This is a controversy?

You drive down Riverside Lane in the Riverside section of Greenwich, and you hope to get a look at the infamous Wiffle Ball field that was built by a bunch of local kids.

Blink, and you’ll miss it. The Wiffle Ball field is nestled behind a home being built at 96, and an angry neighbor at 100. From the road, you can’t hear much activity. And you can barely see the Wiffle Ball field, which is accessed by a small strip of land behind 96 and 100.

But it didn’t stop me from dropping by after work today.

The kids on the field stopped when they saw me walk up.

“Press,” I said. “Where you from?” one asked me matter-of-factly, since just about every media outlet imaginable had stopped by.

“Eyewitness News was here today,” said another kid, not even fazed by the media attention to the little piece of town-owned land in Greenwich.

It’s a makeshift stadium, to say the least. The kids playing told me they cleared out the brush, built the walls, and have taken ownership. They say the neighbors claim they are drinking and doing drugs at the field, but there’s no evidence of that. At least at 7 p.m. on July 14.

Just kids wanting to go out and play. Just like their parents did to pass their summers away.

There’s evidence that the kids are picking up after themselves. The “K” board is propped up by a 32-gallon garbage can, and the trash is removed nightly.

And the neighbor at 100 must know that. The kids say he keeps looking out, he even calls the cops a few times a day. While I was there, he was having a security camera installed - one that points right at the field.

Maybe he’s a closet fan?

“He was all for it, he wanted to play with us when we started off,” one kid said. “His wife wasn’t a fan though. That’s probably why he doesn’t want us here.”

This is a story that has caught national attention, pretty much for the silliness. NIMBYs keeping kids off public property because they’re having some harmless fun. Sure, they should have asked for permission to build the field first, but it’s not like they’re using it as a crack den.

And they seem to have the support of random strangers, too. One woman came out with her two young kids, just to check it out before she and her family moved away from Greenwich.

Other residents stopped by just to check out the action. National media attention will do that.

The kids aren’t doing any harm. Let them play Wiffle Ball, Greenwich.

Some teens in Greenwich did just that - they recently converted a town-owned plot of land and made it their own Wiffle Ball sandlot. They built it, and the kids are coming to play.

But the Riverside Lane neighbord aren’t too thrilled. They want their field of dreams, complete with a 12-foot high Fenway-esque Green Monster in left field, taken down, and the kids to scram.

And the neighbors have the right to do that. The plot of land is not designated as a park, and it’s not not the kids’ property to build on. Back in the days of The Little Rascals, or even Fat Albert, kids could get away with building club houses on public property and get away with it.

So now we have the question: Should the kids have to rip down something that they built on someone else’s property? Well, if I added on to my house without going to Planning and Zoning, the City of Bridgeport would make me tear my work down.

And if the Town of Greenwich lets the field stand, will it spawn a town on regional Wiffle league with stadiums build on vacant lots all around? Who knows?

I can understand the neighbors being upset - you have a quiet neighborhood, and suddenly it’s swarmed with kids and cars. But these kids could be doing a lot worse things this summer, don;t you think?

Creativity and exercise has been replaced by the X-box and the Wii (OK, you get some fitness with the Wii). So I think it’s great that these kids are doing what they are doing. Nut I also think they’re learning an important civics lesson through all this: Get permission and go through the proper channels before you start a project.

And the civics lessons have begun. One of the teens involved, recent Greenwich graduate John Agostino tells me there’s a meeting Tuesday night at the Cos Cob Fire Department. The public may attend the 7 p.m. meeting.

So in case there were any doubters out there, hoping her Brakettes performance would expose some sort of weakness, something that would make her look like a 17-year-old-girl and not a stellar athlete who gave a verbal commitment to LSU as a Masuk High School junior…

Guess what? Rachele Fico is the real deal.

