Mayer: Rivet Fans A Great Example of Small School Support

Courtesy: football.isport.com

Vincennes Rivet has pretty incredible fan support. No matter the sport, Patriots' fans turn out in droves to cheer on student athletes representing their community. It does not matter if it's boys or girls playing, the Rivet community binds together.

The Patriots will play in the 1A baseball state title game on Saturday in Indianapolis. Victory Field is a bit of a different setting compared to St. Vincent's Field where Rivet usually plays. For that matter, Victory Field is on a whole other level compared to the very nice complex at Plainfield which hosted semi-state. Rivet was here before in 2009 playing the role of under dog against a powerhouse; Lafayette Central Catholic. LCC won and will once again be the opponent that stands in the way of Rivet returning with a baseball state title.

This blog post is not about the impending baseball match up, it's about the fans love for Rivet athletics. In the last nine months or so I have had a great deal of experience seeing the Rivet community support their student athletes first hand. Covering the Patriots basketball games was always fun. They play in a tightly packed gym that seemed constantly over capacity. Fans plan their weekends and nights around Rivet athletics. It becomes a source of family and community pride.

I don't want to take away from other schools who also have similar pride and community relevance. I won't try to name them all, but off the top of my head Linton, Loogootee, Barr-Reeve, Rockville, and North Daviess come to mind. Of course all the Vigo County schools are no slackers. High School sports across the entire Valley have an incredible following.

Courtesy; coachesaid.com

But back to Rivet. I may be biased simply because of my interactions with these Patriots lovers. There is such an incredible sense of extended family. Everyone is a joy to be around and they never fail to make their presence known despite being the perennial underdog.

It all started when I did a feature on Will Sievers (check out this story, it's my favorite) who is probably the biggest Patriots fan around. The Sievers have been involved with Rivet for a long time. Father Joel and son Matthew played for Rivet while mother Leanne and second son Will are a constant presence. Through the Sievers, I truly got a sense of what the school and athletic teams mean to the community.

The examples continued when the Rivet girls basketball team made a run to the state finals. Rivet faced Barr-Reeve in the Vikings home gym, but the fans showed up in full force and saw the Lady Patriots prevail. The next week I was shocked to see the small school haul a contingent of supporters across the state to regionals. The all day venture was rewarded when the Lady Patriots advanced to semi-state. Of course a 58-50 victory over Southwestern led to a fourth title game in five years. The Patriots fell in that contest, but Patriots fans filled the Hulman Center and saw the girls make a valiant late comeback.

That leads to the baseball team behind beloved coach Bill Beard. Well, all the coaches at Rivet seem to be beloved, but you get my point. The Patriots may have been to the title game in 09', but this is a true underdog story. There is only one senior on the Rivet squad. They came together and started playing their best ball recently leading to their semi-state victory over favored Rising Sun last weekend. Yesterday, the community held a pep rally in support of the baseball team. It was straight out of a John Mellencamp song.

It's always tough to single out a certain player, team, or fan base because it's obvious there are many others who care as much or have faced just as much adversity. In my time working in the Wabash Valley, Vincennes Rivet has come away as extra special. Win or lose on Saturday, the players and coaches will be praised. The support will be endless and great memories will be made.. It's the Rivet way.

What Does the U.S. Soccer Win Over Germany Mean?

 In advance of the qualifier vs Jamaica, NBC2 videographer Jon Moore looks at the meaning of the U.S. win vs Germany last week.

For the first time since the 1999 Confederations Cup the United States defeated Germany in a soccer match. The U.S held onto a 4-3 victory Sunday in Washington on the 100^th birthday of the national team. After a disappointing 4-2 lost to a very young and talented Belgium team earlier in the week many thought the Germans would come into RFK Stadium and dismantle the Americans.

Courtesy: brownsvilleherald.com

The German national team which is ranked second in the FIFA world rankings and are some experts favorites to win the 2014 World Cup. However, the starting lineup for the Germans on Sunday did not feature most of the stars expected to lead them to victory in Brazil. Even though the German team did not feature some of its premier talent, the eleven that wore the green away jerseys for Germany have a chance to make the team that will travel to Brazil next summer.

Nineteen year-old Julian Draxler who started and scored Sunday for Germany has a very bright future in both club and international play. Also in the lineup Sunday was Lukas Podolski, and Miroslav Klose who have both been featured in World Cup and Euro Cup matches in years previous. Many soccer writers will mention, “Well the U.S. basically played Germany's 'B' team so there isn't much to take away from this victory.” I disagree, does this win mean the U.S will challenge for a World Cup title in Brazil? Not a chance, but it does mean the gap is closing and the Americans are making strides in the right direction to eventually compete in the “worlds game”.

