Upsets prompted by flu; playoffs in sight

Talked to several coaches this week and privately they worried, but not about game plans or executions. Rather it is about the health of the players, not just in football, but in various sports.

Between the normal strains of flu and the H1N1 virus, coaches are sweating about the availability of their players. Last weekend we saw two good examples of how sicknesses could change entire seasons.

Walsh Jesuit went up to Bedford Bearcat Stadium to play Benedictine, a team struggling with one win, Mismatch, right? Final score: Benedictine 14, Walsh 3. It was a night that the Warriors felt the effects of the flu bug.

Then we saw a hot Woodridge team losing to Rootstown with, you guessed it, players out or hurting from the dreaded bug.

So here we are watching individual  games in each sport that may be altered not injury, but the flu. Those losses could keep either or both teams out of the post season and certainly hurting their chances of hosting a first round home game, too.

The other night John Kissner, Walsh boys soccer coach, said his team (5-7-2) was not only devastated by injuries in an unprecedented way in his coaching career, but illness has also taken its toll.

The nightmare scenario for all the coaches is a big game, match or race comes and a key player or players are not available to play.

Maybe the TV detective Adrian Monk on the USA Network had it right all along - keep using those hand wipes,