James Burns: Real season starts Friday

All that matters is league. Say it with me now: All that matters is league.

If you travel around the Central California Conference this week, snooping around practices and listening in on huddles, I bet you'll hear this statement half a billion times.

No lie.

At different levels. By every red-faced coach with a whistle. Like their practice scripts call for it.

They're the words Merced defensive coordinator Paul Hogue shared with me last Wednesday, two days before Merced slipped to 0-3 with a 34-3 loss to Fresno Edison.

Rocking up against the locker room wall, Hogue dissected his defense and losses to Fresno Bullard and Napa.

As the conversation steered toward the psyche of his players and how a team unaccustomed to losing could handle a skid like this, Hogue reiterated Merced's mission statement.

"No one likes to lose, but these kids are young and they get it," Hogue said. "All that matters is league."

Not non-league, Little League, the Le Leche League or "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" -- league. As in the CCC.

If that's true, the season officially starts on Friday evening. And this twisting, turning path we've been following, the one with potholes and burrs, will finally get some direction.

The CCC has gone 11-14 in four weeks of non-league football. In other words, very unCCC-like.

Locally, Merced, Golden Valley, Atwater, Buhach Colony and Los Banos are a lukewarm 9-9.

What's more, the games have been as nondescript as their collective record.

Merced has been overwhelmed by one of the tougher schedules in the Valley. Golden Valley (2-2) and Los Banos (2-2) have looked both explosive and clumsy. And BC (3-1) and Atwater (2-1) have given us flashes of brilliance ... against Beyer.

So what can we expect?

You tell me.

At this point, I get a mean spell of vertigo every time I peek at the conference standings.

During this first month, I've tried really, really hard not to look too closely at scores and body language and draw any conclusions.

Because when I have, I've been burned worse than Powder at the Boardwalk.

Remember I was the one who championed Buhach Colony following a runaway win over Beyer, and proudly proclaimed a victory over or a close loss to Escalon would put the CCC's perpetual doormat on the map.

The verbiage went something like this:

"These kids hate to lose. ... Put Corey Chapman, Jarrell Davis and Dallon Muse together and they form Voltron."

That robotic monster rusted quickly.

Kevin Swartwood's kids showed their age and big-game experience in a 37-0 loss.

Gee, thanks.

Swartwood questioned his team's toughness after the loss, which may be more curse than critique.

BC opens at Pitman (2-2), at Atwater and at home against Merced, before running into winless Turlock.

Turlock's been outscored 139-48, but you won't hear me calling 'em soft because snap judgments have a funny way of biting me in the ...

Case in point: Los Banos.

I thought Los Banos would pick up where it left off last season, even after losing a ton of talent and weight in linemen Damon Bragner and Manuel Lira.

Hey, LB was returning enough skill and talent to make a statistician drool.

At the very least, I thought Dennis Stubbs' team would keep every game close because it had too many bullets to be stopped for 48 minutes.

But what if those bullets turn out to be blanks? What then?

Injuries may keep two Los Banos stars out of this Friday's CCC opener against Turlock, which would completely alter the Homecoming game.

Erik Martin was knocked out of last week's loss to Stockton St. Mary's with a feared concussion, and running back Darron Brown was sidelined with a back injury.

But let's not miss the point here: League is upon us, and apparently, that's all that matters.

Just don't ask me to pick a champion.

I'm so dizzy from four weeks of non-league football, I can't even tie my own shoes.

James Burns is sports editor of the Sun-Star. He can be reached at jburns@mercedsun-star.com.