Scars

Scars
by Tony Burns
June 10, 2014

A person with no scars hasn’t lived a meaningful life.
Scars represent experience and knowledge of rocky roads traveled. Every scar has its own story of a lesson learned or an obstacle overcome. A person with no scars is a person with no failings.
If you’ve never been burned, you don’t truly understand the meaning of hot. If you’ve never fallen, you’ve never gotten up. If your skin has never been pierced by the jagged shrapnel of life then consider yourself ... unlucky.
A person unscarred is ignorant of life and all it truly has to offer.

Lady Leopards fight

I wasn't expecting much from Norphlet Tuesday when they took on top-seeded Rison in the 7AA-East District Tournament. The Lady Leopards' 48-44 loss was actually a pleasant surprise. I watched the game alongside Strong coach Johnny Jackson. We both marveled with delight as Norphlet players we didn't even recognize, played their hearts out in the win-or-go-home game. Lindsey Martin, bless her heart, played defense as if her life depended on it. Several of her teammates followed suit, diving head first onto the hardwood for loose balls. That's the way a defending state champion is supposed to relinquish its title. The Lady Leopards lost but they were kicking and scratching until the final buzzer. It's the way most of the girls teams in Union County represent themselves on the basketball court. Give Parkers Chapel credit, too, for playing as hard as it could in its loss to Bearden Tuesday.

Parkers Chapel falls short

Parkers Chapel's girls basketball season came to a sudden end. The Lady Trojans' best player, Lauren Brumley, watched from the bench as her teammates struggled in her absence in a season-ending loss. Sound familiar? No, I wasn't talking about Tuesday's 44-24 loss to Bearden in the 7AA-East District Tournament. I'm talking about last year when the Lady Trojans lost in the regional tournament after Brumley, then a sophomore, got into foul trouble and fouled out. Brumley missed Tuesday's loss after sustaining a season-ending knee injury on Feb. 7 against Norphlet. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Several players who struggled getting the basketball up the court without Brumley last year, struggled again on Tuesday. Dribbling the ball with your head up isn't a skill that's learned in practice. You learn that in the backyard on your own. It doesn't take a gym or a camp or another person. All it takes to work on your ball handling is a ... basketball. Well, that and a desire to improve. I'm not picking on the Lady Trojans. There's not a girl in South Arkansas who doesn't need to improve her ball handling skills. But, how many times will the same girls fall down the same hole? If you don't enjoy getting your heart broken two weeks before the state tournament, do something about it. If you care, pick up a ball, go outside in your driveway and work on the fundamentals. Hopefully, Brumley will be back at full speed for her senior year. Some of her teammates will be back, too. It takes a team to achieve success. But, a team consists of individuals who have to hone their individual skills away from the team, on their own when no one is keeping score. For two straight years, the Lady Trojans have left the court in tears because no one was able to pick up the slack when the primary ball handler and scorer wasn't around. If it happens next year, there will no one to blame except for the girl in the mirror.

What did you say?

I really love how white folks love to tell black folks how to act. An Oklahoma State basketball player fell into the stands Saturday at Texas Tech. A local Red Raider fan was yelling something at the player as he lay on the floor. The player heard the man, jumped to his feet and verbally confronted the gentleman. He then shoved the fan in the chest before being separated. The player was issued a technical foul but was not ejected by the officials. No one knows what the fan said to the young black man. But, all of the talking heads on ESPN have been quick to lay blame at the young man's feet. ESPN has made it clear. It doesn't matter what the fan said to the kid, he was not justified. It must be easy to sit back and tell someone else how they should feel when you have no idea how they feel. As a black man I can tell you, there are a couple things that, if said to me at the right time, would make me jump knee deep into somebody's ass. I don't know if the kid was just in shoving the fan. To me, it depends on what the fan said. But, to say no matter what he said, the kid was automatically in the wrong ... I'm not good with that. If that's a black man's opinion, I can discuss it with them. White guys? Don't tell a black man what he should be offended by. Trust me, there are some things that, if said to me at the right time, will get your ass kicked. Some people don't understand that and they never, ever will.

I'm an unfeeling cur

I'm going to sound like a uncaring cur but, I am what I am. I'm sick of seeing retired football players on television talking about their health issues. Bret Favre is on some show today talking about his memory loss. Tony Dorsett was on last week, weeping as he revealed the serious after effects of his career. They even played sad music during the Dorsett interview. I'm not saying the stories of retired NFL players aren't sad. But guess what, welcome to the real world. Most people in their fifties are having health issues. And guess what again, most people in their fifties with those health issues didn't make enough money in their twenties and thirties to live on for the rest of their lives. My father died because his lungs were eaten up by asbestos that he worked in for thirty years. Where was his pity party? You expect me to feel sorry for athletes who earned millions of dollars playing a game they loved? Professional athletes were blessed with physical gifts that allowed them to make more money in a year than normal folks earn in a lifetime. Trust me, if I could've run a 4.2, I would've been in the NFL and I would gladly live with the consequences. Or, died with them. Nothing is for free. Everything has a price. Millionaire athletes live lives others fantasize about. But, at the end of the day, we all have a price to pay. Their bill doesn't come until they're in their fifties. Some of us pay on a daily basis. Junior Seau committed suicide after his career ended. I know three friends who committed suicide and they never played a down in the NFL. Why should I feel sad for Seau? You want to tug at my heart strings? Give me stories about the 19- and 20-year-old soldiers who died in combat. Tell me about the young fireman who died saving a life. Do a documentary about the young women battling cancer. But, please spare me the sob stories of millionaire athletes who suddenly realize, they're mortal, just like everybody else.

