Sports Talk: Extra Soft High School Rivalry Pranks

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Feb. 12, 2014.  
What are high school sports without some rivalry fun involved?

For as long as I remember the Russell County Lakers have been Casey's biggest rival--and I cannot even tell you why, other than they are a short trip down 127. I'm sure somebody knows...
 
Last week our boys basketball team hosted the Lakers. Unfortunately, in recent years Russell has dominated the basketball court when the teams face off. That, in addition to the fact I was more or less out of the loop when it came to Casey sports during my seven year tenure in Louisville, means I had completely forgotten about the traditional "Toilet Bowl" game when a team's first points resulted in the students streaming the court with rolls of toilet paper.
 
I was probably in the seventh grade the first time I attended one of these games and saw it in all of it's glory. I remember it happening at both home and away games when the two boys teams faced one another.
 
This past Thursday night when I was perched in my standard seat in the upper section across from the student section, I had not even wondered whether I would be seeing any toilet paper fly until I saw Athletic Director Victor Black stepping out of the midst of the students carrying a giant garbage bag filled with TP. You could see disappointment in many student faces that their "fun" was being busted and suddenly the memories of the Toilet Bowl came flooding back.
 
I couldn't help but smile as what I was seeing simply rehashed very, very similar experiences of my own. Mr. Black, after seeming to have confiscated a LOT of Charmin (and hopefully some off brands--surely students are smart enough to save a little change since the stuff wasn't being used for its intended purpose!), I saw him return to the stands and leave with another partial bag. Surely he'd thoroughly searched and disarmed the students. But then, when Casey scored it's first basket less than a minute into play, the rolls magically appeared and began hitting the court. Oh yes, I thought, that's right... somehow, no matter how many times the school administrators came through the stands and how many bags were emptied and puffy jackets were searched, students always managed to keep some TP hidden that would magically appear when the moment was right.
 
I know pranks between schools should not be condoned. There are good reasons for the TP confiscation and one has to hope that it won't end up being a close game with the Rebs on the losing end considering it leads to technical foul shots for Russell County. You also have to feel a little funny about the prank when your team ends up losing by nearly 20 points.
 
Having said that, though, as a parent, fan or school administrator, on some level you have to be grateful that THIS is the prank our schools choose to make a tradition. I mean, how much less damage can one do than to throw toilet paper--something made to be extra soft to the touch! We could have students vandalizing one another's school property, stealing things, etc. Instead the game gets interrupted for a few minutes.
 
For the students, I think the fun of this prank is not even about doing it to spite the Lakers; (especially considering the odds of the winner have been heavily tipped in Russell's direction for a number of years). It's more about proving you weren't the group that let tradition slip. The TP came out slowly but surely when Collin Miller put in two points on a fast break. It wasn't a beautiful raining down of streaming toilet paper. When the final rolls got tossed to the court and still no one was cleaning it up, you eventually saw school officials come to the student section and next thing you knew it was students who were cleaning up the mess they'd just made. 

I can't speak for the students to know what they were thinking or feeling, but as an alum who once sat in the section where the TP flew from, I feel like the real accomplishment for the students is simply proving they can still find ways to make it happen no matter how many bags the administration fills when they file through the stands emptying bags and jackets. Having to eat their pride after the fact and pick up the mess they made doesn't seem so bad.
 
A prank is a prank and as administrators you have to try and nip them in the bud, but there is something to be said for tradition--especially when it's as harmless as tossing cushy rolls of paper in the air. There are much, much worse rivalry pranks we could be shaming our students for partaking in. So this alum had to simply smile to not only see the tradition of the toilet paper flying live on, but the complete tradition--which includes plenty of rolls leaving the stands in garbage bags!

Sports Talk: 2014... Year of the Cards or Cats?

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Jan. 1, 2014.  
"The time has come," the sports fan said,
"To talk of many things:
Of games--and players--and team records
of championship rings..."

The year 2013 is officially behind us. As great or as bad of a year as it may or may not have been for your teams and players in the world of sports, it is now time to move on and let go.
 
This could be a good or bad thing in your book. I'd say for Kentucky Wildcat fans, it is a positive. With the exception of ending on Saturday's basketball victory, 2013 did not exactly bring the greatest of great--it brought a lot of hope with new coaches and great recruits, but it produced nothing solid to brag about on a large scale.
 
The Louisville Cardinals, on the other hand, LOVED 2013. It brought one great team after another: lots of national spotlight time and big wins and even championships. 

