls coach Tony Matisi (is it possible to dislike Matisi?); Boardman swimming coach Terry O'Halloran (terrific ambassador for the sport); Rayen girls basketball coach Tanisha Franklin (even though she insists on calling me "sir"); Poland boys basketball coach Ken Grisdale (my pick for coach of the year) and Campbell coach Brian Danilov (who, in the midst of celebrating a district championship win, still had time to tell a joke at midcourt while his team was cutting down the nets).
(In case you're wondering, this was the joke: A guy is looking for a parking spot and can't find one. So he looks up to the heavens and says, "God, if you help me find a parking spot, I'll give up swearing, I'll give up drinking and I'll go to church every Sunday." Just then, five feet in front of him, a car pulls out of a spot. And the guy looks up and says, "Never mind, I've got one.")
Best cheerleaders: Rayen. I say the same thing every year: No one else is close.
Best food: Ursuline's pepperoni rolls.
Best hair: Hubbard junior Marc Kanetsky. Sort of has a Luke Skywalker-esque quality to it.
Best game: (Girls) Boardman's 64-59 overtime win at Canfield in the final game of the regular season; (Boys) Campbell's 69-63 win over Ursuline in the district final.
Best name: Canal Fulton Northwest's girls basketball coach is Denver Hoops. He looks a lot like KFC's Colonel Sanders.
The five quotesI loved the most
And, finally, the five quotes I loved the most.
Metro Athletic Conference commissioner Clem Zumpella, on the league's endless discussions on expansion. "It's like going to work every day for the last three years and talking about what to do with the copy machine. And after 20 suggestions, everyone says, 'Nah, none of them are good.'"
Speaking of leagues, a Boardman coach (not Moschella) told me that joining the Federal League has been compared to the war in Iraq: "We shouldn't have got in, we can't win and we don't know how to get out."
Speaking of Iraq, here's what Franklin said before her team's district final against Howland: "It's gonna be a battle, a dogfight. I'm going to prepare my girls. They'll be ready for Iraq."
After an overtime loss to Canfield -- his second OT loss of the season -- Grisdale finished talking to reporters, then looked over at me and said, "That's OK. The last time we lost two games in overtime, we went to Columbus." Less than two months later, I reminded Grisdale of that quote while he was holding the ladder for his team to cut down the nets after winning a regional title. "I was going to remind you of that," he said, laughing. "Was that prophetic or pathetic?"
The last word goes to Moschella, who gave me the funniest moment of the year. Leading by 37 in the fourth quarter of his 500th career victory, Moschella picked up a technical for arguing a call. When asked if he's nearing retirement, he said, "Just because I'm old doesn't make me retirement city. When I lose my enthusiasm and can't connect with the kids, I'll leave. But heck, I'm a bigger kid than half of them. I know I'm more immature than half of them."
Joe Scalzo is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at scalzo@vindy.com and read his blogs at Vindy.com.