Tough times at SAU

Southern Arkansas women's basketball coach Sam Biley might not have the swan song he hoped when he announced this was his final season with the Lady Riders. Hampton native Goldie White, who was a unanimous preseason all-Gulf South Conference selection, is no longer on the SAU roster.
I called the SID office this week to inquire about both Goldie White and Norphlet's Ellana White as neither player was listed on the team roster.
Ellana, who had seen minimal action in two seasons at SAU, apparently has hung up her sneakers. It's not a complete surprise considering her lack of playing time. But, Goldie White has been one of the top guards in the league since she entered the league.
The SID simply said she was not playing due to personal reasons. He made it clear she won't be playing this season.
I'm not the biggest SAU fan but I am a fan of both of these young ladies. Hopefully things will work out fine for both and they get their degrees.
Meanwhile, Coach Biley probably didn't envision his farewell season starting out like this.

Good start to season

Basketball season tipped off in a big way Tuesday in Union County. Parkers Chapel's girls edged Norphlet 67-64 in a season opener that had postseason atmosphere.
The Lady Trojans have big dreams this season and showed enough heart to make some of those dreams come true, rallying from a 9-point deficit in the second half.
Junior center Savanna Langston is a bonafide high school "STAR" now. She's being recruited by big-named college programs and is known throughout the state. We'll see if she can handle the expectations that come with being a top recruit on a game-in, game-out basis. She's not off to a bad start after scoring 31 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
If Parkers Chapel thinks it can compete on a state level, perhaps Norphlet proved it can as well. With the addition of the Willis twins from Strong to go along with Kyia Williams, the Lady Leopards have as athletic and talented a backcourt as you'll see in this part of the state.
With the exception of depth, which neither team showed in the opener, I like both of these squads. Depth will come later, or at least it better. If each team can find three girls who can contribute a few minutes off the bench, I might have a difficult decision as to who to follow in the state tournament.
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Speaking of high school hoops, Emilee Scroggins, daughter of Lee Scroggins, appears to be recovered nicely from the illness that kept her out of most of last season. She scored 21 points with six rebounds and four steals in Cutter Morning Star's 57-38 win over Poyen.
While on the subject of Scroggins, I'll try to keep track of Lee Scroggins and Brad Slatton, both of whom stepped off the sideline and into adminstration this year.
If they haven't gotten the itch to coach again, yet, it's only a matter of time.

Rules are rules

All-time tennis great Andre Agassi is making headlines this week with his book, which has shocking revelations of his drug use and tanking matches during his playing days. Agassi admitted testing positive for crystal meth while on tour and said he told the tour officials he drank out of someone else's glass or something like that. He asked them to keep the positive test quiet and they did.
A tennis story that didn't make headlines this week: Belgium tennis star and top 15 ranked Yanina Wickmeyer was banned for a year. Wickmeyer, who advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Open and is one of the up-and-coming stars on the women's side, did not test positive for any banned substance. Her crime was failing to report her whereabouts on three separate days during the year.
Apparently, the top tennis players have to tell drug testing officials where they are each day just in case they want to give them a pop drug test. Wickmeyer did this for 362 days but, because she didn't for three days, she's punished the same as if she's flunked a drug test.
Wickmeyer has excuses for the three days and has appealed the ruling. But, wow, talk about a double standard, huh?
Agassi tests positive for crystal meth and sweet talks his way out of it. This girl can't get the benefit of the doubt for being out-of-pocket for three days out of the year.
The thing is, I really don't have a problem with Wickmeyer's punishment. She's a professional tennis player and that's one of the rules she has to follow. She knew the rules yet didn't report her whereabouts those three days. Rules are rules - see ya in a year.
My problem is how some players with big names can get away with murder and others go to jail for jay walking. Something doesn't smell right with tennis right now.

Pick a brother up

For those of you who have seen me walking around town the past two weeks, why the hell didn't you stop to pick me up? Seriously!
Yes, the economic crunch has me in its jaws and it's chomping down hard. My automobile is in the shop and I, frankly, can't afford to get it out, right now. So, for the past two weeks, I've been without an automobile.
I've been walking to work, walking to the bread store, walking to the dollar store, walking to Spudnuts. It sucks not having a ride and having to dial up friends to pick you up so I've been hoofing it whenever possible.
On the bright side, I'm getting in a lot better shape. This is certainly not the exercise I wanted but it's probably the workout I've been needing for the past few years. I never thought I could walk all the way from my house to the office. But, I did it Sunday and didn't even break a sweat.
Fortunately, I was blessed with a beautiful day to make the walk. It was actually quite pleasant.
I'm working on getting a vehicle since basketball season tips off next week. I've been fortunate to get some help from a friend or two.
Hopefully, I'll be back on my feet financially and off my feet literally in no time flat.
In the meantime, if you see me walking, for your information, I'm not doing it for exercise. Stop and pick a brother up.