Too much of a good thing?

Oh my God, I think I'm actually tired of watching basketball.
I didn't know that was possible but, between the driving and living in hotels and watching game after game the past few weeks, I could actually go a couple days without watching a game and feel pretty good about it.
That's probably not the best way to feel as I sit in Russellville smack dab in the middle of the state tournament.
I'm covering the 2A Tournament, not only for the News-Times but for the Camden News as well. In addition to Strong's boys and girls and Junction City's boys, I'm covering Bearden's girls and Stephens' boys. Keeping up with five teams is becoming a challenge, especially since I have the late game each night.
Covering games at 7 and 8:30 at night leaves little time to actually write the story. I have a 40-minute drive back to the hotel and I need to have the stories written and sent back to El Dorado by about 11 p.m.
That leaves 40 minutes for driving and about 10 to 15 minutes to write.
You gotta hustle to get that done and, frankly, it's been a while since I've hustled.
Thursday it looks like an easy day for a change. I only have one game to cover, Stephens boys at 8:30. I can hardly believe it but I have no desire to get to Danville early and watch the other games.
After a week of driving back and forth to Hermitage, a week of living in Glenwood and driving back and forth from Mt. Ida to Glenwood and now driving back and forth from Danville to Russellville, I'm ready to take the air out of the ball.
But, as long as I'm here until Friday, I might as well stay through Saturday.
I'm hoping Strong's girls can keep it going. The Lady Bulldogs are the only team up here that I've covered all year. They're the only team left that gets me excited to watch play.
Since I'm gonna be here covering the Dragons anyway (I haven't seen a boys team that can touch them.) it would be sweet to see Strong shock the state and hang around for a while longer.

See ya later Glenwood . . . Not!

Well, I made it out of Glenwood alive and well. Now, it's off to Danville.
Kind of like walking out of the desert into the Dead Sea.
Congratulations to the Lady Bulldogs for making it to state when no one thought they could. Everyone knows Strong's story so I won't re-tell it. But, you gotta give Coach Koonce and his girls credit. They lost a lot of ammunition and still carried a target on their back.
After a long season, here they are again.
I don't care what happens this week. They've already done good.
As far as the regional tournament, Mt. Ida did a good job as the host school. They gave me a front row seat, fed me and gave me everything I needed to do my job.
All that being said, we have got to get the tournament back in Union County next year. I told Parkers Chapel coach Mark Young, I'll pitch in a dollar out of my own pocket if it'll help.
The fans up there are a pain. The officiating was spotty with very few close calls going to teams from the 7A-East conference.
I don't know if Norphlet's girls got cheated but they didn't get any breaks. The Lady Leopards still had their fate in their own hands at the free throw line so, I can't go crazy about their loss to Mt. Ida, although calls didn't go their way down the stretch.
Coach Young played after Junction City's boys and said, when he saw James Anderson get knocked down twice on drives to the basket with no fouls called, he knew his Lady Trojans were in trouble. If Anderson can't get a call, nobody from this area is going to get one.
I was proud of the Lady Bulldogs for the way they handled themselves in the third place game against Mt. Ida. I told Koonce afterward, there's no way I would've been so composed. In fact, I would've been ejected.
It was a rough week.
Strong's boys did the smart thing and hurried off the court after their win over Caddo Hills on Saturday. Those Indians' fans were enraged and could've gotten even uglier than they already were.
All the teams from our area who made it through Mt. Ida and on to Danville definitely earned it, the hard way.

I miss El Dorado

It's Thursday in Glenwood and I miss civilization.
Holy crap, there is nothing here. It might as well be a desert.
I'm here for the week to cover the 2A South Region Tournament in Mt. Ida. Mt. Ida is about 25 minutes away from here. When I got back into Glenwood after Wedneday's games, it wasn't 10:30 yet and the town was jet black. I mean, there was nothing open except a little 7-11 type store.
I got back to the hotel to send my stories back to the office and, since I could not make time to visit the hospitality room at the gym, I was starving and needed something to eat. Unfortunately, the only option was the convience store, where I purchased a bag of Cheetos.
I woke up this morning still hungry. I waited until about 11:30 before I ventured out onto the town to find some food. Guess what? There was none.
The only fast food joint in Glenwood is a Sonic and that place was packed. When I first drove into town I wondered why the Sonic had so many cars there. Now, I know exactly why.
This place sucks.