The entry into 2014 is a little bittersweet for Cardinal fans; especially those who are avid Anti-Wildcat. UofL fans have loved all of the accomplishments of 2013 and loved to talk about it. They've loved to remind UK fans over and over of all of the big things their school has accomplished in 2013, while UK fell short in many regards; but now is the time when Cardinals either become hypocrites, or step up and act as respectable sports fans.
 
Having lived in both a heavily UK-centric area (Casey County) and a Cardinal-crazed area (Louisville), I've regularly heard the common gripes fans have about each other and one of the more popular teases Louisville fans like to throw at Kentucky fans is their tendency to "live in the past". They love to point out that UK fans brag about past championships and accomplishments when there is nothing in the present to be excited about.
 
So, now that 2013 is over, it remains to be seen if Cardinal fans will fall victim to their own UK joke. Will Louisville fans continue to brag about their 2013 accomplishments  or will they simply maintain pride and love for those teams and players but embrace the now?
 
As a Cardinal fan who loved the excitement of 2013, I am probably like most Louisvillians who hope that the excitement only continues and there is not even a need to "live in the past"; however, only time will tell who earns the bigger bragging rights of 2014. For me, even if it's Kentucky, I'm quite all right with that and will enjoy any excitement relating to Bluegrass sports teams. I've got my Wildcat blue in my wardrobe right alongside the Cardinal red! And, of course, I'm always hoping to see big things out of my Bellarmine Knights!
 
Happy New Year, sports fans!

Sports Talk: Loving Some (Delayed) Rivalry Weekend Excitement

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. This edition of my column was scheduled to be published Dec. 4, 2013 but never ran due to space issues.  
There is an episode of the TV show How I Met Your Mother where the five main characters suddenly realize they will not be able to watch the Super Bowl as they had been planning all week. They decide to simply postpone their ball game fun until the next night and all agree to not find out the result of the game until then. The episode brings numerous entertaining and funny situations as all five attempt to go through their normal Monday and not find out the winner of the game. 

I had my own small dose of this experience over rivalry weekend. While the Super Bowl is something everyone and their mother knows about, even watching your favorite team in delay without finding out the end result takes a real effort these days. 

It was quite an exciting weekend for my family in sports and social aspects. Not only was it the Ohio State-Michigan game, but ever since my brother attended vet school at Auburn University, the Auburn-Alabama rivalry has come to have meaning in our house as well. It was planned that our family "Wood Day" would take place Saturday where my siblings and family friends gather to help my parents build up their firewood supply for the winter. We knew this would interfere with both of the games we wanted to watch, but were all OK with simply recording the games and watching them that night.
 
Easier said than done.
 
It used to be common for my dad to record an Ohio State game and wait to watch it on a Sunday. It simply meant avoiding sports news on the TV that night and making sure the other football fans at church knew right away that he hadn't watched the game yet. Today, information travels so quickly and we acquire it in so many ways, it's a challenge to shut off all alleys of communication.
 
We do have the advantage of my parents living down a long gravel road in a valley so we didn't have to worry about running into someone who would spill the beans. However, we also had to avoid all social networks--no Facebook or Twitter or Google Plus--really it was safest just to avoid the Internet in general. Phones really became risky also. Not only could you not check your social apps, you had to be cautious of text messages and really just not check them. Most people were not aware we weren't watching the game, but know the Buckeye fans we are and wanted to chime in during the game. Smart phones in general were just trouble, because if you had any type of sports notifications set to your phone, there was a chance of big scores or updates popping across your screen.
 
Somehow, someway, though, we managed to disconnect ourselves from the online, connected world and stay in the dark about the outcomes of both games. However, I will say that even had we heard that Auburn took down Alabama, we might not have believed it watching the final minutes of the game when they were down seven and Alabama continued to drive the field. Talk about a crazy and fun end to any game--let alone a rivalry game where the winner is playing on their home field. And even for us, fans watching on screen, having been to games and tailgating at Auburn made it that much easier to imagine what it must have been like to be there.
 
I was extra grateful we watched our two games in delay because of the fact my six-week-old baby girl did not allow me to tune in completely to the OSU game and had me miss the Auburn game completely; yet after hearing how incredible the AU game was, I was able to watch it Sunday on the DVR. Fan of either team or not, if you enjoy football, this game was as entertaining as they come and if you have the opportunity to watch it, don't pass it up.
 
I have two favorite parts to Auburn's victory. First, the fact that the decision about whether regulation time expired when T.J. Yeldon's foot hit out of bounds made Alabama fans happy, but inevitably resulted in Auburn's victory. That one second seemed to be a major threat to the Tigers but it ended up being the greatest thing that could have happened to them. Chris Davis' 109-yard return will go down in history as possibly the greatest ending to any college football game. Seriously, if Hollywood had given us that game, no one would have believed it.
 