Fico compiled a perfect 27-0 record for Masuk, which won its second straight CIAC Class LL championship with a 1-0 victory over Naugatuck at DeLuca Field on June 8. She threw 12 no-hitters, seven perfect games, and struck out 486 batters in 195 innings. She allowed only 21 hits and walked just seven batters and she had a 0.07 ERA.

And you can’t blame that on poor hitting in the CIAC. Not when you’re a one-person wrecking crew, and then proved it again on a higher stage.

Now the Brakettes could use some fans in the seats, and hopefully the presence of Fico will get some out there. Why not? Local girl makes good. Everyone loves a success story.

Here’s to hoping she gets to put in some work - even if just for one inning - against Team USA this July 20.

Some time since we last ran 440s under New Canaan football coach Lou Marinelli’s watchful eye (back in the 80s), our lives went in separate directions. Tom is now one of the most sought-after fitness experts, and today’s Stratton Faxon Fairfield Half Marathon was literally a jog in the park for him.

As for me - I get winded hopping into the back of the media truck which paces the top runners in the field. And I break a sweat again when I get let off at the finish line. Needless to say I haven’t kept myself in shape. I even considered retiring from slow-pitch softball a few weeks back because I would be wiped out after pitching four innings.

But that’s all going to change. Instead of covering the event for a fourth-straight year, I will participate in the 2009 Stratton Faxon Fairfield Half Marathon. Yes, that is my goal, and I hope I can achieve it.

The problem is, I have no idea how to train for such an event. That’s where you readers come in. Any tips or training ideas you have, please give them to me. I’m a clean slate. A clean slate of Silly Putty, but it’s still clean.

A lot of people watch a big event and say they want to participate the next year, then go right back to the coach. And I hope that’s not the case for me. That’s why I plan on blogging here about my training - both good and bad. This way, simply put, I’m putting myself out there.

Now the last time I ran in a race was a 5K at Waveny Park in 1988, as part of a summer concert series. My friends were in the band, and I was going to show off and win… without training. I kept up with the front for the first half of the race, then died. I actually blocked it from my memory.

And I do have some things to deal with. For one, my neck isn’t 100% healed yet from November 2007 cervical fusion surgery (though I’m living my normal life). I also have a strain or pull of some sort in my lower left leg that I’ve been dealing with for a little more than a year. And I need to switch my work habits to give myself some time to hit the gym.

But I’ll do what it takes.

My annual physical is in October. Hopefully by then most of the nags will be done with and I’ll be well into training.

Wish me luck… Now here’s Tom Holland to talk about the half marathon:

-Tim Parry

And after a cool spring weather-wise, mother nature went crazy yesterday, blistering athletes with temperatures in the 90s. Which meant in-season conditioning became a major factor for all the athletes involved.

Here’s a quick roundup of winners, losers (though to be politically correct, they are runners-up), and more, including clips from the local sports media…

FRIDAY:
Westhill wins Class LL Baseball Title
I slammed Westhill pitched T.J. Hickey’s mound antics in a post a few weeks ago. He’s recovered nicely and, on the mound, became the go-to guy a lot of us saw during the football season. As he kept Masuk batters in check, Bobby Migliazza and Greg Smith led the offense in a 12-1 win up at Palmer Field in Middletown.

The clips: Stamford Advocate game story; Stamford Advocate sidebar; Connecticut Post.

Also Friday: Darien takes volleyball title; Staples wins again in Class L.

SATURDAY
The links:

• Masuk phenom Rachele Fico shuts down Naugatuck: Connecticut Post; New Haven Register.
• Law upsets Ludlowe for Class L baseball title: New Haven Register; Connecticut Post.
• Danbury takes Division II girls lacrosse championship: News-Times; News-Times sidebar.
• Prefect ending for New Fairfield lacrosse team: News-Times.
• Prep tops Ridgefield in 3OT to take Class L lacrosse title: Connecticut Post.
• Darien girls defeat Wilton again for girls lacrosse championship: Stamford Advocate.
• Blue Wave Boys make it a lacrosse sweep: Stamford Advocate.