Lady Trojans fall short

Parkers Chapel became the second girls team in the county to see its season come to an end. The Lady Trojans fell to Mineral Springs 48-28 in the first round of the 2A South Regional at Mt. Ida.
As the fourth seed from the 2A 7-East, the Lady Trojans were in a tough spot in the postseason. They had to fend off Stephens just to get to the regional. After that, they would have to upset conference champion Bearden in the semifinals or face Mineral Springs in the regional.
Obviously, Parkers Chapel could't get the upset over the Lady Bears and ended up losing to two ranked teams to end the season one game short of the state tournament.
Actually, what ruined the Lady Trojans' season were the two losses to Norphlet. Coach Mark Young's team could afford one loss to the Lady Leopards but two setbacks to a team that was battling for position in the conference pretty much killed PC in the tiebreaker, putting the Lady Trojans in the dreaded fourth slot.
That just goes to show when you're in a difficult conference where a lot of the teams are equal, what happens in December and January does count.
The Lady Trojans were also hampered by injuries, specifically to sophomore Dana Gray, who sprained both ankles during the season and was not at full speed down the stretch. Coach Young said sophomore point guard Hope Phillips will likely have knee surgery after the season.
Basketball season is a long grind for high schoolers. It's hard to stay healthy. It's hard to stay motivated every night. It's hard to keep the mind and body fresh over the long haul.
I've said it before, getting to a state tournament and winning it is much more difficult in basketball than in any other sport in Arkansas.
Congratulations to the Lady Trojans for giving it all they had. You didn't have enough gas in the tank to take you all the way down the road. But, as long as the gas tank is empty, you can look back and know you went as far as you could.
* * *
By the way, Bearden crushed Dierks in the first girls game on Wednesday. The Lady Bears thoroughly dominated the Lady Outlaws, who would've finished sixth in the 2A 7-East.
The Dierks fans were sitting directly behind me. One of the mothers called her husband on the cell phone to give him a report. She was complaining about the officials, of course, and said Bearden's players were blatantly tripping the poor, little bitty Lady Outlaws, making them fall on the floor and scrape their widdle knees.
Okay, that's not a direct quote. I may have embelished just a little.
Anyway, I don't know what the husband asked about Bearden's team but the woman answered, "yeah, yeah, all of them are. There's not a white one in the bunch."
Wonder what she was talking about?

For the good of the game

I was watching a college basketball game the other day when they ran a halftime feature about the NCAA investigating whether women's college teams practicing against men was a Title IX violation.
It brought some great points that I hadn't thought about.
Pretty much all of the top women's programs in the country practice against male players. Practicing against men, who are bigger, quicker and more athletic, obviously helps the women become better prepared for game competition.
That's a no-brainer and it's why women's basketball is getting better and better.
The feature pointed however, that Division I programs are using fewer and fewer of their scholarships. The reason is, they don't need to recruit as many players since men are being used in practice.
Years ago, college coaches recruited, not only the blue chip athletes, but also the smart, hard-working kids who would primarily be practice players. Now, there's no longer a need for these over-achieving student-athletes.
Part of the reason for Title IX was to give more opportunities for women in athletics.
What should the NCAA do?
Practicing against men, in my opinion, makes the women's game better. But, by giving out fewer scholarships, will it eventually backfire and hurt the game? Fewer scholarships mean fewer opportunities in basketball, which could also lead young girls to other sports.
I suppose the NCAA could allow the use of male practice players and simply force the colleges to use their full allotment of scholarships. But, if the players at the end of the bench aren't going to get on the floor even in practice, what good does that do?
It's definitely a difficult call, kind of a catch-22, either way.
In my opinion, it should still be about opportunities. The more scholarships handed out to high school students, the better. I would limit the number of hours colleges could use male practice players. If you could only scrimmage against the men once or twice a week, at least that would give some opportunity to the border-line Division I player to get on the court and get better.
It's not the best idea in the world but something will have to be done.

Is that a moose?

Fatigue makes cowards of us all. In my case, it hasn't turned me into a coward but it has made me really, really loopy.
Last night I stayed up until 4 in the morning. I do this all the time but I don't normally wake up at 9 a.m. This sleep deprivation made me positively goofy Tuesday night.
I don't know why I woke up so early.
I remember having a weird dream. Have you ever dreamed about rams before?
Me neither.
Man, apparently I was living out in some isolated area and rams were all over the freaking place. I was outside amongst the rams and I was petrified that one of them was going to attack me.
Then, all of a sudden, a moose was in my face.
What the Hell?
I guess the moose woke me up.
No more Tony's Pizza after midnight for this guy.
I thought my nightmare was over until I watched Junction City's girls fall flat in the district tournament at Hermitage. I was so disappointed in their effort.
Ideally, you want your local kids to walk off the court for the final time after putting up a valiant effort. You want to see them scratching, kicking and clawing to keep their season alive.
The Lady Dragons played hard, I guess, but I never saw the desperation in their eyes, even when they rallied to tie the game in the fourth quarter.
It's too bad. Coach Ball deserved better and so did some of the players.
Oh well, I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the county teams try to keep their seasons going. And, if I dream about moose or rams tonight, I'm not even going to Hermitage tomorrow.

