Tallahassee Baseball Highlighted by MaxPreps.com Widget

The high school baseball season is underway in North Florida. Tallahassee Chiles got off to a fast start last week in its opener with a 15-0 victory against Tallahassee Godby.

Chiles is using Home Team Online to host its baseball program website and webmaster Rob Murrell has a MaxPreps.com widget on the main index page that covers all of 5A District 2:

www.chilesbaseball.com

Fledgling DVAL Turns to the MaxPreps.com Widget

The Diablo Valley Athletic League (DVAL) is a one-year-old association of seven California schools in the Concord-Pleasant Valley-Walnut Creek corridor, just northeast of Oakland. Its membership is comprised by Berean Christian, Clayton Valley, College Park, Concord, Mt. Diablo, Northgate and Ygnacio Valley.

League webmaster Christine Bailey liked the MaxPreps widget so much that she wanted to add soccer coverage to her lineup of syndicated sports, only to learn that soccer is not yet an option. You can be sure MaxPreps’ senior programmer Ken Singh has dutifully taken note of this enthusiasm for a non-core sport.

http://www.diabloval.com/Index.html

Law Coach Takes on New Project - and MaxPreps Widget

In some baseball circles, Dennis Sweeney is known as one of the guys at Seton Hall University who in 1990 replaced legendary first baseman and slugger Maurice “Mo” Vaughn, who had just been drafted by the Boston Red Sox.

But Sweeney was actually drafted by the Minnesota Twins in 1991 as a pitcher after spending much of his collegiate career as a right fielder. He later began a teaching and coaching career at Jonathan Law High School in Milford, Conn., a career that culminated last spring in a CIAC Class L baseball championship.

Sweeney is now involved in a new project with a number of former professional players, a web site that will serve as a baseball resource and teaching tool of the highest order. The accomplished participants in this project seek to share their time and knowledge to provide a wealth of baseball information and to promote the sport by encouraging player development and enhancing the overall experience.

The test site for Fundamentals Plus is here:

http://www.fundamentalsplus.com/preview/090210/

In the meantime, Sweeney’s Law baseball team is preparing for its state title defense with a new MaxPreps.com widget on its web site, one that the coach created to include all teams on his 2009 schedule:

http://lawbaseball.com/SCCPAGE.html

Widgets Aren't Just for High School Sites

We’ve obviously seen plenty of high school sports web sites in our widget travel throughout the nation. But this may be a first – a middle school basketball web site.

Grover Washington, Jr Middle School won the 2007 Philadelphia city boys’ title and maintains a League Lineup site to keep fans abreast of its latest developments. Coach John Creighton also deploys a MaxPreps.com widget to follow former players who have moved onto high schools such as Philadelphia Roman Catholic, Neumann & Goretti and Cardinal Dougherty.

http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=groverwashingtonjazz

Ladies Explore Data Management with MaxPreps Widget

The Hudson, Ohio, LadyExplorers – yes, it’s one word – will take a 10-7 record into Saturday night’s game against Elyria (15-3). We know this, of course, because Hudson has a MaxPreps.com widget on its web site:

http://www.ladyexplorersbasketball.com/

What’s more, the Hudson site has a high-functioning video player on the front page of its site, one that plays the team’s most recent highlights. It’s difficult to believe Hudson has lost seven games after viewing this footage, especially with the play of the big girl, Hannah Jones, up front. It just goes to show how competitive girls’ basketball is in Ohio.

Illinois Sports Hall Calls MaxPreps.com Widget

The Springfield, Ill., Sports Hall of Fame is busy planning for its 19^th-annual banquet and awards ceremony at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. St. Louis University men’s basketball coach Rick Majerus, who has won more than 400 games and also has served as a television color and studio analyst, will be the featured speaker at the April 7 event.

Despite all the activity, Hall of Fame webmaster Joe Williams made the time to create this 21-school, all-sports widget to serve the greater Springfield area:
 

http://www.springfieldsportshalloffame.com/sports.html 

Please visit the Hall of Fame here.

Texas Gulf Site Goes All Out With MaxPreps Widget

The Texas web site 956Sports.com covers nearly 50 schools in Brownsville/Texas Gulf area (you can not go to college in the Longhorn…I mean Lone Star… State and not have gone to Padre Island at least once during Spring Break.

Anyway, a good friend of Sam Ritter’s, Jake Berry, owns and operates 956Sports.com and has widgets in play for football, boys’ and girls’ basketball, and baseball.

Home Page:

http://956sports.com/

Boys’ Basketball Page

http://956sports.com/?page_id=517

Please visit this outstanding site in one of Texas’ great sports areas.

Bird’s Eye Sports Two Mega-Widgets

Bird’s Eye Sports in Connecticut finally has its complete, state-wide coverage up and running for both boys’ and girls’ basketball. Owner/publisher Ben Talbott commissioned a couple of MaxPreps mega widgets earlier this week, including not only all schools and basketball teams in the CIAC but a number of private and boarding schools as well. Here is his 208-school girls’ module. I see three more mega widgets coming this spring for baseball, boys’ lacrosse and girls’ lacrosse.

http://www.birdseyesports.com/updates-stats.php?sportsId=12&&s=f

NJ High School Network, MaxPreps Widget Join Forces

We continue to be impressed with the growing number of regional high school sports web sites appearing on the Internet. Not only is quantity in evidence, but quality and depth of coverage is, too. Among the leaders in the Northeast in this burgeoning media category is the New Jersey-based operation run by Philip McRimmon, president of Kira Media Services in Upper Montclair, N.J.

Coverage was initially carried at www.njhotshots.com but has since moved to a new multi-media location, the New Jersey High School Network: http://www.njhssportsnetwork.com/

Mr. McRimmon has added a 114-school MaxPreps.com boys’ basketball widget to his publication, with more widgets to follow:

http://www.njhssportsnetwork.com/blogList.php

“We have established a pretty strong following over the years (45 to 50, 000 unique visitors per month) and our new platform allows us the opportunity to grow,” McRimmon said.