A Pittsburgh area high school wrestling coach has been forced to leave his post after he bit a wrestler during a practice last week.

Mike Marshall, a 36-year-old local probation officer, resigned earlier this week after he bit an unidentified Central Cambria High wrestler Jan. 21 while the two were grappling during practice. A police officer said the wrestler was bitten on the upper thigh, causing bruising, but without drawing blood.

The officer said the student opted against pressing charges against Marshall if the coach agreed to resign. Marshall's attorney characterized the biting as "completely innocent" and not malicious.

Posted by Milton Kent at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

April 6 is the date for the eighth annual Charm City Challenge, the area's marquee boys high school basketball All-Star game, to be held at the Towson Center.

Event organizers tout the fact that the game, which pits area players against some of their counterparts from around the country, has previously hosted such NBA notables as Jarrett Jack (now with Portland), Dijon Thompson (Atlanta), Josh Boone (New Jersey) and former Maryland standout D.J. Strawberry (Portland), and has featured four members of NCAA championship teams.

Fans are being asked to visit the event's Web site to nominate area players for the team, for the chance to win prizes. Let's hope that at some point in the near future, someone will establish a similar showcase for area girls, who deserve the same recognition as the boys.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Mount St. Joseph and Mount Carmel boys basketball game will be played at 6 p.m. at Mount Carmel today. The Sun regrets it listed the wrong time for the game.

-- Stefen Lovelace

Posted by Jack Gibbons at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

No doubt Baltimore County Executive James Smith and his Howard County counterpart, Ken Ulman, had the best of intentions when they placed a playful wager on the outcome of the Eastern Tech-River Hill 2A state football final, with the loser having to, among other things, serve lunch to the winning team. The idea probably seemed harmless at the time.

Well, beyond the issue of overcrowding at other Baltimore County schools raised by a constituent in my colleague Laura Vozzella's column today, it just seems bad form, from this vantage point, for politicians to make wagers on high school sports, even if it is just in fun.

Also, will Ulman and Smith be obligated to make similar bets when county schools meet for titles in other sports, or is football the only one worth wagering over? And can John Leopold, the Anne Arundel executive, or Harford executive David Craig, or the Carroll County commissioners get in on the action?

Here's a thought: Maybe Smith and Ulman and the other local politicians should bet on their respective community colleges, or better yet, not bet at all.

Posted by Milton Kent at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

If you have a 9th- or 10th-grade football player in your household who has aspirations of playing the game in college, you might consider enrolling him in a combine for underclassmen which is scheduled for May 4 in White Marsh.

And if you do sign your kid up for this combine, it's imperative that you read an op-ed piece that ran in yesterday's Sun, from Kelsey Twist, a former lacrosse player at Roland Park, who nails the mess that high school and youth athletics are rapidly becoming dead on.

Though Twist's piece is tailored to her experience as and with female athletes, her observations and advice are certainly applicable to boys and their parents. The article drew the attention of officials at the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Administration, who posted it to their Web page, which speaks volumes.

Frankly, every coach of every sport, whether played by boys or girls, should copy this piece and distribute it to every parent of every kid on the team, while there's still time to rein in the spreading excesses of high school sports, up to and including football combines for 14- and 15-year-olds.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

From The Sun's Stefen Lovelace:

The Douglass boys basketball team has become one of the hottest second-half teams in the area. One of the biggest reasons why? Three-point shooting.

It’s no secret that the Ducks can light it up from behind the arc. What is a surprise is that no defense can seem to stop them, even though they face a 1-3-1 zone defense against virtually every opponent.

"We have a barrage of shooters, which helps us to eliminate the zone threat," Douglass coach Rodney Coffield said. "Any of our guards can knock down the three and we’ve been getting good looks."

It doesn’t hurt that the Ducks are an experienced group. Guards Omar Strong, Brandon Simms, Justin Berry and Alexander Garner have all been effective, pacing the Ducks to an 11-4 record and 5-0 conference record in Baltimore City Division 2.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Hereford running back Lonnie Liggins, who helped the Bulls reach the 3A state final, has made a commitment to the United States Military Academy, his father, Ray Charles, confirmed today.

Army coach Stan Brock visited Liggins' home last night to get the commitment from the All-Metro first-team selection and Baltimore County Offensive Player of the Year.

