FanSpeak 4/24/05

Faultless Garner?

I FIND it interesting how Marty Mishow is so quick to defend Southeast Missouri State men's basketball coach Gary Garner. How come Mr. Mishow doesn't ask the serious questions? Like, why does it have to take two to three weeks to sign a payer while other teams in the Ohio Valley Conference are signing players? Doesn't that strike anyone as odd? What about the player that already gave a verbal commitment to Southeast? Why can't we sign him? He should be the first player to sign a letter of intent. But you don't hear Marty Mishow saying anything about that. In fact, Mishow is so quick to defend Garner that he lashes out at fans in his columns. Whatever happened to fair and objective journalism? How about asking the serious questions? I'm sure Mr. Mishow will be doing his best to defend Garner when our recruiting doesn't produce the quality of players necessary to get back to the upper half of the OVC this year. I'm sure there will be some "excuse" as to why we were not able to get the players necessary to win, but whatever the reason, it won't be Garner's fault.

Missouri first

I WAS just reading where Southeast Missouri State had to go all the way to Hungary to find somebody to play basketball. That's bull. Use the people in the state. Why go to another country? We're paying taxes here. Some of our tax dollars go to help supplement the school. They shouldn't be able to give a scholarship to get anybody to play unless they get someone from the state of Missouri.

Defending Hogan

TO THE person who stated that people should get on the back of coach Mark Hogan: Though it is true Southeast Missouri State baseball has been down so far this year, Hogan has done nothing in his time at Southeast but produce wins and take his team deep into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. On the other hand, men's basketball head coach Gary Garner has only taken his Southeast basketball teams to the OVC final twice and beyond the first round only one other time. Mark Hogan hasn't had any sub-.500 seasons, whereas when Garner approaches .500 with his teams, we should have a ticker tape parade in downtown Cape. Plus, comparing baseball to basketball is like comparing dogs to cats in terms of what a winning season means. For one, you don't have to pay anything to watch a Southeast baseball game, while going to a basketball game costs at least $7. There should be more pressure on the basketball coach than the baseball coach. Basketball is the primary source for revenue in the athletics department. That being said, Mark Hogan has done more fund raising for his program then almost all of the other Southeast coaches combined. Hogan has earned his stripes at Southeast. Has Gary Garner earned his?

(Hogan, in his 11th year at Southeast, actually has had one losing season. The Redhawks went 24-33 in 1997.)

Biased journalism

I HOPE the sports writers enjoyed writing the slanted article on the Oak Ridge tournament final game. The article seemed to bash one team. Watch this next time.

Recruiting tools

ALTHOUGH I agree high school excellence in athletics doesn't automatically translate into college success, I actually thought achievement in high school was the basis for college recruitment. In Marty Mishow's opinion, what is college recruitment based on if it doesn't include, to a large extent, the athlete's high school record?

Friendly rivals

I'VE GONE to a lot of Cardinals and Cubs games and people like to rib fans of the other team. It's all in good fun and everybody laughs about it. It seems people are getting punched and beat up in New York every time the Boston Red Sox and the Yankees play. I think maybe they should play somewhere else where the fans won't kill each other.

All Southeast

IN SPORTSTALK by Marty Mishow, can he talk about anything but Southeast Missouri State sports? That's all he's written about. He even spent about three or four inches of column writing about an event that didn't happen -- an interview with Bob Gibson that he couldn't get. We've got a lot of high school sports in this area, and I bet you there are more high school players parents and players reading your paper and more of us in your audience than there are Southeast parents. Why don't you go to some high school events and look what's going on in our world?

The second football season

I AM a parent of one of the Redhawks football players and was wondering if you could cover the spring football practices. I read about Mizzou but have not seen anything on our local university football team. Just a brief note may be the ticket to bring folks out and possibly enjoy the Saturday scrimmages. Please support the football program, and not just during the fall season.