CALLER 1: My beef is although I’ve been reading great stuff about the Acorns rugby team starting 4-0 for the season, it also states that they’re hosting a game on Feb. 17. But they don’t have a field. As I understand it, the heads of state at Live Oak have decided to keep the field access away from the team, even though they had allocated field use for five consecutive games. Now they’re told they have no field access at all. So I don’t understand how they’re supposed to host a tournament when they don’t have access to a field. Even though they are considered Live Oak’s team, they are not supported by Live Oak High School. So this sucks and I’d like to know what can be done about it. Thanks.
GREEN PHONE: We received another call regarding this issue….please read on.
CALLER 2: I have a friend who just called and left a message complaining about the rugby field being taken away from Live Oak rugby. I’m hoping that you will not print that. We are working with the school district right now on also having a meeting with them on Friday in hopes of coming to an agreement and get our field and we really don’t want to cause any bad press. And it just would be bad and I’m surprised she did that and I’m a coach’s wife and I’m sorry it happened. Please do not print it. We’d like to work with the school district instead of start swinging at each other in the newspaper. So please don’t print any bad press about Live Oak rugby. We’re working with the principal and the school district and we will get this resolved and we will have our fields and this should not be any problem. Thank you.
GREEN PHONE: Callers 1 and 2 both have interesting points. Here at the Times we run the Green Phone so anyone can call in their opinions about anything. The Live Oak rugby team has the use of the practice football field on the Live Oak campus, where today’s game will be held at 10am. The team went through all the proper channels to get the use of the stadium field, but the district office declined. Live Oak’s coach Bart Nielsen says he is thankful to have the opportunity to play on campus.
CALLER 3: I’m reading your sports edition on Feb. 7-10. Your headline about the “Bulldogs Snap Skid to Beat Vikings.” Underneath the headline it says “Sobrato Ends 5-game Losing Streak with Homecoming Win.” I just would like to know how you can have a Homecoming when you’ve never had a graduating class. And I think it’s about time to end this rivalry with Live Oak. Live Oak has a 100-year history of graduating seniors and you have a school that’s a couple years old that only has juniors in the school. How can you call a game a Homecoming game when nobody’s ever graduated from Sobrato High School and the tradition of Homecoming is actually alumni coming back to watch a sporting event. So I’m just curious about how that works.
GREEN PHONE: A valid question Caller 3. The headline stated “Homecoming Win” because that is how Ann Sobrato High School promoted the game. As a new high school, Sobrato has to create traditions that they hope to be long standing for their current students and future alumni. Homecoming games can stand for many things, not just alumni coming back. Often homecoming games and dances are held in the Fall for students returning to school from summer break, thus the title homecoming.
CALLER 4: I heard the Raiders tried to hire John Madden and going back for glory. What’s the deal with trying to hire Art Shell again? Don’t they know he’s washed up anyway? Thanks.
GREEN PHONE: It is the Green Phone’s opinion that the Raiders’ have chosen Art Shell as their new head coach is because no one else wanted the job. Shell has had experience dealing with the whimsy of Al Davis and that makes him a good fit for Oakland.
