Parents: Get a grip, find a balance
Think parents behaving badly is someone else’s problem?
Think those sorts of things only happen in other places?
Think again.
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Sometimes we have to look beyond our state’s borders for cautionary tales in sports.
And then sometimes, they come and smack us upside the head.
In the past month or so, Oklahoma has had its share of “Little League parents” behaving badly. First came the stun-gun attack on the cheerleading coach at Putnam North. Now this week comes the news of the choking of the baseball coach at Enid High.
What in the name of Latrell Sprewell is going on here?
You’ve no doubt heard the latest. Enid High baseball coach Scott Baugh told police that an off-duty Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper argued with him earlier this week because his son had been left off a summer league team. The trooper then grabbed the coach around the neck with both hands.
This comes only a month after Putnam North cheerleading sponsor Bethany Lorenz was approached by a woman in the school’s parking lot. At the direction of one of the cheerleader’s mothers, the woman zapped Lorenz on the neck with a stun gun.
Listen, I understand the importance of youth sports. Families invest a lot of time and energy and money into their children’s athletics. Having one kid on one team can cost hundreds of dollars, maybe more. Team fundraisers help defer some of the costs, but at the end of the day, parents are shelling out their hard-earned cash for their kids.
I get that.
But the adults can’t go around acting like children. They can’t choke and grab and taser and harm other adults. No amount of money invested, no amount of time given justifies that.
Whenever I hear stories like this, I’m reminded of the story of Andrew Thompson. He was a soccer standout at Northwest Classen High School a few years ago. I even covered one of his playoff games and interviewed him.
I also interviewed his father, Emmanuel Thompson.
Less than a year and a half later, Emmanuel was dead and Andrew was charged with his murder.
Earlier this month, Andrew Thompson’s first-degree murder trial was delayed because his attorney withdrew from the case. Before he did, though, he said that the younger Thompson had suffered years of abuse from his father. Others have said that much of the abuse stemmed from Emmanuel’s demands on Andrew as an athlete. He pushed too hard. He wanted too much. And ultimately, it caused his son to snap.
Parents must find a balance when it comes to their children in sports. Is it important? Sure. Is it worth choking someone or stun-gunning someone or pushing someone so hard that they commit the most horrible of crimes?
We all know the answer, but sometimes, it just hits a little closer to home.
Pullin’ for P.J.
Looking for someone to cheer for in the NBA playoffs?
Look no further.
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It’s hard not to pull for the Hornets in the NBA Playoffs.
But I might’ve found someone else to pull for harder.
P.J. Brown became a fan favorite here in Oklahoma City during the Hornets temporary relocation. The veteran big man scored the very first basket in the very NBA game at the Ford Center. He was all class. He signed autographs. He posed for pictures. He was the consummate professional.
And he was even though his heart was hurting. Brown in a native of Louisiana. Born and raised and educated there. It is his home, and when Hurricane Katrina roared into New Orleans, he lost not only a house but also a home.
He moved to Oklahoma City, his family to Houston.
It was a mess.
Then after a season in OKC, the Hornets traded Brown to the Bulls. It was another blow. Brown, after all, had talked about retiring a Hornet.
He spent two not-so-happy seasons in Chicago, and when he became an unrestricted free agent at the end of last season, the Bulls didn’t re-sign him. Trouble was, no one else signed him either.
Brown spent the first half of the season out of basketball — no doubt a tough pill after 14 years in the NBA — but when the All-Star Game rolled into New Orleans, Brown threw his support behind it. And it just so happened that he ran into Ray Allen and Paul Pierce that weekend. The Celtic stars told Brown that they wanted him in Boston.
Not long after, Brown became a Celtic.
He is a reserve, of course, playing third or maybe even fourth fiddle to the Allen, Pierce and Kevin Garnett. And yet, Brown has a chance to fulfill a dream.
He has never won an NBA title — 15 seasons, 0 titles.
No one deserves to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy more than P.J. Brown. Sure, it’d be great to see the Hornets win the title, but no one would appreciate it more than Brown.
