Laguna Beach Girls Didn’t Snow Anyone by Hitting the Slopes

W ith the playoffs just around the corner, it’s time to start taking this season seriously.

On second thought . . .

--Some say by choosing to ski Mammoth this week instead of playing their final two games of the season, members of the Laguna Beach girls’ soccer team are demonstrating a tremendous lack of commitment.

Hang on a minute. The girls said months ago they were going to take this trip, and they did.

How much more committed can you get?

--Three of the five starters on the Mater Dei boys’ basketball team were benched for the first half against Capistrano Valley Wednesday night because they chose to participate in Tuesday’s Senior Ditch Day.

Skiing? Ditch days? Somebody do something--quick--before fun runs amok in Orange County.

--CIF marketing execs take note. The Angels plan 40 promotions for the 1993 home schedule, among them: Pillow Case Night, Laundry Bag Night and Shower Curtain Night.

Don’t know about you, but an official CIF Shower Curtain certainly sounds like a winner to me.

--Five days after getting a black eye in a game against Sunny Hills, Sonora’s Chris St. Clair set a single-game school record by scoring 40 points against La Habra. What a sight for a sore eye.

--Apparently, St. Clair used to be a pretty fair baseball player. When he quit the sport in eighth grade, traveling team coaches from around the area came to his house and begged him to reconsider. His reason for quitting baseball? He got cold playing outdoor sports.

--Edison’s three-point ace Joan Paje says her parents gave her whatever she wanted when she was younger--including the right to name her baby brother.

Introducing Isiah Paje, named after Paje’s longtime idol, Isiah Thomas.

--Brea-Olinda has to be the only high school in Orange County where you immediately think of girls, not boys, each time someone says the word “basketball.”

--Look for El Dorado High to benefit from a recent ruling by the school board of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District. The board voted Tuesday to assign Yorba Linda Middle School students to El Dorado. A proposal to split the middle school students between El Dorado and Esperanza was rejected.

El Dorado Athletic Director Carl Sweet said some of the students will have the option of attending Troy or Esperanza, so he won’t be able to gauge the effect on Golden Hawk sports programs until kids start showing up in the fall.

Said Sweet: “It’s not like the students sign letters of intent or anything.”

--The Southern Section’s decision to change the playoff format midway through the basketball season prompted some interesting response, though none better than this from University girls’ Coach Bob Bernal:

“It would be like taking ‘Green Acres’ off in the middle of the year,” Bernal told the Irvine World News.

--Regarding that quick kiss on the cheek Magnolia’s Demetrius Maltie gave Western’s Josh Cook Wednesday night: Demetrius, when your coach talks about X’s and O’s, he’s not talking about hugs and kisses.

--Spotted: A pack of high school runners jogging through an orange grove in Irvine. Preparing for the Sunkist Invitational, no doubt.

--Track and field season starts Feb. 20, and you know what that means. For the first time in CIF history, girls will be allowed to compete in the pole vault.

Said the Southern Section’s Dean Crowley: “I told everybody to make sure they remember the height of the first jump because it’ll be a State record until the next girl breaks it.”

--High school basketball players have been known (unfortunately) to punch each other, but Jacob Cuccia of Sunny Hills recently was suspended for three games for punching the Fullerton Indian.

--With the torrential rains subsiding and soccer fields finally drying out, you have to feel sorry for El Toro goalkeeper Traci Jensen. In Jensen’s opinion, mud is a many splendored thing.

--Bobby Ishii is one of the most intense members of the Westminster basketball team, but his passion isn’t limited to hoops. For eight years, Ishii has competed in kendo, a Japanese form of fencing and a traditional training discipline of the Samurai.

--The Southern Section staff considers this weekend to be its most hellish of the year. Officials will be working into the wee hours Saturday and Sunday drawing up the section basketball playoffs. Boys’ pairings will be announced Sunday; girls’ Monday.

Dean Crowley says he has already lost sleep worrying whether league coordinators will supply him with enough complete, accurate information.

“I’m not having dreams,” he said. “I’m having nightmares.”

Sounds as if it’s time for a break. A few days in Mammoth, maybe?

Barbie Ludovise’s column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Ludovise by writing her at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, 92626, or by calling (714) 966-5847.