My second favorite part are all of the reactions--primarily to Auburn fans, obviously. One of my favorites, though was watching (listening to) the Auburn announcer commentary during the final play. The shrill, in-the-moment excitement and realization of what was happening as it unfolded is great. Announcers like to be entertaining but keep it together for the most part. In this case, the announcer cannot hold back his disbelief and excitement, repeatedly shouting, with his southern accent, "Auburn's gonna win the football game!! Auburn's gonna win the football game!" (Close second was watching the ball boy run down the field alongside (as best he could) Chris Davis, only to slip and fall when he reached the end zone.)
 
The play itself was unbelievable, but the game all around was a great one--so many missed opportunities and mistakes for both teams, and so many great plays at the same time. Chris Davis just might become Alabama's own Christian Laettner with the finish that game brought. It's a play that will be remembered by both teams forever and shown again and again.
 
Between that play (and the win it resulted in) and the Buckeye win, I can't complain much at all about the beginning of this holiday season. We're definitely off to a fantastic start in this family!

Sports Talk: Don't Hate Just to Hate

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Nov. 20, 2013.  
I like rivalries. Honestly, would sports be fun without them??

There are different kinds of rivalries. There are the ones that only last a single season or so. These typically spawn from an extremely close game in a pivotal time or some sort of upset. The hard feelings of the losing team usually carry over into the next meeting between the two--sometimes further. Usually this type of rivalry, though, only lasts so many games, before the incident that initiated the rivalry becomes just a memory and part of the history books for both teams.

A good example of this would be last year's Lady Rebel basketball team and the Lincoln County Lady Patriots. Both team returned an identical roster from the 2012 regional championship game (where Lincoln took the title and advanced to state.) The 2012-13 teams were complete with the same roste, same emotions and same fans as the season before, so there was no doubt these two teams were out for each other. As we hoped/expected, the two ended up in the regional final again. Unfortunately, Casey came up just short of the victory and Lincoln repeated their title. The thing is, Casey County and Lincoln County do not regularly "hate" each other and the Lady Pats will be much less of a rival team to the Lady Rebs this year. The rivalry of the past two year's will simply become a memory.
 
Then there are the long-standing, never going away rivalries. These are hardcore and cold and never cease, even if a decade passes where one of the two competitors repeatedly blows the other out of the water. In many ways, these rivalries stand more because of fans than athletes themselves.
 
We in the Bluegrass state obviously know a thing or two about this type of rivalry. It's called red versus blue. I have friends who won't even wear the color royal blue or bright red unless they absolutely must. (And doesn't it say something about our mentality in this state when I had trouble even writing that last sentence without using the descriptors 'wildcat blue' and 'cardinal red'?)
 
But here is what I do find funny and a little ironic about these rivalries and some of its hardest of hardcore fans: they get upset at their opponents rubbing dirt in their faces. I see this on Facebook frequently... one side calls out every flaw of the other--every loss is laughed at, every player who screws up is ridiculed, the coaches are torn apart, and the programs are constantly under scrutiny. Then, I see fans trying to belittle those on the other side for acting in such a way. These people act as if they are above those on the other side because they don't laugh at the losses and failures of their rival and that those who do are lesser than.
 
But here's my perspective: loving your rivals failures is part of why that team is your rival and not just another opponent. As a fan, you always want your team to win; in turn, this means you always want your current opponent to lose--rival or not. However, you never, not a day in your life, would you ever consider cheering for your rival, no matter what team they are up against. You will never rejoice in their victories.
 
So while you might say I have a pet peeve for fans who are bothered by their rival fans outing all of their failures, I will admit to another pet peeve that sort of is the reverse of this. While I think it is right and I almost expect a rival fan to give me a hard time when teams, coaches, players or institution screws up, I hate it when someone who is not a fan of my rival decides to hate on my team just for the heck of it.
 
If I play your school and you beat me... sure, rub it in my face. If you're a true Michigan fan, sure, hate on my Buckeyes all day long. But people who go out of their way to bring up a loss or screw up simply because they know I am a fan of the team--not because they are on the winning side of the failure--that bothers me. That is just someone feeling like being a meanie. (I cannot come up with a more mature way to state that at the moment.)
 
So, to summarize and get off my soapbox... if you are a Cats fan... don't whine when a Cardinal makes 40-0 jokes... If you're a Cardinal fan... don't act like UK fans are rednecks for making fun of your players' or coaches' faults. As an Ohio State fan, I don't care what Michigan fan talks trash to me, but if you don't know the first thing about college football and simply hear something negative about the Buckeyes, don't choose that moment to jump on the bandwagon for badmouthing a team. Keep sports rivalry fun alive and hate on your current opponents and your rivals... But don't hate just to hate.

