FanSpeak 12/19/04

Not enough wrestling

IT WOULD be nice if just one year your sports department would cover high school wrestling and not stick some small footnote about wrestling at the bottom of the high school basketball articles. It's obvious that your sports department is narrow-minded and biased. Maybe if you would hire some sports writers who were athletes, then maybe just maybe they would realize that high school wrestling has a large following. You don't have to be an athlete to bounce a ball around.

Support instead of criticism

IT WOULD be interesting to see if the people who write in about Southest basketball and coach Gary Garner actually go to the games or if they just read about the outcome in the paper. If more people started to show support instead of just giving up and not attending, maybe we would start seeing more wins. It's not only about coaching techinques but also fan support. If they don't feel like anyone is watching, what's the use in playing hard? Instead of putting down coach Garner and his staff's coaching abilities, we should start seeing why more resources cannot be placed in our athletic departments. In order to recruit great players, they need more of a budget with which to work. That's a major reason why Southeast football and basketball is suffering. Not because of the coaches themselves.

Puzzled by backlash

I WAS so confused by the rancor of the response to my FanSpeak comment, I dug out the old newspaper and read it again, thinking I may have misspoken. Upon reading it again, I am still puzzled. I never critized Derek Winans. In fact, I went out of my way to point out I thought he was a good ballplayer and a fine person. The only thing I disagreed with was this person's opinion that he is good enough to play at North Carolina or Duke. I still stand behind my opinion and think anyone who follows college basketball as a whole, not just the local version, would agree.

Ban Bonds and his ilk

IF BARRY Bonds or any other athlete is or has been using steroids, they should be banned from baseball just like Pete Rose. This is no different. Breaking the rules is breaking the rules.

A rose is a rose

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI State University has a new mascot, new logo and new merchandise. Unfortunately they have the same horrible football team and men's basketball team. It just goes to show you that some things never change.

Cheer on

I HAVE been attending the Scott City High School athletic competitions for countless years. Never have I seen a better crowd of young individuals that want to be involved in the game. Their active participation shows strength and support as well as a great deal of school pride. They show up to all of the games to cheer on their players and therefore should be allowed to cheer as they please, for they are adding interest to the game. Without them and their ability to pump the crowd up, the game seems boring and not as fun. Cheering is not a crime; they are not doing anything wrong. The players seem to play better and be more positive and motivated. So a tip to the fans and people cheering in the stands: Keep cheering your hearts out no matter what. Even if you have to be sitting down or are limited on what you are allowed to say, keep pride within you. The Scott City Rams need your help.

More to the story

I JUST finished reading the story on Jackson beating Perryville last night, and I would like to add a few comments about the game. I realize that Jackson is again a very talented team, however, the score does not reflect how the game was played. The word "romp" was really not the appropriate verb to use. For anyone in attendance at the game with any sense of basketball knowledge would realize that a three- to five-point difference with 4:13 left on the clock does not indicate a romping. Perryville fought hard all night against a team obviously more talented, only to have the effort discredited in your column. Turnovers and free throws in the last few minutes resulted in the big point difference [which was 64-37]. Not to take anything away from Jackson. They are very much deserving credit for the win. They outplayed Perryville at the end of the game, not the entire second half.