Carson High's Hall of Fame football dinner a can't-miss event

Circle Aug. 14 on your calendar. That's the date for the annual Carson High School Football Hall of Fame dinner.

Once again, the event will be held at Mo & Sluggos, located at Curry and Telegraph streets, and former CHS stars Rich Martillaro, John Eck and Doug Taladay will be honored for their achievements on the gridiron.

The celebration starts at 6:30 p.m., and admission is $25 per person.

And, followers of the CHS program will get an opportunity to meet members of this year's team. Carson is coming off one of the best seasons in school history, winning the Sierra League championship by going undefeated in league play. The Senators beat North Valleys in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to Galena in overtime.

Coach Blair Roman said there will be a door prize, dozens of raffle items and a silent auction that night.

Among the silent auction items is an autographed football from former 49er stars Joe Montana and Dwight Clark, the architects of "The Catch". There will also be autographed footballs from former 49er linebacker Dave Wilcox and former 49er and Oakland Raiders tight end Ted Kwalick plus footballs signed by ex-Dallas stars Mel Renfro and Ed 'Too Tall' Jones.

Also up for grabs are four tickets to the Giants and Rockies on Sept. 1 and four tickets to the Brewers and Giants on Sept. 19. And, given the fact that the Giants are challenging for a division title, those two dates will be critical games.

Also up for bid is a Cole Hamels autographed baseball, the Big Blue Super Bundle which includes a sideline pass to a game of the winner's choice and Carson High apparel. And last but not least is the El Dorado Hotel & casino package, which includes dinner for two at Roxy's, two show tickets to the El Dorado showroom and one night in an El Dorado suite.

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Now that Little League is over, at least for all District 1 teams, I wanted to weigh in on the change in format that took place this year.

District 1 went from pool play and a single-elimination tournament to a double-elimination tournament plus consolation games.

Tim Terry, the first-year District 1 administration said one of the reasons for the new format was to put importance on early games. Often times, teams could cruise through pool play without even using their best pitchers, thus keeping them well rested for the more important games later in the tourney.

Personally, and I'm the first to admit I'm very old school, I liked the double-elimination part of the format but hated that teams would end up playing five or six games just to get to a third-place game. I would have been in favor of teams playing one consolation game after losing their second game and that's it.

Let the kids and parents try to squeeze in a quick vacation before Pop Warner practice starts or before their next travel ball tournament comes up.

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And, while we're on the subject of Little League, I did think the District 1 tournament at Governors Field ran very amoothly.

Hats off to Terry, Kaylie Allen plus all the umpires, scorekeepers and announcers who volunteered their time during the two-week event.