"The facilities at West Point are the best, I think, in the country," Charles said. "As a parent, what more can you ask for? I don't have to work about him going there, and West Point seemed like the best fit."

Charles said that Brock had developed a great personal relationship with Liggins throughout the recruiting process. Coming to the family's home to get the commitment sealed the deal.

"Coach Brock seems to be the man best suited to help my son reach his potential as a human being and a football player," Charles said.

Indiana, Ball State and West Virginia also made pushes for Liggins, according to Charles.

West Point was always the favorite, though.

"Lonnie had his mind made up all along, but he wanted to hold out until he couldn't hold out anymore," Charles said. "They wanted him and proved it with the way they recruited him."

- Stefen Lovelace

Posted by Jack Gibbons at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Being one of the nation's top boys high school basketball recruits would bring enough attention and scrutiny on its own in this day and age. However, Tyreke Evans, is drawing more notice than he bargained for.

Evans, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard who is averaging 34 points a game for American Christian in Aston, Pa., has been called the nation's top unsigned recruit, but much of the attention he is drawing stems from his status as a potential witness in a what police believe was a gang-related shooting last year.

Evans was reportedly sitting in the driver's seat of his SUV with a cousin and two friends when a man approached the vehicle in an area of Chester, Pa., police said. The two friends in the backseat yelled that the man was carrying a gun, and Evans sped off.

However, the approaching man was shot and killed by a single gunshot to the chest. Police believe Evans' cousin, who was sitting in the front seat, fired the shot that killed the man. Evans' family has arranged for security to follow him at certain events, because police believe that gangs may be responsible for the shooting.

Posted by Milton Kent at 11:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The football coach of an Atlanta area high school is out after 14 years after a student found suggestive photos of a school administrator on the coach's computer, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Donald Shockley, who has coached Morgan Burnett, a freshman at Georgia Tech, as well as his son, D.J., an Atlanta Falcons quarterback, resigned earlier this month as coach and athletic director at North Clayton High after he acknowledged an intimate relationship with the school's assistant principal.

The relationship came to light after a student -- who was attempting to repair a laptop that was issued to Shockley, who had received two previous misconduct warnings over the previous five years -- found the pictures and downloaded them to his iPod. The student then showed them around school. The pictures, of the assistant principal in lingerie and sexually suggestive poses, eventually made their way to the Internet.

A subsequent investigation discovered that Shockley, despite previously saying that the photos were given to him mistakenly by the assistant principal, Josette Franklin, took the photos on a school-issued camera. Franklin also has resigned.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

A few weeks ago, we told you about the end of the Brandon (Fla.) High wrestling team's dual match streak of 459 consecutive wins over 34 years. Well, another three decades' long wrestling streak came to an end recently, just up the New Jersey Turnpike.

The Paulsboro High team from Gloucester County, N.J. recently dropped a pair of matches in their Colonial Conference, the first time they had lost to conference opponents in 307 meets, covering 37 years.

The Paulsboro team won a match to start a new streak, and will defend its 25-year state title run later in the year.

Posted by Milton Kent at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

From The Sun's Pat O'Malley:

It's hard to believe that Arundel High's state record-setting passing duo of quarterback Nick Elko and wide receiver Brandon Johnson-Farrell are still out there without a college.

The two Sun All-Metro choices are still waiting.

Elko skillfully guided the Cats' no-huddle spread offense. In leading the Cats to the Class 4A state final, where they lost, 36-30, to Quince Orchard to finish 13-1, Elko ran the offense like a seasoned college quarterback.

He called plays on the fly, adjusted to defenses, and showed poise and toughness.

Elko set state season records for yards passing (3,091), TD passes (43) for public schools, attempts (430), completions (260) and total yards (3,993). He also led his team in rushing with 817 yards, scoring 10 TDs.

In addition, Elko booted five field goals and punted for an average of 38.0 yards per attempt.

Johnson-Farrell, who was timed in the 40-yard dash at 4.4 seconds, has great hands and moves. He was the area's top playmaker. He set state season records for pass receptions (103), yards (1,394) and TD catches (23).

Johnson-Farrell, who scored 27 total touchdowns (two each on kickoff and punt returns), established career state records for receptions (174) and TD catches (40).

So what is the deal? Why hasn't either one signed?

They both qualify academically. So forget that. Elko has the size at 6 feet 3, 190 pounds, while size appears to be the problem for Johnson-Farrell, who is 5-9, 185.

