Wide Angle Shots

By Sue Wilden: SPM IN Photographer/Writer
Posted Thursday, July 3, 2008

July 3, 2008

OUT OF A JOB? -- If SPM’s Women’s Basketball Editor Tara Polen keeps up with getting shots like this, I think I may be out of a job soon! I know this word has been used quite a bit as of late, but seriously, all I can say is WOW!

KT ON THE COVER – The July 2008, issue of Indianapolis area freezine, Indianapolis Woman, features Indiana Fever star Katie Douglas.

KT fans can grab a copy at most grocery stores and pharmacies.

NASCAR SHAME – NASCAR continues to go out of its way to fight its image of being a sexist, racist and redneck organization, but a recent lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in New York by former Nationwide Series technical inspector Mauricia Grant shows they have a long way to go.

Grant alleges many incidents of blatant harassment, both sexual and racial, against rank and file employees and top echelon officials. Some of the more printable allegations include being called “Nappy Headed Mo” in a derogatory way and being asked by male co-workers if she wanted to see their private parts. Our friends at The Smoking Gun obtained the court document, which can been seen in its entirety, here.

Along the same vein, NASCAR officials, as well as fans, were shocked when investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board found that the plane crash which claimed the life of Dr. Bruce Kennedy, the husband of Daytona International Speedway president Lesa France Kennedy and NASCAR pilot Michael Klemm was totally preventable and gave new life to the saying “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots; but there are no old, bold pilots.” This crash was also responsible for three ground fatalities as well; two of the victims were children.

Prior to the fateful flight, the previous pilot noted the Cessna 310’s on-board radar unit malfunctioned, and even after several attempts to recycle the unit, it would not come back on line. The pilot also noted a strong burnt electrical smell, which went away when he pulled the circuit breaker on the radar unit. When the pilot returned, he did a maintenance write up on the issue and stressed the odor.

On the day of the flight, Klemm was made aware of the plane’s issues and was admonished by Aircraft Technician Juan Solis to NOT take that particular aircraft until the problem was isolated and repaired. Klemm allegedly told Solis “I know about the radar, I don’t give a (crap) about that, I am taking the airplane.”

The NTSB report can be found here.

WANNA GET A SCHOLARSHIP? -- Back in the day, when I did this for pay, high school athletes who aspired to trade their athletic skills for a college education depended on lots of ink from the local sports editor and a few ads in the right regional sports magazines to catch the eye of a college coach. If said athlete was aiming for All-Star recognition, the school’s athletic director would put together a clip book and take a few snapshots to send to sports editors state wide to state their case.

Things apparently are different today.

I went to the library this evening to pick up some books for my upcoming vacation and spotted a flier in the lobby which intrigued me. The Fishers, Indiana, branch of the Hamilton East Public Library is sponsoring a free workshop for parents and potential student-athletes on how to market one’s self for an athletic scholarship. The workshop promises it can help parents wade through the regulations and will teach proven paying-for-college action steps.

For parents of the next Sylvia Fowles or Larry Bird, registration can be made by calling 317-776-6936 or online at www.hepl.lib.in.us.

June 28, 2008

RICK GREENSPAN’S GONE! -- The number one individual at Indiana University responsible for the fiasco known as Kelvin Sampson announced he is resigning his position in wake of the news the NCAA found even more major violations in the men’s basketball program. However, Greenspan will not be gone until the end of 2008.

This guy should have been fired a long time ago. I foresee Greenspan walking away stinking like a rose, like Sampson did, while the university, the honest coaches, the honest student-athletes, not to mention, the TAXPAYERS, will pay dearly for this man’s poor judgment for the next several years, as least.

Gee. There was none of this nonsense when Bob Knight was coach. Or before Myles Brand came to town.

PACERS – The Indiana Pacers are retooling for the 2008-09 season and started the job by trading Jermaine O’Neal to Toronto. That is well and good, but team owners Mel and Herb Simon need to really clean house, and start with President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. Bird’s poor choices in personnel brought in trouble makers, such as Jamaal Tinsley and Shawne Williams; both whom should be shown the door as well. If the Pacers of the past few years have been a report card, the team would would be showing an F in Chemistry.

Indiana’s attendance numbers tanked the past few years and it has nothing to do with the underachieving performance on the court. Hoosiers are fed up with the off court antics of the Pacers, including the aforementioned Tinsley’s Wild West gun battle on the Circle, not to mention the numerous bar fights and marijuana arrests. Pacer fans are talking with their wallets and their feet; attendance and other revenues have dropped so much that it has brought close scrutiny from NBA Commissioner David Stern himself.

The Simons appear to take this scrutiny to heart. Mel Simon has taken over as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer after Donnie Walsh left for the New York Knicks. Simon vowed to be a more hands on owner and promised more involvement with the Indiana Fever.

THE FEVER STILL CONTINUE TO WOW! -- Dorothy Gale was right. There is no place like home. Katie Douglas still is maintaining her 180 degree turnaround since leaving the Sun and wowing the crowd with her new found attitude, not to mention wowing cranky bloggers. I love just how this lady has made it clear if she can’t burn you with a three, she will stick it to you hard while driving for the two.

Allison Feaster is proving the old gals still have it. Simply put, she has been swiping lunch money from the kids each time she hits the floor as of late. Thanks for proving my fears as groundless.

Ebony Hoffman’s game speaks for itself. I am pretty sure a lot of Fever fans are grateful the Big Dog was loved enough by the Front Office that they matched the restricted free agent offer that was made by Phoenix, which kept Hoffman in Indianapolis.

MORE DANICA -- I get a little tired of Danica Patrick whining just like the next person, but I cannot understand the venom Scott Dixon and several others have been spewing as of late. Dixon has called Patrick a menace and was grousing that she was totally responsible for his inability to catch the pack and perhaps challenge team mate Dan Wheldon for the checkered flag at the Ethanol Indycar 250 in Iowa last Sunday. I put that in the same box with the comments Sprint Cup regular Robby Gordon made about Patrick getting breaks for being five foot nothing and 100 pounds. I have no idea why anyone would give Gordon any credence on this comment since he does not even drive in the IRL and let’s be honest, and this has been pointed out before, it would not hurt him to go steady with Jenny Craig. The IRL instituted the Danica Rule prior to the beginning of the 2008 season, meaning petite drivers such as Patrick must pack extra weight to make the races more “fair”. Equal weight has never been an issue until Patrick arrived.

I think it all boils down to the old saying: A man is aggressive. A woman is a bit………..

June 4, 2008

I promise I do not have leprosy! It has been more than a week since the Indianapolis 500 and I am still peeling. Serves me right for leaving the sun block back at the house

Danica Patrick -- There is a reason why a scanner is a crucial piece of equipment for any race fan. The radio traffic from the #7 car of Andretti Green Racing was more than worth the price of a scan sheet.

Patrick complained midway through the race, that the car “was slow, I MEAN S L O W”, but advised crew chief Kyle Moyer that she understood he had more experience and that what he decided was going to be for the best. A very humble statement from Patrick, to say the least.

Although I was not in a position to see her THE WALK towards Ryan Briscoe’s pit after the latter’s lack of decorum shattered Patrick’s rear axle and hopes for a Top Five finish, I did hear the aftermath loud and clear in my headphones. I cannot repeat what was said, but she did use one compound word with 12 letters and four syllables many times to discribe both the situation and Briscoe.

It was situations like this which got Briscoe fired from Chip Ganassi Racing a few years back and sadly, if I were in Patrick’s shoes, I would have reacted the same way. Just to show the Racing Gods have no sense of mercy and a warped sense of humor, Briscoe turned around and won the AJ Foyt/ABC Warehouse race in Milwaukee the following weekend.

SARAH FISHER -- There was nothing more gut wrenching than watching her post crash interview on ABC, which I saw on tape delay. Fisher was collected by Tony Kanaan in the short chute after exiting Turn Three, after the former was pinched by team mate Marco Andretti and was forced into the marbles. Fisher was already hurting from a spin during an early yellow, which knocked her two laps back. The early exit and the extensive damage to the #67 car makes the probability of an appearance in the Meijer 300 in Kentucky nil.

MILKA DUNO -- Again the Gods strike. Duno kept her poor spotter hopping all afternoon, and it seemed it was an on the job training session for the Sports Car driver from Venezuela. It was a Duno spin which created the situation between Patrick and Briscoe and as luck would have it, Duno was able to return to the race and still be running at the end.

TONY GEORGE -- Although George may have been maligned for creating the open wheel split in the first place, he is to be commended for running the Indianapolis Motor Speedway without blackmailing local officials for ONE SINGLE DIME of taxpayer money.

SAMPSON AND SKILES – Kelvin Sampson, the disgraced two time NCAA cheater and Scott Skiles, who is well, Scott Skiles, are now teamed up on the bench for the Milwaukee Bucks. What a pair. They were just made for each other and I hope the Bucks organization knew what they are getting into by giving then a spot on the payroll.

INDY GET THE SUPERBOWL -- And Suebabe and other hardworking Hoosier taxpayers are going to get stuck you know where. A dirty little secret: The NFL, in simple terms, dictates that the host city absorbs all the costs and the NFL gets almost all of the profits. Since we are already paying for TWO arenas that charity case Jimmy Irsay could not afford on his own, this is just wonderful news.

THE FEVER -- All I can say is…. WOW! And what about Katie Douglas? Yes, I have been on her case for a long time, but it appears the fan baiting and other over the line behavior was left behind in Connecticut. True, she is one cocky badass, but the Katie we all knew and loved at Purdue is back with a vengeance. I am still having issues adjusting to the #23, though.

May 23, 2008 - SARAH MAKES PAYROLL — Although the officials at ResQ are still saying the check is in the mail, race car driver Sarah Fisher, and head of a race team which sports her name, found other angels to fund the #67 car for this Sunday’s Indianapolis 500

IUPUI, which was just approved to offer a four year motorsport engineering program, is the main sponsor, with an additional shot of cash coming from Direct Supply, a Milwaukee based supplier of long term health care equipment, along with Hartman Oil of Kansas. Fisher even found more help when text4cars.com signed on as another primary sponsor.

Although it was never solicited, fans sought out Fisher throughout the Month of May to pass her checks as part of a grassroots effort to fund her team. At last check, fans have poured over $30,000 in Sarah Fisher Racing coffers to ensure a quality ride for Indy and the two other races she planned this season. And yes, fans took the suggestion from an Indianapolis radio station and Indy Star’s Bob Kravitz, and bombarded the slow paying sponsors with email and phone calls, much to their dismay.

Fisher has not stated so directly, but it is pretty clear she will be heading to her attorney’s office after the 500 to address ResQ’s inability to honor a written contract.

In the meantime, I have three words of advice for Fisher.

Live. Credit. Reporting.

SPEAKING OF INDY --- Smart money will look for Danica Patrick to get win #2 at The Brickyard. The win in Japan earlier this spring got the first win monkey off her back and Patrick continues to grow with the Top Shelf equipment Andretti Green Racing can provide. An alternate pick? Vitor Meira, a consistent driver with many Top Ten finishes in his career, but no wins. It is about time for Meira to have his turn at the podium and he has the team and the car to make it there.

As for me, I will root for Tony Kanaan. Not because he is a proven winner on a world class team, but I simply like the guy.

Got to run; need to get my scanner programmed and find my earplugs!

May 12 - WHY TOM COLLINS IS AN EMBARASSMENT TO BALL STATE, PART #106-- Instead of hiring Lisa McDonald, the ONLY individual qualified to replace Tracy Roller at the helm of the Ball State women’s basketball program, Collins decided some outsider who HAS NOT COACHED BASKETBALL IN TEN YEARS, and even that was only as an assistant, was a suitable replacement. Her experience in the WNIT was as an administrator. Nothing more. Equating coaching in the defunct NWBL, which was nothing more than a high end pick up league, with coaching D1, is laughable.

What a nice way to reward talent and loyalty, TC.