David Speer is already a legend for pitching Staples to the FCIAC championship as a sophomore. But he’s not the only 10th-grader to step up for the Wreckers. First baseman Grant Moss delivered a two-out bases-loaded single in the top of the seventh that proved to be the game-winner…

The next batter Westhill senior ace T.J. Hickey faced was Mike Rutski, who walked to make it a 3-1 game. Hickey responded with words for the home plate umpire, and kicked some dirt on the way back to the mound. Certainly he didn’t show the same composure as he had in last-second wins for the Vikings on the football field…

Speaking of Hickey, who likes to have the ball in his hands in big-pressure situations, his costly play in the seventh opened the tide for Staples. Vin Lametta hit a slow-roller towards shortstop and reached out to bare-hand the ball. He dropped the ball, but recovered in time to throw to first-baseman Steve Rivera, who was late getting to the bag and dropped the ball in front of a diving Lametta…

While concession stand prices were a reminder that the FCIAC Championship Game was played in a minor league ballpark, the Bridgeport Bluefish did very little Saturday - if anything - to promote itself in front of hundreds of potential attendees. Let this be a rule of thumb: Parking a Bluefish-wrapped P.T. Cruiser near the entrance and having the team’s URL under the main scoreboard does not guarantee fans coming back to enjoy the main tenant’s product. And with the All-FCIAC teams being honored as well, this was a missed marketing opportunity for the Bluefish, who are struggling at the gate so far this season…

Stamford head coach Bob Augustyn was honored as the FCIAC Coach of the Year on Saturday, just one day after announcing his retirement. He will continue to be a guidance councilor at the school, but said he is looking forward to some of the little things - like April vacation and spring training - that many of us take lightly…

The Bridgeport Bluefish made sure that would never happen. May 4 was Bill Gonillo Day at the Ballpark at Harbor Yard, and the team renamed the press box in his honor.

“I know that it means a tremendous amount to our family,” said Christine Gonillo, Bill’s sister. “My mom is very emotional and very gratified. She had even mentioned to me that all these events were happening, but she was afraid that after this year, he wouldn’t be remembered. But you just take a look at that press box and I said ‘Mom, he’s going to be remembered for a very, very long time.’”

The day started with Bluefish CEO Mary-Jane Foster reading a tribute to Gonillo, followed by Vito Gonillo, Bill’s 83-year-old father, throwing out the first pitch, and then the unveiling of signage for the Bill Gonillo Press Box which was shown on the ballpark’s Jumbotron.

As the sports director, Bill Gonillo was a fixture at the ballpark since the Bluefish first took the field in 1998. And Gonillo, whose death at the age of 44 was related to a 20-year battle with diabetes, touched the lives of many players, fans, and press during that time.

Whether he was able to stick around for an inning or a whole game, Gionillo’s presence at the ballpark was one that made people’s outlooks of that day change.

“As soon as he walked in [the press box], it was like a breath of fresh air,” said Rich Elliott, a long-time Bluefish beat writer for the Connecticut Post. “Even on the tough nights when you had a lot of stuff going on and the atmosphere was tense, he’d come in and lighten the mood right away.”

And one of those mood-lighteners was his appetite, and his love for food. But also for Elliott, it was Gonillo’s love of people and love of life.

“The first question he’d ask when he’d walk in that door was what kind of food they had in there,” Elliott said. “But that was Billy, he got away from the game. He’d come in and talk about life, the vacations he was taking, the sports teams we liked. I always looked forward to seeing Bill Gonillo.”

The idea to honor Gonillo came from Stacie Guilfoyle, whose husband [Mike] is a former closer for the Bluefish. In 2006, Guilfoyle, whose family became close with Gonillo, lost her stepfather to diabetes.

And when Gonillo died, Guilfoyle decided to get more involved with raising awareness - and funds to fight - the disease. She organized a team that walked for diabetes in October, helped Bridgeport Sound Tigers organize an event to honor Gonillo in December, and has a bike-a-thon and an Odd Couple-themed event in the works.

