Messer gets new job

Congratulations to Sytia Messer, who was introduced Monday as the new women's basketball coach at Tennessee Tech University. Messer had worked as an assistant coach for the past five years at Georgia Tech.
A native of Waldo, Messer was a standout player at the University of Arkansas and was an assistant coach at Arkansas State and the University of Memphis, before spending the past five years on the staff at Georgia Tech.
TTU Director of Athletics Mark Wilson introduced Messer, the final step in a nationwide search.“We had to find the very best educator,” Wilson said. “We had to find the very best coach. We had to find the very best person to lead our student-athletes, and to restore the tradition of Tennessee Tech Golden Eagle women’s basketball."
She recently completed her fifth season on the Yellow Jacket women's basketball staff and first as the team's associate head coach. At Georgia Tech, she worked with the post players and guards.
Serving as the team's recruiting coordinator the past five seasons, Messer's classes have all ranked in the top-25 in the nation. The 2008-09 class, ranked as high as sixth by All-Star Girls Report, was one of the best in the nation and it included three star athletes from the state of Georgia.
The 2007-08 class was considered one of the best recruiting classes in school history. The Yellow Jackets inked the highest-ranked player ever to sign with the program, while the freshman class included three Street & Smith's honorable mention All-Americans.

Rollin' with Nolan

I just read an article posted on a message board that a potential WNBA franchise in Tulsa is talking to Nolan Richardson as a possible coach. Here is a portion of the article:

In a telephone interview Monday afternoon, Richardson acknowledged that he had preliminary talks with investors and said there is mutual interest.
Further talks are needed, Richardson said.“We’ve been discussing some things,” he said, adding that he stopped in Tulsa to meet with investors before embarking on a speaking tour.
“We are probably going to do some more visitation next week when I get back in.”Richardson said the talks did not involve financial figures or “putting a pencil to anything.”
But he told the investors he would like to discuss what they are looking for and what they are expecting.
Former Arkansas All-American Corliss Williamson spent 12 seasons in the NBA under nine head coaches and said in a 2008 interview that he believes Richardson “can do just as good a job or better than some of those coaches.”
Williamson said he and other NBA players used to talk about why Richardson, who excelled as a motivator, never got a chance to show he could coach in pros.
“Guys are curious,” said Williamson. “We all talk about our college coaches - who can coach and who can’t.”
Now it’s possible that Richardson may get a chance to coach in the pros, albeit in the WNBA rather than the NBA.
“Coaching is coaching,” Richardson said Monday. “I don’t look at the females’ game any different than the males’ game. It just depends on how you coach them and how you get them to play.”
Investors in Tulsa’s WNBA franchise said at a July 22 press conference that they have until a Sept. 1 deadline to secure the necessary backing for a team that could begin play in 2010.

Good day for sports

This is an interesting time to be a sports fanatic. Things are really happening, right now.

I just watched the highly anticipated 100-meter duel between Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay and saw a world record. I've been waiting for months to see the mixed martial arts fight between cover girl Gina Carano and the Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos.

I don't have Showtime but, thank goodness for computers. I saw the fight a day later and, I must say, it was impressive.

Cyborg did what most people expected, she beat the pretty girl's butt.

Carano, daughter of former NFL quarterback Glenn Carano, was hoping her technique and stamina would overcome her opponent's size, strength and ferocity.

But, I could tell in the opening introductions she was in trouble. It was a big-time atmosphere as the main event. The crowd was amped up and, as she waited, Carano was taking deep breaths. You could tell she was trying in vain to calm herself down. When you're too hyped, you come out with too much energy, which leaves you winded sooner.

Meanwhile, Cyborg was booed by the crowd as her name was introduced. The Brazilian started to laugh. If she was nervous, I think that loosened her up a bit.

Anyway, the fight was fast paced but, midway in the opening round, Carano was gasping for air. That's when the Cyborg pounced. Once she got Carano on her back, she was helpless. The referee watched as Cyborg pounded her with shot after shot. Carano couldn't fight back. She curled up in a ball and tried to protect herself.

When it was apparent she couldn't even do that, the referee rightfully stopped the fight with one second left in the opening round.

I thought it was a good fight and I would love to see these two go at it again. If Carano gets better on the ground, she might have a shot.

I actually was more impressed with Carano after the fight than before. She was gracious in defeat, even though you could tell she was extremely disappointed.

In the 100-meters, Bolt blazed through the race in a time of 9.58, which beat his own world record. Gay was second, setting a new American record.

At 6-foot-5 and around 200 pounds, Bolt is a freakish athlete. I hate the fact that an ESPN reporter asked a race expert why fans shouldn't be skeptical of Bolt as far as performance enhancing drugs.

The expert pointed out that Bolt has been the best at his age since he was about 15 or 16.

It's a shame that anytime an athlete does something these days, it raises more questions than standing ovations.

Anyway, the expert broke down Bolt's performance and said, with his running start, if the race was broken down. He estimated Bolt ran the final 40 yards in 3.1 seconds. His top speed was about 30 miles per hour.

I don't know, maybe we should be skeptical of something like that.

I'd rather just sit back, mouth open, and just appreciate what an incredible athlete can do.

It's a great time to be a sports fan. I saw a great fight and a great race in less than 24 hours. All that and Tiger is probably making golf fans giddy right now in the PGA Championship. Albert Pujols has baseball fans fully erect and NASCAR fans are probably happy about something, too.