McDonald was a proven winner and had the confidence and backing of both the team and the supporters. She was also extremely loyal; she was extremely knowledgeable of the program, the student-athletes, and the institution. McDonald was also instrumental in helping Ball State exceed NCAA academic rankings. At the very least, McDonald would have guaranteed stability to the program, which is getting upended even more with the installation of a new regime. Apparently none of this mattered to a man whose track record includes such quality hires as Dave Boos (Rhymes with Lose) for women’s volleyball and of course, Racist Ronny Thompson; not to mention the deplorable demotion of associate athletic director Joe Hernandez. Once again, Collins shows he is striving to bring the reputation of Ball State to a new low. Somehow, I keep on coming back to the though this was one last way Collins could stick it to Roller and the program after being upstaged by the billboard stunt.

Collins tipped his hand in an article in Cardinals, Illustrated that he NEVER hired an assistant to take over and then continued to state he wanted to have a “diverse” pool of candidates which is PC talk for state sanctioned racism and sexism.

I’m done.

DEADBEATS ‘R US – Not to be specific for privacy and security reasons, but I am familiar with those who have issues paying bills. I have come to the understanding most truly need some help, but I have encountered those who find it a game to not pay a bill or have an exaggerated sense of entitlement.. Too bad Indy Racing League owner/driver Sarah Fisher got the hook from two companies which clearly can fit this category.

Gravity Entertainment out of Fort Lauderdale and ResQ sports drink, based in Gulf Breeze, Florida, signed contracts to sponsor Fisher and her team for the Indianapolis 500 and two additional races for the 2008 campaign. With the first weekend of 500 qualifications in the books, neither entity has yet to cut the first check, giving Fisher excuses like the check in the mail, the money is being wired, yada yada yada. All blow, but no show. As a sign of real chutzpah, ResQ is still bragging how it is sponsoring Fisher and how she is touting its product on its web site.

The Indianapolis Star columnist everyone loves to hate, Bob Kravitz, had a wonderful idea. Fans need to drop an email or make a quick phone call to these outfits to remind them of their obligation.

THIS AIN’T NASCAR, DONNA -- Still not sure if I am going to like the WNBA whoring itself to McDonalds. I am trying to have an open mind about this.

So, if the Golden Arches is going to have a spot on a W jersey, does that mean when I get my $1 Coke tomorrow that I will have Diana Taurasi’s smiling face beaming back at me when I take a sip? Or Catch’s? Or Big Syl’s?

May 4 - AN IMPROVEMENT FOR HOOSIER PREP HOOPS?— The Indianapolis Star reports the Indiana High School Athletic Association is considering reducing the number of classes in which high school athletic teams compete from four to three. If the IHSAA really wanted to make things right, they would return all sports, save for football, and especially boys and girls basketball, to ONE CLASS. It might restore some of the shine to Hoosier Hysteria lost when the IHSAA, motivated by both political correctness and greed, cheapened high school athletics into class sports in the first place. The state basketball tournaments might get back some of their attendance numbers lost since the state meddled with the format in the late 1990’s.

MORE IMAGE ISSUES FOR THE FEVER AND THE WNBA -- Indiana recently signed Cherelle George to a training camp contract. For those who have forgotten, George was a central figure in the Katrina Merriweather cheating scandal at Purdue, albeit her participation was not one that was actively solicited on her part. Even so, I would think that the WNBA would frown on anyone who has even a whiff of scandal from participating. Considering how quickly they made Brandy Reed and Latasha Byears disappear after their indiscretions, one would think they already have some kind of a damage control squad. The league already has to constantly fight, among other things; the image that “girl ball” just is not up to par as the NBA. George’s game at Purdue could have easily translated into a WNBA career, but at this point, the league still needs to maintain a squeaky clean image at all costs if it is to survive. Perhaps in a few years, when the WNBA is more entrenched and more stable, a Cherelle George can get a chance.

I am not going to touch how the Fever is giving a tacit endorsement to a political candidate by allowing two of its players to play with said individual.

CAN’T PLEASE SOME PEOPLE --- When Danica Patrick, with smart driving and smart strategy from her crew chief, Gary Bettenhausen protégé Kyle Moyer, won her first race at the Firestone Indycar 300 in Japan, some bloggers and message board trolls dismissed the win as dumb luck, not to mention the other drivers being jinxed by poor fuel mileage and the lack of a yellow flag. Fast forward to a week later to the Indycar 300 at Kansas, where Patrick finished a lowly 19th, due to a broken wheel hub. The same people who where grousing about Patrick the previous week now decided Patrick’s mechanical DNF was solely based on, just to mention a few things, lack of talent and Danica mania. Real MALE race drivers drive with a broken wheel; just look what Tony Kanaan did in the season opener at Homestead-Miami!

I think these are the same guys who troll the WNBA boards.

A SHOUT OUT – To Sylvia Crawley, on her new coaching job at Boston College. Crawley turned a lackadaisical Ohio Bobcat team into a powerhouse in just two years and one can only expect her to be just as successful in her new position.

EVER HEAR OF GLASS HOUSES, PAT? -- Pat Summitt is still mum, save for the “Geno knows” crap, but Geno Auriemma finally shed some light on the real reason Summit decided to cancel the series between Tennessee and Connecticut. Summitt accused Auriemma and the Connecticut program of committing several NCAA violations, which, save for a special tour of the ESPN studios, were determined to be unfounded. When one cuts though the “he saids, she saids” and the other obfuscations of this drama, it still boils down to the fact Summitt is still reeling from losing Maya Moore to the Huskies.

Summitt stated in an interview late in the season she is offended that other coaches come into “her” territory to recruit, and it appears she considers Georgia to be part of “her” territory. I hope she remembers that when she comes to Indiana the next time.

CAN YOU SAY STUPID? -- Used to be an honor to be an Indiana All Star for girl’s basketball. Larretha Draughon, a 5’9” guard from Indianapolis Northwest High School, lost her spot on the squad after her arrest stemming from a foiled armed robbery attempt at an Indianapolis area Long John Silver’s restaurant.

ONE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO CRY AT THE DERBY -- The Kentucky Derby is a time for outrageous hats and mint juleps. It is a time for trifectas and snake pits. It is a time for favorites and long shots. It is not supposed to be a time of tears and tragedy.

This was supposed to be Big Brown’s day.

Eight Belles was not supposed to break down.

The only time for tears is when they play "My Old Kentucky Home."

April 22 -TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE – Becky Hammon, a US citizen, playing for the Russians on their Olympic team. And the roar of anger and disapproval from both WBB fans and the press is so deafening.

WOW! – Ball State sophomore golfer Paige Esford must have had an extra dash of Mojo in her Wheaties prior to competing in the Cardinal Classic earlier this month. The Kingston, Ontario, native carded her first hole-in-one April 13 and then scored her second Ace the following day.

Oh, yes, the Cardinals won, by four strokes over Longwood University, in the twelve team tournament. Ball State will participate in the Mid-American Conference tournament this weekend, held at the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course in Speedway, Indiana.

An interesting side note: Akron will add women’s golf beginning in the 2008-09 season.

APRIL 3 - TRACY ROLLER RESIGNS - The news item which Ball State fans hoped desperately was a tasteless belated April Fool’s joke turned out to be indeed true. Women’s basketball coach Tracy Roller resigned her position April 2, citing personal reasons. Roller intended her resignation to be effective as of Friday, April 11, after the Women’s Final Four, but Athletic Director Tom Collins continued his classless handling of the situation by releasing the news immediately. Unlike a situation earlier in the season, when Senior Woman Administrator Karin Lee took it upon herself to inform the team that Roller would not return for the rest of the season, leaving Roller completely out of the equation, Roller did get the opportunity to meet with the players to reveal her decision in person. It is also no coincidence the Basketball Banquet is the following evening, April 12.

Roller blamed mononucleosis for her season-long disability, but admitted to Muncie Star-Press beat writer Greg Fallon she is afflicted with a “Non-fatal, non-physical illness of a mental nature” and she has chosen to keep the details of her illness private.

Not surprisingly, the various message boards lit up with speculation, ranging from thoughtful analysis to pure hatred and ignorance, with the latter coming from mostly Muncie locals on the SP boards, whose hatred for anything Ball State and “girls' sports” is legendary. What is even sadder are some of the comments from the locals justifying Roller’s reluctance to discuss her disease. On the other hand, those making said comments have been called out for their ignorance with equal fervor. Equally distressing are the posts where individuals are looking for backstabbing and other conspiracies as the true reason for Roller's departure .

Some of the comments stated mental illness is “not real” and Roller deserves no sympathy for “lying” to the public. Nothing can be further from the truth. Mental illness is as debilitating as losing a hand or being afflicted with Crohn’s disease and is very real. Public figure or not, Roller did not owe -- and does not owe -- anyone a detailed explanation of her health issues. In fact, HIPAA rules clearly state one does not have to reveal the nature of an illness to one’s employer and if an employee needs to take leave because of an illness, any leave paperwork created by the employee’s insurance company for the employer will NOT state the nature of the illness and that information is not released to the employer unless the employee gives permission in writing.

There was no question Roller’s illness had an adverse affect on the Cardinals, who finished with a disappointing 15-15 record. One can only imagine the distraction if Roller had chosen to reveal her illness upfront. She obviously tried to overcome her affliction and when it became clear to her that it was bigger than she was, she chose to end the distraction and to focus totally on herself and her recovery.

Arizona men’s basketball coach Lute Olson stepped away from his team for undisclosed reasons November 4 and returned to finish the season. Although Olson received flak for this decision, most of it came from the press. Both Olson and Roller are deserving of privacy when dealing with personal issues, especially health issues. Tracy Roller owes no one an explanation of her illness and/or subsequent treatments. Not the press, not the trolls on the local message boards and certainly not Sue Wilden. There is a reason the mainstream media has a bad reputation and trust me, it is deserved.

Roller brought more than winning to Ball State, and her legacy will be that of positive energy and doing things the right way. Roller coached beyond the court and made sure the young women she instructed became honorable and productive adults.

The administration at Ball State needs to do the right thing and remove the “acting” label from Lisa McDonald and name her the new head coach. McDonald proved she is more than capable for the job and keeping her will heal the emotionally wounded Cardinals. Bringing in a new coach from the outside is the absolutely wrong thing to do and will create even more chaos and disruption.

As for Coach Roller, she needs our prayers and support.

MARCH 24 - THE NEWEST LITTLE MINER? -- Robert Michael Wilden finally arrived March 20, kicking and screaming and on his own terms. Mom and Dad are doing well and Aunt Sue has already begun making plans on taking Little Bobby to some games. Aunt Sue also made sure some Ball State items were included in some prenatal gift boxes and Grandma was on a mission to find Indiana sleepers to counteract the “ugly black and gold Purdue junk… how dare she torture a poor little innocent baby” his great Aunt sent him. Daddy may teach baby ropin’ and ridin’, but grandma and the aunts will be sure he learns how to recognize a pretty pick and know the difference between “just racin’” and retaliation.

SOME JOKES JUST WRITE THEIR OWN PUNCHLINES -- Apparently the Baseball Player’s Association has nothing better to do. They are beginning an investigation to find out why Barry Bonds, an aging free agent with a few issues, has not been signed with a new team.

I am not making this up.

SUEBABE BUSTS THE BRACKETS -- The NCAA Women’s basketball Tournament selection show was not finished broadcasting and the wailing and gnashing of teeth was already in full swing,

I have an idea which should shut up a lot of the whiners and make things a little more fair. Let’s put Connecticut, Duke, Tennessee, Stanford, Maryland, Rutgers and North Carolina in one regional and let them slug it out. They all think they are number one and the survivor will then can honestly say they are number one. And because a few people think things are so unfair and that someone else needs a turn at being the champion, you know, like the fools who foisted class basketball on Indiana high school, this will solve that problem as well.

And since so many cannot spot the obvious, my tongue is wedged in my cheek as I write this.

MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE WBB COACH OF THE YEAR -- Someone took the easy way out and again named Bowling Green State University’s Curt Miller Coach of the Year. If they asked me, and judging by the thoughtful comments made on various message boards by other MAC fans, strong arguments can be made for Ohio’s Sylvia Crawley. If I had a say in the matter, Crawley would have been awarded this honor without question. Crawley stepped into a mediocre at best Bobcat program and immediately turned them into a threat in the MAC East. In fact, Ohio took out Miller’s Falcons in the 2008 conference tournament semi finals in double overtime.

A strong argument can be made as well for Miami of Ohio’s Maria Fantanarosa. Fantanarosa’s teams also made strides in the past few years culminating with winning the 2008 MAC Tournament and earning Miami its first ever NCAA berth. Who did Miami defeat to earn the trip? Ohio, of course!

ANOTHER QUESTIONABLE FEVER SIGNING -- The Indiana Fever signed 30-something free agent Allison Feaster, who played sparingly for the now defunct Charlotte Sting during the 2006 season and missed the entire 2007 season for pregnancy, not to mention the lack of a team.

Makes me think the Fever busted the salary caps with the contracts they gave Tamika Catchings and Katie Douglas; they simply do not have the ability to sign someone of more potential value.

03-11-08- BIG TEN TOURNAMENT INJURY REPORT -- Normally it is my knees which take a beating when I cover a basketball game, but Friday night at Conseco Fieldhouse, I ended up with a knarly looking welt with numerous bruises on my left tricep. And with me being me, I can come up with a story to explain why. I think I am the only person who can be injured by a photo arm band.

When I was in Cleveland for the women’s Final Four, I had issues with the photo arm bands; I would get them too tight and the first time I would flex my arm, I would split a seam in the arm band and it would go by the wayside soon afterwards. This time I attached it with more play, but a large swatch of the arm band attached itself to my flesh instead of my shirt sleeve. Think of a giant Band -Aid and the amount of mucilage it would take to stay attached, and stay attached it did. I tried to take the arm band off before I left for home; no go. It just hurt too much to pull. A little baby tug brought excruciating pain. Because I did not want to put on a show, I decided to take that mess home and deal with it there.

Once home, I took a deep breath, gave a firm pull and off came the arm band. That is where the welts and bruises came from. Trust me, it HURT! But the pain was worth it; I now have a new stupid story I can now tell my ball buddies the next we get together.

COACHING 101 -- Got a quick lesson Sunday night at Conseco Fieldhouse, at the Big Ten Women’s Championship game.

Lesson #1 BOX OUT!
Lesson #2 FOLLOW YOUR SHOT!

LET ME CRY IN PEACE -- I have a lot more material on which to bloviate, but my heart just is not in it any more. My beloved Ball State Cardinals just got dumped from the Mid-American Conference Tournament, not to mention having their only legitimate shot at postseason play deflected, by the Toledo Rockets. Final score was 65-60.

I am sure there are going to be a lot of "woulda-coulda-shoulda" articles soon enough and I will let someone else do them. A lesser team would not have done what the Cards have done this season if they had to deal with the emotions of losing a coach for the season to serious illness and overcoming major injuries throughout the lineup. The team worked hard enough to get junior Porchia Green First Team All-MAC honors, followed by senior Julie DeMuth being named to the Third Team and senior Lisa Rusche getting an Honorable Mention All-MAC. Freshman Emily Maggert was named the MAC’s Sixth Player of the Year and earned All Freshman Team honors.

03-05-08 - A SHOUT OUT -- To Ball State’s Audrey McDonald for being named the Mid-American Conference West Player of the Week. Audie Mac was recruited for her three-point shooting, and shoot the threes she did against Western Michigan on March 1. McDonald went 9-12 from the field – all from beyond the arc – to set a BSU record previously jointly held by former Cardinals Johna Goff and Laurie Kitts. The nine treys also tied a MAC record jointly held by former Miami star Jamie Stewart and former Central Michigan Chippewa Jodi Culbertson.

EMBARRASSING YOUR DAUGHTER , 101 -- During her career as a Cardinal, Ball State senior Julie DeMuth would make it a point to make sure her friend “Jack Sparrow” had a ticket whenever and wherever she played ball. Unbeknownst to her, “Jack” decided to take her up on her kindness for the recent game against Western Michigan.

Dr. Judy DeMuth, who is currently superintendent of the LaPorte (IN) Community School Corporation, and a woman of impeccable manners and decorum at any ball game, decided it was time for a fast one on her daughter, whose career is too quickly coming to an end at Ball State. Mom shed her cardinal and white -- NOT cream and crimson -- gear for black braids, boots and a goatee.

Mom/Jack stood by to greet the Cards as they came out for their re-game warm ups and joined their huddle. Collective amusement turned to shock when the team discovered Jack’s true identity, with the younger DeMuth, of course, being the most shocked.

If I had my way, I would like Mom DeMuth to come as another (in)famous LaPorte resident, Belle Gunness. Now THAT would be not only fun for the team, but something to truly scare the opponents. Here is my Northern Indiana tourism plug for the day: The LaPorte County Historical Society Museum, located in the LaPorte County Complex, where one can learn all about Belle and see her things.

03-01-08- DAMAGE CONTROL? -- Maybe there was something to the Indianapolis Business Journal’s story on angry alumni withholding cash for Indiana University. The Indianapolis Star just ran a story on how IU ranks fourth in the Big Ten and 19th nationwide in private donations. Nothing but rose beds and sunbeams in that article.

Still the point is clear: make the alums mad and make the dollars go away.

ALL BIG TEN ANNOUNCEMENT -- The honorees for men’s and women’s basketball will be announced live exclusively on the Big Ten Network. The women’s honorees are to be announced 6:30 PM ET March 3 while the men will be announced at 6 PM ET March 10.

SPEAKING OF THE BIG TEN -- I am going to be shooting the women’s basketball tournament for SPM. Feel free to say hello if you see me.

02-26-08 - DON’T ANGER THE ALUMNI -- The most recent issue of the Indianapolis Business Journal is reporting that Indiana University Foundation President Curt Simic has been getting an earful lately from angry alumni. The focus of the anger is the scandal involving now former head men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, and alumni of all giving levels are making it clear that if IU does not clean up the Sampson mess, IU can expect to cash to stop.

Unlike IU trustees and other administration officials in Bloomington, Simic has not been able to dodge questions about Sampson or refer them to other officials. It has been reported amongst Indiana alumni, but unconfirmed, that the Foundation took a large hit in the wake of Bob Knight’s firing and giving levels still have not recovered.

TIME TO ACT LIKE A MAN -- D. J. White. Armon Bassett. Jordan Crawford. JaMarcus Ellis, DeAndre Thomas. Brandon McGee. Yes, I am calling all six of the Indiana men’s basketball players out in response to their boycott of practice Friday, as part of their collective response to Sampson’s buy out. I can understand the anger felt towards those who ultimately pulled the trigger on Sampson’s departure, but that did not justify refusing to participate in a basic team function. That act alone speaks volumes on their character. I cannot fathom anyone wanting to stick up for an individual who not only brought shame upon himself and the institution he represented, but also had the potential to forever harm their collegiate careers with his actions. At the very least, this act provided further disruptions to a team already shattered.

Interim Coach Dan Dakich should have left all six of them in Bloomington when the team went to Evanston Saturday for its game against Northwestern. Indiana needs to purge itself of these kind of self-centered mindsets and lack of integrity.

MONEY TALKS; BS WALKS -- As the drama involving Kelvin Sampson unfolds in Bloomington, Montana Tech announced this weekend it was naming its gym floor Kelvin Sampson Court. Sampson started his coaching career at Montana Tech and recently made a $50,000 donation to the school to cover the cost of renovations to its physical education building.

ROLLER DONE FOR REST OF THE SEASON -- The “extreme” case of mononucleosis won. Ball State women’s basketball coach Tracy Roller will not return to the bench this season, in spite of plans to return before tournament time. Roller stated she does plan to be back to work in May, but has taken contingencies in case her health delays her return until the start of the 2008-09 school year in August.

The Cardinals (12-14, 8-5 MAC) are poised to win their second consecutive Mid-American Conference-West title and a second victory over Western Michigan March 1 will be the clincher. Roller’s illness notwithstanding, Ball State has endured a multitude of injuries and other setbacks, notably another stress fracture, this time in her foot, to redshirt freshman Kyliegh Jones and restricted playing time to senior Julie DeMuth, due to her damaged knees. How damaged? Try bone on bone. Yes, both knees.

Lisa McDonald, along with assistant coaches Marsha Frese and Charlie Hall and brevet assistant coach Kelsey Corbin, who received her battlefield promotion late December, have done wonders in keeping a team together which could have easily given up early in the conference season.

Ball State will go into the MAC Conference Tournament with a 15-14 record at best, yet it is still conceivable the Cardinals can come away from Cleveland with the trophy and the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

On a final note: I know this has been insinuated on several message boards and I am sure one Ball State administrator feels this is true, but I seriously doubt being elevated on a scissor lift for a 12-hour stretch can cause one to come down with mono.

KATIE IN THE BLUE AND YELLOW -- See my blog entry from September 13. I still stand by my words. Katie Douglas was NOT a good trade for the Indiana Fever.

When the deal was announced, message boards across the county became active and it was obvious Douglas is much as a polarizing individual as Hillary Clinton. Douglas’s apologists, at least at the Indianapolis Star message board, insist her outburst at the play off game was an isolated incident and it came from the heat of the battle. Or they dismiss the negative comments as petty jealousy. Once again, I point out that is total nonsense. Too many fans have documented Douglas’s tirades.

It will not be a question of whether or not there will be an outburst -- particularly one as interesting as her playoff tiff -- but who loses it first: Katie or her husband.

A SHOUT OUT – To Purdue senior Kalika France. Yes, she rocks as a ball player, but I am truly impressed with the fact she was able to get an undergraduate degree from one institution and a graduate degree from a second within an NCAA eligibility period. That takes a lot of brains, will power and discipline.

02-17-08: The Wing Nuts were out in force the past week and this edition of the blog is dedicated to them.

WING NUT #1 -- Indiana University men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson. You know the story. What really makes me angry is that the IU Board of Trustees and IU athletic director Rick Greenspan knew all about Sampson and his tricks yet they still hired him.

WING NUT#2 – Meet Anthony Lackey. Mr. Lackey attended a middle school girl’s basketball game on Indianapolis’s West Side to watch his daughter play ball. Apparently he was displeased with the fact his daughter did not get to play so he slugged a school official and threatened to punch him in the nose. Lackey also screamed profanities at the two female coaches of his daughter’s team and refused to sit down and shut up when told do so. Daddy Dearest has been presented with a no trespass order and the matter has been referred to the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.

WING NUT#3 -- Elementary and Junior High, I mean Middle School age girls have long fancied themselves the blushing bride of the Bubble Gum celebrity flavor of the day and will continue to do so for eternity. I mean, we all knew of someone who signed her name “Mrs. Elvis Presley” or “Mrs. David Cassidy” or “Mrs. Justin Timberlake”. Even grown men can get in on the game stating they would like to be baby daddy to a famous lady. But some do take this fantasy a little too far.

Gary Peoples took his crush UConn star Tahirah Williams from casual to creepy. Although his initial emails to Williams were friendly, things took a sick twist with Peoples stating he wanted to move to Canada with Williams to start a family. Peoples was arrested on 11 counts of second degree harassment and was released on bond. He was told not to contact Williams and to stay off campus.

WING NUT#4 -- Indiana basketball fan Josh Tucker wanted to express his anger with the entire Kelvin Sampson mess so he took a marker to several T-shirts and wrote “Bring Back Bobby” as in former coach Bob Knight and took them to Bloomington to the game against Wisconsin.

Apparently, a security guard with nothing better to do, decided that the shirt was “offensive” and ordered Tucker to remove it. Tucker complied, but put it back on. Again, the security guard ordered Tucker to remove the shirt.

Mind, you, all that was written on the shirt was “Bring Back Bobby.” Nothing profane, nothing sexist or racist or anything else ‘ist, that would cause problems. The only problem was a security guard with no sense of the First Amendment, let alone any sense.

