Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

Former Hanston football coach Jerry Slaton died last night after a long battle with cancer. I didn’t know Slaton all that well, but I know he was highly successful. He won 250 games, which ranks 14th on the career list for the state of Kansas.

After talking with several that either played for, coached with or coached against him, he sounds like he was one heck of a guy.

Sadly, he was only 62.

Any thoughts on Jerry Slaton? Post them here.

by joanna

A comment recently popped up talking about one of our correspondents and a possible bias this guy has for his alma mater. I took the comment very seriously and responded with a very long, supportive post about how wonderful this correspondent is. All true, of course. But then the commenter follows up with he was just joking around and is good friends with said correspondent. I laughed, but it’s one more example of how sarcasm doesn’t always come through in the written word.

I also recently received an e-mail from Kelly Welch, who was the “author” of the comment that said two coaches are notorious recruiters. I was always curious that this poster never responded after the furor that erupted after that posting. Well, I got an e-mail just the other day from Kelly Welch, saying someone else wrote the comment and just used the name Kelly Welch. I have no idea if this is true or not, but I certainly can see that happening.

by joanna

I just noticed someone had posted that a comment previously written finally showed up on the blog. Here’s the reason: We have a spam blocker on the blog. If you can believe it, I spend time each day deleting spam. The most recent spams have been from just about every state lottery. Not sure what’s going on there, but it’s a heck of a system considering how many have shown up on the comment forum on this blog.

Those messages are blocked, but so are some from you readers. Why some get blocked, I have no idea. Not sure what was seen in there by the system, but then I have to go into the comments and unspam them so they show up on the blog. So if your wonderful post doesn’t show up, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll get it up right quick. Actually, e-mail me at any time at jchadwick@wichitaeagle.com.

I’m no computer

by joanna

I’ve been remiss in my question of the day or question of the week, but here we go again.

What I want to know is do you go to spring sporting events because you are a parent, you are an athlete, you are a coach or just because you are a fan.

The reason I ask is because everything I go to in the spring is pretty much attended by parents only. Are there fans out there for sports outside of basketball and  football? I’m serious about this. I cover volleyball in the fall and pretty much the fan base is parents and then the football players who stop in to watch after practice. I’ve always wondered if they were there for the game or the pretty girls. I know that sounds bad, but it’s what I’ve wondered — and this coming from a big fan of volleyball.

Wrestling’s fan base is a bit broader, it seems, but spring sports just don’t seem to bring out too many people.

What are your thoughts?

by joanna

Does anyone else think that people are much ruder online than in person? I’m betting that half the stuff people post here and in discussion forums wouldn’t be said in person. I guess people love anonymity. By the way, I hope I don’t bear the brunt again for someone saying someone else is recruiting. Really, what’s controversial about saying a team is dominant? Yet there are those who use anything to throw around hata’ comments. If recruiting is happening, prove it.

I got a request for soccer rankings this morning _ baseball and tennis rankings ran in today’s paper _ and it seems there haven’t been any rankings yet this season. That’s too bad. But I was told by St. Thomas Aquinas coach Craig Ewing that there should be some by Friday. If that’s the case, I’ll type them up.

I really felt bad for the Northwest baseball program after the arson to their dugout and shed. It’s just not right. I felt even worse for the parents, though, who put in the time and energy to build that. I’m sure their disappointment — whether their son is even still there or not — is great.

I had a weird, old moment on Monday night, one day after my birthday (I love birthdays, but I’m getting up there.) Anyway, for a story that is scheduled to run on Friday, I interviewed a freshman golfer at Kapaun, David Auer, who I have known since he was a tyke. I got here in 1996 and saw David at Heights games back then. Yep, I’m old.

Talked to CL athletic director Bill Faflick this morning. He was already planning on how to rescheduled the rescheduled games that were scheduled for tonight. Here it is 1 p.m. and he’s right — it’s going to get nasty out there.

by joanna

Excuse me, AH-CHOO!, while I deal with my constant sneezing thanks to my wonderful allergies. Ah-choo!

I was out at Goddard tonight and I love the set-up they have there. There were three games going on — Derby-Goddard softball, Derby-Goddard baseball, Maize-Goddard soccer. There was one ticket booth and you could walk to all three and watch. I only watched the softball game — Goddard won 1-0 and 11-1 — but turned around every so often to check out the action on the soccer field (Maize won 1-0, keeping its scoreless streak alive. When was the last time Goddard’s Whitney Berry was held scoreless?)

It’s just one more example of how Goddard does things right athletically. I had everything I needed if I were a fan (except more tissue! I hate allergies! I didn’t even get them until I moved here.) There were multiple games to hold my interest, all for the bargain price of $5 to watch any of them, the bathrooms were close no matter where you were and there were concession stands, although I had to go to the football concession stands which was fine because I needed the exercise.