He’s long been a consummate professional. For once, he should be a world champion.
Good sports in sports
Sometimes in a sports world where madness is the standard and ugliness is the norm, you need a little ray of sunshine.
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This story is a remarkable one.
It is remarkable because it involves sportsmanship in sport. Those stories have become fewer and farther between these days. Too often, we see folks in sports posturing and pushing. This week, we even had an NBA player mocking another in the media.
Are these grown ups or third graders?
We don’t have to ask that question about a couple of Division II softball players from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. Western Oregon was visiting Central Washington for a doubleheader last weekend, and early in the second game, Sara Tucholsky stepped to the plate. The diminutive senior had never hit a home run in her career, but on the second pitch, she smacked a pitch over the centerfield fence.
Everyone from Western Oregon went nuts, including Sara. In her excitement, she missed tagging first base. When she turned back to touch it, her right knee buckled.
She fell to the ground.
Her coach knew if anyone from their team touched Sara, she would’ve been unable to advance. Her first career homer would’ve gone down as only a single.
Then as everyone stood around trying to figure out what to do, Mallory Holtman spoke up. The Central Washington first baseman knows how great it is to hit a home run. She’s her school’s career leader.
Mallory said, “Excuse me, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?”
And that’s exactly what Mallory and shortstop Liz Wallace did. They lifted Sara, their hands crossed under her and carried her to second, then third, then home.
I’d like to think that any athlete anywhere would do what Mallory and Liz did for little Sara, but I’m not sure they would.
Maybe that’s why this story from a small-school conference in a far-away corner of the country is being noticed by ESPN and The New York Times and so many others around the country. Even though you can find sports in sportsmanship, you can’t always find sportsmanship in sports. Maybe the story of the gals from Central Washington and Western Oregon shouldn’t seem so remarkable, but we know that in today’s sports world, it is.
Mallory and Liz carried Sara, but really, they gave all of us a lift.
Cheers to Curtis
The Kingfisher Kid is no longer a kid, and yet, I sure hope Curtis Lofton is taking some child-like wonder with him to the NFL.
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There was a day back in December that I’ll long remember.
The Oklahoma football team was having its pre-bowl season press conference, and Curtis Lofton was talking about anything anyone asked him. That included the NFL.
He had yet to declare for the draft, but as the linebacker fielded questions about the NFL, he had the weirdest look on his face. It was either disbelief or wonder. I finally asked him what was up.
Lofton said that he really couldn’t believe he was sitting there talking about being an NFL Draft pick.
He explained it this way: “Just being from Kingfisher, a little small town, and being able to actually think about going to the NFL is just kind of astonishing.”
Lofton isn’t thinking about it any more. He’s going to the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons picked Lofton in the second round of this weekend’s draft, and folks in Georgia are talking about him being the heir apparent to Keith Brooking.
All the Brooking has done over the past decade is anchor the Falcon defense.
Lofton has yet to play a down in the NFL, and yet, he has already started living out a dream. And you know what? I can’t help but be pleased as punch for the guy.
On a weekend when it’s easy to get wrapped up in the big money being thrown at young men or the out-of-control hype machine spitting out one superlative after another, Lofton is a guy who’s easy to be happy for. He is a small-town guy who works hard and keeps his nose clean.
I haven’t had a chance to talk to Lofton since he was drafted Saturday, but I did see him at Mark Clayton’s charity event a few weeks ago. He was running in the same circles with NFL types that weekend, and he still had some of that awe in his eyes. The wonder was there just like that December press conference.
Here’s hoping Lofton takes that attitude with him to the NFL.
Enjoying the ride is never a bad way to go.
Eatin’ it up
Need a little something to feed your hunger for national championships?
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Lest you can’t get enough of the national championship fever this time of year, fear not. All of the titles haven’t been handed out just yet.
This weekend, a champ will be crowned at the inaugural Collegiate Nationals Eating Championship.
Yep, eating.
CBS College Sports has even picked up the broadcast rights. So, let me get this straight. In the same month that CBS is responsible for the Final Four and the Master’s, it’s also doing the eating championship. How can that be?
