Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

Loving the action on the blog. Keep it coming.

from timeshavechanged on the specializing in sports post:

if “Bobby” the athlete has a chance to go to a baseball showcase in October, and show his skills to college coaches…..and “Bobby” plays high school basketball…..then he would have to make a choice…..although this is very sad….it is the cold hard facts. What do you do if you’re “Bobby”? Does his high school coach let him miss some practices and maybe even a couple games so he can attend…..or should he stick it out….and miss the recruiting process? Is the high school coach going to pay for “Bobby’s” college tuition if this is a chance he misses….do you think the glory of winning a game in high school out shines that college scholarship? This is a sad subject, but one of reality….focusing in on your skill as a 1 sport athlete…shouldn’t be frowned upon…or looked at as letting your high school down. He should be looked upon with admiration….for the dedication and sacrifices these athletes have to go through to realize their dreams.

Great point, great post. You’re right, you’ve got to give the kids credit for their dedication. It helps recruiting to be one sport athletes. But it’s sad. It’s sad that the whole focus is on getting that scholarship (trust me, I know all about the money issues here. I understand). But what about that high school experience? That playing for the love of it? Or is that pure utopia now? Sad, if it’s so.

from kansasguy on maize and recruiting post:

So Joanna…what is your issue with the Maize schools and recruiting?

Um, what? Did you read the post? It has to do with the school district having made the decision not to have boundaries which is a concern for THE DISTRICT that there will be athletic recruiting. It’s the first thought I had when I was told about the idea of preferences. Um, not sure that shows any hatred for Maize. Just a topic of conversation.

Speaking of topics — from “another” on the rules of recruiting post:

If it wasn’t Maize then we would be reading blogs about more foul balls, or what the inside of the locker rooms look like at WSU instead of the track meet, or some mythical basketball tournament that doesn’t mean anything.

Ouch. Got a topic? Pass it on, whether you are “another” or anyone else. I’m always looking for dialogue. And come on, the mythical basketball tournament didn’t mean anything, but it was fun. Talked to the Andover boys coach today and he told me that when he saw the voting was getting close in the championship, he e-mailed parents of the program and in a short while, the Trojans had 100 plus more votes. Is there anything wrong with that? Sorry, I don’t think things have to be controversial to be on the blog. It certainly gets more of you posting when you’re ripping a high school coach or a football player with the last name of Brown at East, but I’m looking for fun here.

As for this comment from Mark on Maize and recruiting:

This is directly accusing a coach of committing a violation of the rules, with no evidence. I read Joanna’s post elsewhere about why she isn’t taking this post down, but I don’t buy those arguments. I don’t see why the Eagle has to give people the right to libel one another by name in a public forum, hiding behind anonymity.

I’ve seen this argument elsewhere on other blogs and discussion forums around the country and I’m always intrigued by it. This poster writes something and my blog is blamed. It’s interesting. Yet here I’m blamed for what a supposed adult wrote — if that’s actually Kelly Welch who wrote it, being that person doesn’t seem to have come back. Interesting. There is a line, yes. But there’s very few posts that I’ve ever deleted, giving all the right to talk. Is this slander? I don’t know. I think it was a rash comment to make. I’m no libel lawyer. I’m not looking for controversy. I merely wrote about the Maize school district and the issues that could arise there with recruiting. I think this would not have been an issue but everyone has made it such because of a silly comment by a poster. I have talked to one of my bosses and he’s agreeing that my I do not need to take this down. Can that opinion change? Sure, we’ll keep our tabs on the situation.

So, don’t like the topic? I’ll take ideas. Want to continue talking about allegations that are made by a random person and not district employees or the state? Go ahead. I’ve written nine posts since that one.

Have a great weekend!

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. and is filed under The Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.