Sports Talk: The Move of the Governor's Cup

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Sept. 18, 2013.   
 
27-13. Was it the score you were expecting?

Cards or Cats fan, I feel it’s okay to admit that Louisville was the favored team in this year’s Governor’s Cup, so UofL coming out with another win was not of great surprise.

Unless watching with a group of devoted fans, I tend to root for the underdog in the Kentucky-Louisville meetings. Part of what makes rivalries great is that no matter how favored one team is, you tend to see a good game out of it. I know Louisville has potential for a great season, so in reality I did not want a loss on their record; however, I desperately wanted the Cats to put arrogant Cardinal fans in their place.

The teams’ 20^th meeting this past Saturday closed out an era of the Governor’s Cup. Beginning next year the rivals will have their meeting at the end of the season rather than as an early season highlight.

As an Ohio State Buckeye fan, I’ve grown used to the epic Michigan throw down taking place as the finale of the season, and personally, find this change in the Bluegrass’s two rival schools’ schedules to be an exciting move.

What I love about a rivalry game is that all bets are off and even this past weekend proved that. Sure, the favored team did come out on top, but reality is Louisville should have been able to run away with the game from the first quarter and they did not.

The beauty of ending the season with your most precious rival is the fact that for fans this game, 99% of the time, matters more than any other game you play through the season—even a bowl game or defending a #1 ranking. And for whatever reason, even if one school is number one and the other has had an awful season, the anxieties leading up to the rival game maintain because all bets are off. The favored team is a fool to go in believing the game is in the bag.

While blow outs occur, it’s not uncommon to see the underdog give the opponent a run for their money even when there is no reason for it. Believe me… As an OSU fan who saw a streak of triumphant years under Jim Tressel, when that weekend in late November rolled around, no matter the Ohio State record compared to Michigan’s, the worst of the worst fears crept to mind: that that stinkin’ Michigan could potentially completely spoil your successful season.

Stats and records play a different role in this season-ending rivalry experience. Each team has solid proof of their talent and abilities due to previous games, but this almost raises the stakes of the big rivalry game. Expectations are that much higher, especially if you are with the favored team.

Since I am not the hardcore Cats or Cards fan, I had the The Kentucky Sports Rivalry Facebook page pose the question to followers about their feelings on this change. It sounds like a mixed review, but one thing is certain: the rivalry will not be lessened!

“I'm excited to see two teams who are more developed and experienced come together for this epic meeting. I think having more than two games under their belts will prove for a more interesting game.” -Michelle Delk/Cards Fan

“I like it. It could end bowl hopes for each team, either not getting in one or not going to the one you want to. It will add to the rivalry. For years Tennessee has been our last game and believe me if there is one team I hate more than UT it's UL, but I love the rivalry! I like the move. Go CATS!” -Matthew Richardson/Cats Fan

“I’m down on the move. The first game of the season gave both teams unrivaled air time. Moving it to the end of the season will only be a good move if both teams remain relevant in the future, otherwise it'll be lost amongst the Bama/AU's and OU/UM's. Nobody is going want to watch a 10-2 team play a 2-10 team or two 2-10's play each other.” -Josh Watson/Cards Fan

“Be a great way to end a non-bowl bid season for either team.” –Joshua Lynn/Cats Fan

“I have mixed feelings on the whole situation. I LOVED it as the first game because it made the entire off-season filled with hopes, anticipation, and smack talk between each side.  I also like the move to make it fall in line with the more traditional and storied rivalries. My fear is that with Kentucky being such a basketball-centric state, and with the game falling INSIDE basketball season is that the football game will kind of be an afterthought. It will be interesting to see how my Cards handle it after having to kind of experience what UK does every year in actually playing tougher teams week-in and week-out instead of only a game or two a season. Both teams will have to survive the injury bug after being "battle-tested" so to speak.” –Chris Edwards/Cards Fan

“I think it's really cool, especially for UK fans that don't really have high expectations for football anyway, that game that means the most to the fans will now feel like a kind of championship game at the end of the season.” -Ben Short/Cats Fan

“It's still going to be a huge game no matter when it's played. Every one in the state watches this game and always will. It may lose some of the attention it gets from ESPN, but it will always be the best time of year for football fans in the bluegrass state. Except for Western fans. The best time of the year for them is stomping UK and we all get a good laugh out of it! GO CARDS!!” -John Casey/Cards Fan

 “I like the move simply because it gives UL fans more time to think up excuses if they lose.” -Jared Hatter/Cats Fan