Vexing
”Just got back from Kansas-Okla. This KU team fascinates me. I cannot tell yet if they’re good, great or legendary.” That Tweet from Joe Posnanski on Monday night perfectly sums up how I feel about this year’s Jayhawks. The only team in the nation in the top five in both offensive and defensive efficiency, yet most observers believe they’re capable…
A Few Reporter’s Notebook Extras
It’s been a busy week. I covered games last Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and then another on Tuesday night. I already wrote about. Thursday was an uninspiring boys game. Friday, another girls sectional game, this time featuring much maligned EHS, the school that almost never wins.* (At least when I’m around.) Before Friday, three of the six girls teams from…
Hot Playoff Action
Wednesday was my first ever Indiana high school sectional game as a reporter. While the environment may not be like the sectionals of old, which pitted schools that were all neighbors against each other, the game sure lived up to all that a sectional is supposed to be. First, a note about sectionals in Indiana. Sectionals are the first phase…
Mini Reporter’s Notebook
A few more items from the Reporter’s Notebook. I’m sure you’ve all been holding your breath for this update, but I finally saw the girls team that struggles every time I show up win a game last Friday. They won by 35. I think it’s safe to say their opponent was not of the highest quality. It was hard not…
Beaking ‘Em
I’ve been trying not to jinx them. I’m overdue for some KU basketball discussion, but I kept putting it off because I didn’t want to write good things about them and then have Missouri or K-State beat us. Now that we’ve gotten through rivalry week 2-0, I feel comfortable writing. Cue Colorado’s first win over us since 2003 on Wednesday……
Reporter’s Notebook
A few more notes from the notebook of a high school sports correspondent. Last Friday was another first in my young career: I covered a boy-girl doubleheader. The assignment was fairly simple: watch two games, write one story and submit two boxscores. It was the host team’s winter homecoming, so there was an extra-long gap between games. Seemed like I…
Robbed
Monday was my big chance. The chance to finally see the worst girls basketball team that I cover win a game. Over the last three years I’ve covered roughly ten of their games. None have even been close, if I recall correctly. They have one good player, some girls that try hard, and for the first time ever have a…
Feel The Excitement
Finally. Remember how I mock complained about always getting assigned to games that ended up being blowouts, often at the expense of the team I was covering? That was a bit of an exaggeration, but it seemed that more often than not, I was asking a coach questions about a loss than a win. Things have been a bit better…
Nicknames
One day recently I heard The Spinners’ “The Rubberband Man” while running errands. That was a song I grew up on, since my parents were very much into the early 1970s soul sound. But I recall it most fondly because of former NBA player Paul Pressey. While Pressey played his college ball at Tulsa, he earned the nickname “Rubberband Man”…
Benefits Of Not Fouling Up Three
Imagine if Memphis had managed to foul Sherron Collins before he shoveled the ball to Mario. Talk about a mess. It makes me even more glad that the NCAA was responsible for approving Darrell Arthur’s eligibility, thus their lack of interest in taking a second look at his high school transcript. If Mario misses, is KU vacating wins now and…