My sense tells me the guard in question was NOT a police officer moonlighting at Assembly Hall. REAL cops who work security don’t act this way. It’s the clowns who wear the blue jackets, the yellow hats or whatever the colors are for the particular outfit providing “security”, who create the problems.

A SHOUT OUT -- To my hometown hero Ryan Newman on his victory in the Daytona 500.

01-28-08 - AREN’T RUMORS GRAND? -- Nothing like a juicy rumor from Rebkell’s message board to make one laugh. The latest one comes from an individual who insists he is in the know. Rumor has it Chamique Holdsclaw will sign as a free agent with the Detroit Shock for the 2008 season.

Can you see the Claw doing her Diva Act in the presence of Evil Bill Laimbeer? Picturing in one’s mind’s eye these two wildcats tangling is already providing more entertainment then envisioning one’s Secret Flame naked.

A SHOUT OUT -- To Ball State junior Kiley Jarrett for being recognized as the Mid-American Conference women’s basketball Player of the Week. Jarrett’s average of 11 points and 9.5 assists in the victories over Central Michigan and Bowling Green made her the third Cardinal this season to earn the honor. Senior Julie DeMuth and freshman Emily Maggert are the other two Ball State recipients.

As a side note, Jarrett’s teammate at Bloomington High School North and best friend, Whitney Thomas, recently won similar honors from the Big Ten Conference for her performance with the Indiana Hoosiers.

01-27-08 - I guess I need to cut back on reading the blogs created by my pal Helen Wheelock. I am just feeling too snarky for my own good tonight.

MAKES YOU WONDER WHAT THEY DO FOR REAL PUNISHMENT -- A few years back, some young men who played basketball for the University of Michigan were so good, they were referred to as being “Fab.” Some of those who were “Fab” got caught one evening stealing beer from a local convenience store, and Michigan officials suspended them indefinitely.

Until…..

The night the Hurryin’ Hoosiers came to town, back in the day when Indiana won ball games and did not raise questions about the coach’s integrity in getting victories. Those young men were reinstated just in time for that game.

Fast forward to 2008. A young lady who plays basketball for Toledo was suspended indefinitely for violating a team rule. The media, especially radio personnel, could not stress indefinitely enough. Then the Ball State Cardinals come to town and said player was reinstated and all was forgiven. Would I still be complaining if Ball State won that contest? Yes, I would. I also noticed that since that game has been played the stories were spun to indicate that this player was only benched for four games, and the fourth game was just prior to the Ball State game.

So which was it? Four games or indefinitely? A quick Google search found an in-house article which more or less stated this player’s return was iffy. Another story, this time from the Toledo Blade, also indicated the timetable for her return was malleable.

It is like a parent grounding a child for an infraction, yet allowing the child to attend a skating party or some other prized event. Like the grounding, coming off a suspension early renders the lessons which were supposed to be learned moot.

EARTH TO PAT: GET REAL -- Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt is threatening to end another marquee matchup because of alleged poor behavior on behalf of an opponent’s student section. This time, Summitt is targeting Duke’s "Cameron Crazies." It is not as if they were known to throw objects on the playing floor or make blatantly vulgar, sexist or racist comments, all which are prohibited and not tolerated by any school. The Crazies like to engage in the age old sport of exploiting an opponent’s star’s weakness or foible. It can be inane, like the insults Purdue’s Brian Cardinal heard for being follicly challenged ("RO-GAINE! RO-GAINE!") to the more serious, like the taunts Scott Skiles heard after his arrests and subsequent hand slaps for cocaine possession and OMVUI while playing for Michigan State. Apparently the fact that Lady Vol Alexis Hornbuckle forgot to pay for some small items at the local Wal-Mart was not lost on the Crazies two years ago and they welcomed her to Duke by waving shopping bags from said establishment.

Some want to say that by making the threat, Summitt is trying to divert attention from Hornbuckle and focus the controversy on her, but the shopping bag issue was a thing of the past until she opened her mouth. As some fans posted on the message boards, that was SO two years ago and the Dukies were ready to move on to something else.

In my not-so-humble opinion, Summitt is looking for an excuse to end yet another series with a quality team for no better reason than Duke actually has a chance to beat the Lady Vols on a regular basis. If Summitt continues her rant against Duke, I hope Coach Joanne P. McCallie has the nerve to call Summitt’s bluff and say, “See ya!”

THINK PINK – The WBCA’s Hoops for Hope campaign for breast cancer awareness is now in full swing. The Purdue Boilermakers came out against Illinois Sunday dressed head to foot in pink. Not just pink, but loud and obnoxious pink. More like a fuscia to me, but then again, I am not that much of a girly girl to know the subtle differences between colors. Check them out here, courtesy of yours truly.

Although the official dates for this promotion are February 8-17, many schools are holding their Think Pink games outside of the time frame due to scheduling conflicts. Also during this time frame, officials will use pink whistles as a show of support. Ball State apparently is not as brave as their Big Ten counterparts and will wear pink laces and warm up jerseys for the game against Akron February 9.

01-24-08 - THE WORLD IS NOT ENDING ANY MORE -- Tony Dungy announced he will come back for another season as head coach for the Indianapolis Colts. If one took the hand-wringing articles and panic-stricken commentaries found in the Indianapolis media prior to Dungy’s announcement to heart, one would have thought Armageddon was around the corner.

AND THE TREND CONTINUES -- Atlanta is calling its WNBA franchise the Dream. Again, we have a team with an incredibly lame name. Someone should tell Donna Orender and the owners that lame names are a turn off, and like it or not, it DOES affect perceived credibility for potential fans.

TRACY ROLLER STILL OUT; LISA MCDONALD ON THE RISE -- Ball State women’s basketball coach Tracy Roller is still sidelined with mononucleosis. However, associate head coach Lisa McDonald, who is filling in for Roller, is having much success holding the team together, and in turn is guiding the reversal of the misfortunes incurred earlier in the season. The Cardinals (8-10 overall) are currently 4-1 in the Mid-American Conference West Division after administering an 82-57 beatdown on Central Michigan Wednesday night. Sophomore Audrey McDonald led the attack by going 5-6 from beyond the arc.

This could have mixed feelings implications for Cardinal fans. Lisa McDonald’s successes are giving her exposure to others who should be finding out what is already known in Muncie: Lisa Mac is an excellent coach and is more than ready for her own team.

I would not be surprised if Coach Mac has her own team next season.

MICHELLE SALMON MOVES ON -- Ball State women’s soccer coach Michelle Salmon has resigned to take a similar position with the Cincinnati Bearcats. Salmon leaves a 26-9-5 record with two consecutive MAC championships and MAC Coach of the Year honors in her two-year tenure.

A SHOUT OUT -- In spite of its up and down season so far, the Purdue Women’s Basketball team does feature an individual who consistently produces quality minutes and maintains emotional fire power, and that individual is senior Brittany Dildine. The volleyball player turned number-one reserve is nothing short of fun to watch, not to mention a needed boot in the butt when things are beginning to look rough for the Boilers. Her aggression on both ends of the court is highly reminiscent of another Boiler guard, former star Kelly Komara.

01-05-08 - KNOW WHERE I CAN GIT ME A HUNTIN’ LICENSE?? -- I am well aware I am to keep this as apolitical as possible, but a certain photo op in the past week just made me want to scream. There is nothing more ridiculous than a politician taking the press on a canned hunt in order to pander to the hunters and Second Amendment supporters. Remember John Kerry crawling, Army-style in an open field when he was supposedly hunting deer?

Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee took time out from schmoozing potential Iowa delegates to get some pheasant hunting done. Bad enough he had to take the press with him. Worse yet -- and this is why I am upset -- it appears the bird he shot was a hen.

When one hunts for pheasant, one can only take the roosters.

12-17-07 - THE MITCHELL REPORT -- Did I see it? Yep. Is anything going to be done about what was reported? Nope. Will the fans care one way or another? I doubt it.

PURDUE CRANKS UP THE TICKET PRICES (AGAIN) – Be prepared to pony up a lot more cash if you buy season tickets for Purdue football or men’s or women’s basketball. For prime seating for Boiler football, expect to see a $336 charge on the credit card for the 2008 season. That is over $50 a game, a COLLEGE game. To sit in the lower bowl at Mackey Arena for a men’s game, save up $488. If you want to sit in the nosebleeds, you still have to come up with $362. Purdue trustees also created an $80 upper bowl nosebleed general admission for the women’s games for next season.

As pointed out earlier, Athletic Director Morgan Burke has little sense of fiscal responsibly. I might add, as a whole, the Purdue administration has a huge case of Notre Dame Envy. When I think of it, ND Envy is really no different than the envy Sigmund Freud wrote about over a century ago. It is still early in the season, but it will soon come. What has now become an annual event is how the athletic department will whine about the low attendance at men’s basketball games and how it is such a good family event, and then the Lafayette Journal and Courier will once again point out that it is pretty hard for a family of four who isn’t on some kind of budget to attend a men’s game with the ticket prices being as high as they already are. And the J&C is not factoring in hot dogs, pop corn and Cokes, either.

They just don’t get it.

ROLLER TO MISS TOURNAMENT -- Ball State Women’s Basketball Coach Tracy Roller will not travel with the team this week when it plays in the Lady Rebel Christmas Classic in Las Vegas. Roller has been sidelined with mononucleosis and an inner ear infection and was advised by her doctor to stay put.

12-7-07 - A MOMENT OF SILENCE -- For Purdue Hockey Club member Andrew Jackson, who lost his life December 1 in a van rollover accident while en route to a game against Holy Cross in Danville, Illinois. The Midwest was in the midst of an ice storm at the time of the accident and the van’s driver lost control on an ice-covered Indiana 25.

STILL ANOTHER LAME NAME FOR A WNBA TEAM -- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is running a poll allowing its readers to cast a vote for one of the four final choices for the name of the new Atlanta franchise. In a move which was as predicable as the Sun rising in the East, the choices are pretty lame.

• Dream
• Sizzle
• Surge
• Flight

And the top vote getter, even though it is not officially the ballot:

• Can’t they do better than this?

One of these days, I may tell the story about the rant Sweetie Pie had when they announced the name for the Fever.

11-21-07 - SHAME SHAME ON OLD NOTRE DAME – A few weeks or so ago, my aunt and I went out to dinner and the conversation rotated to one of our favorite topics: Dissing the Domers.

I mentioned how Charlie Weis may be looking for a new job, since the Fighting Irish (tell me why THAT name is not considered racist) have managed but one victory – excuse me, two-- this season and lost games in the most horrendous fashion.

“SU- SAN!” she replied in shock. “They signed him through 2014! They ANNOINTED him GOD! They can’t just fire him! They would have to peel the gold leaf from the dome just to buy him out!”

Well, Auntie is right.

Notre Dame is stuck with Weis -- and perhaps many more lost games. I cannot think of a better way for Notre Dame to work out its collective hubris than a losing football season.

This is not about class envy, it is about the lack of class that seems to follow the Irish. Like allowing a student-athlete to transfer to another school but prohibiting him from playing football. Like negotiating a television contract totally for themselves -- everyone else be hanged.

I wonder if it is true that they re-named "Touchdown Jesus" to "Jesus, we need a Touchdown?"

Yes, I know that is not an original question, but it still begs to be asked.

SEMPER FI -- I cannot let Veteran’s Day week pass without sending a shout out to the man known to his fellow Ball State Football teammates as “Big Daddy.”

Brandon Crawford, a 31-year-old sophomore DE from Fort Wayne, Indiana, served with the United Sates Marine Corps after graduation from high school and a stint as a factory laborer. After his Honorable Discharge, Crawford enrolled at Ball State and became a walk-on for the Cardinal football program.

MAKE UP CALL? -- I will concede agreement with the ESPN2 announcers who, on Tuesday night, said that Ball State quarterback Nate Davis did NOT break the plane to get his second rushing touchdown for the night. However, I think that touch more than makes up for the more obvious blown call when the officials ruled Toledo’s Aaron Opelt’s pass incomplete when it was an obvious fumble by an inexperienced Rocket wide receiver.

