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TCP's Swan And Skunk Awards
The Cats' Pause begins, with this issue, handing out mythical awards and admonitions to those people on the high school scene who prove themselves worthy.
Here are the charter recipients, if you will, of The Cats' Pause Swans and Skunks (they'll tell their grandkids about this, boy!):
--Swans to the Kentucky Board of Education, which last week adopted a tougher set of regulations designed to define and limit the spread of the recruiting of teenage student-athletes.
Its never been proven that any Kentucky prep athlete has been recruited and induced to change schools. But rumors do surface often enough. And, the publicity involving the alleged recruitment last year of Maria Gentry by the Whitesburg girls' basketball team spurred the board's actions. Whitesburg eventually was judged to be innocent in that instance.
Scouting The Kentucky Prep Scene With J. C. Dumas
The new regulation expands the potential liability for a recruiting violation not only to the team in question, but to school officials, such as superintendents and local school board members. It also tried to nip potential "redshirting" athletes beginning in the sixth grade.
The new rulings set a seven-year deadline during which a student must complete six years of athletic eligibility.
Legally, the Whitesburg incident didn't happen. The board's actions --which should become official later this spring -- should help ensure that a like happening will never occur. . . .
--Skunks to WHAS Radio in Louisville. The 50,000-watt clear channel station will, for the first time in ages, not provide listeners complete play-by play coverage of this month's boys' State Tournament.
Denny Nugent, WHAS' director of programming, said the station would broadcast all three Saturday games (the semifinals and championship game), and might air games involving Louisville's representatives from Regions Six and Seven. He also said that, for all other games, broadcasters Paul Rogers and Jock Sutherland would provide summaries at the end of each quarter, plus a postgame wrapup.
Why the change? "It's not good business," Nugent told Cats'Pause columnist Bob Watkins last week. Ninety-five percent of our listeners are in the (Louisville) metropolitan area. It's hard to let five percent dictate what direction our programming is going to take.
"You have to remember," Nugent also said, "that three counties in our prime listening area are in Indiana -- Floyd, Clark and Harrison - and they don't give a hoot about the Sweet 16." Those counties lie directly across the Ohio River from Jefferson County.
Nugent's move was widely rumored last year in Louisville after he discontinued broadcasts of the annual June series between the Kentucky and Indiana All-Stars.
Confidentially, Nugent's latest action stinks, too. First, the 95 percent listenership Nugent claims, if such a figure is valid, could represent only daytime demographics. I'd bet those figures shrink significantly after sundown. If they didn't, what value would there be in having a clear channel, and being able to reach into some 40 states? At night, when smaller smaller Kentucky stations must sign off or reduce power, the WHAS audience, it seems, would have to increase -- particularly when events such as the State Tournament are on.
After all, the State Tournament has long been a special Kentucky event. And ever since 1937 and the Great Flood, Kentuckians have come to rely on WHAS when anything of major importance occurs in the state, be it triumphant or tragic. Now, it appears, all Kentuckians can depend on from WHAS is music -- and all in the name of big business. If you believe WHAS would become financially strapped during the four days of the Sweet Sixteen, I probably could sell you some swamp land.
Nugent's "concession" of providing quarter and postgame summaries is pretty limp, too. No consumer I know would settle for two small slices when he's been used to eating the whole pie.
And Nugent fools himself by thinking that Hoosiers aren't interested in Kentucky high school basketball and the tournament. I found out differently last year, when I worked in Indiana for The Louisville Times. People would ask me continually how certain teams and players were doing. Nugent doesn't seem to realize that many Indiana residents migrated from Kentucky -- and that most Hoosier fans love high school ball with a passion.
Nugent, then, would appear to be out of touch with his station's listeners., many of whom surely would sacrifice four days of Top 40 music for the Sweet 16. ::
And that sounds to me like bad business.
--Swans to Lexington Tates Creek football coach Roy Walton, who is
inaugurating a new season-opening football classic later this year. The first Thoroughbred Classic, to be played at Tates Creek, will feature a day-night doubleheader. Harrison County will face Fort Thomas Highlands in the afternoon, and Corbin will oppose Lexington Lafayette in the evening.
--Some small skunks to Walton for scheduling the Thoroughbred Classic on the same day (Aug. 24) as the long-running Recreation Bowl in Mount Sterling, a town less than an hour away from Lexington.
"Our games will be good for Lexington," Walton said. "The Rec Bowl won't take any fans away from us, and we won't take any fans away from them."
I hope he's right. But, given the proximity of the games, he may be wrong. . . .
--Swans to talented Tates Creek running back Mike George, who signed last Wednesday with Eastern Kentucky. George also had received offers from Northern Illinois and Morehead State.
Walton said George wanted badly to play for the University of Louisville --especially after the arrival of new head coach Howard Schnellenberger. "But they signed a lot of players from Florida, and they just didn't seem as interested in him as he did in them," Walton said.
Hmm -- skunks to U of L for not hiring local talent? Nah -- this is America, land of free choice. . . .'
Finally, . . .
-Swans to David Skiles of Jenkins, Ky. who won our mostly-for-fun trivia contest advertised in this column some weeks ago. Also, personal swans to the countless number of people who entered (I lost count, actually.).
Skiles' entry was chosen randomly from among 11 that had the correct answer to the question, "What popular prime-time television star once held a national high-school record in the javelin?" The answer: Michael Landon, a man who once played "Little Joe" on Bonanza but who has big biceps and triceps.
For his wisdom, Skiles will receive a personally autographed picture of his favorite UK basketball player. This year, Skiles' choice probably could be everyone's favorite -- Kenny Walker.
Thanks to everyone for writing. Maybe we'll do it again sometime.
Sweet 16 Gets Underway Next Week At Rupp