All three venues had announcers, although it was weird to have soccer be so silent. I guess there’s just not much to say in a 1-0 game except who’s coming in and out, and substitutions don’t happen much. And it’s not like the Goddard announcer would be screaming Goooo-aaaaaaal after a Maize goal.

Anyway, kudos to Goddard. I’m a big fan of Two Rivers Youth Club where fans can see any game in the City League, they’re all right there, but Goddard does it one better.  Now excuse me while I go looking for Zyrtec.

By the way, I wrote this without knowing the baseball score, so if you have it, post it.

by joanna

I recently was told that we’ve had some readers calling in and making pitches for their kids or kid to either be a subject for our weekly Getting to Know feature that runs on Fridays and for our “5 minutes, 3 (Pioneers)” grid that runs on Tuesdays.

Both are two of my favorite things that we do. I love the grid, partly because it was my idea and you usually are more passionate about something you came up with. But I especially love it because it’s fun and I’m talking to kids that I normally wouldn’t talk to. I’ve never spoken to a West High girls soccer player. Any soccer that I’ve covered in the past is usually in the postseason, so I only see the Kapaun’s or the Maize’s. But it was so fun to talk to these girls. I left West High smiling because I had fun and I would be getting three kids who normally wouldn’t get their pictures in the paper, into Tuesday’s paper.

The Getting to Know is a feature that allows us to delve into an interesting athlete and give it to you in an easy-to-read format. The kids who make the best getting to know subjects are the ones like East senior diver Courtney Skaer, who was a gymnast, suffered a ton of injuries, is super intelligent, is highly successful as a diver, is also a competitive cheerleader, teaches gymnastics…. She was amazing to talk to.

Who do you want to see in a GTK feature? Or a “5 minutes, 3 (whatever school)”? Got an idea. Were you glad to see a specific school or person featured? Fill me in.

by joanna

I wrote a short note on Independent softball in today’s softball notes and was blown away by the numbers this team is putting up. Through 10 games, the Panthers had outscored teams 142-17, with 11 of those runs coming in two games.

Monday night the Panthers added to that by beating Douglass 17-7 and 13-0. Which brings their grand total through 12 games to 172-24. That’s impressive.

Now I don’t know how good the Central Plains League is this season, but it’s still amazing what this team is doing.

Any other teams out there impressing you?

by joanna

Last week was absolutely loaded with outstanding games. At least on paper. That Northwest-Heights baseball game, um, not so good (North and Northwest have handled Heights recently).

Maize soccer continued its dominance — it looked good that the Eagles were playing Heights, but Maize is impressively rolling over everyone it plays this year. Hence the fact the Eagles haven’t been scored on. Can Goddard’s Whitney Berry score on Tuesday in that game? She’s a little gimpy, though, so that could slow her even more.

Maize and Goddard softball, that turned out to be good, though, with the teams splitting the doubleheader.

The KU Relays looked pretty  good from an area standpoint, too. Audacia Moore wins the 100, Keith Hayes finished second in the 110 hurdles, Matt Byers took third in the javelin, Southeast girls second in the 400 relay, Andover’s Jeremy Postin took third in the shot. That’s just a few.

All right, enough of the recap. Let’s look at this week. Carroll and Kapaun golf face each other today. I always love matchups like this that have some definite bearing on league titles. Both are undefeated in league.

How about tonight’s Northwest vs. North baseball game? You could say this game lost some of its luster when North lost to Carroll, but this is still a great game. I’m curious about the pitching matchups. Have these coaches been saving their studs?

I’ve already mentioned Maize-Goddard soccer, but how about swimming, where Northwest and North will face each other in a triangular with Carroll? Again, this could who wins the City League.

In softball, I’m at Derby vs. Goddard on Tuesday, and Rose Hill faces Augusta on Thursday.

The City League tennis meet is on Saturday at Wichita State. Can you believe that regional tennis is just a little over a week away? Unbelievable.

And finally, wanted to send a shout-out to Collegiate tennis coach Dave Hawley, whose father died recently. You’re in my thoughts.

~ J. Long

Boys soccer in the fall?

Now there might be a very good explanation for it, but I’m really just not feeling it.

Maybe Tennessee is just too much into football. In the fall our high school sports are Football, Volleyball, Girls Soccer, Golf, and Cross Country. It’s like that for one reason, football matters more than any other sport in the state of Tennessee. For the most part the kids that play golf and cross country are not football guys.

But soccer, not so much.

Boy’s soccer would almost die in Tennessee if they played soccer in the fall. So someone please tell me why. Also, does this really work? Maybe I’m just stuck in my ways. But if its soccer season, who is doing all the kicking?