HOOSIERS IN NASCAR -- Indiana is proud to be home to four drivers on the NASCAR circuit. Probably the best known name is Columbus’s Tony Stewart, followed by South Bend’s Ryan Newman. Newly unemployed David Stremme also hails from South Bend and like Newman, is a graduate of LaSalle High School. Another newly unemployed driver, Tony Raines, calls LaPorte his home town.

No where on this list is Jeff Gordon, as it should be. Gordon is a Californian. Just because he moved to Indiana late in his high school career, that does not make him a Hoosier. Southerners say it best: Just because Momma Cat has her kittens in the oven, that does not make the babies biscuits.

THANKFUL -- With Thanksgiving in the United States merely hours away, we should take the time to sit down and think about what we are really thankful for, and much more so than for a winning season from our favorite team or a good contract extension for a favorite coach.

For me, I am thankful for the opportunity to do this blog and to do what I love to do the most in my off the clock time, shoot ball games. On a more serious note, I am thankful for the fact that on October 18, as I was tracking the storms in real time on a laptop, a friend of mine and her family residing in Nappanee, Indiana, only lost part of their roof and some windows when an F3 tornado struck the town late that night. Another friend emailed me to say her parents moved into a brand new custom home in May. Their house took a direct hit, however her parents and their neighbors came out of the storm unscathed. Even more of a blessing, no one was injured, let alone killed, in the storm.

It is easy to whine and moan about our misfortunes. It really is no effort to find a few blessings. Let’s take that time.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

11-08-07 - 756* -- Barry Bonds says he will boycott anything to do with the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown if they choose to display his “record breaking” baseball with an asterisk.

He should be considered lucky he is even being considered for inclusion, let alone that they would even want the ball.

I think Bonds needs to contact his pals Floyd Landis, Pete Rose and Marion Jones if he wants some sympathy.

IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING – The Indiana Fever will start the 2008 campaign with a new coach. Brian Winters found out the Fever Front office declined the option in his contract that would have allowed for another year as the Fever’s head coach.

Perhaps the fourth time would be a charm. Maybe the next coach will understand basketball is a TEAM sport and one cannot build a franchise around just one player.

URINE BIG TROUBLE -- A wire story rife with TMI in the sports section Sunday morning was just more than I could handle. Apparent the Southeastern section of the United States is experiencing a drought and officials at the University of Georgia feel they are doing their part for water conservation by asking football fans to refrain from flushing the toilet when attending Bulldog home games.

This is just plain nasty. Please don’t ask fans to sacrifice public health. Use portable facilities if they think not flushing will actually make that big of a difference.

I would also ask Georgia officials to NOT consider replacing the current porcelain thrones with the PC low flow ones. One will end up using more water to get the job done than what one would use flushing a conventional pot.

SLOW ON THE UPTAKE -- Nestled besides an article in The Indianapolis Star previewing Indiana’s two (!) D1 women’s basketball programs, a sidebar on how exiled Penn State coach Rene Portland has relocated to Bloomington, Indiana. Well, how long has that story been out?

A contact who is IU alum and is very involved with Hoosier sports emailed me to say IU Athletic officials have been swamped with emails, letters and phone calls from WBB fans who are outraged Portland has even a smidgen of influence on the Hoosier program. I have also heard rumblings that gay friendly groups are going to be making a presence at Assembly Hall and other venues slated for visits from the Hoosiers to remind them why Portland was exiled in the first place.

Back to the original article: I guess The Star forgot Ball State, Butler, Indiana State, IUPUI and Notre Dame are D1 schools as well. I know it is asking too much for regular coverage, but they can at least write a paragraph or two about each school.

SOME FANS ARE REAL JERKS -- I got to talk with my pal Rich this evening at my second (paying) job and he told me about his adventure at the Colts-Patriots game.

I will let Rich tell the story himself. It sure made me angry.

10-19-07 - WHO IS GOING SOUTH? -- Now that the WNBA has awarded a franchise to Atlanta, an expansion draft just around the corner. Of course, we can expect a favorite player or two to be snatched up.

I already made a list of the top three potential snagees off the Fever roster. First up is Ann Strother, a much underutilized shooter who plays with brains instead of brawn. Reminds me of anther former Fever guard, who also has the same traits and the same treatment from the Front Office. Tan White, whose game went AWOL during the playoffs, is also a good candidate to be left unprotected.

Finally, you have seen those guys who go into an electronics store to buy the most expensive doo-dad and when they get it home, they discover they have no idea how to use it. Reminds me of the Fever and how they used, or should I say -- didn’t use -- Allison Bales. I can see the Fever Front Office letting Bales go, never mind that Tammy Sutton-Brown is an unrestricted free agent getting towards the twilight of her career.

For my other team, the Chicago Sky, I see Liz Moeggenberg, and cool blogs aside, Kayte Christensen being left out, for no better reason than they were marginalized this season. Home girl Stephanie Raymond will stay put, for no better reason than the Sky is banking on her to place local butts in the seats. If Chicago wanted a MAC guard on the roster, I could think of several others who outshone her, like Ball State’s Kelsey Corbin and Toledo’s Danielle Bishop ... c’mon Steph White, you COACHED them both at one time – but I digress.

I am interested in hearing what you think about who is vulnerable on your team. Click on my name and drop me a line.

GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLL!-- If I continue to have as much success shooting the Ball State Women’s soccer team as they do on the field, I am going to have to break down and get that copy of Soccer for Dummies. To my embarrassment, I really do not know the ins and outs of the game; outside of that one team has to get the ball in the other team’s net.

The Cards are currently 8-4-1 overall and 5-0-1 in the MAC.

10-4-07 - MY BAD -- If the IU Women's basketball team shows up to Muncie December 20, they will find Worthen Arena dark. The Lady Cards will be in Las Vegas that night taking on Liberty.

The correct date for the IU-Ball State clash is November 17.
09-30-07 - LET’S ALL BE GROWNUPS HERE – The more I read about why Pat Summitt and the University of Tennessee canceling the series between the Lady Vols and The UConn Huskies, the more I am convinced Pat is being rather childish. Sounds like a snit over a recruit has gotten out of hand. Or maybe Geno is right -- she just hates his guts.

This is a shame. Even though I am not what you can call a rabid fan of either team, the antics of those fans made that game entertaining, or more often than not, this was the game when players on each team pulled out their best.

SHE’S BAAAA-AAAACK!!!! -- Although I admire Indiana University Women’s Basketball Coach Felisha Legette-Jack and the job she has done with the Lady Hoosiers, don’t expect me to do more than what is required for me to be cordial when IU visits Ball State on December 20 and Purdue January 14. Why? Let’s have a look at what has transpired in the past few months.

The latest addition to Legette-Jack’s staff is Jose Mori, who was an assistant at Florida. Mori just happened to bring his mother-in-law along for the ride. In fact, as revealed by Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier sports columnist Mike Carmin, Legett-Jack has christened Momma as her “mentor”.

The woman in question is Rene Portland.

Yes, THAT Rene, REE NEE, Portland. The disgraced former coach of the Penn State Lady Lions. The same REE NEE who is selling her quarter mil home in Pennsylvania and had a fire sale consisting of PSU gewgaws and pants suits fitting for a head coach.

I was never a Penn State fan for various reasons, one being that they are the 11 in the Big Ten and they just don’t belong, and the fact Portland was nothing but a bully in her tenure at Penn State. However, I got a taste of Portland’s mindset, up close and personal, which truly turned me against her and everything Nittany Lion.

A few years back, I took the afternoon off to see the second round of the Women’s Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, a venue long hated and scorned by Portland. I was to go with my Aunt, but she begged off because she was still furious over the drubbing a Sharon Versyp-coached Hoosier team gave the Purdue Boilermakers earlier that spring. She was able to quickly find a taker for her tickets and I had a companion for the afternoon.

We got to Conseco Field House midway through Penn State’s game and it was obvious the game was over for the Lady Lions well before halftime. Our seats were behind the Penn State bench, about halfway up the lower bowl. I was dressed down for a Friday afternoon, with jeans and a T-shirt and a ball cap to hide the fact not only was it a bad hair day, but a worse than usual hair day. My companion needed to find a drinking fountain and wanted to gawk in the hallway, so I went in and sat down alone. It wasn’t long before a Lady Lion was pulled aside to get an earful from Portland, which was over the top and totally unnecessary, considering the status of the game. Being the fan I am, I hollered a simple “SIDDOWN! REE NEE” towards the bench and immediately got a rash of grief from the group of female PSU fans directly in front of me.

“Damn!” said one particular hateful woman, “The lesbians are here.”

Huh? Where?

Then I realized they were dissing me. Because I looked like a bum in my T-shirt, jeans and ball cap. Because I dissed Portland. I was getting the same treatment Jen Harris got. I was too stunned to even think of a smartass retort, and even if I did, the respect I had for my companion kept me from spouting off. The women were still tossing smack towards me when my companion finally came to her seat. Even she was not safe from being spewed upon with trash talk.

“I see the lesbian brought her partner,” was one of the cracks from the women in front of me.

If those PSU fans happened to look, they would have seen than my partner du jour and I was the same size and had the same features, hair and eye color. In fact, some would conclude we share a lot of DNA, which we do. Not only did they insult me, they insulted my mother. It is one thing to insult and embarrass me in front of my mother, but you just do not do the same to her. And if they wanted to speculate about my personal life, fine, but they needed to get their facts straight, no pun intended.

I was still pretty speechless over the ordeal and fortunately, a group of gals behinds us, who were the real deal, explained to my mother what went on and also mentioned how an usher had to come down several times before our arrival to ask that PSU group to sit down, because they were blocking other’s view and were just being a pain in the butt. To this day I owe those women a debt of gratitude because Mom was getting wound up to give me an earful for starting something. Those women also took the anti-gay slurs with a grain of salt and managed to make them into a joke, something which annoyed the Penn State Fans to no end.

This is the kicker of it all. When the game was over, those Penn State women immediately left their seats. I later spotted them with the Lady Lions team after they came out of the locker room. By the way the kids were boo-hoo-ing and hugging on them, plus the fact they all had a yellow wrist band that my friends who were parents of a Hoosier had as well, it was obvious those women were more than fans.

Those women were THE PARENTS OF THE PENN STATE PLAYERS!

Portland’s venom poisoned the entire program. It ruined many lives; just ask Harris or any other former player Portland chose to persecute. If even the parents were acting like jerks, I can only imagine what was going on back in Happy Valley.

If Portland’s "No Lesbian" policy was meant to prevent her players from hooking up with each other, I don't think it would have been an issue. Doesn’t matter what one’s orientation is, it is bad to romance a co-worker and a teammate is essentially a co-worker. It is a good policy and a lot of companies want to prevent potential lovers' dramas by instituting anti-fraternization rules. The drama distracts from job performance and it affects the morale of the entire company. Whether it is a Fortune 500 company or a ball team, it still is the same thing. The problem is Portland, whose "Gay-dar" is far worse than mine, decided that being anything less than a Girly Girl made one gay and was deserving of banishment. The Harris situation just showed Portland’s irrational behavior had reached it peak.

I certainly hope Legette-Jack keeps Portland in the closet and away from the program. Portland at best will be a distraction, and at worst, will anger Hoosier fans enough to withdraw support in every form. Indiana has too much to lose to allow Portland to infiltrate the ranks.

September 13, 2007: STUDENT-ATHLETE LIP SERVICE

In order to participate in an extra-curricular activity in the Muncie (IN) School system, such as chess club or athletics, a student must maintain at least a 2.0 grade point average. Apparently the reason the Muncie Central High School Football team had a shortage of 21 players because they could not meet that standard.

Enter the Muncie Community Schools school board. Can’t field a decent football team because maintaining a C average in the classroom is just too hard? No problem! We’ll just do away with the minimal standards!