This comes straight from the just-when-you-thought-things-in-sports-couldn’t-get-any-crazier file.
The eating championship will feature college-style food. Hamburgers. Hot dogs. French fries. Guess no one told them if they wanted true college food, they’d have gone with Ramen noodles and Pop Tarts.
The rules of the contest prohibit any dunking, mashing or mutilating of the food. The Eating Commissioner — I swear, I’m not making this part of the story up — says that it’s important to pay respect to the food.
Um, stuffing massive qualities of it in your gullet is considered respectful?
And you thought Jerry Jones wanting to trade for Pacman Jones was crazy.
The Eating Championship falls under the umbrella of “The Collegiate Nationals,” by the way. This is a group that dubs itself “a festival of epic championships that displays the growing passion for lifestyle sports at the collegiate level.”
Now, wait just a gosh darn minute.
A festival of epic championships? With that kind of description, someone had better be wrestling bears or hogtying alligators. Now that would be epic.
The Collegiate Nationals’ idea of epic? Beach volleyball. Snowboarding. Ultimate Frisbee. And, of course, eating.
And listen, I’m not sure what they mean by “lifestyle sports at the collegiate level.” Eating is a lifestyle sport? I thought it was more a part of life, but hey, potato patato.
Qualifying rounds for the Eating Championship are Saturday, followed by the championship round on Sunday. The top four seeds — um, yeah — have byes until Sunday. I’m picking the fourth seed. With a name like Brian “Eatin’” Keaton, can you really go wrong?
Malcontent Malcolm? Not so fast!
Malcolm Kelly set off something of a firestorm with his comments Wednesday after working out for NFL scouts.
No one in the media really and truly knows the athletes that we cover, but still, I’ve had a chance to talk one-on-one with the former Oklahoma wide receiver numerous times during the past three seasons. I’m not ready to vilify him like many have.
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Malcolm Kelly is one of the good guys.
I think.
About two weeks ago, I would’ve said that about the former Oklahoma wide receiver without so much as a hint of trepidation, without even a smidge of reservation. Even when injury kept Kelly out of the Fiesta Bowl this year and Sooner fans cried foul, I stood up for Kelly.
Because he’s hurt and doesn’t play makes him a bad guy?
I wasn’t buying it.
Kelly is a quality character guy. Good demeanor. Clean record. Thoughtful. Insightful. Honest. In fact, one of the things that I have long told people is that Kelly has all the skills of an NFL receiver without the attitude of one.
Keyshawn Johnson? Terrell Owens? Chad Johnson? Malcolm Kelly isn’t like that. With him, you get all the catches without any of the crazy.
Then along came Pro Day, Part Deux at OU.
Kelly and a small cadre of fellow NFL hopefuls worked out for scouts Wednesday. And after the festivities, Kelly had some not-so-nice things to say. He spoke ill of the set-up, the medical staff, and the strength and conditioning staff.
Listen, I don’t pretend to know all of what’s gone on behind the scenes. Was Kelly’s leg injury was misdiagnosed during the season? Was his workout moved at the last minute? I really don’t know.
What I do know is this: for starters, Kelly might have thought better about what he said after running so-so time in the 40-yard dash. No need to come off to the NFL types like you’re fishing for excuses. And secondly, Kelly might have given us a little insight into some of the frustrations of college athletes bubbling just under the surface.
Kelly said, “You play somewhere for three years, you give ‘em all you got every summer, every winter, and all you ask for is an hour and a half to have it like you want to have it.”
You know what? I can’t argue with that. College athletes are amongst the most under paid laborers in the country. For the revenue they produce for their coaches, their programs and their schools, they get back a very small percentage of what they’re owed. But they do it because they get a scholarship, a whole lot of coaching and teaching, and a chance to show off their abilities.
What Kelly said Wednesday, though, shows that there is frustration among athletes. They give and give and give and feel like the school doesn’t reciprocate. Hard to argue when you see coaches earning millions and schools building athletic palaces.