“It was like ‘Hey, we’ve got to raise some money for awareness and find a cure before it affects more people,’” Guilfoyle said. “Everything we’re doing we’ve posted is on www.BillGonillo.com. He’s been to our kids’ christenings, and he was a part of our wedding. It’s a big empty hole that’s hard to fill.”

And Guilfoyle thinks Gonillo may have had something to do with the weather suddenly changing for the better. Instead of a rainy Sunday that was predicted, the storm clouds that were in the sky early that morning were replaced with blue skies and sunshine.

“You couldn’t have asked for a better day, it’s like he was looking down on us and bringing us some sunshine,” Guilfoyle said.

But it’s not just the team and the press that will miss Gonillo. The fans are also at a loss, said Sheryl Rosen, a former president of the Bridgeport Bluefish Booster Club.

Though he didn’t have to help the group out, Gonillo always was willing to plug the group’s road trips to games on Long Island and in New Jersey on the air.

Rosen said she’ll also miss making brownies - and the occasional meat loaf sandwich - for Gonillo.

“Bill was the greatest guy in the entire world,” Rosen said. “We never got him to go on a trip with us, hut he gave with all of his heart. If he was in a position to help someone, he would.”

But if Gonillo is looking down from above, Rosen thinks he would have been genuinely shocked at the day’s festivities.

“He would think it was too much,” Rosen said. “Like we’re all making a big deal over nothing. He was very modest, I think he underestimated his value in this world.

- Text by Tim Parry

photo by Sheryl Rosen

Below: Video of Bill Gonillo Day pregame festivities

It’s the second mini-season of Elite Passing Academy spring passing league at Trumbull Sports Zone. Not every high school football player is here, mind you. But of the 18 teams in the league, 10 are from Fairfield County.

And it’s sort of a lineman-free zone. Yes, that’s a center snapping the ball, but the rest of the offenses consist of the quarterback, receivers and running backs. But if you are a team that is committed to passing the ball, leagues and tournaments like Elite Passing Academy’s have become a necessary offseason evil.

In short, it’s 7 on 7 football.

“It’s great repetition for all the skill athletes,” says Buff Bowen, co-founder of Elite Passing Academy. “It’s a great opportunity for all the teams to run their spread offenses and give plenty of kids reps, the starters and the back-ups.”

So who is there? Fairfield Ludlowe is still without a head coach, but New Canaan did double duty in Week one, this past Sunday, and played its scheduled game, too. Fairfield Warde is in, so is Darien, McMahon, Trumbull, Fairfield Prep, Notre Dame-Fairfield, Masuk, and Barlow.

And notables from outside the county include Foran, led by hot prospect quarterback Jake White, Woodland, Ansonia (yes, they’re throwing the ball in the Valley!), and Jack Cochran’s Whalers of New London. The Whalers are led by soon-to-be-senior quarterback Jordan Reed, who is being as heavily recruited as White.

Have passing leagues proven to help develop offenses? You can ask New Canaan. Head coach Lou Marinelli’s son, Trinity College player John Marinelli, was not there Sunday due to school commitments, but has tutored the Rams offense during the offseason.

“What 7 on 7 does is take the throwing with your quarterback and receivers to another level,” John Marinelli says. “It’s all about competition and putting the kids in a lot of different situations and see how they react.”

And it certainly helped Rams quarterback Charlie Westfal in the second half of the CIAC Class MM championship game against Hand. Westfal threw for 375 yards as New Canaan came back from a 30-13 deficit late in the third quarter to win 34-30.

The younger Marinelli was on the sidelines for that game, and says he didn’t have much to say to Westfal during the comeback.

“But what I told him was that he’s been in these situations before. Don’t panic, go through your reads and go out and let the ball fly. Just like in 7 on 7, slow down and pick them a part,” Marinelli says. “For a quarterback 7 on 7 slows down the game and gives him the ability to read defenses and pick up coverage’s. Charlie will be the first to tell you that he learned more from that experience than any film session.”