Miss Dependable

Dependable – trustworthy, reliable: is there a better compliment to bestow upon someone? Is there a better trait to have?
Throughout her career, Strong’s Maranda Parker has been versatile, durable, coachable, resilient, resourceful, relentless and, most of all, reliable.
During the Lady Bulldogs’ championship seasons, Parker’s teammates knew they could rely on her to do her part in tight games. During her freshman season when the team wasn’t championship caliber, Parker’s teammates expected her to do more than her fair share, which she did.
On the court, there hasn’t been a more dependable player over the past four years. Parker doesn’t remove the “dependable” label when the game is over.
This summer the News-Times was desperately looking for someone to help us with our football coverage. We simply didn’t have enough reporters to go around. I sent Kev Moye’ on a mission to find someone to cover Strong football. He went to administrator Saul Lusk, who said, “I think I know the perfect person to ask.”
Of course, Maranda Parker said she’d do it, even though she didn’t know a lot about football. I told her what we needed for each game and, every Friday night, she was the first to call in her results. It took a game or two for her to figure out what a forward pass was and how to calculate the yards but she got it down and did much better than I ever thought she would.
The only problem she had during the season was homecoming, when she was on the court and was wearing a new gown to the game. She called, hoping we didn’t need her to go on the field in the mud to talk to the coach after the game.
I told her we did need her to work and, though she probably called me all sorts of names when she got off the phone, that Friday night she called in results and provided us with quotes, stats and highlights, just like she had promised.
Did I mention that I knew she would? I knew she didn’t want to but I knew she would do it. I believe trustworthy is the word.
Once basketball season was about to start, I set up team photos for every school. The day before I was scheduled to shoot the Lady Bulldogs, Coach Koonce got sick. Maranda called me that night and asked if the photographer was still coming the next day.
When I told her it would be difficult to reschedule, she promised to get to school early, get the key to the gym, pick out the uniforms, wash them and hand them out to the team before we got there.
She did it, too.
During the junior county tournament, which Strong hosted, I watched Maranda in all her glory. She was in the hallway keeping a shot chart for Coach Koonce during Strong’s game. While doing this, the boys’ basketball coach told her to make sure the referees had something to drink at halftime. Coach Gathright told her to make sure the trophies were ready to be handed out after the game. One of Strong’s junior boys told her his team’s run-out music was missing.
I watched her take care of everyone’s request. Not one time was there a sigh of exasperation or a roll of the eyes.
I’ve been amazed at this young lady this year. When a teammate is missing socks, they go to Maranda. When a seventh grader needs a band-aid, they go to Maranda. When the senior boys need someone to keep the book, Maranda does it. When Coach Koonce needed someone to participate in the state cross country meet, he took Maranda.
In her four-year career, Maranda Parker has done a lot of things on the court to help the Lady Bulldogs. She’s one of the better athletes to come through that school.
I don’t know if she’s the best. I do know one thing, there has never been a young lady more dependable. I don’t think there’s a better trait to have.

An apple a day . . .

The reason I fell in love with covering high school sports was because of the kids. Early in my career I dealt with college athletes and, for the most part, found them to be spoiled, egotistical and self-serving.
High school athletes, on the other hand, seemed to appreciate any attention they got. Especially female athletes, who are normally on the short end of the stick when it comes to recognition, were always grateful to see their name in print in a positive way.
Perhaps it was my ego that led me to reporting on girls’ sports. Call me selfish but I like it when someone is excited when I’m interviewing them. I like it when a kid says thank you after their story is told in the newspaper.
Girls, for the most part, were happy when I wrote about them. That, of course, made me happy, made me feel like someone cared and appreciated what I was doing. It made me feel good about myself, too.
A few years ago, I had a lot more fun covering high school sports. Slowly but surely, however, the college attitudes I despised have crept into the prep arena.
Nowadays, by the time an athlete is in the 11th grade, they’ve seen their name and face in the newspaper so many times, it’s no longer a big deal. A sports writer wanting to talk to them is no longer a thrill, it’s a nuisance.
We’ve seen it in Union County. Players in Norphlet basically ran their coach out of the job. In Junction City, not only can a coach no longer kick a player off the team, if they try, the coach’s safety becomes in jeopardy.
In high school, the children have all the power and it shows in their attitude.
When I talk to coaches around the county I’m constantly amazed at what they have to put up with. I often wonder why they deal with the stuff they deal with.
Despite the bad apples, there are still a few kids whose parents raised them the old-school way. There are still a few yes sirs and no mam’s out there.
It’s to the point now, when you hear a young person say “yes sir” I automatically look to see whose mouth those words came from. Children with manners are the exception, not the rule these days.
But, those few old-school kids are the ones who make me keep doing what I’m doing. I like kids. I like believing that, in some very small way, I can make a tiny difference in someone’s life.
I like the notion that, if I write a hundred stories about a hundred different kids, perhaps something positive I write will spark a little self-confidence that helps one of them. Perhaps one of those hundred kids will be so inspired that someone noticed their hard work, they will strive to work even harder. Maybe, one of those hundred stories will get noticed by a college coach, who will give that youngster an opportunity.
Maybe it’s just my ego that makes me think a small-town local sports writer can make an impact in a life. But, if I didn’t think it was possible, I couldn’t do it.
That’s probably what keeps coaches, coaching.
Just when you think every apple on the tree is rotten and you start to think about doing something else, you suddenly spot one good apple. And, that one good apple makes you forget about all the bad ones.