And the race is on

It's been a long time since I've actually covered a conference race. Since Strong has returned from the stratosphere back to earth, the 2A 7-East girls basketball conference is once again, a race.
This week is huge as league-leading Bearden, which has one conference loss, travels to Parkers Chapel. The Lady Trojans, the only league team to beat the Lady Bears, have three league losses.
Strong, which sits in second place with two losses, takes on Norphlet Friday. The Lady Leopards have four losses but own the tiebreaker over Parkers Chapel based on their season sweep.
With a Parkers Chapel loss and a win at Norphlet, the Lady Bulldogs would pretty much assure themselves of second place and would play at Bearden for a share of the league title.
With a Parkers Chapel win, the Lady Trojans could declare themselves back in the hunt. Norphlet, meanwhile, has a daunting task this week with four games in five days.
As much as I enjoyed following a dominant team like Strong the past two years, there's something exciting about a conference race. It's fun going to the gym, not knowing which team is going to win.
I would give some predictions but I'm chicken. Strong is playing as well as anybody in the conference and I do believe the Lady Trojans will play well on Friday.
It should be a fun evening.

Am I wrong for cheering?

As I watched Norphlet beat Junction City 33-29 in overtime Monday night, I leaned over and asked Strong coach Gerrald Koonce, "is it bad that I'm pulling for Junction City?"
As a reporter, it's my job to be unbiased, especially when covering an event that involves two local teams. I've always prided myself on being able to cover events from a neutral perspective.
Obviously, I'm a human being and sometimes, deep down inside, I root for one team to do well because I like the players or coach. But, I'm proud to say I don't think it has ever shown in my writing.
Anyway, Monday was a little different. The Lady Dragons have struggled mightily this season both on and off the court. As I watched them play so hard, desperately trying to get a win, I couldn't help but hope they would pull it out.
Koonce pointed out it was okay for me to root because I was pulling for the coach, instead of the team. There's some truth to that. I like Norphlet coach Justin Welch. He's a nice guy and a good, young coach. He's had his struggles in Leopard Land but he ain't seen nothing like what Jamie Ball is enduring in Junction City.
I was happy for Welch when he got his big win at Parkers Chapel.
Monday, I really wanted to see Ball get her big win against Norphlet.
It didn't happen, despite an incredible effort from her players. I felt bad for the kids, too. When you give it everything you've got, you deserve a moment of celebration.
The Lady Dragons may or may not get that big victory this year. The roster is getting smaller and smaller and the season is getting shorter and shorter.
I know it's probably wrong for me to say this but, I'm rooting them.

The Entitled Generation

When did it become a student's right to play on the basketball team? When I was in school, it was a priviledge, something that had to be earned. Wearing that uniform made you special because everyone knew you had paid a price to get it.
Nowadays, the uniform means nothing because they're not earned, they're given to anyone who wants one.
As someone who was cut from a basketball team or two in my life, I believe schools should bring back cuts for senior high teams. That would make being on the team special and might end some of today's "I'm entitled" attitudes.
It's alarming how many students are in control of the school's athletic teams. If a coach doesn't play a kid, that kid can get the coach fired.
Now that's amazing. We've come a long way, baby, but definitely not in the right direction.
You can't really blame the kids. It all goes back to the parents.
Heck, if I thought my mom could get me on the team when I got cut, I would've whined and cried, too. Unfortunately, when I told my parents I didn't make the team they simply said, "You must not be good enough."
That was the end of the discussion.
These days, parents are quick to play the blame game. My child deserves to play. Why? Because he or she is my child, that's why. If my child isn't playing then it must be the coach's fault.
These parents are teaching their children a horrible lesson. Instead of working harder to overcome obstacles and achieve success, these young men and women could grow up expecting to be given jobs, promotions, grades, etc.
Most of them will learn the hard way. Mommy and daddy might get you on the team in high school but in the real world you're going to have to do it yourself.
Good luck.

