FanSpeak 2/13/05

Proud of the Eagles

THE ORAN High School girls basketball team has been doing an excellent job this season. Even though they are a mainly young team, they have come together and are working through the kinks that a young group may have. We, as parents and fans, are proud of them. They have come a long way. Our hats are also off to the coaches. Keep up the good work.

Time to update logo

IT SEEMS a little strange that Southeast would go to a large amount of trouble to promote the new mascot and name of the athletic teams, then fail to change the Southeast logo with the arrow through it on the basketball court. Are they stopping short or just too cheap to finish the job?

Cheers for cheerleaders

FOR FOUR days, the Notre Dame cheerleaders offered a cheerleading camp for second- and third-grade girls. We were fortunate enough to be able to attend two of the clinics, and I want to congratulate the cheerleaders for how well they handled the young girls and for treating them with such love and respect. We were very impressed with the way the clinics were conducted. The finale was the Notre Dame varsity basketball game Saturday night, as the young girls performed before the crowd. They were so excited, and they were a crowd pleaser. Too bad that you couldn't have had a photographer there to capture their performance. What a wonderful way for these young girls and the teenage cheerleaders to spend their time.

A Puisis fan

I REALLY enjoyed your front page article in the Sports section on Jackson's Jack Puisis. This senior player is an outstanding young man. I was privileged to have him in class a couple of years ago when he was in the eighth grade, and he's an outstanding young man with a great attitude and very respectful and just an all-around great kid. From what I've seen of his work ethic, he has worked hard for his success in basketball, and we couldn't be more proud of him. I just want to wish him continued success. And to Jack's parents, you've done a great job raising him. He's an outstanding young man.

Congrats to Redhawks

CONGRATS SO far to the Redhawks men's and women's basketball teams. Coaches Gary Garner and B.J. Smith have done a great job. Maybe now everyone will get off coach Garner's back. It must hurt.

Just an opinion

MARTY MISHOW'S comments in his column Feb. 6 were absolutely ridiculous. He says of the people who voted in a poll that the coach they'd most like to replace is Gary Garner -- over Mike Martz and Quin Snyder -- "need to have their heads examined." Why does Marty have such a disdainful attitude towards the readers? It shows up quite often in his column. He feels he's entitled to his opinion, but we, the buyers of this newspaper and the citizens of this area, are not entitled to an opinion? If we disagree with him, we're wrong and he's right? Maybe Marty needs to re-evaluate what the word "opinion" means. We're entitled to our opinions just as he's entitled to his.

Unconditional support

TO ALL the people in Cape Girardeau and surrounding areas who were constantly writing to FanSpeak to complain about Southeast coach Gary Garner and the Southeast Missouri men's basketball program: All I have to say is "How do you like them apples?" As of Tuesday night's result, the men are on a 6-0 streak, three of those games being on the road. There is no magic potion to their success. They are all good players and always have been ... now they are coming together as a team, and it's showing. The fact that all of the negativity is silenced for the moment proves even more that Cape Girardeau is a "We're with you win or win" community, which is sad. I am a graduate of Southeast and have lived in Cape my entire life, and I always say how proud I am to be a part of this community that rallies around the university the way that it does, but right now, I'm not so impressed. If you are ever close to the bench when coach Garner is talking to his team during a timeout huddle, you will often hear them break with, "1, 2, 3, family." That is what they have become again. I wish them continued success and congratulate them and hope that more fans will continue to show up at the games and support the men and women.

Let the coaches coach

I AM a parent of a child whom plays basketball. We have a coach who truly cares about the children. We are a small community, and the talent is very slim. If your child is an all-star, then send him somewhere where he will shine. If the parents would let the coaches coach, maybe the kids would have more fun. It has become so ridiculous.

Beyond the gridiron

I WAS just wondering if the staff of the Southeast Missourian ever cared to look past the football players that sign letters of intent to colleges, to the other athletes that are also taking part in such a huge honor. Don't you think that wrestlers or soccer players are just as important and deserve the same amount of credit? Also, has anyone ever wondered if any girls might be signing to play athletics in college? Don't you think that they put forth just as much as an effort as the football team? I believe that it's pretty pathetic that our own local newspapers can't appreciate the hard work and dedication that all athletes put forth, especially those who are taking that extra step in devotion and responsibility as they take their athletic careers to the next level. Maybe you guys should try to give credit to everybody and not just the boys that are playing football.

(The Southeast Missourian has run items on athletes signing with colleges and will continue to do so when that information is available. In regard to the Feb. 3 edition, the news aspect was Jackson having a school-record number of football players committing on the first day of the signing period and one athlete accepting an offer from a Division I-AA institution.)

Respect for the officials

A CALLER to FanSpeak a couple of weeks ago said basketball officiating at has gone down. The reason is you cannot get young officials because they're not going to put up with the boorish behavior of parents and coaches who treat officials with such disrespect. Until parents start acting like adults and realize that basketball is for the players and not live vicariously through their kids, the situation will get bad. Eventually, basketball is going to be in even worse dire straits than it is now. Parents need to grow up and show some respect for the game and the officials and quit acting like a bunch of loud-mouth jerks.

In the swim

I WANTED to know if you guys were aware there was a swim meet at the Central bubble. I didn't see a thing about it in the paper. I saw football, basketball, soccer, fishing, golf and wrestling but not a thing about these kids and the swimming. They get up early, they practice everyday. I was thoroughly disappointed in the Southeast Missourian. You might give that some thought in the future.

(A brief item mentioned the meet was concluding Sunday and the results for the Gators were published in Tuesday's edition along with a photo.)