Of course the parents are up in arms and they are being told that if their student dips below that GPA, they can still play, but have to attend a study table. Muncie school officials are spinning this change as a way to encourage students from dropping out of school. I am not going to touch that bit of pretzel logic with a 10 foot pole.

Lawrence North students can carry a 1.667 and still participate in sports. When I was in school that was a D. And I am not sure if that would have benched a jock, but it would have benched me at home.

Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture?

NASCAR NONSENSE -- Racin’ rumors have always been nothing if not entertaining. The latest rumor is at the expense of the DEI Team. Fans allege team owner Teresa Earnhardt, as part of her spitting match with her stepson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has been apparently sabotaging the 8 car. This, according to fans, explains the spate of grenading engines Little E has experienced as of late. Those fans are also justifying their claims by pointing out how team mate Martin Truex Jr. has no had any engine issues and seemed to magically race better after it was announced Earnhardt Jr. was leaving DEI.

I am not making this up.

SOMETHING TO PONDER -- The original Earnhardt to drive stock cars was a gentleman by the name of Ralph Dale Earnhardt. His son, Ralph Dale Junior, went by the name of Dale and drove the 3 car, is the father of the man whose legal name is Dale Earnhardt. So tell me, how can Dale Earnhardt Jr. have a son also named Dale Earnhardt Jr.?

Maybe it’s a Southern Thing which is something I know nothing about.

MORE KATIE DOUGLAS -- Connecticut Sun fans are speculating Katie Douglas will not be back in 2008. If that is the case, one place where she will definitely not be welcome is Conseco Field house in downtown Indianapolis. Yes, the home of the Indiana Fever, just minutes from Douglas’ childhood home and high school.

Hoosiers are a fairly tolerant and forgiving bunch and will support their ball players through thick and thin. However, this good will can only go so far.

Fans were forgiving when Douglas refused to sign autographs and overtly snubbed fans lining the tunnel at Conseco. Many of these fans were decked out in black and gold and had either a jersey or sweat shirt which sported the number 32. They just smiled when Douglas used as assistant coach as body guard to do a flying wedge on her behalf to avoid having contact with any autograph seeker. Fans shook their heads, but still forgave, when Douglas hauled out the “I was misquoted” chestnut after speaking with Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Kravitz. Douglas spoke, among other things, how she wanted to finish her career in Indiana, but apparently did not expect the backlash from both Sun fans and team personnel alike. Hoosiers even overlooked Douglas’ attempt to renounce her citizenship to become a Lithuanian in order to compete overseas.

Katie Douglas fans are now finally fed up and the cheers once reserved for the Perry Township Home Girl have given away to boos and lots of them. My Dad has a saying for the situation, albeit I will use a Bowdlerized version here. Douglas simply messed in her own nest.

Douglas’ actions during the first round of the WNBA Eastern Conference play offs sealed her fate with Indianapolis fans. Her trash talking on the court is to be expected and is really part of the game, but it is not acceptable to be trash talking the fans while parked on the bench. I cannot confirm it, but several sources state she told several fans, in so many words, she would beat them down. The one phrase which will forever mark Douglas’ career, and perhaps bite her in the butt through eternity:

“Ya’lls are awful quiet out there” she hollered at the crowd when the Indiana Fever was at its nadir.

Perhaps it was Instant Karma, but I think we all know what happened to the Sun later on in that game.

I do wonder, though, what it was that Douglas tossed behind the basket during a break in the action. It was big enough to pass as a Super Ball © or a wad of Silly Putty © and yet I still am thinking it was a bolus of chewing gum. All I know it whizzed pretty close to me.

I personally find this both disappointing and heartbreaking. Douglas still has one of the best all around games and was a favorite during her career at Purdue. She showed many positive character traits, such as grace, determination and class when overcoming the death of her mother prior to her senior year. I can still see Camille Cooper, in her last season with the New York Liberty, still acting like a kid on Christmas Day and being overjoyed to play professional basketball and have fans seek her out. I see Stephanie White, who has never been anything but Steph from out in the county, making it a point to seek out and hug an usher from her days with the Fever. It is disconcerting to see Douglas turn from a tightly wound, but respectful rookie to an obnoxious diva. People can forgive a knuckleheaded blunder because we are all human. But when certain acts become ingrained in one’s personality, it becomes a problem.

There is no law which requires an athlete or other celebrity to sign autographs. But the law of common sense and decency asks an individual to show some manners and be polite. Former Fever player Chantel Tremitiere would refuse to sign autographs before the game, but would politely explain it was bad luck for her to do so and that she would sign after the game, which she did.

If Douglas will reign in both her attitude and her referee baiting husband, she will be welcomed again in Indiana. Until then, she will continue to be held in contempt .

Just for grins, a basketball maven created this video, which features a little ditty from Meredith Brooks for its soundtrack. Thank you Rebkell, for this gem.

AUGUST 23 - I know it has been a long time. I went on vacation, came home and stepped into a buzz saw. Let’s get this started.

DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE BUTT, PART 1:Formula One racing no longer has a presence in the United States. F1 dictator Bernie Ecclestone decided the City of Indianapolis and Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Tony George did not kiss his butt enou…. I mean thought fan interest and attendance in the United States Grand Prix did not warrant keeping it going. I guess 100,000 butts in the seats was not impressive enough, nor the fact George spent millions of how own money – not the taxpayers, but his OWN money – to make upgrades to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to satisfy F1’s whims.

Well, good riddance. F1 was more trouble than what it was worth. F1 is not racing; it is a parade of expensive cars whose high pitched engine whine is a suitable reminder of Ecclestone. There is no opportunity to pass or even have a good side-by-side race in F1 unless the driver in front of another makes a mistake in one of the many chicanes and wrecks. Let’s not forget the Michelin Tire fiasco which made a race of only six cars in 2005. And most important, let’s remember F1 has a reputation second only to WWF for its finishes. Case in point: The USGP of 2002 when Michael Schumacher inexplicitly pulled aside to allow teammate Rubens Barrichello take the lead and win.

The Americans have been loud in its collective distaste for Bernie’s circus and it appears he finally got the message.

A side note: Indy-area restaurants, especially the upscale ones, had to place signs in their menus to remind the out-of-town F1 fans that one must tip his or her server. And Bernie had to be reminded that in the United States, one cannot deny press credentials to a media outlet just because said outlet would not run a Bernie-produced propaganda highlight reel in lieu of actual reporting on its evening newscast.

DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE BUTT, PART 2:Former Ball State Men’s basketball coach Ronny Thompson has been suffering a bad case of diarrhea of the mouth since his resignation late July ahead of STILL ANOTHER NCAA investigation into his program. Not to mention leading the Cardinals to a dubious school record 22 losses in his only season. After finding that Kansas City Star and Fox Sports columnist Jason Whitlock, a former Ball State student-athlete himself, refused to buy into his sad tale of woe, Thompson went to a Washington, D.C. newspaper columnist instead and spewed fabrications and out-and-out bovine effluvia that were roundly denied by many former and current BSU players, including star Peyton Stovall. What is even more inexplicable is why this so-called reporter did not take the time to do a little fact checking on Thompson’s wild claims.

Racially hostile environment? I hardly think so. Who then, Ronny, was dropping F Bombs and the N Bombs loudly and on a regular basis at both practices and games? Who encouraged his black players to NOT trust whites? That in itself is racist, is it not? I would imagine if there WAS a racially hostile environment, it was self-created.

This is personal for me. Ball State is my alma mater and even though it has its faults, the environment is in no way as portrayed by a disgruntled and discredited former employee trying to save his skin and reputation. It is bad enough this individual dragged the men’s program down and through the mud; he does not have to drag the rest of the school with it. I also find it offensive that a hack writer aids and abets Thompson with his lies.

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM BALL STATE –The Ball State School of Nursing has a well- earned nasty reputation of being difficult to enter; many seek entry but few are selected. Of those selected, many are weeded out through a grueling academic load and even more grueling clinicals. The upside is only the best of the best make it and having a BSN from Ball State makes one just a little more desirable in a potential employer’s eyes.

Becca Bajorek is one of those who made it, and made it in four years. She recently graduated Summer Term and from what I have heard, has a job waiting for her.

Oh, did I mention that besides going through what I just described in above, Bajorek managed to find the time to work the post for the Women’s Basketball team? The same B-52 is now trading her Cardinal uniform for that of a registered nurse. My respect for Bajorek and for the entire Women’s Basketball program just kicked up a notch.

POOR TASTE AND POOR JUDGMENT -- Not to mention lack of professionalism and decency -- for the Getty photographer who took pictures of Chicago Sky center Chasity Melvin’s eye injury, and for Yahoo! Sports for running it. Yes, it was newsworthy, yet a photographer with some sense and sensitivity could have gotten pictures which told the story without having to resort to being graphic.

No wonder the media has such a bad reputation.

HOOSIER DADDY --If you have not read SPM’s Larry Nauss’s article on Division 1 College mascots, do so. However, I need to make a comment on the origin of calling natives of Indiana HOOSIERS. Larry mentioned several stories, but he missed this one and not only do I like it the best, I think it is the closest to the truth.

Natives of Indiana were just a little more ornery and pugnacious back in the day and had to spend a lot of time fighting Kentuckians, Buckeyes and other vermin just to survive. With the Indiana natives being the tough guys they were and the Kentuckians and Buckeyes being the vermin they were, their bouts of combat got a little out of hand. In fact, a lot of teeth and other assorted body parts would often be found on the battlegrounds in the aftermath of a disagreement. Sometimes, an ear or three would get sliced off in the melee. When it came time to clean up, one would pick up such an appendage and call out “Who’s ear?” which became corrupted into HOOSIER. Since it was the Indiana natives who came out on top of said battles, they got the "HOOSIER" tag.

If you've got a better story, let’s hear it!

PURDUE ON PROBATION -- On what could be the end of an ugly chapter in the Women’s Basketball program, the NCAA announced it will place the Boilermakers on two year’s probation, and ordered a reduction in scholarships by three, after finding the program guilty of academic fraud.

Former head coach Kristy Curry was not found to be in any violation, she was still cited for her unwillingness to investigate the allegations which were originally brought before her. For the whistle-blower, her reward was being terminated by Curry. In a glaring example in what is wrong with the NCAA and its enforcement policies, any censure will remain at Purdue and will not carry over to Texas Tech, where Curry is currently head coach of the Red Raider Women’s program.

However, the assistant coach who was at the epicenter of this fiasco, Katrina Merriweather, received a show cause penalty for three years, meaning if Merriweather has the chutzpah to apply for another NCAA athletic-related job, she and the school offering her the position must meet with the NCAA to see if her duties should be limited.

It is a shame Sharon Versyp and the current Boilermaker team must suffer the penalties from those before them. Purdue deserves high marks for its investigation and taking a proactive stance on its findings. Again, Curry received no punishment for her role.

In hindsight, did hiring a coach whose father owns an AAU team and knowing said coach would recruit almost exclusively from said AAU team’s roster not pass someone’s smell test? Am I the only one who thought the phrase CONFLICT OF INTEREST was invented for said situation?

At least the Boilers dodged a bullet by not being banned from television and post season play.

JULY 2

ROAD TRIP! -- I had a rare night off a Saturday ago and nothing on the books for the next day. So, that usually means a hard day at home. Considering I have no spouse, no maid or no handy man, I depend on myself to get things done. Needless to say I had a lot looking me in the face. I still had my living room and junk room to clean and paint, my garden to weed, bills to write and a Honey Do list several pages long. Yet, I had another option presented to me. My friend Chief, who undoubtedly owns Chicago Sky Season ticket #1, had been nagging me for two years to come up to Big Windy for basketball, beer, bitchin’ and just generally taking a night off to bark at the moon. Just getting out of the house is a treat in itself and the chance to run with the dogs in Windy? And I am not working the ball game? I mean I am sitting in a real seat and not on the floor stressing over getting at least 20 quality shots? I’m in! Not only that, it is nice to go somewhere where the people don’t talk funny and don’t react to anything I say as if I was speaking Croatian. People in Southern Indiana have issues understanding the Queen’s English spoken with a Chicago-South Bend bent.