Kelly probably said what many athletes think. Does that make him a bad guy? A complainer? An eccentric? I’m not ready to chalk him up into any of those categories just yet, but it’ll be interesting to see what we remember about this episode in a few years. Was it the start of a trend, or was it an out of character moment?
Only time will tell, and even though he might prove me wrong, I still think Kelly is one of the good guys.
Holder hire: Huge
Everybody’s talking about who the next Oklahoma State men’s basketball coach will be.
Here’s guessing the one guy we don’t hear much from about the subject until the hire’s done is Mike Holder.
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When Mike Holder next steps behind the podium at a hastily called press conference, he’ll be joined by the next men’s basketball coach at Oklahoma State.
Who will it be?
That, of course, is the million dollar question. Or the five or six million dollar question, depending on how deep you believe Boone Pickens’ pockets are.
I don’t pretend to have any great insight on who Holder will hire. Heck, listening to him earlier this week, the OSU athletic director didn’t have any great insight on the subject either. That could make for some interesting days ahead.
Many Cowboy fans are frustrated by Sean Sutton’s ouster. Their emotions run from consternation to out-and-out infuriation. Their reasons are varied. Some say two years just wasn’t enough time. Others say Sutton was showing signs of promise. Still others say the Sutton family deserved better for all that it has done for the university.
Truth is, even the angriest Cowboy fans will soften their stance if Holder hires a slam dunk of a coach. Go get a name. Go get an established guy or even a bright up and comer that everyone knows. Go make a splash hire, a hire that makes people sit up and say, “Wow,” and many sore feelings well be soothed.
But hire a guy that makes people furrow their brow and say, “Who?” and the grumbling and the rumbling from the orange-clad faithful will surely intensify.
This isn’t to say that Holder has to go get Bill Self or Billy Gillespie. Those two guys hold top-five jobs in college basketball, so the chances of luring them away from Kansas and Kentucky to Stillwater are, well, pretty much zero.
There are plenty of other big-time coaches. USC’s Tim Floyd. Minnesota’s Tubby Smith. Drake’s Keno Davis. Xavier’s Sean Miller. A coach like that would be good for OSU and great for Holder.
Make a good hire, and many of those Cowboy fans who are frustrated now will start to mellow. They still might not agree with Sutton being shown the door, but they will start to come around. To think the change might be worth it. To get excited about their basketball program again.
But if Holder makes a shoulder-shrug hire, he might have a full-fledged revolt on his hands. The new guy might very well be a qualified coach, might very well make people forget their anger one day, but in the short term, all will not be well in the OSU family.
Holder had better go out and find somebody good to stand next to him at that next press conference.
Stop the shenanigans
I fully intended to post this earlier this week, but the goings-on at Oklahoma State and at the Ford Center foiled my plans.
So, here’s my latest video commentary, or you can just read below:
Andrea Riley and her Oklahoma State teammates might just have been the feel-good story in women’s college basketball this season.
Then, Riley started knocking people around.
And no, knocking people around isn’t some sort of metaphor for what the Cowgirl point guard does to opponents. No, she actually hit three opponents in the postseason.
First, a disclaimer. I wasn’t at any of the game at which Riley pulled her antics, but I believe the observations of my co-workers. Same goes for video.
The latest incident has been viewed almost 7,000 times already on YouTube – a quick note, I couldn’t find the video without the extra commentary that this one has; if you find one, let me know – and it only happened Saturday. The Cowgirls were playing LSU in the Sweet 16, another amazing step for this program that was 0-16 in conference play only two years ago. Riley dribbled into the lane with LSU guard Erica White on her hip. Riley pulled up for a jumper, and White turned to look at the rim. When she did, Riley turned toward White and smacked her in the back of her head. White pushed back a bit, but then, who wouldn’t when blindsided with a shot to the skull?
We don’t know, of course, what transpired before that between Riley and White. During that particular play, White didn’t seem to say anything to Riley or do anything out of the ordinary. Lots of things are said and done, though, during the course of a game.
Still, that doesn’t excuse what Riley did.
