How you living, Rachel Ball?

The AmerCable/News-Times Scholar Athlete Awards Banquet is scheduled for next week (May 26th). This is the most hectic time of the year for me. It's also one of my favorite occasions because I get to meet some athletes I'd never spoken to before.
One of my favorite interviews this year was with El Dorado softball player and cheerleader Rachel Ball. She was refreshingly open and honest, which isn't easy for anyone who is talking to someone for the first time.
She was so easy to talk to, I felt comfortable enough to teach her a lyric from a Biggie Smalls rap track. If you see her, ask Rachel, "How you living, Rachel Ball?"
Anyway, I'm not the biggest fan of cheerleaders but she intrigued me. Most cheerleaders, if they play a sport, don't play a dirty sport like softball. There ain't nothing glamorous about softball. But, she loves it and she loves cheerleading as well.
“There are different things I like about both," she said. "They’re both competitive, especially the (cheerleading competition). That‘s when I really enjoy it. I just like being there for our football team and basketball teams. It kind of makes you apart of everything.”
One of her disappointments, she said was when the softball team had a tournament on the same day El Dorado's girls won the state basketball championship in Hot Springs.
“I didn’t get to cheer. We played in a (softball) tournament that day," she explained. "But, then I went and watched in the crowd. I did get to go. I just wasn’t there to cheer. I was there in my softball uniform. It was important for me to be there. With Whitney and Kanedria and Emily, I played with that group of girls. I stopped in the seventh grade but in the Boys Club from kindergarten all the way up to (sixth grade), I played with them. My mom actually helped coached them. It’s kind of like your team. They’re my babies.”

***
I was saddened the other day when I came across an obituary for Dr. Claude Windell Sumerlin, 87, of Lynchburg, Va. He died in February of this year.
Dr. Sumerlin was my journalism professor at Henderson State University until he retired in 1988. I didn't take journalism in high school so he pretty much taught me everything I know about newspaper writing and reporting.
I don't remember many of my professors from college. But, Dr. Sumerlin is someone whom I'll never forget.

My opinion has changed

After my last blog, I got a call from El Dorado football coach Scott Reed. Reed said when he learned what time the girls were playing, he moved up football practice to 3 p.m. and shortened it to 4:45 p.m.
"Any of my kids that wanted to go were excused from practice," said Reed. "And, we shortened practice so they could get to the game for the second half. One of my kids had a sister playing and he wanted to go. Any of my kids that wanted to go to the soccer match were excused. I try to support all of our teams."
I was initially disappointed when Coach Reed told me football practice would be at 4 p.m. on Monday. I'm happy to hear that he changed the schedule so his athletes would have the opportunity to support the girls soccer team.
The coach was disappointed in me for not getting his side of the story before I wrote anything. He's probably correct. I should have asked if he was doing anything different in light of the soccer team being at home playing in the semifinals. Obviously, I would never put anything in the newspaper without checking both sides but ... a personal blog and Facebook page are different, or so I thought.
Still, what I write here is my opinion. My opinion is allowed to change. My opinion has changed.
I think it's great that Coach Reed and the football staff changed their schedule so their players could support the soccer team. I think it was the right thing to do and I'm sorry I didn't have all the facts when I wrote my last blog.

Thanks for the support

The 6A Soccer Tournament came to El Dorado and went on Monday. I'm not a soccer guy but covering it for three days didn't kill me. It helped that the Lady Wildcats made it to the semifinals so I had a local team to cover.
Anyway, El Dorado's girls lost in the semifinals Monday afternoon.
They were beaten handily by a solid Mountain Home squad 6-1. The Lady Wildcats tried but were simply outclassed by a team with more speed.
What frustrated me a little bit was the lack of school support for the team. It was especially disappointing to hear the El Dorado football team was practicing at 4 p.m., the exact starting time for the Lady Wildcats' semifinal game.
Come on, Coach Reed.
I watched as the entire student body traveled the entire length of the state to support El Dorado's football team. They went to Springdale for a nonconference game. It didn't matter where the Wildcats went, the students, including members of the softball, swimming and soccer teams, were there to support them.
No one had to drive to Fayetteville or Mountain Home to watch the home girls play for a chance to win a state title. All they had to do was drive across town to the El Dorado Soccer Complex. How easy is that?
But, no, El Dorado couldn't even be bothered enough to postpone spring football practice for 90 minutes so the players could show support to the same girls who supported them.
I mentioned this to an El Dorado fan and he said, "well that is football and this is soccer."
This is true. I know the difference between the two sports. One uses a helmet and the other doesn't use their hands.
The one thing they have in common in this instance is they're both El Dorado High School student-athletes. I wouldn't expect El Dorado fans to travel across the state to follow the soccer teams.
I just don't think driving across town on a beautiful Monday afternoon is asking too much for people who are supposed to be loyal supporters of the school.

Baloney?

