To play or not play football, that is the question

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Tuesday, 21 August 2012 13:18

What’s a parent to do when a child wants to play football? For some, it’s easy. If a kid wants to play, let him play.

For others, you let him play, but secretly you wish he wouldn’t play, and you hope and pray that he doesn’t suffer serious injuries.

And for some, the answer is no.

Earlier this year, former Giants, Cardinals and Rams quarterback Kurt Warner created quite a stir when he said that football may be too dangerous for kids.

Warner said: “I love that the commissioner is doing a lot of things to try to clean up the game from that standpoint and improve player safety, which helps, in my mind, a lot. But it’s a scary thing for me.”

Former Giants receiver Amani Toomer clearly disagreed, criticizing Warner and...

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Native coach knows recruiting is key to college hoops success

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Tuesday, 07 August 2012 16:07

“If success were judged by wins and losses, I would probably say that recruiting is close to 80 percent of the battle,” said Lynn Plett, recently named assistant coach of the Northern Kentucky University women’s basketball team, which is playing at the NCAA Division I level for the first time this coming season.

Plett’s roots are in Hillsboro, having graduated from Hillsboro High School and Tabor College.

He was an assistant men’s basketball coach at Tabor and head men’s basketball coach at Marymount College, before becoming a head coach in the college women’s game for the past 18 seasons. In other words, Plett knows a thing or two about college basketball.

When I ran into him during the KSHSAA State Basketball...

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Are you up to snuff on baseball-ology lingo, trivia?

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Tuesday, 17 July 2012 14:32

Baseball is a funny game. It’s even funnier if you study the language of the game.

“Baseball-ology — The Humorous Study of the Language of Baseball” is a poster published and distributed by Portal Publications LTD, of Novato, Calif.

Consider the word scorcher. The common definition is a sultry, sweaty synonym for an extremely hot summer day. So hot, in fact, that you could fry an egg on the sidewalk or perhaps prepare a Szechwan noodle stir-fried Ahi with a drizzle of soy and a delicate peanut sauce.

Contrast that with the baseball definition of scorcher — which is a ball hit so hard that when attempting to catch it, a fielder experiences extremely hot, searing pain. Fielders often avoid the scorcher by using the...

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Growing up is hard for avid sports fans

Written by Joe Kleinsasser Monday, 02 July 2012 21:17

I’d like to think that I’m more mature now than I was as a young boy. You be the judge.

As a young child, I can remember going into a funk and mini-depression or tantrum if my Nebraska Cornhuskers football team lost a football game, especially a bowl game.

Logically speaking, there were not many reasons why I adopted them as my football team. My only connection was that I was born in Omaha. My family moved to Hillsboro when I was 5 years old, so I can’t say I knew much about any college or university. Whatever the case, I was a fan of the Cornhuskers. Most of the time they won and life was good, but when the results were bad, look out!

If you are competitive by nature, you are both blessed and cursed.

Competition was something...

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