Johnson-Farrell told me, "I think they are looking for the prototype receiver at like 6-4. I've been hoping that some school might give me a shot running back kicks.''

They both deserve an opportunity, and here's hoping they get it. They've worked hard for it.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Look around high school basketball in this area, or anywhere in this country for that matter, and two things become obvious, one of them pleasant and one painful.

The first thing you notice is that the athletes who play the game -- both the boys and the girls -- are dramatically better today than even their most immediate predecessors. Oh, they might not shoot the ball as well or rebound or do the basic things that kids 10 or 15 or 20 years ago did, but they clearly run and jump better, and they are stronger.

What is also obvious is that the officiating has not kept pace with the physical improvements. Oh, we're not talking about the quality, per se, though the ability of referees can fluctuate wildly from gym to gym.

No, we're talking about the sheer numbers of officials on the floor. While the NBA and college basketball long ago went to three referees, high school games are still being worked by just two officials, save for special occasions like the Basketball Academy, and the state tournament.

The result is that there's more chippiness in games, especially off the ball, where a third referee would notice more of the goings-on than two do.

Of course, the problem is that there aren't enough referees to go around to form three-person crews. Officiating isn't nearly as attractive a post-playing career pursuit as coaching. That's understandable, since the money and visibility are not as good for referees, not to mention the fact that when you're a coach, only half the people in the gym hate you at a given time.

Still, the game, which in these parts is the best thing high school athletics have to offer, is suffering for lack of a third guy (or woman) in stripes.

Posted by Milton Kent at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

So, Sports Illustrated has discovered that elite-level talented kids occasionally transfer from one school to another, with 11 of the supposedly top 25 nationally ranked boys basketball players having been enrolled in more than one school during their high school run.

Really? To paraphrase Captain Renault from the film Casablanca (and kids, go ask your parents or grandparents about that movie), we're shocked, shocked to hear that athletically talented kids transfer from one school to another. Why, next, SI will discover that Terrell Owens is an extrovert, men think Maria Sharapova is attractive and Gary Williams occasionally yells at his players.

In a completely unrelated development, did you hear that Rudy Gay will be participating in the NBA's Slam Dunk competition during next month's All-Star Weekend? Just wondering: Will he leave tickets for his coach at Eastern Tech or at Archbishop Spalding?

Posted by Milton Kent at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

From The Sun's Stefen Lovelace:

The City boys basketball team lost to Mervo last Friday, 65-64 in double overtime, in arguably one of the best games of the season. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t the only thing they lost.

Forward Adam Johnson was hurt in that game when he tried to come down with a rebound and stepped on an opponent’s foot. City coach Mike Daniel confirmed that Johnson has a high ankle sprain and will be sidelined at least two weeks.

"It’s hard replacing 16 and 11, which he has been averaging over the last five or six games," Daniel said. "He does so many other things for us, too. It hurts but we got to move on."

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

There are those who believe that high school athletics get short shrift in a large metropolitan area like Baltimore because no one school or sport, for that matter, holds a compelling grip over the area, as is often the case in a small town.

For those people, we direct attention to a story from Warrensburg, Mo., where sexual misconduct allegations surrounding a school's softball and girls basketball coach have split the town in two, turning teammates and friends against each other.

The coach, Russell Hough, was recently cleared by an internal investigation of complaints by members of the softball and girls basketball teams dating back to 2004. Six current players raised complaints about Hough, but were never questioned by the school system. Nonetheless, the system cleared Hough to return to coaching after he was placed on administrative leave for two months while the investigation took place.

The six players, whose attorney is the wife of the president of a local college, filed suit against Hough and the school system the day after his return, and the resulting controversy has sharply divided the school and the community.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

That apparently was some great game Sunday between Mount St. Joseph's, the area's top ranked boys basketball team, and nationally ranked Oak Hill Academy, as the Gaels battled Oak Hill to a virtual standoff.

Too bad hardly anybody saw it, since the game, played at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., could only be seen on ESPN 360, a Web site of the Worldwide Leader in Sports. In other words, two schools located about six hours away from each other and in neighboring states, presumably took planes to play a game that hardly any of their fans could see.

And the reason for that? Because two of the players, Mount St. Joe's Henry Sims and Brandon Jennings of Oak Hill, are highly recruited athletes who will play in colleges -- Georgetown and Arizona, respectively -- next year that regularly air on ESPN. We've said it before and we'll say it again: Someone had better get a hold of this phenomenon of made-for-television games before it ruins the concept of high school athletics.