And it’s also helped develop defenses. Will Tom Brockett’s Ansonia Chargers really run the spread offense this season? Maybe not, but by doing the 7 on 7s, Marinelli says it will help prepare Ansonia for its games against Woodland and other NVL teams with vertical offenses.

Ansonia did show it’s got great cover men on defense, leading all teams with 5 “sacks” in the first week. A sack is registered when the opposing offense cannot find an open receiver in a set amount of seconds.

One warning though: Passing league success does not always translate into on-the-field championships. Last spring, Harding was one of the more dominant offenses in the Elita Passing Academy’s league, but went 0-10 in FCIAC play.

Simply put, Harding’s line and skill players did not mesh together in the regular season.

“It’s not a guarantee of success, but it does definitely benefit offenses,” Bowen says. “For teams who throw the ball, it’s a must.”

The league runs Sundays through May 18.

My floor hockey career ended as a sophomore in high school when I jumped in front of Kevin Arrix, a sophomore on the New Canaan varsity, to block a shot and ended up with something like 30 stitches above my right eye. (Kevin apologizes to this day, even though I take the blame)

But you don’t have to own a stick or know how to skate to understand that FCIAC teams cannot compete at the CIAC Division I level.

Why? Because the FCIAC’s Division I teams play everyone in in the league once, then participate in the FCIAC’s winnerless holiday tournament, and only schedule four out of conference games each.

This is great for Division II teams like Fairfield and Trinity Catholic, both of which were in the Frozen Four, and will benefit emerging Division III programs like St. Joseph.

But let’s break it down here: Fairfield Prep finished the regular season 9-10-1 and won the CIAC Division I championship as the 11 seed. Notre Dame-Fairfield was the runner up, the 9 seed, and had an 11-8-1 regular season. Prep didn’t play any games outside of D-I, Notre Dame played two games against D-II opponents.

What did FCIAC finalists Darien and New Canaan do? Darien played 11 of 20 regular season contests against D-I foes, New Canaan played 10. Darien played two D-II teams in the FCIAC playoffs, New Canaan beat one.

Needless to say, playing lesser opponents during the regular season doesn’t help when it comes to the CIAC D-I tournament, where FCIAC teams went 0-4 in the first round.

Now look at Trinity Catholic and Fairfield. Trinity Catholic had nine D-I games, including two in the FCIAC playoffs. Fairfield also skated against nine, including one in the playoffs and East Haven, the D-I’s top seed, in the regular season. They were clearly ready for trips to Ingalls Rink.

So what’s the FCIAC to do if it wants to get better? Or, better yet, keep its best players from running off to Prep schools? Here’s three ideas:

1. Take a lesson from the SWC and break the FCIAC down to D-I and D-II/III. The D-I teams will play each other, and the D-II/III teams play in their realm. Then make each school go out of conference to find opponents. This was a rare year for Notre Dame, which actually played against a pair of SWC D-II opponents. Fairfield Prep doesn’t touch anyone of the SCC’s second-tier schools.
2. Abandon the FCIAC holiday tournament, which doesn’t really seem to serve a purpose but to fill the schedule for two more games. Find some out-of-state foes like Prep and Notre Dame do when they get in prestigious tournaments. Heck, some D-II schools, I think Sheehan was one, played a tournament in Quebec.
3. Consider an end to the postseason FCIAC championship tournament. Not even separate D-I and D-II/III tournaments. You’re adding up to three extra games before the CIAC tournament. And, you have to cram your required (up to) 20 regular seasons into one less week to get ready for FCIACs. Maybe that’s a good thing if you’re playing similar foes. But maybe it’s also wearing FCIAC teams down.

Will all this help the FCIAC improve as a hockey conference? Yes. The D-II/III teams can fill their schedules with D-Is who want to play, or stay in their division. And the FCIACs D-Is can be freed up to take on teams like Tri-Town, Simsbury, Conard, and Glastonbury more often.