… but I’ll still be blogging. And definitely still putting out stories — I’ve got the MIAA preview coming out Wednesday and the Jayhawk preview out on Thursday. So hit The Eagle at your newstand or online or pigeon carrier or however you get your news. Just make sure to get it.
And no I’m not working on vacay — I wrote the stories before I left.
I’ll be back to work on Sept. 3, but as big news comes in, of course I’ll throw it up here. BTW, I’m headed to the Pacific Northwest. Just because I know you cared. And I’m not flying Oceanic.
I’m headed up to El Dorado tomorrow morning (Monday) to put together the Jayhawk Conference feature for our College Football Preview — and of course it is going to be on the two-time defending national champion Butler Grizzlies. I always enjoy my trips to ED before the season, mainly because it’s usually the one time I get to really get a glimpse into the inner-workings of the program. You get to see the players interacting with each other, coaches trying to keep the whole ship on course and, you know, hopefully pump out some pretty good stories when it all disseminates.
I’ve spent the last couple of days beating the bushes for interviews with all the MIAA, Jayhawk and KCAC players and coaches our little ole’ newspaper can handle, and at some point I realized — yes, Virginia, they will be playing football on Thursday.
Here’s the rundown of teams playing Thursday — they’re all MIAA. The biggie is, no doubt, Northwest Missouri at Abilene Christian. Can you imagine the pressure on this NWMSU senior class, with three straight (four overall) losses in the DII title game?
Check this coming Wednesday’s Eagle for my MIAA preview. And if you want to know EVERYTHING there is to know about area high school football, check tomorrow’s (Saturday) Eagle.
THURSDAY’S GAMES
Southwest Baptist at Central Missouri 7 p.m.
SW Oklahoma State at Emporia State 7 p.m.
Northern State at Missouri Western 6 p.m.
NW Missouri State at Abilene Christian 7 p.m. (This one’s on TV — CBS College Sports)
Q: What do the MIAA and Jayhawk Conference volleyball teams have in common?
A: They’ve both got a bunch of teams in preseason Top 25 polls, with the MIAA checking in with five (none lower than 17, BTW) and the Jayhawk with five.
ARICA SHEPARD
No doubt, the story within the state of Kansas, volleyball-wise, has got to be Emporia State, the No. 3 team in the preseason NCAA Division II poll. The Hornets have their best two players — and a pair of All-Americans — back in setter Ting Liu and outside hitter Arica Shepard as well as the fact that … Bing Xu can really coach. What I’m interested in is to see how ESU handles all of the expectations. Remember, a year ago, they’d never even won an MIAA title.
That being said, the MIAA is no given. Not even close. You think Truman (No. 9), Washburn (No. 11), Central Missouri (No. 12) and Pittsburg State (No. 17) are going to just roll over? Hardly.
DEBBIE OHL (PHOTO: HUTCH CC SPORTS)
CORRECTION — HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED THIS? JOHNSON COUNTY IS RANKED NO. 3 IN DII, WHICH IS DEFINITELY HIGHER THAN NO. 4. HEY, NOBODY’S PERFECT.
As far as the Jayhawk — they’ve got four teams ranked, with two in the NJCAA DI poll and two in the NJCAA DII poll, the highest of the four being Johnson County at No. 3 in DII, followed by Cowley at No. 4.
Hutchinson is ranked No. 13 in DI, with first-team All-Jayhawk middle blocker Debbie Ohl back. Ohl, a 5-foot-11 Hutch Trinity H.S. product, put up 175 blocks last season. That’s pretty good. Pratt was No. 18 in the DI poll, led by last year’s Jayhawk West freshman of the year, outside hitter Katerin Trejos. Cowley lost its coach, Joanna Pryor, to NCAA Division II Newman, but they grabbed Pitt State assistant Jennifer Bahner to replace her. And they’ve got all-league setter Sarah Eldridge back, so they don’t need a new quarterback. Butler’s at No. 12 in the DII poll.
In a conference more known — in my humble opinion — for producing top-notch running backs, you can’t ignore the fact that the Jayhawk Conference produces some darn good QBs too. I got an e-mail from Hutch SID Steve Carpenter about a pair of former Blue Dragon QBs — Chris Todd at Auburn and Shaun Hill of Maryland and now the SF 49ers — who are playing really good right now. Todd is the starter at Auburn for former Iowa State coach Gene Chizik and Hill is in a battle with Alex Smith for the Niners staring job.
The whole thing got me thinking — who is the greatest Jayhawk QB of all-time? My Jayhawk knowledge isn’t limited by any means, but I can only go back to the early 1990s and talk intelligently about it — although I’m thinking, MAYBE, the best was Chris Windsor of Garden City C.C. Windsor was the 1994 NJCAA player of the year (the only QB from the Jayhawk to win that honor) and led the Busters to the national championship game — a 26-20 loss to Dixie State in which Garden City running back Cory Dillon (yes, that Cory Dillon) got tackled on the Dixie 1-yard line as time expired. Ouch. Windsor went on to play for Southern Mississippi, then in the Canadian Football League and Arena Football League. Kelly Stouffer was another great Garden City QB from back in the day.
That being said, I think you could also make a good argument, now, for Hill — considering the success he’s had at the highest level.
GREG CROSS
Who else? Recently, Butler’s Zac Taylor, Fort Scott’s Greg Cross and Highland’s Billy Bob Orsagh come to mind. Hit me with an e-mail or a comment and let me know what you think.
