FanSpeak 8/29/04

Schedule is a fair test

IF I should look at Southeast Missouri State's basketball schedule again, as one suggested last week in FanSpeak, they should also read my letter again. The schedule is about the right level Southeast needs to play. I join everyone in hoping the new players and coaches come together for a decent season. I also stand behind my statement that calling it "the toughest schedule ever" is a flat-out lie. They have had much tougher schedules in the past.

More softball, please

ARE YOU going to have a more detailed preview for area high school softball? I certainly hope so, because the one in Sunday's paper wasn't very informative.

Covering Poplar Bluff?

WHAT IS the Southeast Missourian doing covering an athlete from Poplar Bluff? Tyler Hansbrough's signing with North Carolina was a big deal, but isn't that out of your coverage area? That has been the excuse you've used so many times, like when Blake DeWitt from Sikeston was drafted in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Dodgers. Wait a minute -- it was an AP report. That explains it. I should've known none of the reporters from your paper would actually get out and work to find a story, even one as big as Hansbrough's.

(Stories of regional interest such as DeWitt being drafted, which appeared on Page 1B of the June 8 paper, and Hansbrough's signing, which appeared on Page 3B on Tuesday, are covered by our media partners in those communities or The Associated Press.)