Most track athletes compete in relative obscurity compared to those playing popular team sports. Unless you follow college track closely, you’ve probably never heard of Wichita State’s Rebekah Topham, but she’s a winner. She has won nine conference track titles in the Missouri Valley Conference and American Athletic Conference, highlighted by earning Most Valuable Performance honors in the AAC 2019 […]

Tradition was a major theme in the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” Thanks to COVID-19 we may see more than a few traditions disappear in a sport built on the status quo. Granted, some traditions have been eroding for awhile, such as the use of a designated hitter in the American League, but many traditions have remained intact. Assuming that […]

If you participated in sports in school or in a summer rec program, you undoubtedly needed or received an occasional pep talk from your coach. The fact is we all can benefit from a timely pep talk in life. COVID-19 and social distancing are the issues front and center in 2020. If you haven’t felt any anxiety, stress, or discouragement […]

Whatever the age of athletes, from T-ball to pro sports, we look forward to seeing athletes perform again someday. For those involved with game administration, thoughts will return to making the games safe for the officials and fans, especially at the end of the game. During my time as a soccer and basketball official, I wasn’t aware or that concerned […]

Unless you enjoy watching replays of great sporting events of years gone by or enjoy watching former and current NBA and WNBA stars play games of Horse via social distancing, you probably aren’t watching as much sports as you did before COVID-19. That may not be entirely a bad thing. Look at the time and money you’ve saved. It’s probably […]

It has been an interesting and weird year so far, wouldn’t you say? Bye bye NBA, NHL, March Madness, the start of Major League Baseball, the Masters Golf Tournament, the Kentucky Derby, and the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. This is the first time in memory that the Kansas High School State Basketball Tournament canceled the semifinals and finals after playing […]

When you turn on the TV to watch a sporting event, you often see thousands of fans cheering wildly. Is it real or a mirage? That was how I began this column before the coronavirus recently brought the sports world to a halt. This time March Madness actually was madness. I mean, people hoarding toilet paper? Seriously? We’ll live without […]

My cousin recently shared with me a blog post by Carolyn Moore. It’s worth a read as the basketball season reaches a climax in the next month or so. “Most of the time, you probably don’t even notice he’s there. But the official prowling the sidelines of your high school gymnasium isn’t just a zebra to shout angry words at […]

My agent I.M. Slick dropped by the other day and asked me to write a column about basketball uniform rules. Here’s what transpired. Joe: Why should I write how players are supposed to wear their basketball uniforms? Slick: Why not? Joe: First, who cares how players wear their uniforms? And secondly, who cares how players wear their uniforms? Slick: You’re […]

As we turn the calendar from 2019 to 2020, it’s common to wonder where the time went. The older I get, the more I realize time is fleeting. Was it really that long ago that I played junior high and high school basketball, or I was playing baseball and soccer in college? The short answer is yes, but I still […]