FanSpeak 1/12/03

Maddox no award-winner

TOMMY MADDOX as the NFL's comeback player of the year is an absolute joke. You had to have been a decent player to be the comeback player. The guy stunk his whole career. Give me a break. The guy never was and never has been. One lucky year and he's comeback player of the year. Not happening.

Music was offensive

I WAS at the Southeast basketball game at the Show Me Center with my husband and three children. As we were walking to find our seats, the music playing was a rap song and it was littered with profanities. Some were to a worse degree than others. I cannot believe that whoever is responsible for choosing the music is so careless. I was mostly appalled because I assumed that a college basketball game is an appropriate place to take my kids, but with something like that going on, I have to think twice about returning.

Wrestling with coverage

I WAS wondering why the Missourian did not cover wrestling more. You have outstanding teams in this area. I would like to see more on the sport.

A ref gone wild

I ATTENDED a youth basketball game today. The kids played very well with good team spirit and sportsmanship. However, the referee that stormed over to the bleachers, took off his whistle and literally threw it at a parent did not show any sportsmanship. He was out of control and did not set a good example for any child there. Not to mention, he ruined the game for many of us.

Something to think about

I DON'T claim to be an authority of college basketball, but I have made reasonably constructive observations. I feel that if a player will just let the game come to him, play within himself and give 110 percent, he can make a university decent money. That's what it's all about.

Give Central credit

I KNOW it is up to the coaches to call in results after a basketball game, but evidently this is not being done. Central's seventh-grade basketball team is awesome. As of Jan. 5 the team is undefeated. They recently played in a tournament and easily outmatched every opponent. I would like to ask the fans and staff at Central to support these boys because this will be your high school team in the near future. Some of the key players that I have seen play are Adrian Cox, Jujuan Bell, Ty Williams and several others.

A worthwhile show

ONE OF the real thrills of the Christmas tournament was the wildly entertaining and wonderful performance of the Notre Dame dance team.

Watch for the flame

I HAVE been to many sporting events and I have seen many coaches do many things, but I have never seen what I did tonight by a coach at Bell City. If you can't take the comments from the crowd then you don't need to be in the game. If you can't take the heat, don't get too close to the flame.

I've got it figured out

WITH ALL the problems of the Rams, I'd be curious to see what happened if they traded Kurt Warner, put Marc Bulger as the starting quarterback, then put Jamie Martin as the second-stringer and bring back Eric Crouch as a third-stringer. Yeah, people say Crouch is too short to play at QB, but does anybody remember Doug Flutie?

One loss was Delta's gain

HEY, MARTY, leave the people of Scott City alone about their decision not to rehire coach White. They did the people of Delta a huge favor. We love him and what he has done with the program at Delta. Their loss is our gain, and we are going to keep him.

Officials were suspect

MY THOUGHTS on the Christmas tournament were confirmed. I attend basketball games throughout my son's season, and the officials that I usually see at his games were not involved at this tournament. I questioned several different calls made by one official who was unable to even keep with the boys when they were running down the court. I was quite shocked by some of the behavior displayed by players who were vicious in their actions and there was no call made. How can we expect any control and authority over the games when you don't have officials that will handle the players and coaches? I hope that whoever is in charge of this tournament will consider some other options.

Watch for Lauren

SAXONY LUTHERAN High School is a 3-year-old school with a great basketball team that is 9-3 this year. You need to see Lauren Lueders play. She handles the ball with great skill, shoots from way out and seldom misses. As the only girl on the floor with nine other male players she is not intimidated but is a great intimidator. What a joy!

Did I really say that?

FANSPEAK, WE have a problem. The comment from the coach was sort of a joke. The comment was made to a friend commenting on my coaching a city league team. I was shocked to go to work Monday night and some guys were trying to decide if this remark was from their school's coach. I called in as a joke and didn't think this stupid remark would be printed. Sorry!

Rankled by no rankings

IT IS very disappointing that you all don't keep up with high-school state rankings. There are several boys and girls teams in the area that are ranked.

State rankings were not published last week because of a copy-editing error. Boys rankings will appear Wednesday and continue weekly, alternating weeks with the girls rankings.

Bad calls on the air

MY HUSBAND and I attended some of the Christmas tournament games, and the worse case of sportsmanship was displayed by the announcers for a local radio station who were constantly putting down the refs, coaches and players. Kids are kids, they make mistakes. Even the pros make errors. The worst comments were made about the officials. The comments on every call were negative and one particular announcer was horrible about pronouncing names correctly. He also called the wrong numbers on fouls. If he is going to cast stones at the other people involved in the tournament, he needs to start doing a better job in his own profession.

Odd all-tournament picks

REGARDING THE Christmas tournament, the people who voted for the all-tournament team should be ashamed. How could you have members on the team from teams that were beaten? The Central team and Woodland team didn't have any representatives, yet Meadow Height and Advance, both beaten by Central and Woodland, did have representatives. Does that seem right?

A question of format

I KNOW this is probably a day late and a dollar short, as the saying goes, but I'd cast my vote in favor of changing the format of the Christmas tournament. I'd like to see a few teams play here that we don't normally get to see. No offense to teams likeOak Ridge or Leopold, but I can see them play any time I want to.

Give that man a trophy

WHEN THE awards were being handed out at the end of the Christmas tournament last week, one should have been given to coach Farmer of Charleston for being such a good person by using his subs consistently instead of running up a lopsided score. Too many coaches continue to run a full-court press with their starting lineup well after a winning team has been established. All coaches should learn from this man.