Gee, what a hard decision!

A little about Chief. We became basketball pals when we were both season ticket holders for the Indiana Fever and maintained our friendship after she gave up her tickets to follow her new team. Before I get too far into this story, let me clarify that even though they have a lot in common, it was not Chief who plied me with bourbon and sent me home with ink permanently stamped on my butt after a girl’s night out. That was my friend in Florida who to this day, still pines for Pee Wee and mourns her Miracle. Some day, I will have a story to share about an adventure I had with my Florida pal. And let me explain another thing. I was told once – by an Irishman, no doubt – that all little Irish babies are taken to the Blarney Stone before birth to give it a kiss for luck. If that is true, then Chief gave that rock a hickey. And that luck o’ the Irish, and its carefree and clock-free outlook in life, sometimes bites ME in the butt. Miss Tight-Ass and Miss Happy-Go-Lucky, that’s us.

Even though we share many personality traits, planning and being organized -- well, that would be my department. I can be downright anal about wanting to have every thing laid out ahead of time and about having a very good idea what to expect. Any deviation from the plan will, well, create ‘drama.’ Chief plans ahead by the hour, if that. Trying to get her pinned down on a plan can be a challenge. More than once I have wondered where she was with 35 minutes to tip for a Fever home game.

“Where are you?” I would bark over my RAZR. (Verizon, of course)

“Uh… Purdue.” She would reply nonchalantly.

“The 25 exit? The 26 exit? The 38 exit?”

“Nah, we’re in the Culver’s Dive Through”.

It is a good hour from Lafayette to downtown Indianapolis.

I would be try not to be a jerk and be patient as I hung out with the other Fever Tunnel Rats and Chief would stroll in, sometimes with a niece or a nephew, unconcerned. I’d roll my eyes and she would delight in my misery. The best late story was when she was 45 minutes out of Chicago --when she realized her tickets were still on the kitchen table.

Traffic in Chicago sucks as it is, and with major construction ongoing for several years now, I had concerns about getting there in a timely fashion and in one piece. My cousin-in-law and Tauja Catchings, who makes the Indianapolis-Chicago commute several times a week, both advised me to take the Skyway to Lakeshore Drive and cut over on Roosevelt Road to the UIC Pavilion. Chief insisted that I take the Borman to the Ryan and all would be fine. I trusted her.

I could have walked to Chicago and got there faster than what I did on the Dan Ryan Parking Lot. And remember, I am a clock-watcher. By the way, I hope everyone at the Sky, from the majority owner to the guy who scrapes gum from under the seats; understand what a labor of love it was for me to make this trip. I have navigated the Long Island Expressway, drove a straight shot to Indiana from Florida, and I battle the truly insane on I-465 several times a week, but there is absolutely nothing worse than driving in Chicago. Those people are truly the most dangerous people ever to get behind the wheel. Let me just say again -- it was not a fun drive.

The kicker was I got to UIC in plenty of time and when I called to find out her location and ETA; Chief was still in the shower. No problem Sue, I’m 20 minutes away! So, I grabbed a jacket because that wind off the Lake was a tad nippy, even for a June evening, and people-watched. For whatever reason, I was rather serene while I ‘cooled my heels.’ The wait was worth it when we found our seats, the second row back at half court.

One of the things which had me greatly amused during that game was when I started to get text messages from some girls who just had to chat at that time. Sure, it is tough to text and watch a ball game at the same time, but I bit the bullet and carried on a conversation. I got an earful for that and this is from the same individual who blew up my phone just as I started to shoot the Final Four games.

Maybe it was the drum line. Maybe it was the Heinekens. Maybe it was just getting out of Dodge and hanging with a MIA friend, but it was much more than a ball game. It became an event. I laughed and cut up. I was able to point out to my pal that even though the Sky decided to take the night off and lose to the Mystics, Bo and Whitey still has them bowl eligible. That got a laugh instead of a jab in the ribs. But I also pointed out they have more wins than they did last year and the Sky still can gum up the works this season with a playoff appearance.

I think Donna Orender needs to reconsider the “Have You Seen Her” campaign and go with “Grab your friend, grab your crew, or grab whomever and just hang out!” I would suggest grabbing one’s mother, but I found they do not behave as well at ball games. The league should market a game as an event. I have attended many games in the past, shooting notwithstanding, and will attend many more as a fan in the future. But games like this I will remember.

And having an adventure worth remembering just whets one’s desire for another.

June 29, 2007
CRYIN’ KATIE DOUGLAS -- If the Connecticut Sun’s Katie Douglas would have spent more time playing in-your-face basketball Friday against the Indiana Fever and less time getting into the face of official Barb Smith and bellyachin’ about ticky-tack calls, Douglas might have been able to pad her career scoring stats even higher. More importantly, she could have propelled her team to finish off the Fever by the end of the third quarter, rather than waiting to do it in the waning minutes of the game.

ETHANOL INDYCAR 250 -- It appears that brains and patience trumped gutsy moves at the initial Ethanol Indycar 250 in Newton, Iowa. Many drivers did not allow their tires to warm up and forced the issue, creating multi-car wrecks in the process. Polesitter Scott Dixon parked early due to steering issues and contenders Dan Wheldon, Tomas Schecter, Danica Patrick and Jeff Simmons were also victims of cold tires and loose cars.

Sarah Fisher made it through the carnage unscathed and finished a season-high seventh. The next race on the IRL circuit is the Richmond IndyCar Challenge presented by XM, and Richmond’s short track will favor sprint and midget car vets like Fisher. I am looking for another good run from the #5 this weekend.

THE CLAW AND HER RETIREMENT -- I thought about it for a long time and thought some more after I read the ESPN story. I have come to the conclusion Chamique Holdsclaw needs to grow up and cut the crap. In fact, any empathy and sympathy I held for her has gone out the window.

The Blogsphere alone has been inundated with reaction stories and I do not see the need to do a rehash here. But the bottom line is this: if Holdsclaw was so tired of basketball, why did she not wait until the end of the season to retire; better yet, why did she sign a contract in the first place? Does the word COMMITMENT mean anything to her? Did it occur to her that perhaps another deserving athlete could have had a shot at the LA Sparks Roster if she had stepped aside before training camp?

Holdsclaw mentions she might come back. Any team who gives this self-centered woman another shot deserves whatever heartache it will reap.[/B]

June 17, 2007

TRUDEAU UPDATE -- For the record let me make a correction to the original post. It was the deputies of the Boone County Sheriff’s Department and the Whitestown Police Department who raided Jack Trudeau’s party.

It gets even better. Trudeau entered an innocent plea Tuesday at this preliminary court hearing and insisted he did not have alcohol at the party and he cooperated in ever way. Yeah? Then why did have a clipboard containing the names of those in attendance and why did her confiscate car keys upon arrival? And why did he try to make said clipboard disappear when the police returned with a search warrant?

Trudeau also made the oh so familiar claim that he is being persecuted because of his celebrity. Let me clear up something about the area where Trudeau lives; it is to Indiana as Muholland Drive, Brentwood and Laurel Canyon Road is to Los Angeles. There are far more powerful and financially well off individuals, not to mention other former and current members of the Indianapolis Colts roster, a few Pacers and a race car driver or two, who live in the area. In fact, their incomes skew the medium income configuration that if the same economic formulas and percentiles are applied to the hoi polli like me, I can be considered at the poverty level. Bottom line: Trudeau is just another guy who got caught doing something he should not have been doing.

JANNON LAMPLEY IS BACK -- Former Purdue standout and assistant coach Jannon Lampley has been hired to coach women’s basketball at St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana.

Bet you her student athletes will utilize the academic advisors the school provides.

Good luck, Jannon, you deserve a break.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO – My Dad, on June 18.

And if you are going to be in Chicago anytime soon, be sure to wish my basketball pal a happy BIG 3-0! I know her just as Steph, but many know her as #22, or as Coach White. She officially becomes old June 20.

June 12, 2007

YOU GO, GIRL! -- After being taken out of contention in Milwaukee by Dan Wheldon a week earlier, Danica Patrick came back to put the #7 car on the podium at the Bombardier Learjet 550 Saturday night, behind race winner Sam Hornish, Jr. and teammate Tony Kanaan. Patrick was in contention the entire race; in fact, she had led two laps midway though the event

Patrick and Wheldon brought an anticipation of a major fight to this race, yet the main event was saved for Marco Andretti and Tomas Scheckter. Andretti cut into Scheckter, forcing Schekter into a race-ending accident, to which he responded by walking to the apron of the track and throwing his gloves at Andretti as he passed by during the caution. Scheckter must not have been too upset or he would have acted like Kurt Busch, who tossed his HANS device at Casey Mears during the 2006 Coca-Cola 600 or acted like a number of other offended drivers who either drive along side a rival or stand on the apron to give the finger to his or her perceived rival. If Scheckter is going to be fined for anything, I would guess the R-rated word he used in the live TV post-wreck interview would warrant a rebuke.

Sarah Fisher was in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation late in the race when a loose tire from A.J. Foyt IV’s car created a multi-car incident which sidelined many front runners, including Wheldon. Both Fisher and her spotter saw the ensuing disaster from young Anthony’s ride and she immediately slowed to take evasive action. Unfortunately, neither the drivers nor their spotters behind her noticed the Firestone Firehawk bouncing like a Super Ball down the track until it was too late. Some pundits wanted to put the blame on Fisher but were quickly forced to re-assess their opinion after numerous replays clearly showed she had no role in the incident.

A quick note – Andretti Green teammates have promised Patrick a haircut worthy of a United States Marine Corps recruit once she wins her first race.

YOU GO GIRL, PART TWO -- It’s been 102 years since it last happened, but a filly has won the Belmont Stakes. Rags to Riches, a daughter of A.P. Indy and a grand-daughter of the last Triple Crown winner, Seattle Slew, shut down Preakness winner Curlin on the back stretch and came home in 2:28.74.

THEY JUST CANNOT HELP THEMSELVES -- On the same day fellow SPM blogger Pat Pickens wrote a scathing article on the behavior of professional (male) athletes, one has to go out and prove Pickens right.

Former Indianapolis Colts quarterback Jack Trudeau was arrested for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and obstruction of justice after Zionsville (Ind) police were called to his home on a report of a loud party. Police found Trudeau hosting a graduation party for his daughter and her friends where alcohol was being provided and served. While this party was going on, a Zionsville High School football star was lying in a local hospital in grave condition from injuries he suffered when he was involved in a single car accident earlier in the week. As you might have guessed, his BAC was well over the legal limit of .08.

Trudeau apparently thought being a big shot former jock in a well-heeled community made him immune to Indiana law, which clearly states one must be 21 to consume or be in possession of alcoholic beverages. That, or he must have thought that would get him on track to be Coolest Dad of the Year. Either way, it was a very poor decision on Trudeau’s part and it could have caused some very serious consequences for a lot of innocent people.

Many people have chimed in on message boards throughout the area condoning Trudeau’s behavior on the premise that kids will drink anyway and might as well be supervised. The first thing wrong with that thinking is that that still does not allow a parent to aid or abet unlawful activity. Second, being a parent is more than dousing an egg with sperm and shuffling DNA. I am 45 years old and to this day; if my mother says “Frog” I will still respond by asking how high to jump. My mom was, and still is, my mom and not my friend. I am not perfect but I shudder to think what could have happened if Mom had decided to be cool instead of being Mom.

Maybe Mom needs to come down to Southern Indiana and give ole Jack a lesson on how to be a "Mean Mom".

MAY 25th - 11:30 PM

SORRY, CAN’T FEEL A BIT OF SYMPATHY FOR HIM --Poor old Clay Bennett. Bennett is the new owner of the Seattle Supersonics and the WNBA’s Storm. He made it clear he was not satisfied with the current digs for his team, so he went to the Washington State legislature to ask for free tax dollars, and perhaps a lifetime of tax abatements to boot, to build a bigger -- and obviously much better -- stadium.