Posted by Milton Kent at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

When the No.3 City boys basketball team meets No.10 Mervo this afternoon, there will be a little more on the line for the Knights than just positioning in the standings.

Last year, City beat the Mustangs by 30 in their regular-season meeting and led late into their contest in the 3A North regional final before Mervo made a stunning comeback and beat the Knights by one to advance to the state semifinals at Comcast Center at College Park.

To say that City wants to repay Mervo for the favor, even if the two schools are no longer in the same classification, with the Knights having moved down to 2A, is an understatement.

"That was it right there," said City junior Adam Johnson. "Once we lost to them, we were determined that (this) year, no matter who they (Mervo) have or who we have, we're going to Comcast and winning it all. We owe them one."

Posted by Milton Kent at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

We've said it before here and we'll say it again: Baltimore County officials, from superintendent Joe A. Hairston down to Carver A&T principal Karen Steele and her counterpart at Chesapeake, Maria Lowry, should answer questions about the fight that cost the two schools their basketball seasons.

While the decision may very well be warranted and more appropriate than the two-game forfeits that were ordered after the Jan. 4 fight, the choice to force Carver A&T and Chesapeake to surrender their seasons should be explained to all schools and to the public so that kids and their parents can understand the potential consequences of that kind of conduct.

On a lesser scale, the forfeiture of the remainder of both schools' seasons now affects not only Carver A&T and Chesapeake, but every other school in the state, since wins and losses help determine potential seedings for the state tournament. Hairston's smiling face adorns the front page of the county schools' Web page. He ought to show that face to the public and/or the media to explain what happened and what he did about it.

Posted by Milton Kent at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

If you need proof that the landscape in high school sports has changed dramatically, you need look no further than an announcement from the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Administration Wednesday that it has taken on a corporate sponsor.

The MPSSAA announced that it has signed a three-year deal with Allstate to become the association's official insurance partner, as well as the corporate sponsor of all of the state's 24 championships, from field hockey and football in the fall through lacrosse in the spring.

In addition, Allstate, which will advertise during telecasts of state championships, has agreed to be the title sponsor of an annual scholar-athlete scholarship that will award $1,000 to four boys and four girls.

By dramatically ramping up its Web site, placing some of its championships on television and getting a corporate sponsor, the MPSSAA, long criticized by some as an organization stuck in the 19th century, is going head-long into the 21st century in rapid fashion.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

A New Hampshire high school girl who was booed Sunday in Indianapolis while being honored as a Punt, Pass and Kick contest winner, will hear the cheers and support of a Boston audience and get to be on the field right before kickoff of the AFC championship game.

Anna Grant, a 14-year-old freshman at Exeter High School in Stratham, N.H., had the temerity to wear a New England Patriots jersey Sunday in Indianapolis, as she was being recognized as a Punt, Pass and Kick winner, and was booed by a number of the 60,000 Hoosiers.

Grant laughed off the slight, but her plight drew the attention and empathy of all New Englanders, who have had it so rough in recent sports seasons, what with the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics doing so poorly.

So, Patriot management has decided to make it up to poor Anna by giving her family four tickets to Sunday's Patriots-San Diego Chargers game, as well as inviting her onto the Gillette Stadium field for the coin toss.

All in all, it's just one more reason to root for the Chargers.

Posted by Milton Kent at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

One of the nation's most highly touted high school girls basketball players -- and a potential Maryland recruit -- will miss the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament tear.
Mariah Chandler, a 6-foot-2 junior forward from Georgia, suffered the tear recently while blocking a shot while playing a pick-up game against boys, according to Hoopgurlz.com. She is expected to have surgery to repair the tear either later this month or in early February.

Chandler, who is ranked ninth in the nation among current juniors according to Hoopgurlz, is being heavily recruited by many of the top colleges. Chandler told Hoopgurlz that she has been offered a scholarship by seven schools, including Maryland.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Almost two weeks ago in this space, we questioned the wisdom of two nationally televised high school all-star football games going off at practically the same time. Well, if Sports Illustrated.com Andy Staples is right, there's more than just your garden variety commercial exploitation to worry about in connection with these games.

