Varsity Kansas - The Blog

by joanna

One thing I love about high school sports is that anything can happen. Don’t tell me it doesn’t, either. Think about March 2007 when the two favorites to win the Class 6A boys basketball title lost in sub-state — that would be East and Southeast. So yeah, it happens.

Baseball’s kind of been that way this year, too. Check out how Bishop Carroll has struggled this season, yet what do the Eagles do on Monday night? Beat previously undefeated North, which then turned around and beat Heights — I mean, smacked Heights — 15-0. That same night? Goddard — who is no doubt a 6A favorite — gets swept by Campus, which is one of those great turnaround stories of the year.

Hello.

I was shaking my head on Tuesday night when I watched Northwest softball hammer Heights 11-0. I was so annoyed. That was supposed to be such a great doubleheader and here I’d be writing about a blowout…. And then came Game 2 when Northwest suddenly couldn’t hit and Heights wins the game. Makes for a more fun night for me, that’s for sure.

So while sitting at West Side Park watching North blowout Heights I started to pay attention to just how close the baseball field is to street. Ultimately, I found myself looking for a foul balls like they were home runs. Don’t know if it was Heights inability to do anything right in the game or just wanting to please the inner child in me. To my dismay there were only three foul balls hit into the street and none struck a car or even came close.

When I go to a baseball games my biggest fear is that a foul ball is going to strike my baby, Allana (my car). I can’t begin to formulate how mad I’d be if that were to happen to me.That’s why I’m often in one of the farthest parking spots at the field.

Imagine someone’s dismay if they were driving home from a long hard day worth of work and all of a sudden a baseball hits your car. I’ve seen it happen before in Columbus, GA.

So what would you do if your car was hit in that fashion?

by joanna

So I’ve been doing this grid on Tuesdays, where I talk to three athletes from an area school, ask them some questions — most are designed to be fun — and then take their head shots.One of the first questions I asked was to track athletes about not being able to use their iPods while in the infield anymore. Which sent me to the track rule book and this post.

It was really quite fascinating. Here’s a taste, taken from kshsaa.org:

Interpretation regarding hair “decorations/adornments”:
KSHSAA policy regarding items worn in the hair by cross country and track and field competitors:
While participating in competition, it is permissible for a student to use in their hair for a functional purpose the following:
•  Ribbon of any single color (ribbon length such that it is not “flowing”),
•  if multiple functional rubber bands or ribbons are used, they must be the same color,
•  a “scrunchie” (device intended to hold hair in place while in competition which is composed of an elastic material covered with cloth or a cloth like material) of a single color.
•  Any plastic, metal, hard object (such as barrettes, beads, bobby pins, clips, combs, etc.) may not be worn in the hair.
Any ribbon, rubber band or scrunchie worn in the hair must have a functional purpose, i.e., to hold the hair in place while in competition.

Now, are all these good rules? I’m sure.  It just makes me laugh that it’s so serious. And I’m blown away that the rules people know the word scrunchie.

Then there’s this, also from kshsaa.org:

VISIBLE MANUFACTURER’S LOG
A question has arisen regarding the number of visible logo’s on a specific brand of clothing that is commonly worn under track and field jerseys and/or pants. The specific brand of clothing is “Under Armor”. This product has a logo which is most commonly displayed on the neck of the top and on the back of the shirt, there is a size tag which also includes the logo and/or the product name. It is the interpretation of the KSHSAA that this garment as described has two visible logos (the one on the collar and the one on the size tag) and if both are visible while the competitor is in a normal standing position, it makes the item of clothing illegal (as per NFHS rule 4-3-1b(4) and 4-3-1d(1). The same interpretation would apply to shorts – ONLY one visible manufacturer’s logo.

Clerks of the course and field event judges should remind competitors at the time they check in of this rule.

I’m sure the reason for the ban on too many logos is to keep advertising out of high school sports. But once again, it makes me laugh. So serious.

Then this morning I get the NFHS report (national federation of high schools, the governing body of state associations) and there’s a column on a issue that came up in Maryland. What happened is a high school female athlete was told that her “undergarment” under her track uniform was in violation because it was multicolored. All undergarments need to be single-colored. That she’s Muslim is what became the issue because it was hooded and full-length.

Here’s the NFHS’ response.

A quick Google search shows that this story was picked up by such blogs and sites as anotherwaronterrorblog.blogspot.com. It’s an interesting story, check it out.