Courtesy: sbnation.com

Jozy Altidore scored on a venomous volley breaking his goal-less streak in a U.S uniform. If he can find his form and continue to put the ball into the back of the net, that would be a huge boost to the U.S attack. Also scoring for the Americans on Sunday was arguably the best player to ever wear a USMNT (United States Men's National Team) jersey, proud Texan Clint Dempsey. With his two goals yesterday Dempsey is now the third leading goal scorer in all competitions for the U.S. Though he recently celebrated his 30^th birthday Dempsey will need to be a force in Brazil for the United States if they hope to compete.

Courtesy nytimes.com

With six world cup qualifiers still remaining and three of those being played in June and July the USMNT must continue to make strides similar to the win over the Germans to not only qualify for Brazil but hopefully make some noise and shock the world. Sunday's game may have only been a friendly with not much riding on the outcome. However, when this country is looking for a reason to jump on a bandwagon every time the red, white, and blue takes the field, you hope to leave an impact.

Mayer: Sean Manaea's MLB Draft Fate

*The MLB Draft starts tomorrow and is scheduled to run through Saturday*

Courtesy: gosycamores.com

What a long strange trip it has been for Sean Manaea. Well, actually I should rephrase. Manaea's journey to the MLB draft has been closer to a short yet exciting and unpredictable roller coaster. The Sycamores ace left hander put together a decent enough sophomore season; he was second team All-MVC, went 5-3 with a 3.34 ERA and 115 strikeouts in 105 innings pitched. A good season, but not enough to be considered a top tier draft pick.

However, the campaign was solid enough to earn him a spot with the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod League, a hotbed for major league scouts during summer baseball. It was there he made a bit of an adjustment in his wind up bringing his hands over his head and things really took off. Manaea gained velocity on a fastball that had an incredible amount of natural movement. He combined that pitch with a devastating slider and nasty split change up. The result was a 5-1 record in eight starts with a 1.22 ERA and league leading 85 strikeouts in 57 innings.

Courtesy: capecodonline.com

Manaea grabbed all kinds of Cape Cod league awards in addition to being named to numerous college baseball pre-season award lists. He was being talked about as a possible top five pick in the draft. It all happened so fast. The year before Manaea had not even been a weekend starter for the Sycamores. I profiled Manaea in this story towards the beginning of the season when expectations were extremely high.

The southpaw did not disappoint. I wrote a blog post on April 24th, looking at what Indiana State had done so far and had this to say about Manaea: "Sean Manaea has been stalked by major league scouts all season and is expected to be a top five pick in the draft. Manaea is 5-3 over nine starts while accumulating a 1.57 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP (walks + hits/innings pitched). Hitters are batting only .195 against the big lefty with 72 strikeouts and 20 walks. In conclusion, Manaea is dominating as expected although he has seemed a bit off his last two outings (this could have to do with a hip injury sustained earlier this month)."

Take note of those last few words because here is where things really started to turn. Manaea dealt with this hip issue for at least a month. He didn't pitch poorly or struggle so outlandishly that it threw up red flags immediately, but something was off. He had too miss some starts and then after warming up in the first inning of the first game in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament had to leave. He wound up not pitching at all as ISU came up one game short of the finals. This time the cause was shoulder soreness.

The hip injury is going to put doubt into the mind of MLB evaluators simply becasue missing on a top ten pick is always painful. Add in shoulder problems and scouts are going to run, which has seemed to happened. Before the injuries Manaea was thought of in many front offices as "the biggest wild card in the draft." He has the build of a scout's dream; Left handed, 6'5", 235lbs. A great array of power pitches, but he had only recently turned into a truly dominating pitcher.

When scouts and draft experts added in the injuries, Manaea's draft stock has plummeted almost as quickly as it rose. Keith Law is thought of by many to be the preeminent voice in the MLB Draft (you can debate this, but either way he is quite knowledgeable). In his latest mock draft (insider required), Manaea has fallen out of the first round. Despite this, Law has the Sycamore's lefty listed as the eighth best prospect. Sports Illustrated's latest mock draft is a bit dated from May 30th, but had Manaea at 26th when he was originally slotted to be picked 9th. It would not surprise me to see him out of SI's first round if they come out with another mock.

Courtesy: MLB.com

After the Sycamores were eliminated by Wichita State in the MVC tournament I asked Coach Rick Heller and Manaea what lay ahead. The southpaw didn't give much away just saying it has always been his dream to play in the MLB and that he was still focusing on the present. The Sycamores coach had some interesting comments though implying that his lefty ace would need to see a significant offer or he could return to school. Following that it was learned Manaea was being advised by super agent Scott Boras and this article seemed to back up what Rick Heller had said previously.

Professional sports league drafts are full of speculation and question marks. Right now, the future of Sean Manaea may be more cloudy than any other prospect. The roller coaster has seen its ups and downs, but if I'm giving a personal opinion, it would not surprise me to see Manaea back on the Bob Warn field mound next year.