Don't mess with a fat man's food

I'm usually not one to make threats but I certainly gave Junction City boys coach Joe Paul Hammett an ultimatum on Tuesday. Believe, me, I meant every word of it, too.
The 76th annual Dual State Tournament tipped off on Monday. The bracket had just three games scheduled, all of them girls.
I alerted Coach Hammett on Tuesday that if he ever scheduled a Dual State day with only girls games again and I don't have time to visit the hospitality room, the two of us would be fighting.
I hope he doesn't think I'm playing.
Anyway, the tournament had its first BANG!!! on Tuesday when Bearden, the No. 3 seed and my favorite to win the championship, lost to Hamburg 69-61. The Lady Bears were minus Nekeia Rideout, who was sick. Mariane Rogers was also sick but managed to play quite a few minutes.
When Coach John Traband told me before the game about his team's situation, I wondered aloud why he would even gas up the bus if those two girls weren't healthy. Obviously, I was being sarcastic. Of course you still have to play the game but without Rideout and Rogers, those aren't the Bearden Lady Bears.
That's one thing I've noticed about girls basketball this season. Every team, even the best of them, has one or two players they can't afford to lose. That's a scary thought when advancing to state hinges on the health of one teenaged girl.
One twisted ankle, one case of the flu, one wrong step on someone else's foot could be the difference between winning a game or two in the state tournament or not even getting to regionals.
I wish all my area teams good health as this season heads to the home stretch.
As for Coach Hammett, don't mess with me when it comes to food.

Life at the News-Times

Life at the News-Times is a lot of things - predictable not being one of them.
I'm off on Wednesdays and Thursdays and on my days off, unless there's a game in the county, I don't leave my house. I like sitting around all day long, doing absolutely nothing productive.
On Friday, I got a call from my boss alerting me of a photo that was in that day's sports section. The photo was of a female basketball player who had graduated about four years earlier. To make matters worse, it was identified as a current player.
I have a military background. In the military, the word accountability is a big thing. People are held accountable for doing their job.
I HATE getting blamed for someone else's mistakes. Although I'm in a supervisory position, I believe in everyone pulling their own weight. I have no problem pulling more than my fair share as long as everyone else can handle their end.
This attitude does not make for a great supervisor. I'm not a parent or a coach. I don't believe in motivational speeches. I never needed a pep talk. I don't need anyone to inspire me to do a good job.
I always try to do my best, especially if something has my name on it.
I don't know how to deal with people who don't feel the same way. I certainly don't want to be held accountable for people who don't take the same pride in their work as I do in mine.
Obviously, Friday wasn't a good day in the office.
I thought Saturday would be better but, low and behold when I walked into the office, there was a cleaning crew shampooing the carpet. I don't normally go to work on Saturday until after 3 p.m. The office was empty all day long. Why in Hades would someone schedule the carpet cleaners just when we're going into the office to try and work.
God Almighty!
I had a series of phone interviews planned. Clearly, that wasn't going to happen with the sound of several jackhammers blasting in the background.
Oh well, it's just another day wasted.
I love my job. I love covering games and getting to know coaches and young players. When it's good, it's really good.
When it's bad, it's really bad.
I guess that's why they call it a job.

Let the coach, coach

I'm puzzled by the situation in Junction City. Why go to the trouble of hiring a coach if you're going to handcuff them and not let them do the job?
I'll preface this by admitting, I only know one side of the story. But according to the reports in the newspaper, the coach had the right to run the team the way she saw fit. Coaches discipline players all the time and sometimes, coaches kick players off the team.
I've seen a lot of coaches take over new teams. In almost every situation, the new coach's authority is challenged by a player early. Heck, in one case the police had to be called to the school to keep the parents and the coach separated. That coach actually kicked off seven or eight girls.
The girls he dismissed were some of his best athletes and his team struggled to win games. But, the players who stayed respected the coach, followed his rules and went on to have one of the best seasons in school history by the time they were seniors. One of the girls he kicked off actually came back to the team a couple years later.
Coaches have to have the power to run the team. That means they have to have the power to discipline players and decide what type of people they want on their team.
When a coach is stripped of the power to discipline players, they're basically handcuffed. How can a coach make a player run extra laps, stay late after practice or even play a specific role in the game when the players know they don't have to do it if they don't want to?
When some players realize the administration is not going to back up the coach's decision, the team then belongs to the players. When the coach is not getting support from the administration that hired her, it's time to find a school that is as serious about the girls basketball program as it is football and boys basketball.

The Naked Sportswriter

Sorry I haven't posted anything in awhile. Actually, I don't have much to say now, either.
Last week I was sacked with a mean case of food poisoning. Trust me, you don't want any of the details.
Friday, I went to Junction City for the game with Strong. As I took a giant step up the bleachers, the seam in the leg of my brand new britches ripped. When I say ripped, I mean from the crotch to the knee. Thankfully, I was wearing clean underwear.
It made for a very uncomfortable night as I sat with my notebook covering as much of my exposed flesh as possible. I don't know how many people saw me. When the girls game ended, I ran onto the court like the Junction City kids who form the line for the boys team to run through.
I think that was enough of a diversion to get me out of the place unnoticed.
If someone saw something, I didn't know it. I was running pretty fast toward my car. Unfortunately, my pants kept ripping further and further with every step. By the time I got to the car, I was pretty much bottomless.
Take that visual to bed with you.