I bring it up because, while I know every sport has rules on uniforms and what can and cannot be worn on the body or in hair, there are a whole lot of rules to follow. More than I would guess most people would know.

by joanna

In our first mythical basketball championship, Andover won the the title! Way to go, Andover fans. The Trojans edged Southeast in a battle in which the only way you advanced was through votes in our poll. Andover fans were consistently the strongest, getting out the most votes throughout the entire tournament.

Andover beat Lawrence in a first-round matchup with a whopping 70 percent of the vote. Ouch. Andover took on Wichita East, winning with 59 percent, then slipped by Wichita Trinity, another great voting group of fans, with 58 percent.

I was impressed with the showing by the Southeast fans in the final, but once again Andover proved it’s got the area’s best fans. At least for this tournament, they were impressive.

Congrats, Andover. Your voting victory even made 2A of the newspaper. Loving that.

by joanna

There aren’t many compliments in this journalism business, although there’s probably more in sports simply because parents like to see stories on their children. But really the only time you hear from readers is if you have done something wrong.

Sometimes I’ll talk to coaches about the latest complaint I hear, yet I always preface it by saying that I know they get it about a 1,000 times worse than I do. Very few compliments, way too many complaints. It’s then that I remind myself that my life isn’t all that bad.

I wonder sometimes if coaches can do anything right. Here they are giving way too much of their time for pennies on the dollar, driving kids to and from events or back home because their parents can’t do it. I’ve seen coaches making sure a kid has something to eat, driving across town to help a kid get to an appointment. Do they get thanks? Sometimes.

More often, they just hear complaints.

I know, parents love their kids, they want to see them succeed, they want them to feel good about themselves. But why berate the coach over such trivial things? What makes a parent feel that it’s OK to ream a coach over playing time? If not ream, is it still OK to even question it?

Too often parents are out there trying to protect their offspring — great, in a dangerous situation — but unless your child is in danger, is being abused, back off. Let them succeed, let them fail. That’s life. Why is it necessary to be vile to a coach or pull your kid out and move because you’re worried about playing time?

Yes, as I’ve mentioned, there are issues where abuse is occurring. That’s sad. It should stop. Parents should get involved.

But playing time isn’t a huge issue. I know I keep focusing on this, but I’m blown away by how many times coaches tell me they’re hearing complaints about this. I hear that it’s political at a certain school. And it makes me laugh. I know so many coaches, and I have not met one yet — especially in football and basketball — who’s burning desire is to lose. Seriously, coaches play the best kids, unless they break the rules. I think the only time where subjectivity comes into play is when coaches are looking at who to keep as the No. 12 player in basketball, for example. Maybe there’s a kid who works hard, has a great attitude and then there’s a kid who’s doing crappy in school and will be an eligibility issue or he’s just a little you know what. Who do they keep? The good kid, of course.

Parents need to back off, they do. Let your kids fight their battles, let them prove themselves on the field, let them figure out how to handle a difficult situation with a coach — it will help them later in life. Be there for guidance, be there for support, be there to encourage. Sadly, it’s at all levels. I have a 5-year-old playing soccer and there’s a father who is pressuring his kid to play and this kid does not want to be out there. The father is so hard on this kid. 5 years old! It sickens me. It really does.

Hey, I’ve been in a tough spot. As a senior in high school I was told by my volleyball coach that she was going to have a youth movement; she had too many seniors. She said I’d made the team, but I would never play, except maybe to serve. I found that unacceptable, I met with my parents, told them how I felt and then I told her. Should I have quit? Probably not. Of course she wanted to win and sure enough, she went with her seniors as the year went on. I probably would have played. But you know what? My parents stayed out of it. I handled it. I respect them to this day for that.

I do know exactly what kind of parent I’ll be, though. I have no intention of being like the vast majority that I see — screaming at the coach, yelling at their kid to get his head out of his behind, talking bad about their kids’ teammates, questioning every move the coach makes. I won’t be silent — Lord knows I love to talk during my son’s games already, telling him to hustle and telling him good job and way to go team. But I don’t criticize. Leave that to the coach.

I’m off my high horse, now. Your thoughts?

by joanna

I wrote a story for last Friday on how Maize is splitting into two high schools for the 2009-10 school year. It will be Maize High and Maize South High.

What so interested me is that there will be no boundaries. None. Instead the district will rely on its parents to state their preferences for which school they want their children to attend.

When I first spoke about this to Maize athletic director Marc Haught — and now the district AD — the first thought that popped into my head was what about recruiting. Maize really feels that it has a handle on how to deal with this, though. The district will rely on its coaches to build successful programs and also focus on keeping its students that are within its feeder pattern.

