Speed, Names, Money, Chippies
Jun
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May
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Mar
13
Electronic Respect, Just a Little Bit
LINCOLN – I’m in. Leave a message. I’ll get back to you.
Sports fans know talking about it is part of the deal, arguing over who is better, who would beat whom, and other heights of hyperbole. The iconic image of sports talk is a couple of guys over some brewskis going at it about whether Butkus was better than Ray Lewis.
That was then.
This is now: message boards.
And now high school sports have come to the anonymous and occasionally brutal universe of message boards.
First the good news: Talking sports has never been easier. Log on and you’ll be able to find like (or unlike) fans bumping their gums about sliders and slam dunks, about turnovers and track conditions, about the good and evil of sports.
And you can do it with hundreds at a time. Spending your two cents has never been easier. Enjoy, Dudes.
Plus, you can do it without ever showing your face or ID. Some require a little bio data but on screen you are whoever you want to be.
For high school athletics, that’s the bad news, too. That’s because while the discussions are sports related, it is not unusual for the tone to sink to the bottom — sometimes quickly. High school coaches and players are sometimes the targets of some tough, pointed comments. Rumors are a key commodity as well. But that is the nature of the sports talk beast.
But unlike a face-to-face, the wrong spreads quickly and exponentially — at the speed of a well-tuned keyboard.
Message board moderators toss knuckleheads occasionally but suffice to say, the talk can go trashy — and far — in a hurry.
These are not professional athletes. They’re kids. I read the state’s most popular board from time to time. Last winter, when a poster was called out for trashing a young basketball player, he argued that the player better learn to “take it.â€
Take it? Wrong. Taking it from an anonymous name on a Web site does nothing for the conversation, young athletes or high school sports.
It’s a brave new world. Today, we communicate electronically. Good stuff, but a game changer. Message boards and chats and all that talk are signs of the times. It’s how a new generation (and sometimes an older one) rolls.
Ragging on high school kids and their coaches never worked over tall, cold ones. Now it doesn’t behind a screen name.
Mar
12
The Shot Clock is Winding Up
LINCOLN – Somebody break 70, please. That may be the lament of offensive-minded hoop fans after the first day of the Nebraska High School State Basketball Championships. I’m watching a C-1 8:45 game at Pershing and wondering where all the baskets went.
Not that I don’t appreciate defense. Props to those who can move their feet, keep their butts low, and have a deep well of will. But the 20 winners, as of 8:58 Thursday, averaged an underwhelming 55.6 points. Hays Center had 87, easily the high water mark. Beatrice beat Waverly 34-33.
I’ll leave the strategy issues to coaches and those smarter than me (a large group), but low scores will surely bring up the shot clock discussion again. Right now eight states use shot clocks of some duration in high school. From what I’ve read, most report that few teams really have trouble with it. Other states are considering a shot clock for high schools.
Obviously the clock would speed the game but probably not as much as you might think. It would force teams to play the offensive end of the floor with some focus. While I like patience on offense, too, a shot clock would require screens and sets be run with some crispness the first or second time. Too often I see one-on-one or something off the dribble that doesn’t pan out. Out the ball goes and we start again.
I also think most teams would adjust to getting it up the court and running something.
That’s not an argument for the clock, but if the discussion is going to take place, we need to consider everything.
I see some minuses, too. We’re dealing with high school kids, so taking a good shot could become more of a crucible than it already is. Moreover, the shot clock would require one worker at the scorer’s table. Finding qualified, committed people would become more difficult by one.
Of course, by itself low points at a State Tourney is not a good reason to get a shot clock for high schools.
It might be a good starting point for discussion.
If we even want to have one.
Meanwhile, there are a couple minutes left in the third quarter of this game and we’re about break 70 — if you add up both scores.