According to Staples, the decision on which of the two games to play in -- either the All-American Bowl in San Antonio or the All-America Game at Disney World -- may come down, in future years, to which one gives the better-looking athletic gear.

Ugh!

Posted by Milton Kent at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Not only was last weekend's Basketball Academy well attended by students and fans of the schools themselves, but girls players from top-ranked Seton Keough, as well as Century and Winters Mill, were spotted in among the spectators.

That got us to thinking about an idea that has been floated, but never apparently followed up on: How about if the Baltimore City and Baltimore County boys and girls championships were played as doubleheaders?

The boys games, for instance, could be played one year at Morgan State or at Coppin State, with the girls doubleheader to be staged at the Towson Center or at UMBC, with the sites to be rotated from year to year, so as not to give one jurisdiction a permanent advantage. In addition, playing championship games on neutral sites should always be encouraged, whenever possible.

It's just a thought, but one that Ron Belinko, the Baltimore County athletics coordinator, and his good buddy and Baltimore City counterpart, Bob Wade, ought to explore.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

We take it for granted as students, fans and parents pile into gyms that wrestling and swimming meets and basketball games will go off as planned with everyone involved, even those on the periphery, arriving on time and getting home safely afterward.

But the tragedies that befell a Canadian boys high school as well as a star member of the nation's top-ranked girls basketball teams over the weekend should remind us what a miracle each game is, much less life itself.

Seven players from the Bathurst (New Brunswick) High School boys basketball team as well as the wife of the driver, a teacher at the school, were killed Saturday when their van slid across the highway and into the path of an oncoming tractor-trailer, as they were returning home from a game.

Meanwhile, on the other end of the continent, Terrell Rogers, the father of Tierra Rogers, a junior at San Francisco's Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, was shot to death as he left the gym where he had been watching his daughter play.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, police said Terrell Rogers, who was the co-founder of Peacekeepers, a local non-profit crisis intervention group that was attempting to reduce violence in the area, was approached by two men as he and another man walked across the street from the gym at halftime of the game. One of the men who approached Terrell Rogers allegedly shot him in a church parking lot, and fled. Terrell Rogers was pronounced dead at the scene.

Tierra Rogers was pulled from the game, which was eventually called with 17 seconds to go.

Posted by Milton Kent at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Call it a mixer, call it a pseudo-tournament, call it whatever you like, but by any stretch of the imagination, you have to call the 12th annual Basketball Academy games from Morgan State this past weekend a resounding success.

Not only were most of the boys and girls games close and competitive -- one of the most important components next to the classroom activities -- but the games mostly started on time, and in some cases, a tad early, and the proceedings moved along at a quick pace in order to keep as close to schedule as possible.

For next year, event officials, as well as county athletic officials, should endeavor to encourage boys and girls public schools from all of the area jurisdictions, not just Baltimore City, Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties, to take part in the Academy. Carroll, Harford and Howard school teams, both boys and girls, could only benefit from playing top-notch competition in a tournament-like setting six weeks or so before the state tournament begins.

Oh, and a note to Morgan officials: Having a parking garage next to the Hill Field House is great, but not at the $10 charge some incurred for Saturday parking, a fee equal to the ticket price itself. Since a lot of the crowd was coming and going depending on when their particular team was playing, and many of the attendees were high school kids driving in to root for their school, a less steep parking charge might have been in order.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

There's a fairly high profile boys basketball game tonight in Annapolis at 6:45, when No. 12 Broadneck travels to Annapolis High in an Anne Arundel county matchup.

If you're interested in watching the game but can't make it, or are going and want to savor it again, fear not, for CN8 will air the game on tape delay tomorrow afternoon at 2 p.m., which is great for most area cable subscribers, not so great for satellite subscribers for whom the channel is not available.

Although it's great that the Annapolis-Broadneck game is on, you do wonder why the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network or Comcast Sports Net or CN8, for that matter, didn't elect to carry games from the Basketball Academy at Morgan State. With three full-day slates of boys and girls contests, there was no shortage of games to air either live or on tape, but there's always next year.

Posted by Milton Kent at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Chances are solid that you've never heard of Dannielle Diamant, and that's for good reason. The 6-foot-4 forward from Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas is averaging 13.7 points a game for the Lady Gaels, a decent, but not spectacular number, which, combined with her 3.9 grade point average, puts the senior somewhere in the middle of the pack of prospective college athletes.