I back Bret ... but ...

Let me preface this blog by saying, "I back Bret." I think Bielema was a great hire as football coach at the University of Arkansas. Despite the Hogs' woeful season thus far, I think he's going to get it turned around. I believe the Razorbacks, under Bielema, will contend for the SEC title one day. The Hogs don't have the talent, especially defensively, to beat the heavyweights of the SEC. Most of that blame can be laid on Bobby Petrino's doorstep. Fact is, it was obvious Arkansas had nothing on defense a year ago when they were ready to use fullback Kiero Smalls at linebacker. This ain't Sparkman. Guys don't go both ways at the SEC level. It will take Bielema some time to recruit the kind of talent he needs to compete in the premier league in the country. But, the Razorbacks could compete better, right now, if the quarterback situation wasn't so bleak. I think Bielema made a mistake when he named Brandon Allen the starting quarterback way back in the spring and pretty much eliminated any sort of competition for the position. When he did that, both Brandon Mitchell and Taylor Reed took the hint that they weren't going to even get an opportunity to compete for the job and did what any competitive person would. They looked for a place that would allow them to compete for the job. Mitchell went to North Carolina State and Reed is at UCA. Now, I'm not saying either of them would've beaten out Allen, although I think both are just as good. But, one thing I do know, both of them are miles better than current Arkansas backup A.J. Derby. Allen is a mediocre, at best, SEC quarterback. Derby is a mediocre, at best, Sun Belt quarterback. I don't remember a time when the Razorbacks were so weak at the position. It's too bad, too, because Arkansas has good backs and a young but talented offensive line. But, it doesn't matter because the Razorbacks have no passing game. When Derby entered Saturday's game, I could practically hear Auburn's linebackers laughing on a play-action pass. In their defense, Arkansas' receivers suck. I can't blame Bielema for that. Can't even blame Petrino. Fact is, the Razorbacks' style of offense is not going to attract big-time receivers. I'm hoping the tight end will become a bigger part of the passing game. But, until Arkansas gets a quarterback, it doesn't matter. I've seen Mitchell play this season and I watched Reed play at Memphis. You will have a hard time convincing me they aren't just as good as Allen. I will never believe they can't compete with him. If they had been given that opportunity, even if they weren't starters, they'd be very good backups. I back Bret. Most of the issues on the hill were there when he arrived. But, the quarterback position shouldn't be as bad as it is. For that, the new coach has to take responsibility.

El Dorado, Hooten's Football Town of the Week

When Chad Hooten contacted me to interview for his television show on El Dorado football, I hesitantly agreed. I'm not hesitant to discuss the Wildcats and their success, I'm just not much of a public speaker. I nearly passed out when I had to give a presentation in college. I haven't gotten much better since. But, El Dorado football is a subject I can probably talk about in my sleep. Plus, Chad asked several times and has been more than gracious with us at the News-Times over the past few seasons. So ... I stepped in front of the camera. Unfortunately, I didn't understand the subject fully. It wasn't about El Dorado football. Hooten is doing a story on El Dorado being one of the top football towns in the state. Uh oh! Okay, it's not that I don't think El Dorado is a good football town. I just think it's a typical football town. Wildcat fans have shown to be fairly fair-weather when it comes to football. When the team is No. 1 in the state, the fans probably rank that high as well. I was amazed at the showing of purple a few years back when El Dorado played at Springdale Har Ber. The fans traveled in droves to Jonesboro and Fort Smith and even to Greenwood last year. Very few communities would make those trips the way El Dorado did. However, if the team isn't as good, the fan support can dip faster than the temperature in October. Even I was surprised last week, though, when the Wildcats drew one of their weaker crowds in recent memory. Chad Hooten had his camera ready to show the state one of the best football crowds around. Instead, he got a sparse contingent for a key conference matchup against rival Texarkana. It was embarrassing but only a little surprising. Even when the Wildcats were in the middle of their three-year run of championships, people would ask me, "are they going to win this week?" I'd say, "Probably. You coming to the game?" "No," they'd answer. "I'll wait until they play a good team." Perhaps spoiled is the word I'm looking for to describe the fans. It's not enough to have a good team. It has to be a championship team. Then, it's not enough to have a championship team, they have to be playing a great opponent. For the most part, that's typical of most communities in this state, especially at large schools. Fans are only as passionate as the team's record. Had I been better prepared, I would have said something like that to Hooten when he had the camera rolling. Actually, I probably would've declined the interview had I known it was about the fans instead of the team. Instead, I talked my way around it as best as I could with my limited public speaking skills. And, I didn't lie. El Dorado's fans are as good as most of the larger communities in the state. But as last week's crowd at Memorial Stadium showed, that's really not saying that much.