Sitting on the news

For the folks in Union County who don't know, El Dorado hired Stephen Harshaw as its new girls basketball coach. Henry Harrell, who was the 9th grade coach at El Dorado, has taken the senior girls gig at Junction City.
I've been asked why these items haven't been in the newspaper. I wanted to break the stories when they were actually news to people. Instead, I couldn't get any confirmation and, rather than print a rumor, I just sat on the story.
Now, I'm being asked to run the story by the same folks who asked me to sit on it a few weeks ago. Ha! I don't print old news.
I like my news like I like my biscuits. I want 'em hot and fresh, not cold and stale.
Good luck to Coach Harrell in Junction City. He actually contacted me before going down for the interview to get my opinion. I think it's a good fit for him. The Lady Dragons have talent and Coach Harrell could be the right man to turn that talent into a successful season.
As for Harshaw at El Dorado, I honestly don't know much about him, other than he's Warren Harshaw's son. His dad was a good coach but that doesn't mean anything about the son.
We'll see. He does have talent to work with and, as I've said often, he's in the easiest classification in the state as far as competition. If you don't make state in Class 6A you should probably disband your program and start all over again because YOU SUCK!
It'll be interesting to see how both programs do this season.

Jesus Christ Silver Stars

As a fan of the WNBA, I am in the minority in Arkansas. So, I've joined a couple of message boards on-line so I can read, discuss, debate and just talk about the league with other people who enjoy it.
The discussions are all over the board as far as topics. But, one that started yesterday really got me interested, although I have yet to participate.
On these boards, the San Antonio Silver Stars are one of the more disliked teams in the league. Some of that is because a number of their players tout themselves as born again Christians. Ruth Riley does incredible missionary work in Africa. Erin Buescher transferred from a perennial top 25 college program to a Division III school because of her religious beliefs. San Antonio's top draft pick this year was from Liberty. It's no secret these are the types of players the organization covets.
That's one reason a lot of their critics have touted the team as the Jesus Christ Silver Stars.
Obviously, raised in the Bible Belt, I was surprised to see so many anti-Christian views. These folks really hate this team.
To each his own.
Anyway, another religious player is New York's Sidney Spencer. The former Tennessee product signs her autograph with Bible verses. This enraged a New York fan, who said she should be traded to the Jesus Christ Silver Stars.
Another fan asked Spencer for an autograph. Spencer wrote her name and was in the process of adding a Bible verse when the fan admitted trying to rip the t-shirt away from her. She didn't and Spencer added the Bible verse, as she always does.
But, the fan hates the player now for putting the Bible verse under her autograph.
How do you ask someone for an autograph and then complain because you don't like how they signed it?
The critics of Spencer and the Silver Stars claim they are shoving their beliefs down others throats. How is that?
She puts a verse under her name. She doesn't even write the verse out. She simply puts, for example: John 3:16. If you want to know what the verse says, you still have to get a Bible and look it up. How is that shoving her beliefs down your throat?
Becky Hammon of the Silver Stars was criticized when she talked about God guiding her footsteps throughout her career. What's wrong with that? San Antonio's Shanna (Zolman) Crossley has also been ridiculed for being an outspoken Christian.
"I don't want to be preached to," says one critic.
Fact is, they're not preaching. When asked a question, they give an honest answer.
When Hammon was asked how she got through the playing for Russia controversy last year, she credited her faith in God. How is that wrong?
I'm a big fan of the Silver Stars and not at all because of their religious beliefs. That's their business. If they want to share it, that's fine. I don't have to listen if I don't want to. I like the team because of the way they play.
Becky Hammon was my favorite player before I knew anything about her religious beliefs. Vickie Johnson has always been one of my favorite players and I just found out she's very religious also.
What their religion has to do with basketball is beyond me.
It's amazing what some people will gripe about. Fans criticize NBA players because of their perceived sex, drugs and hip hop lifestyle. NBA players are notorious for not giving fans the time of day.
Now, fans criticize WNBA players because they believe in God, read the Bible, put on basketball camps and clinics for under-priviledged kids, do missionary work and, basically, give too much of themselves to the fans who support them.
Wow! Professional athletes can't win for losing.
Go Silver Stars!

No hurt feelings, yet

Okay, so I've neglected this little blogger thing for the last few weeks. It's not that I haven't had things to write about. I wanted to gripe about the ESPYs again and the lame-ass All-Star Game the WNBA threw together. Have I said anything about Diana Taurasi's DUI? I haven't talked about Michael Vick or the steroids in baseball.
There are so many topics. Why have I not blogged my opinions on any of them?
I'm a lazy slob?
That's part of it, I guess. I've also been distracted. As I said, I've been working on a fiction book and I think it's almost finished. I'm putting in some finishing touches as I get input from some of you fine folks.
So far, all of the people who have read it seem to like it. That's good except I'm not sure if they say they like because they really do like it or because they don't want to hurt my feelings. One of the first rules to writing a book is don't let your friends critique it.
Now, I know why.
I have gotten some good feedback though and a few suggestions that I've already used.
One of the characters is a Romanian girl named Crystal. I let Irene Jadic, a Romanian tennis player from El Dorado, read it and she immediately told me there are no girls in Romania named Crystal.
Thanks, Irene. I let her re-name that character, who is now Carmen.
Slick Rick Butler had a bunch of suggestions. I did re-name the college and I'm still pondering some of the other items he pointed out. I also heeded the advice of Rick and Coach Slatton and took some of the cussing out - damnit.
I do appreciate everyone who took the time to read it. I don't know if you really liked it as much as you said but it did build my confidence. If you were lying to me, thanks for sparing my feelings.
I'm still tweaking it but I'm about to start going outside my friend zone and seek counsel from actual editors, publishers and agents. These people don't give a rat's patooty about my feelings so this might be the last time you hear me mention this little book thingy.
Wish me luck.