I was conducting an interview with El Dorado senior Emily Sinclair the other day at the office. I'm on a bit of a diet so my stomach was doing its low roar of a growl. For the first time in a long time, I thought back to my youth and began craving a good, old-fashioned fried bologna sandwich.
For no reason, I asked Sinclair, "you ever had a baloney sandwich?"
She looked around to make sure I was talking to her.
"Huh? Me?"
"Yeah, you ever had a baloney sandwich?"
She looked at me as if I was an alien who had just dropped down from outer space.
"Uh, no," she said. "What is that? Is it like bacon? I like bacon."
No, child, it's not like bacon.
Wow! Times have changed.
I grew up on baloney sandwiches. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for baloney sandwiches. It was the first meal I could prepare for myself. When I got home from school, both of my parents were at work so I would slice off a hunk of bologna and throw it in the skillet. It was easy and delicious.
I'm not sure our fridge was ever without bologna for very long. It was a staple for our family and, as far as I'm concerned, the original fast food.
I guess it's not a popular choice for today's youth, who have advantages of microwave foods that we didn't enjoy.
As disgusting as a fried baloney sandwich might sound to kids these days, it's there loss.

***
The Arkansas Activities Association announced today that Benton High School self-reported that it had played an ineligible player(s) during the 2010 football season, and has forfeited its three Class 6A South Conference wins. The Arkansas Activities Association has placed the Benton football program on warning throughout the 2011 football season.
During the season Benton defeated Sheridan, 29-24, Little Rock McClellan 49-8 and Little Rock Fair 61-13.

Kyia on the way up

I just got back from Norphlet, where a signing assembly was held for senior Kyia Williams. Kyia signed to play basketball at Tyler Junior College.
After failing seventh grade, she's certainly come a long way in her career both on and off the court. It was an emotional day as Coaches Justin Welch and John Thompson talked about her growth. Thompson became overcome with those emotions as he read a paper Kyia wrote for one of his classes where she talked about how much she has changed.
It was a nice day.
It was even better when Tyler coach Trenia Jones addressed the Norphlet fans. She told Kyia's friends and family that she was going to kick her butt and ride her endlessly to make sure she got her degree and advanced on to a four-year school. She told the fans, if you want to help Kyia, when she calls up crying and wanting to come home, tell her to keep her butt in Tyler and finish what she started.
Kyia finished up the day by reading a statement thanking all of the people who helped her get to this moment.
It was a nice day.
I had just talked to Kyia a couple of weeks ago. But, when I spoke to her on Thursday, she seemed more mature, more composed, more thoughtful. She's come a long way since the seventh grade. I really believe she can go even farther in the next few years.

Frazier first team but not best

Congratulations to El Dorado's Whitney Frazier, who was named to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's All-Arkansas First Team in basketball today. It was a no-brainer of an honor.
Parkers Chapel's Savanna Langston was named All-Arkansas second team for the second year in a row. I thought she should've been given first team consideration as well but that point was arguable.
Frazier, however was named MVP of the state tournament. She led the Lady Wildcats through a dominant season and was the best player I saw.
But, the state Player of the Year Award was decided as soon as Arkansas signed Fayetteville guard Calli Berna. That closed the deal, ended the debate, sealed the case.
From that point, Frazier could've dunked six times backwards and averaged a quadruple-double and it wouldn't have mattered.
That's just the way it is in this state. That's how it was in football, too. Whoever the Razorbacks sign will automatically win Player of the Year.
That's fine, especially since our players in Union County don't seem to put much stock in that stuff, anyway. But, don't be surprised in a couple of years if what Whitney Frazier is doing at Louisiana Tech isn't making today's decision look stupid.

Refs make the calls

I know the state tournament was last week, but I have a few random thoughts.
First, I've monitored some of the message boards. There has been some criticism for the way the Parkers Chapel girls game was officiated.
Fact is, the referees didn't call many fouls.
Did that have an impact on how the game was played?
Well, yeah. Players had to be tough with the basketball. You had to go up strong on layups and you had to grab rebounds with two hands and be prepared to fight to keep them.
It was not a game for soft players.
But, it was the same on both ends of the floor. And, for the most part, it was the same all the way through the game. The players were given the opportunity to adjust to how the game was called. Good players can do that. Not-so-good players can't.
State championships should be decided by good players. Not-so-good players shouldn't be in state title games.
It was a rough-and-tumble game. If you can't play in that type of game, the state finals is the wrong place for you to be.
That's why coaches put their teams in every possible situation during the season. You have to be prepared for anything.
This brings me to my second random thought.
El Dorado's game against Little Rock Parkview was the complete opposite. The referees called everything. Every touch. Every grab. Every foot slide.
There were so many whistles, I felt like a pretty girl walking past a construction site.
Parkview couldn't adjust. The Lady Patriots got into foul trouble and, instead of understanding the style of game they were in, they started barking at the officials.
In basketball, the officials often dictate the style of play. Officials are human beings, which mean every game is different. As a player, all you can ask is for the calls to be consistent on both ends and throughout the game.
If the game is called consistently, you cannot blame the refs if you come out on the short end.
To win a state title, a team has be to be able to adapt. You have to be able to win a finesse game and you have to get tough when it turns into football. That's what a state championship team is.
Credit the Lady Wildcats but also, my hat is off to the Lady Trojans. I haven't heard one PC player or coach complain about the refs. The Lady Trojans got tough when they had to, just couldn't get a bucket they needed.
I must say, I was proud of both of my girls teams.