Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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With a continued awkward playoff seeding scenario with the CIF Central Section, championship games and even home playoff contests are a rarity for our community. While we will not know what the playoff picture looks like for the Tehachapi Warriors Football team until Nov. 3, there will be a championship game at Coy Burnett Stadium on Nov. 1. The Warriors will host South High School for the South Yosemite Mountain League championship on our home turf. The Spartans have had a successful run this...
I've seen my fair share of high school football games over the years. I played in some memorable ones, too. From the field to the press box to the broadcast booth and the public address system, I've witnessed several contests that stick in my brain. But the game on Sept. 27, Tehachapi High School vs. Golden West (Visalia), is now at the top of my chart. Our Warriors lost the game, but witnessing that contest was worth the price of admission, or at least the price of my volunteer time to THS...
Another building near and dear to my heart closed last week as the Oakland Athletics played their final game at the Oakland Coliseum. I am one that is all for nostalgia, but unlike most fans, I do not let that blind me to the reality of life, and the reality of the business that is Major League Baseball and professional sports in general. Since the late 1960s the Coliseum has been relatively untouched, except for the renovation in the mid 1990s that added "Mount Davis," the extra seating and...
In 1977, a Tehachapi kid kicked a 45-yard field goal against Kern Valley and established a record that would stand for 47 years. Vince McLaughlin booted that field goal in a 27-10 loss at Kern Valley in a season that was less than memorable for the Warriors, who would finish the year 4-5 and suffer their first losing record since 1961. I'm fairly confident that Vince and his head coach at the time, Dennis Ruggles, paid very little attention to that record. Back then they might not have even know...
Football season is starting and many immediately draw their thoughts toward and attention to the National Football League, NCAA or high school football. While the game is played on several different levels across the country and in some cases, the world, some folks forget just how many leagues there once were and variations of the game ... unless you lived through one, like I did. As many of you are aware, I used to travel the country covering various sports via radio broadcasts, mostly at the...
A good stadium experience isn't only about the team you are cheering for, but potentially that one food item that while secondary to the reason for your trip, can make or break your entire experience. I have had the privilege of attending and covering sporting events all over the country and given that it is summertime and we have reached the midway point of the baseball season, I figured I can share some culinary musts that have made some of my ballpark trips worthwhile. First, in full...
The journey to this point of this little column has been interesting, and the focus from just coverage to coverage and advocacy, has been a key point to take a few moments to explore. Even the fact that this column is now on these pages and no longer in other publications stemmed from my advocacy for athletic participation during the COVID-19 shutdowns. Those words were considered "too controversial" for the sports page, when in fact those statements ring truer today than ever as increasingly...
Many of you are aware of my history within NCAA athletics, specifically at Cal State Bakersfield having served as their radio announcer from 2003-2017. Mostly with basketball before the creation of the baseball program in 2009, when I added that sport into the broadcast mix. A few seasons later I was an employee of the university and very connected with the baseball program as they built everything from the ground up. Recently it was announced that Jeremy Beard, the Roadrunners head coach from 2...
"The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love." – Sportscaster, Bryant Gumbel That love was on display on May 14 when the Tehachapi Warriors varsity baseball team played their final game of the season in an 8-4 loss to Exeter in the CIF Central Section Division III playoffs, hosted here in Tehachapi. While it did not come out in favor of our Warriors, there were moments of the day that members of my family and I will never forget. Not only was it the first time in quite a while that t...
It is amazing that we are once again heading into the tail end of the athletics season at Tehachapi High School. So much was accomplished and as usual, there is so much left to do. What a great historic season for the Warriors and Lady Warriors across a variety of sports. There of course was football, who posted a perfect 10-0 record during the regular season, only to fall victim to below-board CIF Central Section playoff seeding policies that bumped the Warriors up a division to the Division...
I’ve had the pleasure and the honor to play multiple sports throughout my lifetime. I have covered several more as a former broadcaster and journalist, and I have been exposed to several game environments, but for some reason none of them compare to the sanctity of the baseball diamond. I cannot put my finger on it, but even as a kid and an adolescent there was something about the baseball diamond that just made life outside of those fences disappear for a while. This feeling even continued f...
The City of Tehachapi continues to be the premier economy in Kern County in which to invest, do business and seek a return on investment. From small to large businesses, the City of Tehachapi continues to thrive benefiting from our location, diverse surroundings, full time police force and a dedication to code enforcement and quality of life. The City of Tehachapi benefits from a geographic location that drives traffic from surrounding communities into our shops, service stations, small...
While it was a bummer that the Tehachapi Lady Warriors fell 41-37 to Monache in the CIF Division II girls' basketball finals in Fresno last month, the second time in as many years the Warriors have finished as the runner-up, one has to be proud of the effort that this team showcased, despite tough odds. I won't continue to lament the awful seeding process utilized by the CIF Central Section, because until athletic directors and school administrators speak up against the board of directors,...