It’s kind of like a Northwest High making sure that kids at Wilbur are going to Northwest, not choosing to go elsewhere. Wilbur is Northwest’s feeder school, so those kids live in the Northwest district, so it’s not recruiting. It’s keeping your kids in the system.

I don’t know how this will work, though, at Maize. I think there could be problems with recruiting. At the same time, I know Haught is focused on this issue and has no qualms about squashing anything that resembles recruiting. Frankly, recruiting hurts an entire district.

What are your thoughts? Can this work? Could it possibly work in a bigger district? Fill me in. I know you have opinions.

by joanna

Ooooh, we’ve got a close one here, folks. In our mythical basketball championship game with Southeast and Andover, Andover is leading by nearly 30 votes (it’s 10:30 p.m. Tuesday).

(By the way, to the haters who think it’s ridiculous that Andover’s winning this only because it’s mythical — then get people to vote, OK? This is fun and no room for logic here. Come on!)

Anyway, Andover is getting the love and I’m telling you now, it looks like the poll is closing on Wednesday night. You think it’s ridiculous that Andover is winning? Don’t you have some friends with computers who can vote? Think Andover has the best fans out there and will show Southeast what true fans are like? Call your friends to vote. Andover is really showing me what kind of fans it has, though. I’m duly impressed here, people.

I still believe Southeast wins on the court, but we’re not on the court. We’re in cyberspace.

So Wednesday is it. Vote!

by joanna

We can keep this to spring sports or make it all-time or make it this season. Have a go at it.

I’d say the best athlete overall I’ve seen this school year was Arthur Brown at East. He was such a stud on the field, with amazing vision and he hit harder than any kid I’ve seen since I moved here in 1996. Plus, I believe he’s genuine. He was always so easy to deal with, too.

As for this spring, wow, I think it might be too early for me to say. I haven’t seen any baseball, and I know there are some definite studs around here — North and Goddard obviously have a few. Softball, I’ve been impressed with Charlotte White at Heights and I liked both of Carroll’s pitchers, Megan Seiwert and Katie Armagost. I’ll watch Northwest tonight, so I’ll get a better feel for the Grizzlies.

As for all-time, I think I’m stumping myself. High school-wise, I’d have to say Kamerion Wimbley. It’s not just what he’s done since leaving — Florida State, first round pick by the Browns — it’s what he did in high school. He played out of position in football, at quarterback, because that’s where the team needed him. Unfortunately, though, he didn’t put up the huge numbers — because he was out of position — and that affected him in postseason honors. In track he did just a little of everything. Again, a great person overall. Never heard a bad thing about him.

Jackie Stiles also is up there for best athlete I’ve seen. She was no doubt the best basketball player I’ve seen in Kansas girls — there’s tough competition there, too. But she was a complete athlete on the track, too. She could do it all. Then again, Kendra Wecker at Marysville could, too. She was volleyball, basketball and then outstanding at javelin. I love those three-sport athletes. Can you imagine if some of these kids around here played more than one sport or even three? The schools would be dominant. Just think about back in the mid to late 1990s at Bishop Carroll with athletes like Kristen Cheney and Tina Lewis — three sport studs.

All right, I’ll shut up so you all can weigh in.

by joanna

So I just checked the voting on the mythical basketball matchup and Andover has a slight edge over Southeast (92 votes to 87) as of 2 p.m. This is closer than I thought it would be because I thought Andover folks would come out en masse and vote for their Trojans. But Southeast is hanging in there.

Who will advance? It’s tight. Better vote!

by joanna

I wrote about the new baseball schedule in the City League two weeks ago in baseball notes, now taken over oh-so-ably by Jonathan Long. It didn’t sound as if coaches thought the schedule was the greatest thing in the world.

Some liked it, some didn’t mind it, others were not fans.

But what about you? Do you like the idea and just feel it doesn’t work? Do you love it overall? Do you hate it across the board? Are you irked that you have to pay twice as much to see your kid play the same number of games as usual?

I think for me what would bother me as a parent is the number of nights for games have increased. Whereas you were only losing one night to baseball games (losing sounds harsh, but there is life outside of sports, you know. There’s painting, cleaning, eating still to be done in a daily life), now you’re spending so many more nights.

I wouldn’t mind the 4:30 game start (although I believe that’s a problem for some getting off work), but that 6:30 start isn’t a set time because of the previous game at that site goes long, your game starts late.

Those are just my thoughts. I do think it was a good idea when it was thought about and maybe we just all need to get used to it. I just don’t know. But tell me what you think?