Surprisingly, the legislature told him no. Bennett recently whined to the Kansas City Star about how he is so dismayed that there has not been an onslaught of letters to the editor or calls to radio shows protesting the decision. Perhaps Washington residents are finally fed up with being excessively taxed to fund corporate welfare projects, like building stadiums for privately-owned athletic teams with taxpayer money.

This is obviously a very sore subject with me. I (and other Hoosier homeowners) have been warned to have an airsickness bag handy when we receive our property tax statements, which are supposed to arrive in the mail in the next few days. Unlike Washington residents, Hoosiers allowed the state house to give away millions in tax dollars and other incentives to millionaire Jim Irsay to build a new stadium for his Indianapolis Colts. Like Bennett, Irsay will benefit from this handout and the taxpayers get nothing in return, save for the opportunity to see a professional sports team as personal finances permit. And to add insult to injury, we pay over 10% of the cost of a Big Mac in taxes each time we go to the Golden Arches so Irsay can have another suite.

I salute Washington residents for their stand, and I hope they tell Bennett not let the door hit him in the butt should he follow through with his threat to move his teams to an area where the residents are a little more malleable and gullible. Maybe he can ask his soul brother Irsay for the number for Mayflower Movers.

You know, I was daydreaming the other afternoon about the house I wish to build and came up with an extensive list of amenities that I could not live without. Naturally, these amenities are somewhat pricey and have added tens of thousands to the final cost. No problem! I can just go to the Indiana state house and ask for the money!

Right.

You know how far that would get me?

Right.

LADIES, START YOUR ENGINES –The 91st running of the Indianapolis 500 will feature three women for the first time. Here are my observations on these women and what to expect.

DANICA PATRICK -- There is no reason to not expect a strong run and an even stronger finish from Patrick this go around. Having two seasons to gain valuable experience in the IRL and switching to the Andretti Green Racing team in the off season, Patrick has gained the tools to win the Borg-Warner trophy. AGR is providing the best of everything and she cannot complain about the quality of the car, crew and such as she has done in the past. Patrick must get a win or get consistent podium finishes this season or be relegated permanently to the realm of irrelevance; much in the vein of an Anna Kournikova. In short, it is time for Patrick to put up or shut up.

She qualified the #7 car a respectable 8th position with an average qualifying time of 224.076 MPH. She has been consistently turning laps in the 226 range during latter practice sessions, out-doing pole sitter Helio Castroneves and race favorite Dan Wheldon on the speed charts.

What will hold Patrick back is her temper. Her tantrums on the track and on the radio have been well documented. I may have to replace the headphones for my race scanner after an especially strident screech at the Meijer Kentucky 300 last August. If it weren’t for the magic of TIVO, I would never have been able to decipher her transmission. Patrick was angry when her then-teammate, Jeff Simmons, allegedly blocked her, and she was asking -- no demanding -- IRL officials to black-flag him. Obviously once Patrick gets angry she is effectively out of the race. If she can keep her cool, and take advantage of the opportunities she has been given this season, the 500 is Patrick’s to lose.

SARAH FISHER – Fisher returns to Indianapolis after a two-year hiatus. After losing her ride with the under-funded Walker Racing team, she kicked around the IRL subbing for injured drivers such as future boss Robbie Buehl, and picking up contingency rides. In fact, her last 500 was hampered by a broken radio; Fisher kept track of her laps in her head to pace her pit stops and her crew tried to communicate in vain via sign boards. She took a detour on the NASCAR West series for Richard Childress with lackluster results. Fisher was given a ride in the Kentucky race last year for Dreyer & Reinbold and her performance earned her a full-time ride for the 2007 season. Although superstition is officially discounted as a factor, Fisher feels it is an omen that the number 5 adorns her ride. Fisher’s mother, Reba, used that number in her racing days prior to Sarah’s birth.

In spite of 21 years of racing experience, Fisher is still driving for a second-tier team who simply does not have the resources to compete with the Penskes, the AGR’s and the Chip Ganassis’ of the world. To make matters worse, DRR was hammered with a $25,000 fine from the IRL earlier this week after being caught using an illegal fuel mixture on Pole Day. Honda also announced it will charge the team to repair the damage to the engine, where the charge is expected to reach $100,000.

If Fisher continues to drive smart and avoid being drawn into a spitting match with another driver, she can realistically see a top 15 finish. Fisher will start outside of Row 7 in the 21st position.

MILKA DUNO -- The comparisons between the rookie from Venezuela and trail blazer Janet Guthrie are numerous. Both started racing Indy relatively late in a racing career after making a major mark in the Sports Car world. Both are engineers, with Duno holding four additional Master’s degrees in disciplines ranging from Naval Architecture to Marine Biology. And both have endured downright sexist and hateful slams from columnists to anonymous board posters alike.

Duno drove her first Indy Car race at the Kansas Lottery 300 last month and managed to finish without incident, placing 14th of 21 drivers. However, there are legitimate concerns about Duno being able to handle Indy, which is notorious for its attrition rate. Even the smallest mistakes are unforgiven. The best bet for Duno is just to make laps and learn. She will start in the middle of Row 10 in 29th position.

The best advice for all three women is to avoid Jacques Lazier, who in a moment of sheer stupidity managed to wreck both Fisher and Lyn St. James on the first lap of the 500 several years ago. Lazier decided to go three wide in a turn, which forced Fisher into St. James.

My prediction for the Indianapolis 500? It will be a “Green” podium.

MAY 8th - 11:00 PM

UNI UPDATE -- I like the new graphics on the new WNBA uniforms, but my opinion on the cut has not changed. It’s still fugly. I am getting the impression the designers are intent on showing skin and “sexing up” the product, instead on concentrating on functionality.

SAY WHAT?! -- Heard at the first Fever pre-season game: “Come see Lisa Leslie and the Los Angeles Sparks….” Really! Now I bet a lot of fans would pay good money to see an eight-months pregnant Mom-to-be throw it down! And when the game is over -- if they have a few hours to spare -- I can hook them up with my Grandmother, who can tell them all about how she mixed mortar and hauled bricks and shingles for the house she was building with my grandfather up until the day she delivered my uncle.

A SHOUT OUT — To Teri Moren, for moving up in the women’s college basketball ranks. Moren recently resigned her position as head coach for the University of Indianapolis Greyhounds women’s basketball team to take an assistant coaching position at Georgia Tech. She will be reunited with her former Purdue Boilermaker teammate, Yellow Jacket Head Coach Ma Chelle Joseph. Moren leaves U-Indy with a 160-73 record and 2002-03 WBCA Region IV Div. II Coach of the Year honors.

A MOTHER’S DAY MEMORY -- A few years ago, I decided to invite my Mom down for the weekend and have a fairly large-scale celebration for Mother’s Day. Normally, she would have to been satisfied with roasting a hot dog on a fork over the stove burner, but I splurged and grilled T-Bones and lobster tails for her outside. Even though the day was sunny and steamy, we still dined on my deck and watched her dogs do their dog things.

The dinner was just an appetizer for the main course, later that afternoon at Butler University’s famed Hinkle Fieldhouse. I scored an extra ticket for an Indiana Fever exhibition against the Charlotte Sting and I thought, “What better way to treat Mom than take her to a basketball game?”

The seats were first-come, first-served and the air conditioning non-existent. We found our seats and sat in front of a kind, white-haired lady who was obviously enjoying herself. She and Mom chatted while I sweltered in my black T-shirt. To distract myself from my misery, I joined in the conversation that Mom was having with her newfound friend, and we all commiserated about the heat. I jokingly mentioned that I was wearing my black Brandi Chastain sports bra and would do my Brandi Chastain imitation if I knew I could get away with it in an effort to cool down. What was said next floored me, and I am not easily floored.

“Well honey, just go right on ahead and do it,” she said. “If I were younger I would do that too!”

I knew then that this was going to be an exceptionally fun afternoon, and at that point I entered in a conversation with her in earnest.

As we talked further, she spoke of a granddaughter who played basketball, who worked hard all of her life, and how good she was, in every sense of the word, and just how proud she made her grandma. Grandmothers are supposed to love all grandchildren equally, but the more she spoke, the clearer it became that Grandma loved this grandchild a little more equally than the others.

“My granddaughter hurt her knee real bad,” she continued, “but she had surgery and she is fine now. In fact, she is going to play today.”

RING RING RING RING RING goes the Clue Phone.

The special grandbaby with the bum knee, not to mention the blue uniform and headband, was none other than Fever star Stephanie White.

Later on in the game, Charlotte’s Tammy Sutton-Brown and the Fever’s Tamika Catchings’ long-festering disagreement, which started early in the game, erupted into a brouhaha which resulted in a technical being assessed against Catch and some lip service from Sutton-Brown. I joined about several thousand other Fever fans to boo Sutton-Brown and to offer words of encouragement to Catchings.

I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my bare left thigh. (I had shorts on, thank you very much!) Mom was drilling her Cher-esque nail-tipped index finger into my flesh! I was sure I would have a scar from that assault for the rest of my life. She did not think it was dignified for me to be hollering in such a manner in public. And this from the same woman whose Big-Ten referee-directed epithets could peel the wallpaper (inspired by Indiana Men’s Basketball in the Bobby Knight era!)

For the record, I neither cursed nor trash talked. But I guess “GET HER CATCH! GET HER! GET HER! GET HER!” was just too over the top for poor old Mom.

Amusing footnote: TSB and Catchings are now teammates. Should be an interesting season.

MAY 8th - 11:00 PM

CAN YOU SAY UGLY? – Actually, the word I mean is FUGLY. Okay, it’s not a real word, but you all know exactly what I mean. Could the individual who designed the new WNBA uniforms come up with anything less attractive or more unflattering?

SHOW ME THE MONEY - Most people who care to know are aware of the monster raise received by Ball State Women’s Basketball Coach Tracy Roller, so I will not rehash the details here.

What I am going to do, however, is ask Coach Roller if she wouldn’t mind renegotiating my contract when it comes due again. I figure I have one more to go before I can retire, and I want to make it a good one.

DON’T BLAME THE COACH THIS TIME - When a sports team performs poorly, the usual first step for its redemption and return to winning status is to fire the head coach. For the most part, this is the correct strategy, but in the case of the Indiana Pacers and Head Coach Rick Carlisle, it was totally inappropriate.

Carlisle came into the Pacers organization and inherited a team of players who either lacked a serious work ethic or enjoyed an inflated sense of self-worth --or both -- and any Pacer who didn’t fit this mold was summarily traded or cut by Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird. Carlisle simply was not given the proper tools to do his job effectively.

The Pacers shot themselves in the foot time and time again with poor behavior on and off the court. Carlisle was not the one who went into the stands to brawl with drunken fans at The Palace, nor was he out at strip clubs fighting with the locals.

He did not then spin the story, making excuses for deplorable behavior, nor had he drafted or traded for the players involved in the first place. Once again, that was the handiwork of Walsh and Bird. And just for grins and giggles, it was not Carlisle who Shaq’ed free throws and ignored set plays.

Changing the coach is not going to salvage the Pacers, unless Bird and Walsh are replaced as well -- and the roster revamped. Once a new coach is in place, the Front Office needs to get on the same page with him and work together to make a better product. You know, like a team.

EARLY ENTRY COSTLY AND WASTEFUL - What a waste.

As expected, Terre Haute, IN native and Lawrence North grad Greg Oden chose to enter the NBA draft after one season at Ohio State.

Sure, Oden is guaranteed to make more money in one game than most of us will gross in 10 years at a regular job. And before you send nasty e-mails complaining that this commentary is nothing more than class warfare rantings, just hear me out.

I could go the easy (and popular) route, and point out how early entry has been a factor in dumbing down the pro game, but let’s save that for another time. I do not think it is a coincidence that a lot of young players have serious financial and behavioral issues once they go pro. Basically, a 19-year old kid with keys to the bank vault, who runs with men in their 20s and 30s, is heading for trouble. Most of these kids simply do not have the maturity to handle their large paychecks or the craziness that can come with being a high-profile professional athlete. B