What makes Diamant stand out is her family, or more to the point, her grandfather, former coach Jerry Tarkanian. Diamant, who also plays volleyball, has a list of six schools she is interested in, but one of them, oddly enough, is not UNLV, the school Tarkanian put on the basketball map.

Given her grandfather's history of run-ins with the NCAA, it's a safe bet that Dannielle Diamant's recruiting visits will be watched very carefully.

Posted by Milton Kent at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Two and a half cheers to Baltimore County officials for swift action in ordering forfeits and suspensions in conjunction with a fight near the end of Carver A&T-Chesapeake boys basketball game last Friday.

County athletics coordinator Ron Belinko was entirely correct when he told The Sun's Stefen Lovelace that the school system had to "send a strong message that we won't tolerate it.'

If ordering the schools to forfeit games this week, as well as punishing the players involved stops even one more of these fights, then the action was warranted. There's a rising level of chippiness creeping into the higher profile high school sports that needs to be checked immediately, and coaches and parents need to be willing to do more to curb potentially unsavory behavior before it gets to the court.

The missing half-cheer comes because officials at both schools didn't announce which players were involved and potentially subject to season or game suspensions. While school suspensions are covered by privacy rules, participating in interscholastic athletics should not be, and interested parties will know as early as the first post-forfeit game when they
check the respective benches to see who's missing.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

In the Baltimore area, we are quite familiar with the concept of high school teams establishing their dominance in a sport over an extended period, whether it be the Dunbar boys basketball squad with 11 state titles in the last 15 years, or better yet, the Mount Hebron girls lacrosse team, which is working on a string of 11 consecutive championships with 15 titles in 16
years, even as their string of 103 consecutive game wins ended last season.

But nothing here or almost anywhere in the country compares to the streak that ended last weekend in Florida, when the Brandon wrestling team saw its run of 459 dual meet wins come to an end.

The streak, which lasted nearly 34 years and included 66 team state titles and 18 individual crowns, was snapped Saturday in a loss to South Dade in something ironically called the "Jim Graves Beat the Streak" tournament named for the coach who was in charge when the streak started.

Posted by Milton Kent at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Suppose a Duke basketball player managed a significant career achievement on the road, say, at North Carolina or at Maryland. Could you imagine the game being stopped at the point that it happened to honor the player? Or, to be fair, change the teams and the places and try to envision a similar result.

You can't, and that's more an indictment of the coarseness of the sports society, or society, in general, than of the goings-on at Durham, Chapel Hill or College Park. Every once in a while, however, something surprising and very nice happens at a sporting event and you're reminded how good athletics can be when those who participate remember that these are just games of humanity, not wars fought by automatons.

With 2:23 left in the second quarter during last night's girls basketball game between top-ranked Seton Keough and No.2 St. Frances, a timeout was called. The public address announcer at St. Frances, the home team, announced to the crowd that Seton Keough center Asya Bussie had just scored the 1,000th point of her career, and the throng -- made up mostly of Panther fans -- rose and gave the junior a standing ovation. It was a remarkably touching and satisfying moment, and the St. Frances administration and fans, who were, at the time, watching their team slip behind by double digits, are to be commended for making a special moment even more special.

As for Bussie, she told The Sun's Katherine Dunn that she nearly psyched herself out of the moment.

“I just got into the game the second quarter,' said Bussie, who finished the Gators' 62-40 romp with 15 points and 12 rebounds. "I really disappointed myself in first quarter. It was like I’ve got to pick this up. I think I was like it was too much pressure about this 1,000-point thing, but I had to just to think about getting the win.”

Posted by Milton Kent at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Millions of college football fans will watch tonight's LSU-Ohio State game and wonder why big-time college football can't legitimately settle its national championship on the field. On a far smaller scale across Maryland, thousands of high school boys basketball fans watch their favorite game and wonder why there is no shot clock.

It's amazing to think that more than 20 years after college basketball adopted a shot clock and more than 50 years since a 24-second clock came to the NBA that the notion hasn't filtered down to boys public school basketball in Maryland.

The absence of a clock often reduces the fourth quarter of a close game to a dribble fest, as the team in the lead holds the ball to preserve a lead, ostensibly playing the game differently in the last four or five minutes than it did the first 28 or so.

But there are those, Prince George's County athletics coordinator Earl Hawkins most prominent among them, who believe that instituting a shot clock would bring down Western civilization, or at least good basketball, by taking a premium off good defense.