And unfortunately, these type of actions are becoming all too frequent with Riley. She smacked a gal from Texas in the Big 12 Tournament, then a couple nights later smacked another one from Texas A&M.
That’s three incidents in five games. Unacceptable.
Listen, I think Andrea Riley is the best point guard in the country. No one runs their team better. No one gets their shot better.
Talk to Riley off the court, and there’s no more charming and delightful a person.
But as much as there is to like about Riley, her actions cannot be ignored. The referees did not punish her. Neither has the conference. I say OSU coach Kurt Budke must step up. He has to let it be known that these types of things won’t be tolerated. Does that mean a stern talking to? More conditioning? A suspension?
I don’t know what will get the point across, but these sorts of things must stop. Budke has to understand that, and he must make sure Riley does, too.
March: In like a Tiger?
The dominance continues.
It’s not North Carolina or Kansas, Memphis or UCLA on the hardwood either.
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Oh, the madness.
The crazy, wacky, wild madness.
And we’re not talking about the kind with that large, leather sphere. We’re talking about the kind involving a man named Tiger.
Lost a bit amongst the roundball rowdiness are the latest exploits of Tiger Woods. The greatest golfer that ever did trod our earthly sod won again on Sunday.
Get this: he’s got a winning streak.
A winning streak.
In the world of golf, that’s unheard of. Sure, basketball teams have winning streaks. The Houston Rockets have won 22 games and counting. Football teams have winning streaks, too. Perhaps you heard that the New England Patriots won 18 games in a row last season before losing in the Super Bowl.
But professional golf is not one of those sports where winning streaks are even talked about. If a player wins in back-to-back starts, that’s often a career highlight. Heck, one single, solitary win can make most careers.
Then again, those standards are for mere mortals. Tiger Woods is not mortal. How can he be? The guy has won has last five starts. Five in a row.
Only the great Ben Hogan has ever had longer streaks. He won six in a row at one point, a record that seems sure to fall the next couple times Woods laces up the spikes. Then, there’s Hogan’s seemingly untouchable streak of 11 consecutive wins. It’s seemingly untouchable no more, not with Tiger Woods on the prowl.
Tiger could run the table, win every tournament he plays this season. Crazy, you think? Madness, you cry?
The madness reigns every month of the year when it comes to Tiger Woods.
Must win for OSU?
Oklahoma State in the NCAA Tournament?
Could be.
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The Oklahoma State men’s basketball team finds itself on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
And the Cowboys couldn’t be happier.
Only a couple weeks ago, they weren’t just out of the NCAA Tournament discussion. They were out of the NIT discussion, too.
Now, after five consecutive wins and six wins in the past seven games, they’re on the NCAA bubble. It’s the far edge of the bubble where they have to hold on by a fingernail, but still, they’ve managed to get their hooks into it.
So, what now?
Lots of folks believe that the Cowboys have to win their last two regular season games, then win at least a couple games in the Big 12 tournament.
I’m not so sure.
OSU finishes the regular season this week with games at home against Oklahoma, then on the road at Texas. Do the Cowboys need to win both to keep any NCAA Tournament hopes alive?
Maybe not.
Consider this: Let’s say OSU wins Bedlam in Stillwater, then loses in Austin. Then, the Cowboys go to Kansas City and win a couple games before losing to a top-seed team such as Kansas or Texas. That would mean that the Cowboys would have won eight of their last 10 games, including home wins against Kansas and Oklahoma as well as road wins against Texas A&M and Missouri. And their losses during that closing stretch would be to potential No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
That’s a pretty darn good resume to put in front of the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
Now, would it help the Cowboys to win at Texas, then beat a team like Kansas in the conference tournament? Absolutely. I’m just not sure it’s a necessity.
Besides, this is a season without a bunch of slam-dunk at-large teams. The mid-major conferences, which have supplied an increasing number of at-large births over the past few years, aren’t as strong this season. Teams from major conferences that might never have gotten into the tournament in other years will make it this season.
So it could be for OSU. Work definitely remains for the Cowboys, but they’ve got a great opportunity to make the NCAA Tournament, even if they aren’t perfect the rest of the season.