Elsewhere in this edition of The Loop, you will see the obituary of my father, Michael Costelloe who passed away on Feb. 5 after some prolonged health battles. Never one to shy away from a challenge or a difficult task, he gave everything he had in that battle before the grace of God took him home. It's true what they say, as you get older you tend to notice you take more and more after your parents. In retrospect of my life I can certainly attest to that fact, I am a lot like my father Mike....
7 S.W.O.T. Analysis for Economic Development With the close of the calendar just around the corner, the City of Tehachapi continues to assess Economic Development priorities, recruitment, retention and reuse efforts within our City. As has been tradition in recent years, an annual S.W.O.T. analysis is conducted and was recently presented as part of the Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council meeting. This analysis investigates the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats as we...
The calendar year is closing out and there were several moments and accomplishments in the local sports scene to brag about in 2023. I will start at the 10,000-foot level with facility improvements for our Tehachapi High School student athletes. What started due to some frankly embarrassing moments during the 2022 fall season led to local advocacy led by the Warrior Booster Club to bring our facilities up to competitive standards. Thankfully, the Tehachapi Unified School District agreed, and...
It is safe to say that we are blessed with several givers in this community – specifically in the world of sports. I look at pictures of our local teams and spot many coaches and volunteers that came up through the ranks locally, and are giving back to the sport and the community they love. It is not a foreign concept in athletics. Coaches are usually comprised of former athletes themselves, some played at a high level, others not so much, but their love for the game and the appreciation of the...
The headline of this column is certainly appropriate for what has been happening both personally and within the local sports world the last few weeks. Lots to catch up on so here we go. NYC Marathon A special thank you to all of those who supported my marathon efforts once again in 2023 through Team World Vision. Last year I completed the Los Angeles and New York Marathons, the latter of which I received a coveted invite for thanks to your charitable efforts supporting World Vision. New York...
Many of you are aware that I continue to train for another marathon. I am taking another stab at the NYC Marathon on Nov. 5. Although I successfully completed the event last year, some injuries during training didn't make for a great finishing time, so when the rematch presented itself, I took the opportunity. With just a handful of weeks to go, the training is winding down and for whatever reason it has been an extra-grueling endurance portion this year. Maybe it is my schedule, the inconsisten...
The NFL season has kicked off and the last few weeks I have had to hear about grown men and their "draft" parties. I am referring to their fantasy football drafts and the ongoing obsession many people still have with their "teams." I saw a great Instagram post recently that said, "Oh your husband's a doctor? Mine is the coach of an imaginary football team for the next few months." Think about it people, it rings true. I am not knocking fantasy football (okay maybe a little), but I was once that...
Tehachapi High School's home opener two weeks ago was an important night for the THS football program and the community in general. After years of neglect and disrepair, and one year after an embarrassing home opener that included failed lighting, scoreboard and a broken sound system later in the season, Coy Burnett Stadium shined. This Friday was different thanks to the efforts over the last 12 months by members of the Tehachapi Warriors Booster Club board of directors, our members and the...
Most fans are simply perplexed about the stage of intercollegiate athletics now that the once proud "Conference of Champions" the Pac-12, has been gutted and reduced to four teams in 2024-25, thanks to the exits of most of their programs to other national conference over the last several weeks. As a former college athletics administrator, I can shed some light as to why this is all happening. It's a two-part answer: money and television. Streaming rights are important, but as the Pac-12 proved...
Two small businesses recently opened in the City of Tehachapi, filling vacancies and adding another layer of café and food service to the community. "One Fine Day in Tehachapi" opened on F Street in late June as the second restaurant owned and operated by Michael Toppeta, owner of 4 Seasons Café also in Downtown Tehachapi. He also has family ties to his One Fine Day in Tehachapi neighbor, ThaiHachapi. The café space had been vacant for a few years following the relocation of Tehachapi Flower Sh...
We reached the end of the 2022-23 athletic season at Tehachapi High School, and it was one for the history books. The Warriors and Lady Warriors captured a single season record for league championships dominating the South Yosemite Mountain League winning in nearly every sport. Unfortunately, until the CIF Central Section discontinues their "equity model" the chances of parlaying those league titles into a fair chance of playoff seedings will be an uphill battle ... but one Tehachapi will meet....
A few weeks ago, it was announced that the Oakland Athletics, "my team" since childhood (with a little San Diego Padres mixed in from my time living there), entered a binding agreement to purchase land in Las Vegas with the intention of building a new stadium and relocating to Sin City. This announced move was not surprising, for over two decades the Athletics have been trying to work with Major League Baseball, the City of Oakland, Alameda County and several other stakeholders to build new digs...