Hawkins, a former coach who chairs the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association's boys basketball committee and has the loudest voice on this issue, is diametrically opposed to a shot clock in the boys game, despite the fact that girls in Maryland have been playing with a shot clock for years.

Indeed, the presence of a shot clock in the girls game negates one of the chief pieces of opposition to a clock, namely the cost. If they're already in gyms and working for the girls, they can be used in boys games as well without any additional outlay.

People got over the installation of a three-point line in high school hoops and they can get over a shot clock, too. Boys high school basketball is a good game that can be made much better with a 35-to-45-second shot clock.

Posted by Milton Kent at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

If you're like me (and why would you want to be), you're wondering about the wisdom and propriety of having one national high school football All-Star game, much less two.

Yet, that's precisely where we are, with two nationally televised games tomorrow, the more established All-American Bowl from San Antonio at 1 p.m. on Channel 11, and the newcomer, the inaugural All-America Game from Walt Disney World, which airs at 2 p.m. on Channel 2.

These games, frankly, play to the fears of many that the previously relatively pristine world of high school athletics is being corrupted by new forms of programming for television. The kids who are playing in these games are missing a week of valuable class time to go on display in contests that have little bearing on what they do back at their own schools and, just as importantly, have little to no effect on the colleges they'll attend since most of them have already committed.

That said, if you must watch one of them, Baltimore audiences might have a bigger interest in the All-American Bowl since a local product, McDonogh guard Lane Clelland, will be playing in the game.

Posted by Milton Kent at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

If you're a wrestling fan, the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association and the Atlantic Coast Conference have combined to make March 8 a very special day.

Both organizations will hold their championship meets on that day in College Park, with the MPSSAA conducting their tournament at venerable Cole Field House and the ACC going at Comcast Center. The two entities announced yesterday that they have adjusted their schedules and ticket prices to allow fans to attend both events.

On that Saturday, the MPSSAA will hold its semifinals at 11 a.m., while the ACC's semis will take place at 2 p.m. The state finals will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the college championships beginning at 8 p.m.

In addition, MPSSAA ticket holders will receive a half-price discount on ACC tickets if they present an MPSSAA ticket stub or tournament booklet at the Comcast Center ticket window. And ACC fans will get five dollars off ticket prices for the MPSSAA meet if they present their stubs at the Cole ticket window.

Posted by Milton Kent at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Maybe Roger Clemens could be an effective speaker against the ills of performance-enhancing drug use to high schoolers in the same way that Pete Rose could against gambling.

Maybe, but for as long as Clemens adamantly maintains that he did not receive injections of human growth hormones from a former trainer while he was in Toronto, he is a lousy choice to speak to high school athletes or their coaches.

Yet, The New York Times reported earlier this week that the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association has not rescinded its invitation to Clemens to speak at its convention next Saturday about his workout regimen, and that Clemens still wants to come.

“We took a wait-and-see approach,” Jim Long, the group’s president, said in a telephone interview with The Times. “He adamantly wants to come, and we really don’t have any reason not to have him.”

Actually, Mr. Long, you really do have a reason not to have Clemens, who appears to be as truthful under these circumstances as Rose was for all those years about his wagering on baseball games. Texas happens to be one of a handful of states that conducts steroid testing for its high school athletes, and giving the Rocket a platform with the cloud hanging over him seems irresponsible and certainly sends a mixed message to the kids themselves.

Sure, Clemens may be telling the truth, and may be able to prove it someday. If that day comes, baseball officials and former Senator George Mitchell, who led baseball's investigation into performance-enhancing drug usage can offer an apology.

For now, however, Clemens shouldn't spreading the gospel of good, clean workout techniques to high school athletes and their coaches until we're reasonably sure that he's speaking from a place of truth.

Posted by Milton Kent at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

We return from a semi-long winter's nap with an excellent set of common sense do's and don'ts for prospective high school football recruits.

Ross Tucker, a former Princeton offensive lineman, has compiled a list of things that high school players and their coaches should be looking for and should prepare for in advance of next month's signing date.

Tucker, who is on injured reserve with the Washington Redskins, operates a recruiting Web site that offers to send profiles and videos to prospective schools, so you're free to take his advice for what it's worth. But, from this vantage point, Tucker's advice seems sound and worth listening to.

Posted by Milton Kent at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)