Here’s a chance to meet the FHSU football team on Sunday, and, I suppose, hit the food court. Do they have a Sbarros at the Hays mall? Or an Orange Julius? Isn’t that how you gauge a mall’s awesomeness?
Last dip into irreverence before I’m slapped full-on in the face by football season …
So I’m strolling through the aisles at Hollywood Video about a week ago and I’ve got three movies picked out — which does me absolutely no good because the deal at HV is that you get 2 for $2 — which means it will do me absolutely no good to rent three movies. Sure I’ll get the first two at a buck apiece, but then they’ll stick me for three bucks on the third one. It’s asinine to not rent in pairs. So I’m like … comedy? No, I want an action movie. And as soon as I walk into the Action Section there’s Keanu and Patrick just, like, staring at me, saying “RENT ME, BRO!” and of course I do, because the movie is directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who just made The Hurt Locker, which I think is gonna get a best picture Oscar nomination. But I digress.
About halfway through the first screening of Point Break (yes, I watched it more than once) I realized I was watching one of the greatest sports movies of all time, and that I’d seen it so many times (another movie my Uncle Kevin took me to as a youngster) and never realized what I was watching. You may have watched it many, many times before like I have and not realized this — and you’re welcome for me bringing it to your attention — because it operates on so many different, kick-ass levels. And here’s something to consider — Matthew Broderick turned down the Keanu role and Johnny Depp auditioned for it but got turned down. Could’ve been a completely different movie. Worse if Broderick had taken the part and as far as Depp … I’m sure it would have been just as good.
PUNK. QUARTERBACK PUNK.
First, there’s the surfing. This, at its base, makes PB a sports movie because surfing is one of the movie’s central themes. There’s five or six great scenes of them on the waves. Then there’s Keanu’s character — Johnny Utah — a former Rose Bowl-winning quarterback at Ohio State who got hurt in his final game, a win over USC, and had to settle for a career as a hotshot FBI agent (“My knee got bent back 90 degrees the wrong way. Two years of surgery. Missed my window.”) That football scene on the beach where Keanu has to throw the ball — he trained with the UCLA quarterback coaches — is pure testosterone. When Johnny Utah tracks down Bodhi (Swayze) and tackles him into the water … man! (Don’t you know who this is, Roach? This is Johnny Utah, quarterback for Ohio State)
THE BODHISATTVA
And then there’s Bodhi. Swayze at his best. He’s an extreme-sports icon before they were really labeled extreme sports. He surfs. He skydives. He plays football on the beach. Then he enlightens. Pure joy to watch, no doubt.
And hey, you don’t have to believe me, go rent the movie for yourself. You’ll see. Go to HV and rent 2 it’ll only cost you a buck.
How does it rank in my best sports movies of all-time? Here you go: 1. North Dallas Forty 2. Point Break 3. Bull Durham 4. He Got Game 5. Caddyshack.
Here’s why the KCAC Media Day is unique — the setup. It’s held at the gothic-looking Salina Country Club, which if you haven’t seen it … is really a sight to behold. So you’re in this banquet room overlooking their golf course (which is just calling screaming your name) and eating the tortilla soup and then BOOM you’re in KCAC football overdrive with all the head coaches breaking down their teams. My only wish? That the coaches would bring a player or two with them. Thing I didn’t expect? Jason Dannelly and the College Fanz Network team live streaming the whole shebang after driving in from Nebraska. Dude’s got a full crew. And he let me bother him with a few KCAC questions and commiserated about the downfall of my alma mater’s football program afterwards. Great guy.
And oh yeah, Friends is still the team to beat. But it’s not a no-brainer anymore.
Here’s how it went down Friday, in order of how they’re picked in the coaches’ poll:
I’ll be in Salina tomorrow morning for KCAC Media Day — definitely looking forward to it … and the Salina Country Club’s famous Tortilla Soup. Seriously. It’s really good. And it’ll be interesting to see if any of the teams have narrowed the gap between themselves and Friends, the three-time defending league champs. Ottawa gave them all they could handle last year and I’m thinking the Braves are even better this year. But Friends has Monty Lewis as its coach and they’ve also got … Quinn Cunningham. That means they’ve got a shot, Johnny Drama. I’ll be back in the office after to write my story and hit the blog with all the goings on, along with the preseason polls. OUT. TA.
Preseason MIAA volleyball rankings are out — and no surprise as defending champion Emporia State and Washburn were picked to finish 1-2. Each team got five first-place votes. Last year, Emporia State had the greatest season in school history, winning its first MIAA title and advancing to the NCAA regional final. Not bad. In fact, pretty spectacular. And they’ve got the MIAA player of the year back in All-American setter Ting Liu along with All-American outside hitter Arica Shepard.
On another note, I gotta say … I was kind of excited for this year’s MIAA volleyball season. That was, until earlier this week.
Not naming names here, but there’s been an edict handed down from one of the schools NOT to write about a certain topic involving one of its’ players. I don’t want to say who, or what the topic — but it is not something I’ve ever had an interest in writing about, honestly, although I know I’ve mentioned it in a few articles and on the blog, but apparently, last year, a couple of places beat the story to death. Fast forward to this year and the school’s SID — via an ultimatum from the player — is telling us media types to back up. This … is absolutely ridiculous. If the kid didn’t want to talk about it, then she could have simply said so if/when it is brought up in an interview. On something as MUNDANE as what this ban was about, I’m sure any self-respecting reporter would have shrugged their shoulders, said OK, then moved on to the next question. Instead, said school flexes its’ muscles and said player looks like a prima donna. Nobody likes to get big-timed, which is what this feels like.
MONTY LEWIS