Overtime

After tomorrow, I will be taking my annual pre-Labor Day week off to rest up for the start of the high school fall season, returning on Sept. 7.

I’ve been busy trying to line up some new features that hopefully will prove popular with readers.

The BlueStreak-Overtime Player of the Week award will return. I will also be adding a new award, the Football Team of the Week. The final details are still being worked out and will be announced upon my return.

I have also lined up two high school guest bloggers: James Hickok, a sophomore goalkeeper on the Staples soccer team, one of the most respected sports programs in the state and the defending FCIAC and state champion, and Brianna Valente, the female kicker on the New Canaan football team, who will be able to provide some unique insights as the Rams attempt to win their fifth straight state title.

Perhaps my time off will even lead to an inspired idea or two.

So I hope everyone enjoys the final days of summer and I’m looking forward to returning for what should be another compelling fall season in the FCIAC.

CBS Sports held its annual NFL media day this afternoon at its headquarters in Manhattan.

It has become an annual tradition for lead broadcaster and New Canaan resident Jim Nantz and I to make our picks in a column the week before the season opener.

Following my father’s advice that if you don’t talk (or write), people won’t know how stupid you really are, I am letting Nantz go it alone this year.

I taped his predictions, and rather than transcribe them into text form, I figured it would be easier to let you listen for yourselves.

Jim Nantz picks: Click here to listen.

Cliff Louis needed just three days to make it back to an NFL camp.

After being cut by the Giants on Friday morning, the Westhill High School graduate is flying out to Detroit tonight to sign with the Lions.

It was a welcome relief for the 6-foot-8, 310-pound offensive lineman.

“My agent told me to have my bags packed, that there was some interest but he couldn’t tell me much more,” Louis said before boarding the plane. “They had to wait until 4 when I cleared waivers. At 4:07 I got the call to fly to Detroit.”

Louis’ fourth stint with the Giants lasted just 13 days, but he remains steadfast that he is destined to earn a spot with a team.

“God closes one door and another one opens,” he said. “I’m just going to keep plugging away. It could be Giants blue or Lions blue, whichever blue it is, as long as it has the NFL logo on it.”

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With today being the first official day for practices throughout the state, it seems an opportune time to announce the newest award on the Overtime blog, what for now we are calling the Football Team of the Week.

The final details are still being worked out, but each week during the regular season we will honor one team. This will be in addition to the BlueStreak-Overtime FCIAC Player of the Week award.

Right now this is what we are envisioning: each week we will pick three teams for consideration. The winners will be determined by a combination of a vote on the blog and our own pick, with a possible committee to break a tie. The process will be somewhat similar to baseball’s All-Star game.

We are also trying to decide whether this will just be an FCIAC award, or whether we are going to include private schools like King, St. Luke’s and Brunswick from the Advocate readership area.

We will also soon be announcing what the winning team will receive.

As we finish the process, we figured it might be a good idea to see if readers have any ideas we haven’t thought of. So feel free to make any suggestions for us to consider.

And check back soon for the formal announcement.

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Excuse me if I have to again express cynicism about Babe Ruth baseball, but after all the mind-boggling decisions I have seen over the years, it is hard not to.

You can read the story I wrote for tomorrow’s paper below, but rather than follow the two options Stamford was presented with, or allowing Stamford to play Monday, an off day, it is being forced to play a doubleheader Tuesday.

You can’t make this stuff up!

Here’s the story:

The Stamford Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Star team was inconvenienced when its scheduled World Series game against host Monticello, Ark., was rained out Sunday night.

Then it got punished by tournament officials.

In the type of puzzling decision-making that has become commonplace in Babe Ruth play, Stamford’s game was moved until Tuesday night at 8 p.m. It already has an 11 a.m. contest against Torrance, Calif., on Tuesday, and that has now been pushed up an hour.

The bottom line is that Stamford, which is 0-2 in pool play, will be forced to play a doubleheader and almost certainly needs to win both games to have a chance to advance.

“Of course it doesn’t make sense,” Stamford coach John Calo said Sunday night. “We are going to accept it and do the best we can.”

Rain and lightning caused the postponement of Sunday’s game. There was a banquet scheduled for after the contest, and Calo said he was given the choice of playing the game afterward, or at 9 a.m. today, which was supposed to be an off day.

“I don’t think it is fair to the boys,” Calo said. “We were given two options and to come in with a third option… I don’t know what the variables are.”

Stamford lost its World Series opener to Saginaw Valley, Mich., 5-4; then was defeated by Hamburg, Ark., 9-3. It is currently the only team in the National Division without a win. The top three finishers in the six-team division advance to single-elimination play.

Calo said he has not decided on his pitching rotation. Steven D’Annolfo was scheduled to start Sunday and will likely get the ball for one of Tuesday’s games. Calo said he could also use Danny O’Leary, who started Friday’s opener against Saginaw Valley, or all-purpose pitcher Luis Lopez.

“The kids know the situation and are revved up to play,” Calo said. “They know their backs are up against the wall.”

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Charlett (left) and Sam Stevenson.

Darien’s Sam Stevenson is going to continue to write her “Stickin’ With Sam” blog, following her career as a student-athlete playing lacrosse at Richmond. You can read it here.

For her last post before leaving for college, Sam asked me to write a story about her lacrosse relationship with her younger sister Charlett, who is about to start her junior season at Darien High School and hopes to eventually join Sam as a teammate at Richmond.

Here is the story.

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Cliff Louis’ fourth stint with the New York Giants lasted just 13 days. Louis, the Westhill High School graduate who was signed to provide depth to an offensive line riddled with injuries this preseason, was waived today.

The circumstances were surprising because the Giants made the move to clear room when they signed former Eagles guard Shawn Andrews at 1:45 this morning. Andrews, a former first-round pick by the Eagles, has played only two games the past two seasons because of back injuries. He made the Pro Bowl in 2005-07.

Louis played a good deal of the fourth quarter at right tackle during the Giants’ win over the Jets Monday night. Hopefully he demonstrated enough to attract the attention of another team.

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When the New York Giants were beset by injuries to their offensive line in training camp two week ago, they turned to a familiar source for help: tackle Cliff Louis.

Louis blossomed, after playing for Westhill High School, at Morgan State, where he grew two inches and put on 100 pounds to become a 6-foot-8, 310-pound professional prospect. He was signed as a free agent by the Browns three years ago and has bounced around with several franchises.

This is Louis’ fourth stint with the Giants; he lasted until the final cut of training camp last summer.

When Louis re-emerged earlier this month, it came as a surprise to many who had wondered about his whereabouts. Bill Kurtz, his coach at Westhill, said he had not heard from Louis in a long time.

It turns out Louis was right under our eyes: working for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Stamford.

“It was a great job,” Louis said. “Things were going well and then the Giants called. They asked if I could come up that day. I was still in shape.”

Louis was signed by the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League in April. He said he injured his shoulder at the end of his first practice with the team and then released.

Louis said he was eager to get another chance with the Giants.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “I was walking around the facility and people here looked at me and thought they had seen a ghost. They were doing a double-take. ‘That’s Cliff.’ ”

Louis played much of the fourth quarter of Monday’s preseason win over the Jets. He played well but was called for a personal foul penalty late in the game.

Asked if he was scolded by coach Tom Coughlin, Louis said, “No, he just told me that’s not the way we do things here.”

Louis said he is hoping to make the most of his latest opportunity.

“I’m trying to do things differently than before,” Louis said. “I’m working harder, working smarter, out to practice early and staying out on the field late. I’m happy. I’m elated to be back. It was great to get into the game, whether it was for a quarter or a minute, it was a blessing. I’ll just keep working hard.”