THE LATEST LINE: BILLINGS EXPECTS LACK OF RESPECT

Like Rodney Dangerfield, Southeast Missouri State University's football team doesn't get any respect around the Ohio Valley Conference. But second-year coach Tim Billings knows that his Indians don't really deserve any -- not yet at least.

And the way Billings looks at things, earning their just due is all up to the Indians.

The OVC held its annual media day in Nashville, Tenn., Friday and, for the fifth straight year, SEMO was picked to finish next-to-last in the conference based on voting by league coaches and sports information directors.

Preseason polls are an inexact science at best. Their main purpose is to create preseason hype and give the campaign some kind of a starting point. But very often, those polls are way off base.

In the case of recent vintage SEMO football, however, the polls have been pretty much right on the mark. The last time the Indians finished higher than tied for sixth in what had been an eight-team OVC was 1995. The last time they won more than three games in a season was 1997. And the last time they posted a winning record was 1994.

With those kind of non-credentials, Billings admits that he'd also have picked SEMO to finish toward the bottom of the standings. He realizes the Indians won't start getting any respect unless they earn it.

And doing that will take winning more than three games, as Billings is quick to point out. Success on the field is the kind of thing that will prove the prognosticators wrong -- and cause the Indians to move up in future OVC preseason polls.

* Here's wishing Mike Legg all the best as he takes over the radio play-by-play duties for Western Kentucky University football and basketball this fall.

Mike stamped himself as an expert play-by-play announcer during his seven years as the "Voice" of SEMO football and basketball and he will be missed on the area sports scene.

I'll personally miss Mike because we got to be good friends as we often shared a motel room and generally spent plenty of time together while on the road covering the Indians.

I could tell some great stories about those road trips, but in an effort to save Mike's reputation, I won't (hah!). Actually, I better keep quiet to save my reputation -- or whatever reputation I have left.

Anyway, good luck "Legger."

* Also best wishes to another friend from the local sports scene who is leaving Cape Girardeau for professional reasons.

Tom Kelso, who spent 10 years as SEMO's strength coach before resigning recently, has been hired as the strength coach at Illinois-Chicago, which like SEMO has a Division I athletic program. He begins his new duties Aug. 13.

* The Southern Illinoisan newspaper recently reported that Jenny Doehring, who left the SEMO softball program this spring after two standout seasons with the Otahkians, has enrolled at Southern Illinois University and plans to play for the Salukis.

* Congratulations to the Bandits, a local 12-under baseball team, for winning the USSSA World Series title.

* Kudos also to the New Hamburg Heat, a local 16-under girls softball team, for winning a regional title and qualifying for the Babe Ruth World Series.

~Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian